Uncharted 4 leads The Game Awards 2016 list with 8 nominations

Overwatch, Firewatch and Inside also grabbed several nods.

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The nominees for The Game Awards 2016 have been revealed and Uncharted 4, Overwatch, Firewatch and Inside leading the way.

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End led the way with 8 nominations, with three extra for voice acting. Overwatch, Firewatch and Inside received five nominations each. For publishers, Sony had 13 nominations, followed by EA with 10, Blizzard with 7 and Betehsda with 6.

Winners will be announced on December 1 during a televised event from Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Fan voting is being accepted in six categories, including the three eSports categories, Trending Gamer, Most Anticipated Gaem and Best Fan Creation. Voting will end on November 30.

Here are the nominees:

GAME OF THE YEAR

For a game that delivers the absolute best experience across all creative and technical fields.

  • DOOM (id Software/Bethesda)
  • Inside (Playdead)
  • Overwatch (Blizzard)
  • Titanfall 2 (Respawn/Electronic Arts)
  • Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment)

BEST GAME DIRECTION 

Recognizing a game studio for outstanding creative vision, game direction and design.

  • Blizzard (for Overwatch)
  • DICE (for Battlefield 1)
  • id Software (for DOOM)
  • Naughty Dog (for Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End)
  • Respawn (for Titanfall 2)

BEST NARRATIVE

For outstanding storytelling and narrative development in a game.

  • Firewatch (Campo Santo)
  • Inside (Playdead)
  • Mafia III (Hangar 13/2K)
  • Oxenfree (Night School Studio)
  • Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (Naughty Dog/SIE)

BEST ART DIRECTION

For outstanding creative and technical achievement in artistic design and animation.

  • Abzu (Giant Squid/505)
  • Firewatch (Campo Santo)
  • Inside (Playdead)
  • Overwatch (Blizzard)
  • Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (Naughty Dog/SIE)

BEST MUSIC/SOUND DESIGN

For outstanding audio, inclusive of score, original song, licensed soundtrack and sound design.

  • Battlefield 1 (DICE/EA)
  • DOOM (id/Bethesda)
  • Inside (Playdead)
  • Rez Infinite (Enhance Games)
  • Thumper (Drool)

BEST PERFORMANCE

Awarded to an individual for voice-over acting, motion and/or performance capture.

  • Alex Hernandez as Lincoln Clay, Mafia III
  • Cissy Jones as Delilah, Firewatch
  • Emily Rose as Elena, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
  • Nolan North as Nathan Drake, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
  • Rich Summer as Henry, Firewatch
  • Troy Baker as Sam Drake, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

GAMES FOR IMPACT

Honoring exemplary games that take on real-world issues and advocate for social change.

  • 1979 Revolution (iNK Stories)
  • Block’hood (Plethora Project/Devolver Digital)
  • Orwell (Osmotic Studios/Surprise Attack)
  • Sea Hero Quest (Glitchers)
  • That Dragon, Cancer (Numinous Games)

BEST INDEPENDENT GAME

For outstanding achievement in a game made outside the traditional publisher system.

  • Firewatch (Campo Santo)
  • Hyper Light Drifter (Heart Machine)
  • Inside (Playdead)
  • Stardew Valley (ConcernedApe/Chucklefish Games)
  • The Witness (Thelka, Inc.)

BEST MOBILE/HANDHELD

For the best game playable on mobile phones and dedicated gaming handhelds.

  • Clash Royale (Supercell)
  • Fire Emblem Fates (Intelligent Systems/Nintendo)
  • Monster Hunter Generations (Capcom)
  • Pokemon Go (Niantic)
  • Severed (DrinkBox Studios)

BEST VR GAME

For the best game experience playable in virtual reality.

  • Batman: Arkham VR (Rocksteady Studios/WBIE)
  • EVE: Valkyrie (CCP Games)
  • Job Simulator (Owlchemy Labs)
  • Rez Infinite (Enhance Games)
  • Thumper (Drool)

BEST ACTION GAME

For the best game experience focused around first or third person combat.

