All The Game Award for Game of the Year winners in order
The Game Awards have started to feel more like an advertising campaign than an awards show , but it still is an important way for the best games of the year to get some major recognition. TGA is heading towards its 11th year, and in the past decade it’s had the chance to highlight some of the best games ever made.
Screenshot by MobyGames
2014 - Dragon Age: Inquisition - Bioware
The Other Contenders
Bayonetta 2
Dark Souls II
Hearthstone
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
The Game Awards kicked off in 2014, and that year’s top contenders and GotY winner established a bit of a trend for the show – the tendency to favor sprawling, open-world fantasy games over smaller titles and sequels over new IP. While that trend may not be ideal, it shouldn’t reflect poorly on Dragon Age: Inquisition , which is a great RPG that you can easily sink hundreds of hours into even if you haven’t played the two games that come before it.
Image via CD Projekt Red
2015 - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - CD Projekt Red
The Other Contenders
Bloodborne
Metal Gear Solid V
Super Mario Maker
Fallout 4
Wild Hunt had some stiff competition in 2015, but it ended up winning not just Game of the Year, but also Best Role-Playing Game, and Developer of the Year for CD Projekt Red. Thanks to its fully realized character, masterfully crafted world, and staggering amount of side content, The Witcher 3 is still looked at as one of the best RPGs ever made.
Screenshot via Blizzard
2016 - Overwatch - Blizzard Entertainment
The Other Contenders
Titanfall 2
Doom
Inside
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
The 2016 Game Awards were the best yet for multiplayer games. Though it had some strong competition, Blizzard’s Overwatch came out on top. The first-person, team-based shooter put another notch in Blizzard’s belt of astounding successful multiplayer games. It inspired legions of fans and led to a much less well-received sequel .
Image via Nintendo
2017 - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Nintendo EPD
The Other Contenders
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
Persona 4
Horizon Zero Dawn
Super Mario Odyssey
Nintendo had two chances to win Game of the Year heading into the 2017 Game Awards. While the contenders are all great games, no one was surprised when Breath of the Wild walked away with the award. The game completely rewrote everyone’s expectation for a Zelda entry and gave us an open world that is still one of the most fun to explore in all of gaming.
Screenshot via Sony Interactive Entertainment
2018 - God of War - Santa Monica Studio
The Other Contenders
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Marvel’s Spider-Man
Monster Hunter: World
Red Dead Redemption 2
2018’s Game of the Year winner also rebooted the formula of a longstanding franchise. From combat to storytelling, God of War improved just about everything that previous games had introduced, and it breathed life into a franchise that hadn’t seen a new entry in half a decade. Its sequel was also a GotY contender, but for my money I’d take the 2018 game.
Screenshot via Activision
2019 - Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - FromSoftware
The Other Contenders
Control
Death Stranding
The Outer Worlds
Resident Evil 2
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Sekiro brought FromSoftware back into Game of the Year territory, and it’s easy to see why. It took the mechanics fans loved from the other Souls games and combined them with entirely new exploration and stealth systems. It also laid the groundwork for FromSoftware’s next masterpiece: Elden Ring .
Screenshot by Destructoid.
2020 - The Last of Us Part II - Naughty Dog
The Other Contenders
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Doom Eternal
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Ghost of Tsushima
Hades
The Last of Us Part II is arguably the most controversial Game of the Year winner, but that has less to do with the situation at The Game Awards and more with the general reception of Part II in the first place. Despite the controversy, Part II undeniably pushed the envelope on video game storytelling, and it did that while making significant gameplay improvements to The Last of Us and showering us with eye-popping visuals.
Image via EA
2021 - It Takes Two - Hazelight Studios
The Other Contenders
Deathloop
Metroid Dread
Psychonauts 2
Rachet & Clank: Rift Apart
Resident Evil Village
It Takes Two really stands out among the other GotY winners because it's co-op only, a feature that’s as integral to the story as it is to the actual gameplay. It’s becoming harder to find good co-op games, especially ones with couch co-op as an option, and It Takes Two remains one of the very best options for playing with a friend that there’s ever been.
2022 - Elden Ring - FromSoftware
The Other Contenders
God of War Ragnarök
A Plague Tale: Requiem
Stray
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Horizon Forbidden West
Just three years after winning Game of the Year with Sekiro , FromSoftware was back at it with Elden Ring . We’ve got to pour one out for the Horizon franchise that just can’t seem to catch a break, but it’s hard to argue that Elden Ring didn’t earn the award. It not only created one of the biggest open worlds ever, but it filled that world with all kinds of secrets to discover, areas to explore, and bizarre NPCs to meet (and kill).
Screenshot via Larian Studios
2023 - Baldur’s Gate 3 - Larian Studios
The Contenders
Alan Wake 2
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Resident Evil 4
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
In the best and worst year for gaming, 9,000 people working in the industry lost their jobs over the course of 2023, and at the same time we saw some incredible games debut. The level of detail, and the freedom of player expression in Baldur’s Gate 3 is absolutely mind-boggling, and it raises the bar for the entire art form.
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