2022 Game Award Winners, From 'Elden Ring' to 'Stray'

The 2022 Game Awards has declared its winners, with God of War Ragnarök and Elden Ring coming away the biggest winners, for slightly different reasons.

God of War Ragnarök took home the most trophies of the event (six): Best Action/Adventure Game, Best Narrative, Innovation in Accessibility, Best Audio Design, Best Score and Music for Bear McCreary, and Best Performance for Christopher Judge. But Elden Ring nabbed the top prize: Game of the Year. And that was not its only win. It also picked up the Best Role Playing Game, Best Game Direction, and Best Art Direction awards, for a total of four.

These results come after God of War Ragnarök led all nominees with 10, followed closely behind by both Elden Ring and Horizon Forbidden West, which each had seven noms. 

Those three titles were up against each other in many categories, which meant they wouldn't all be able to have big nights. Horizon Forbidden West didn't win anything, though.

Other notable winners of the night included Stray, which was the third highest-nominated game with six noms and took home the both Indie awards; Genshin Impact, which had been in a head-to-head battle with Sonic Frontiers for the Player's Voice award and came out victorious; and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which took home the Most Anticipated award, as it is due out in 2023.

Read on for the complete list of winners, as well as some special recommendation lists for winners you may have already finished and are now looking to follow up with similar fare.

Game of the Year

Winner: Elden Ring
Other nominees: A Plague Tale: Requiem, God of War Ragnarök, Horizon Forbidden West, Stray, Xenoblade Chronicles 

Click here to play more games like Elden Ring.

Best Narrative

Winner: God of War Ragnarök
Other nominees: A Plague Tale: Requiem, Elden Ring, Horizon Forbidden West, Immortality

Click here to play more games like God of War Ragnarök.

Best Ongoing Game

Winner: Final Fantasy XIV
Other nominees: Apex Legends, Destiny 2, Fortnite, Genshin Impact

Best Indie

Winner: Stray
Other nominees: Cult of the Lamb, Neon White, Sifu, TUNIC 

Click here to play more games like Stray.

Best Debut Indie

Winner: Stray
Other nominees: Neon White, NORCO, TUNIC, Vampire Survivors

Best Community Support

Winner: Final Fantasy XIV
Other nominees: Apex Legends, Destiny 2, Fortnite, No Man's Sky

Best Mobile

Winner: Marvel Snap
Other nominees: Apex Legends Mobile, Diablo Immortal, Genshin Impact, Tower of Fantasy

Best VR/AR

Winner: Moss: Book II
Other nominees: After the Fall, Among Us VR, BONELAB, Red Matter 2

Best Action

Winner: Bayonetta 3
Other nominees: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, Neon White, Sifu, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge

Best Action/Adventure

Winner: God of War Ragnarök
Other nominees: A Plague Tale: Requiem, Horizon Forbidden West, Stray, TUNIC 

Best Role Playing

Winner: Elden Ring
Other nominees: Live A Live, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Triangle Strategy, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 

Best Fighting

Winner: MultiVersus
Other nominees: DNF Duel, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R, The King of Fighters XV, Sifu

Best Family

Winner: Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Other nominees: LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, Nintendo Switch Sports, Splatoon 3

Click here to play more games like Kirby and the Forgotten Land.

Best SIM/Strategy

Winner: Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
Other nominees: Dune: Spice Wars, Total War: WARHAMMER III, Two Point Campus, Victoria 3 

Best Sports/Racing

Winner: Gran Turismo 7
Other nominees: F1 22, FIFA 23, NBA 2K23, OlliOlli World

Click here to play more games like Gran Turismo 7.

Best Multiplayer

Winner: Splatoon 3
Other nominees: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, MultiVersus, Overwatch 2, Splatoon 3, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge 

Click here to play more games like Splatoon 3.

Best Adaptation

Winner: Arcane
Other nominees: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, The Cuphead Show!, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Uncharted 

Best Performance

Winner: Christopher Judge, God of War Ragnarök
Other nominees: Ashly Burch (Horizon Forbidden West), Charlotte McBurney (A Plague Tale: Requiem), Manon Gage (Immortality), Suny Suljic (God of War Ragnarök)

Best Game Direction

Winner: Elden Ring
Other nominees: God of War Ragnarök, Horizon Forbidden West, Immortality, Stray 

Best Art Direction

Winner: Elden Ring
Other nominees: God of War Ragnarök, Horizon Forbidden West, Scorn, Stray

Best Score and Music

Winner: Bear McCreary, God of War Ragnarök
Other nominees: Olivier Deriviere (A Plague Tale: Requiem), Tsukasa Saitoh (Elden Ring), Two Feathers (Metal: Hellsinger), Yasunori Mitsuda (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)

Best Audio Design

Winner: God of War Ragnarök
Other nominees: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, Elden Ring, Gran Turismo 7, Horizon Forbidden West 

Games for Impact

Winner: As Dusk Falls 
Other nominees: A Memoir Blue, Citizen Sleeper, Endling - Extinction is Forever, Hindsight, I Was a Teenage Exocolonist

Most Anticipated

Winner: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom 
Other nominees: Final Fantasy XVI, Hogwarts Legacy, Resident Evil 4, Starfield

Content Creator of the Year

Winner: Ludwig
Other nominees: Karl Jacobs, Nibellion, Nobru, QTCinderella

Innovation in Accessibility

Winner: God of War Ragnarök
Other nominees: As Dusk Falls, Return to Monkey Island, The Last Of Us Part I, The Quarry 

Best Esports Game

Winner: Valorant
Other nominees: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, DOTA 2, League of Legends, Rocket League 

Best Esports Athlete

Winner: Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker, Cloud 9, Valorant
Other nominees: Jeong "Chovy" Ji-hoon (Gen.G, League of Legends), Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok (T1, League of Legends), Finn "karrigan" Andersen (FaZe Clan, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive), Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev (Natus Vincere, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)

Best Esports Team

Winner: LOUD, Valorant
Other nominees: DarkZero Esports (Apex Legends), FaZe Clan (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive), Gen.G (League of Legends), LA Thieves (Call of Duty)

Best Esports Coach

Winner: Matheus "bzkA" Tarasconi, LOUD, Valorant
Other nominees: Andrii "B1ad3" Horodenskyi (Natus Vincere, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive), Erik "d00mbr0s" Sandgren (FPX, Valorant), Robert "RobbaN" Dahlström (FaZe Clan, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive), Go "Score" Dong-bin (Gen.G, League of Legends)

Best Esports Event

Winner: 2022 League of Legends World Championship
Other nominees: EVO 2022, PGL Major Antwerp 2022, The 2022 Mid-Season Invitational, Valorant Champions 2022

Player's Voice

Winner: Genshin Impact