  • Battlefield 1 (DICE/EA)
  • DOOM (id Software/Bethesda Softworks)
  • Gears of War 4 (The Coalition/Microsoft Studios)
  • Overwatch (Blizzard)
  • Titanfall 2 (Respawn/EA)

BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE GAME

For the best game experience that combines combat with traversal and puzzle solving.

  • Dishonored 2 (Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks)
  • Hitman (IO Interactive/Square-Enix)
  • Hyper Light Drifter (Heart Machine)
  • Ratchet & Clank (Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
  • Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment)

BEST RPG

The best game designed for rich player character customization and progression, both offline and online, including massively multiplayer.

  • Dark Souls 3 (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco Entertainment)
  • Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (Eidos Montreal/Square-Enix)
  • The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt -- Blood and Wine (CD Projekt RED)
  • World of Warcraft: Legion (Blizzard)
  • Xenoblade Chronicles X (Monolith Soft/Nintendo)

BEST FIGHTING GAME

For a game designed primarily around head-to-head combat.

  • Killer Instinct Season 3 (Iron Galaxy Studios/Microsoft Studios)
  • King of Fighters XIV (SNK/Atlus USA)
  • Pokken Tournament (Bandai Namco Studios/The Pokemon Co.)
  • Street Fighter V (Capcom)

BEST STRATEGY GAME

Best game focused on real time or turn-based strategy.

  • Civilization VI (Firaxis Games/2K)
  • Fire Emblem Fates (Intelligent Systems/Nintendo)
  • The Banner Saga 2 (Stoic Studio/Versus Evil)
  • Total War: Warhammer (Creative Assembly/Sega)
  • XCOM 2 (Firaxis Games/2K)

BEST FAMILY GAME

Best game for family play, including toys-to-life, rhythm/music/dance, and other genres. 

  • Dragon Quest Builders (Square Enix)
  • Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens (TT Fusion/WBIE)
  • Pokemon Go (Niantic)
  • Ratchet & Clank (Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
  • Skylanders: Imaginators (Toy for Bob/Activision)

BEST SPORTS/RACING

For traditional and non-traditional sports and racing games.

  • FIFA 17 (EA Canada/EA Sports)
  • Forza Horizon 3 (Playground Games/Microsoft Studios)
  • MLB The Show 16 (SCE San Diego Studio/SIE)
  • NBA 2K17 (Visual Concepts/2K Sports)
  • Pro Evolution Soccer 2017 (PES Productions/Konami)

BEST MULTIPLAYER

For outstanding online multiplayer gameplay and design, including co-op and massively multiplayer experiences. 

  • Battlefield 1 (DICE/EA)
  • Gears of War 4 (The Coalition/Microsoft Studios)
  • Overcooked (Ghost Town Games/Team 17)
  • Overwatch (Blizzard)
  • Titanfall 2 (Respawn/EA)
  • Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

MOST ANTICIPATED GAME

An upcoming game that has shown significant ambition and promise in moving the gaming medium forward.

  • God of War (Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
  • Horizon: Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
  • Mass Effect: Andromeda (Bioware/EA)
  • Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo)

TRENDING GAMER, PRESENTED BY INTEL

For a notable influencer, online streamer or media personality in 2016.

  • AngryJoeShow
  • Boogie2988
  • Danny O’Dwyer
  • JackSepticEye
  • Lirik

BEST FAN CREATION

For fan-created content, such as MODs, fan films, and other player content.

  • Project A2MR
  • Pokemon Uranium
  • Brutal Doom 64
  • Enderal: The Shards of Order

BEST ESPORTS PLAYER, PRESENTED BY OMEN BY HP

The eSports player judged to be the most outstanding performer in 2016, irrespective of game.

  • Faker – Lee Sang-hyeok (SK Telecom T1, League of Legends)
  • Coldzera – Marcelo David (SK Gaming, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)
  • ByuN –Hyun Woo (Starcraft 2)
  • Infiltrator – Lee Seeon-woo (Team Razer, Street Fighter V)
  • Hungrybox – Juan Debiedma (Team Liquid, Super Smash Bros.)

BEST ESPORTS TEAM

The eSports team or organization judged to be the most outstanding for performance in 2016, irrespective of game.

