2023 Game Awards: 4 Big Winners Worth Noting
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The 2023 Game Awards showcased some of the most outstanding achievements in the gaming industry. With numerous categories and a fierce competition, several games stood out as winners. From innovative gameplay to breathtaking visuals and sound design, these titles have left a lasting impact on gamers worldwide this year. Here are some of the major winners worth noting from the 2023 Game Awards.
Game of the Year: ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’
In a highly contested category, ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ emerged as the Game of the Year. This follow-up to the 2000 game ‘Baldur’s Gate 2’ is a Dungeons and Dragons-based RPG with familiar elements that fans of the tabletop game will love.
Like Dungeons and Dragons, ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ lets players create one or more characters and join a party with their friends or premade NPCs to take on quests and accumulate treasure. The game is uniquely open-world and notably will allow the players to kill or otherwise eliminate nearly any NPC in the game while still being able to accomplish all of the quests if they wish.
Best Game Direction: ‘Alan Wake 2’
The Best Game Direction award honors outstanding creative vision and innovation in game development. It recognizes the overall direction, design, and execution of a game, emphasizing leadership and originality. Winners are chosen based on their excellence in guiding the gaming experience, shaping the game’s narrative, and delivering exceptional and cohesive gameplay.
This year’s winner was ‘Alan Wake 2’, a survival horror game created by Remedy Entertainment. The game has elements of a detective game and is a unique take on the horror genre. It allows players to play as either author Alan Wake or FBI Special Agent Saga Anderson, each of whom has a set of unique game mechanics to manipulate the world around them and gather clues.
In addition to winning Best Game Direction, ‘Alan Wake 2’ won awards for Best Art Direction and Best Narrative and was nominated in five other categories.
Best Score and Music: ‘Final Fantasy XVI’ and Composer Masayoshi Soken
The ‘Final Fantasy’ series is one of the longest-running and most popular video game franchises, and the games have always been known for their impressive sound design and music.
The man behind the music for the 16th ‘Final Fantasy’ game was Masayoshi Soken, the game’s lead composer and sound director. Soken also directed the music for the 2013 game ‘Final Fantasy XIV,’ which was a commercial failure, so it must be satisfying for him to be recognized for his hard work on the much more successful ‘Final Fantasy XVI.’
Best Independent Game: ‘Sea of Stars’
The Best Independent Game award is given to a game each year that boasts great production and achievement outside of the standard game publishing system. This year’s winner was ‘Sea of Stars,’ a turn-based RPG that lets players control heroes called “Solstice Warriors” who use the power of the sun and moon to fight an evil alchemist. This is a huge honor for the small game developer Sabotage Studio.