We may earn a commission when you buy through links in our articles. Learn more.

Resident Evil 2, The Outer Worlds, and Sekiro lead The Game Awards nominees

Geoff Keighley's videogame extravaganza returns

The Game Awards are nearly upon us once again, and while the big focus will likely be on the new announcements of upcoming games, there’s still a whole awards show there to highlight the year’s biggest and best games. Today, the nominees in all the big categories have been revealed, and voting has opened to the public.

Your six Game of the Year nominees are: Control, Death Stranding, Resident Evil 2, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and The Outer Worlds. (If you’re wondering why a game from 2018 is on the list, Smash came out too late for last year’s vote.) You can head to the official site cast your ballot – while most of the voting power lies with a panel of critics and journalists, fan votes do weight the final decisions.

The Game Awards take place on December 12 at 17:30 PST / 20:30 EST – or December 13 at 1:30 GMT – on YouTube. Loads of other big PC games are among the nominees, like Disco Elysium and Total War: Three Kingdoms, though all the awards remain multiplatform, aside from the mobile category.

Read on for the full list of nominees.

Game of the Year

Control
Death Stranding
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Resident Evil 2
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
The Outer Worlds

Best Game Direction

Control
Death Stranding
Resident Evil 2
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Outer Wilds

Best Narrative

A Plague Tale: Innocence
Control
Death Stranding
Disco Elysium
The Outer Worlds

Best Art Direction

Control
Death Stranding
Gris
Sayonara Wild Hearts
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

Best Score/Music

Cadence of Hyrule
Death Stranding
Devil May Cry 5
Kingdom Hearts III
Sayonara Wild Hearts

Best Audio Design

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
Control
Death Stranding
Gears 5
Resident Evil 2
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Best Performance

Ashly Burch as Parvati Holcomb, The Outer Worlds
Courtney Hope as Jesse Faden, Control
Laura Bailey as Kait Diaz, Gears 5
Mads Mikkelsen as Cliff, Death Stranding
Matthew Porretta as Dr. Casper Darling, Control
Norman Reedus as Sam Porter Bridges, Death Stranding

Best Action Game

Apex Legends
Astral Chain
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
Devil May Cry 5
Gears 5
Metro Exodus

Best Action/Adventure Game

Borderlands 3
Control
Death Stranding
Resident Evil 2
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Best RPG

Disco Elysium
Final Fantasy XIV
Kingdom Hearts III
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne
The Outer Worlds

Best Fighting Game

Dead or Alive 6
Jump Force
Mortal Kombat 11
Samurai Showdown
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Best Family Game

Luigi’s Mansion 3
Ring Fit Adventure
Super Mario Maker 2
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Yoshi’s Crafted World

Best Strategy Game

Age of Wonders: Planetfall
Anno 1800
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Total War: Three Kingdoms
Tropico 6
Wargroove

Best Sports/Racing Game

Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
DiRT Rally 2.0
eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer 2020
F1 2019
FIFA 20

Best Multiplayer Game

Apex Legends
Borderlands 3
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
Tetris 99
Tom Clancy’s The Division 2

Fresh Indie Game Studio

ZA/UM for Disco Elysium
Nomada Studio for Gris
DeadToast Entertainment for My Friend Pedro
Mobius Digital for Outer Wilds
Mega Crit for Slay the Spire
House House for Untitled Goose Game

Games for Impact

Concrete Genie
Gris
Kind Words
Life is Strange 2
Sea of Solitude

Best Ongoing Game

Apex Legends
Destiny 2
Final Fantasy XIV
Fortnite
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege

Best Independent Game

Baba Is You
Disco Elysium
Katana ZERO
Outer Wilds
Untitled Goose Game

Best Mobile Game

Call of Duty: Mobile
GRINDSTONE
Sayonara Wild Hearts
Sky: Children of Light
What the Golf?

Best Community Support

Apex Legends
Destiny 2
Final Fantasy XIV
Fortnite
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege

Best VR/AR Game

Asgard’s Wrath
Blood & Truth
Beat Saber
No Man’s Sky
Trover Saves the Universe

We’ll see how the awards shake out in under a month, though we’re (sadly) going to get a lot less representation from Western games this time around.