  • SK Telecom T1 (League of Legends)
  • Wings Gaming (DOTA2)
  • SK Gaming
  • ROX Tigers (League of Legends)
  • Cloud 9

BEST ESPORTS GAME

The eSports game that has shown creative and technical excellence in 2016 with the best gameplay, community support and content updates.

  • Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve)
  • DOTA2 (Valve)
  • League of Legends (Riot)
  • Overwatch (Blizzard)
  • Street Fighter V (Capcom)
Contributing Editor
From The Chatty
  • reply
    November 16, 2016 12:40 PM

    John Keefer posted a new article, Uncharted 4 leads The Game Awards 2016 list with 8 nominations

    • reply
      November 16, 2016 1:07 PM

      I'm going to say it: Uncharted 4 is not a good game.

      The story and characters are somewhat interesting. (Also somewhat incoherent; suddenly Nathan has a brother whom he was really tight with an strongly influenced his childhood, but we've literally never heard of him before? What?!)

      The graphics and environments are often gorgeous.

      The set pieces are impressive.

      But the actual game part, that you play? Poorly tuned, unsatisfying drudgery. By the time I reached the abandoned colony, I just wanted the game to be over. So much so that it was hard to appreciate what should have been some of the most impressive visuals.

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        November 16, 2016 1:32 PM

        I gotta agree. I just rushed through on easy difficulty because the actual combat is tedious. Even the levels, even though visually amazing, sometimes just felt too long. I realized that I much prefer shorter campaigns like in Titanfall 2, than ones that last for 20+ hours.

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          November 16, 2016 1:43 PM

          I don't necessarily have anything against long campaigns. I'm 25+ hours into Dishonored 2 (granted, with some redoing of sections), and I'm loving it.

          A lot of the stuff in Uncharted feels like it's there just to be stuff. It doesn't matter.

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            November 16, 2016 1:45 PM

            Yeah, and you're always chasing some treasure that's never actually there! >:(

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          November 16, 2016 2:36 PM

          lol, what? of course it's tedious on easy. game was good on hard mode

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            November 16, 2016 2:41 PM

            The gameplay was pretty tedious on medium as well. Waves of bullet sponge enemies with impossibly accurate grenades, shitty stealth, and vague, clunky climbing.

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            November 16, 2016 4:00 PM

            Yes, I played on hard and it was fun, I thought anyway. You had to think a bit, try each area a few times, and mix stealth and action. The story was a bit contrived, but fine for a video game.

            UC2 is probably the one that sticks in my mind most.

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        November 16, 2016 1:33 PM

        That has been my experience with the entire series. It has always been a second-rate cover shooter with no depth and clunky aiming. Fun to watch, not to play (aside from traversal, anyway). The new Tomb Raider games do a much better job gameplay-wise.

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        November 16, 2016 1:36 PM

        [deleted]

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        November 16, 2016 1:46 PM

        I just finished my first playthrough on PS4Pro and I ended up liking it...a lot. The story/char/setting was way more interesting and engaging than 3 was. In UC3, I couldn't wait for the damn game to be over, but in this game I was just focused on the story and gawking at everything (might be because of 4k/HDR though).

        Yeah, the shooting stuff is pretty dumb. I just turned on auto lock-on, chose to do Metal Gear stealth when I was able to, and I found it to be pretty fun.

        That said, def not GOTY. I'd think they have to give that to Overwatch, right?

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          November 16, 2016 1:51 PM

          DOOM is GOTY as far as I'm concerned. I mean, Overwatch is pretty good, and I've heard Titanfall 2 is good, and I'm really enjoying Dishonored 2, but DOOM is just a revelation. It's the shooter I didn't know I was craving, and the shooter that reminded me how much fun shooters can be.

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          November 16, 2016 2:32 PM

          I used to dislike parts of UC3 as well, but I replayed the entire series (remastered) just recently and it was wayyyy less frustrating than I remember.

          I had a much harder time with some parts of the combat in UC2.

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            November 16, 2016 9:41 PM

            They fixed the combat system in the remaster

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          November 16, 2016 3:13 PM

          Overwatch goty? Lol

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            November 16, 2016 3:32 PM

            It wouldn't be my pick, but it seems to be very popular and well liked. I dunno.

