The Game Awards 2024 nominations: all the surprises and snubs

digitaltrends.com:

On Monday morning, Geoff Keighley revealed the nominees for this year’s Game Awards. The list honored many of this year’s biggest games, fromAstro Bot toFinal Fantasy VII Rebirth. For anyone who has been following video games closely in 2024, it’s a predictable list that’s heavy on well-received big-budget games and one key indie breakthrough.

Of course, not everyone is happy. Discourse is already brewing on social media on everything from Black Myth: Wukong‘s Game of the Year nomination to Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree making the cut despite being a DLC. As is the case every year, it’s a hodgepodge of deserving nominees, disappointing omissions, and downright weird picks. Let’s break down the biggest takeaways from this year’s list, from the surprises to the “snubs.”

Surprise: Balatro lands Game of the Year

Indie games have had a notoriously difficult time making a splash at the Game Awards (much more on that in a moment), but one did break through this year: Balatro. On paper, the poker roguelike isn’t the kind of game that typically gets a Game of the Year nomination. That category tends to favor flashy, big-budget games over innovative oddities. Balatro is the rare game to break that curse, fighting alongside giants like Astro Bot and Black Myth: Wukong. It deserves that spot too; Balatro is an ingenious work of game design that finds new depth in the classic deck of cards. It feels as foundational to its genre as Hades did in 2020.

• What’s new in November 2024: 7 games to keep an eye on
• 3 new Xbox Game Pass games to play this weekend (July 19-21)
• What’s new in July 2024: 7 upcoming games to check out this month

Snub: Other indies still struggle to make waves

Despite Balatro‘s big moment, The Game Awards still have a massive problem when it comes to indie games. It is next to impossible for indies to compete in most categories outside of a select handful designed for them. Neva managed to land a nomination for Best Art