Last night in San Francisco, as part of GDC 2019, the Game Developers Choice Awards took place with several developers walking away with awards for the games released in 2018.
Among the awards, Sony Santa Monica walked away with the top honours, with God of War winning Game of the Year. God of War, for any not in the know, is the latest from the long-running God of War franchise, and acted as a soft reboot, refreshing many of the mechanics and concepts seen in previous installments. That refresh struck a chord with many Game of the Year lists, and now winning big among other developers.
“The Game Developers Choice Awards represent the most refined games of the year, and the sheer variety of games honoured tonight showed that games can still represent wholly new and unique creative visions,” said Katie Stern, General Manager of the Game Developers Conference. “A number of independently developed titles like Celeste, Gris and Florence helped prove how internal or deeply personal turmoil can make for massively appealing games for millions of fans. While games like God of War and Red Dead Redemption 2 capture our imagination with poignant moments juxtaposed against epic tales of staggering scale and technical prowess. We embrace and accept all these amazingly creative works, and we’re proud to recognize these nominees and winners alike for the imagination and hard work that brought them here.”
Indie darling Obra Dinn picked up a win, taking home the Best Narrative award at GDCA’s, with Florence taking walking away with Best Debut and Best Mobile Game. Amy Henning, the creative director, and writer behind games as Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and Uncharted picked up Lifetime Achievement award for a nearly two-decade-long career in the industry. Rieko Kodama, known for games such as Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Phantasy Star, Phantasy Star 2, Skies of Arcadia, and Sonic the Hedgehog won the Pioneer Award, celebrating her time in the industry and her work on some prominent and important titles.
The Game Developers Choice Awards winners are:
Best Audio
Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
Best Debut
Mountains (Florence)
Best Design
Into the Breach (Subset Games)
Best Mobile Game
Florence (Mountains)
Innovation Award
Nintendo Labo (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
Best Narrative
Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope / 3909)
Best Technology
Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
Best Visual Art
Gris (Nomada Studio / Devolver Digital)
Best VR/AR Game
Beat Saber (Beat Games)
Audience Award
Beat Saber (Beat Games)
Game of the Year
God of War (Sony Santa Monica / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Pioneer Award
Rieko Kodama
Lifetime Achievement Award
Amy Hennig