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            November 16, 2016 7:16 PM

            This

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            November 16, 2016 7:47 PM

            Overwatch is probably one of the best shooters I've ever played... it's incredibly well made and addicting and fun to play. It really, really surprised me. I would definitely consider it Top 3 this year.

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            November 17, 2016 3:13 AM

            It is for me. It's the perfect online shooter for my tastes as far as game design goes, and it's technically bloody close to flawless. I love DOOM equally as much but nothing lol-worthy about the concept of OW being GOTY for the fans of the genre.

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            November 17, 2016 5:36 AM

            You're kidding yourself if you don't think it'll be in the running.

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        November 16, 2016 2:09 PM

        i play the shit out of the multiplayer

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          November 16, 2016 3:31 PM

          The multiplayer is fantastic.

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          November 16, 2016 7:53 PM

          Whattttttttt! I thought I was the only one!
          We should team up one day!
          PSN is same as shack name

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        November 16, 2016 2:46 PM

        [deleted]

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        November 16, 2016 3:35 PM

        Yup, looks gorgeous but terrible gameplay and a story I didn't GAF about

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        November 16, 2016 3:51 PM

        I just wanted it to be over. I liked parts of it but if its the last game I think I am ok with that.

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        November 16, 2016 4:28 PM

        [deleted]

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        November 16, 2016 4:42 PM

        ive always felt the uncharted games were good examples of style over substance. they are a marketing departments dream though, which i guess is why there are 4 of them and are widely lauded.

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        November 16, 2016 5:41 PM

        Yeah, waaaaaay too much climbing that goes on far too long in most instances. I didn't love it.

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          November 16, 2016 6:20 PM

          Climbing that wasn't even linked to your skill as a player. It was hunting for the white pixels that you would magnetically zap to if you found them. It had more in common with a 90s point and click adventure than an actual platformer

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            November 16, 2016 6:53 PM

            Seems like all third person action/adventure games have gone this route. Uncharted, Tomb Raider, Infamous, AC, and likely others I am forgetting.

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              November 16, 2016 9:24 PM

              True, but it does feel like the fail condition in UC4 is the most obvious. You just kind of move the thumbstick around until you magnetically floop to the next ledge while in these super linear maps. At least those other games, especially Tomb Raider, gives the illusion of choice (even if they are still totally on rails).

              Its really obvious with UC4, like they wanted to make sure that absolutely everyone would finish the game. Its a fine goal but I'm not into the way they went about it.

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            November 16, 2016 7:06 PM

            was it different from the previous games in that respect? I only played 1 and 2 but I'd say the same thing applied. You had one route that didn't really require any skill and it'd periodically make the rocks fall out from under your feet right after you jumped for some fake tension.

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              November 16, 2016 9:09 PM

              No, it's basically the same, maybe a little easier. No one plays uncharted for the cliff climbing, it's the Indiana jones stuff that make it awesome.

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              November 16, 2016 9:20 PM

              Its the same. Main difference is that the shine came off their games for me. Uncharted 2 was jaw dropping, but been there, done that, and the gameplay isn't nearly as good as the presentation.

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                November 16, 2016 9:45 PM

                yeah ok, I kinda felt that towards the 3/4 mark of both of the first games. A lot of pretty cutscenes but there's only so many times I can watch just barely making some jump while everything falls apart underfoot before it just gets ridiculous.

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        November 16, 2016 10:02 PM

        [deleted]

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        November 17, 2016 2:56 AM

        i felt roughly the same about all the uncharted games. too long by half, imo.

        however, 4 introducing autoaim made it the first one i ever finished. not having to repeat sequences due to the wonky gunplay eased the sting a bit.

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        November 17, 2016 5:32 AM

        definitely drudgery. Sums it up quite well.

      • reply
        November 17, 2016 5:37 AM

        It was probably a little too long but I liked it a lot.

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      November 16, 2016 4:32 PM

      Some mad Sony money going around.

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      November 16, 2016 7:49 PM

      I got to madagascar and quit. i wonder if i should have kept going. i got sick of climbing

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      November 17, 2016 3:17 AM

      [deleted]

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