The Game Awards are mere weeks away. It was already confirmed  that this year’s show will have the biggest lineup of new announcements in its history. Earlier today, the show’s creator and host, Geoff Keighley, took to YouTube to announce the nominees in all the major categories in a ten minute presentation.  Sony Santa Monica’s God of War and Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption II are leading the pack with eight nominations each.  Both critically acclaimed games are nominated in each of the exact same categories including the coveted Game of the Year award.  The six games nominated for Game of the Year are listed below:

• God of War
• Red Dead Redemption II
• Marvel’s Spider-Man
• Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
• Celeste
• Monster Hunter World

All six of these games were met with massive critical and commercial success. God of War was met with universal acclaim as it completely reinvented the franchise in both gameplay and narrative design.  The game was, at one point, the fastest selling PlayStation 4 exclusive and is the second highest rated exclusive on the platform. Marvel’s Spider-Man overtook God of War as the fastest selling PS4 exclusive, and has the highest launch month dollar sales for any exclusive in history of PlayStation. After resparking the debate about “crunch” time, Red Dead Redemption II recently released to astonishing success. The game has sold over 17 million copies, and had the biggest opening weekend in entertainment history.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey took the series more into the open world RPG genre and is one of the best rated entries in the series. It also served as one of game streaming’s biggest test beds with a cloud version released on Nintendo Switch in Japan and as the first game to be part of Google’s Project Stream. Monster Hunter World brought the franchise back to home consoles and brought new players to the series. It also became Capcom’s best selling game in the company’s history. Finally, the hardcore 2D platformer Celeste, is the only indie game to be in contention for the coveted award. The game was developed by the duo of Matt Thorson and Noel Berry, and achieved the status of “indie darling” almost immediately for its deep, self-reflecting narrative and intense platforming challenge.

Elsewhere, the world’s most popular game, Fortnite is nominated four different times for Best Ongoing Game, Best Multiplayer Game, Best Mobile Game, and Best Esports Game. Speaking of Esports, the influence it has developed over 2018 shows with the number of categories dedicated to esports growing to seven from last year’s three. You can see all nominees and categories as well as vote for your favorite games on The Game Awards’ official website.