The Witcher 3 Won Games Of The Year At GDC Awards
Full list of winners and nominees
The Witcher 3 took home two awards last night at the 16th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards, including the coveted Game of the Year prize. Her Story, after winning big at the IGF Awards hours earlier, captured a further three trophies. Comes see the full list of winners and nominees below.
Game of the Year
Fallout 4
The Witcher 3 – WINNER
Metal Gear Solid V
Bloodborne
Rocket League
Wow, five very worthy contenders there, including RPS's favourite game of last year. Any one of those games could've grabbed the crown in my book, as I've sunk ridiculous amounts of hours into each of them, not least CD Projekt Red's open-world role-player.
Innovation Award
Her Story – WINNER
Super Mario Maker
Undertale
Splatoon
The Beginner's Guide
Another strong list for a variety of reasons, but Her Story feels like the right choice here. Its brilliant mix of detective work, FMV sequences and masterful puzzling will have folk talking about it for many years to come. Nice to see Undertale getting mentioned here too, though.
Best Debut
Studio Wildcard (ARK: Survival Evolved)
Toby Fox (Undertale)
Moon Studios (Ori and the Blind Forest) – WINNER
Moppin (Downwell)
Steel Crate Games (Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes)
Pip described Ori and the Blind Forest as a "beautiful game" in her review, and she's exactly right. If you agree, you might want to pop along to EGX Rezzed next month, where Ori animator and designer James Benson will be talking with us alongside Olly Moss about their work together on Firewatch.
Of those nominees, though, Undertale would've been my vote, but hats off to Moon Studios nonetheless.
Best Design
Rocket League – WINNER
Metal Gear Solid V
Bloodborne
Fallout 4
Splatoon
Yet another stonking list that could've went in any direction. Given Rocket League combines racing and football - two sports many people aren't all too concerned about - the fact that it's attracted so many folk to its caged arenas is an amazing feat. And it also has flying.
Best Handheld/Mobile Game
Lara Croft: GO
Fallout Shelter
Downwell
Her Story – WINNER
AlphaBear
Admittedly, I've not played all those myself however have been told good things about them all, not least Alphabear. It wasn't specifically designed for mobile, but testament to Her Story's design is how well it plays on any device.
Best Visual Art
Ori and the Blind Forest – WINNER
The Witcher 3
Star Wars Battlefront
Bloodborne
Splatoon
This is a tough category because I suppose it depends what you're looking for. The Witcher 3 is one of the best looking games I've ever played, whereas Bloodborne, through its visuals, is one of the most harrowing. Splatoon is lovely and colourful but, again, Ori and the Blind Forest is beautiful.
Best Narrative
Her Story – WINNER
The Witcher 3
Life is Strange
Undertale
The Beginner's Guide
This I have absolutely no qualms with (I like Her Story, can you tell?). For such a simple premise, Her Story weaves such an intricate narrative beneath its approachable veneer.
Best Audio
Star Wars Battlefront
Ori and the Blind Forest
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture
Metal Gear Solid V
Crypt of the NecroDancer – WINNER
I first played an early build of Crypt of the Necrodancer way back in 2013 and I genuinely still find myself whistling some of its tunes to this day. Of those on the list, it'd definitely have gotten my nod.
Best Technology
Metal Gear Solid V
The Witcher 3 – WINNER
Star Wars Battlefront
Fallout 4
Just Cause 3
While Venom Snake has better technology at his disposal than Geralt, The Witcher 3 is a better looking game than the Phantom Pain. A worthy winner.
Audience award
Life is Strange – WINNER
Because I wasn't at the awards, I sadly don't know which other games were up for this. I like Life is Strange, though, so I'm going to assume it was a worthy winner.
The awards also paid tribute to the late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata with this touching video:
