It's the time of year for every publication to bring out arbitrary lists and attempt to whittle down the hundreds of games released this year to the "best." Now it's our turn, where you will find the awards categories and nominees for each award. We want to get you in on the action too of course, so the Readers' Choice vote has returned again. You can vote along with staff to choose the Readers' Choice winner of each category from our nominees.
You can vote in our Readers' Choice awards here. Voting will remain open until 12/24/17 11:59pm eastern. UPDATED: Voting is now closed. Thanks to all who participated! Starting on the 26th we'll begin announcing winners, so check on back to see who won!
Once those results are in, we will be announcing all of the categories throughout the week starting on the 26th.
Staff submitted nominations for each category, which were then voted on by the entire staff to give us the final nominees you see below.
Best Multiplayer (For exceptional multiplayer gameplay and design)
[Winner Announced Here!]
- Cuphead (Our Review)
- Divinity: Original Sin II (Our Review)
- Injustice 2 (Our Review)
- Snipperclips (Our Review)
- Splatoon 2 (Our Review)
Best Writing (For outstanding storytelling, worldbuilding, and character creation)
[Winner Announced Here!]
- Divinity: Original Sin II (Our Review)
- Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Our Review)
- Horizon Zero Dawn (Our Review)
- Night in the Woods (Our Review)
- Persona 5 (Our Review)
Best Soundtrack (For outstanding overall score)
[Winner Announced Here!]
- Cuphead (Our Review)
- NieR: Automata (Our Review)
- Persona 5 (Our Review)
- Super Mario Odyssey (Our Review)
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Our Review)
Best Visuals (For outstanding cohesive aesthetic)
[Winner Announced Here!]
- Cuphead (Our Review)
- Horizon Zero Dawn (Our Review)
- Persona 5 (Our Review)
- Star Wars Battlefront II
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Our Review)
Best Expansion/DLC (The best piece of additional content to an existing game)
[Winner Announced Here!]
- Dishonored: Death of the Outsider (Our Review)
- Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds
- Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment (Our Review)
- Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (Our Review)
- XCOM 2: War of the Chosen (Our Review)
Indie Game of the Year (Outstanding creative and technical design from outside a large studio)
[Winner Announced Here!]
- Battle Chef Brigade (Our Review)
- Cuphead (Our Review)
- Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Our Review)
- Hollow Knight
- Little Nightmares (Our Review)
- Night in the Woods (Our Review)
- Pyre (Our Review)
- SteamWorld Dig 2 (Our Review)
- What Remains of Edith Finch (Our Review)
- Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap (Our Review)
Board Game of the Year (For outstanding design in tabletop gaming)
[Winner Announced Here!]
- Assault of the Giants (Our Review)
- Gloomhaven
- Nemo's War (Our Review)
- Quests of Valeria (Our Review)
- The Expanse (Our Review)
Game of the Year (The best game of the year, whose sum of its parts are greater than any other)
[Winner Announced Here!]
- Cuphead (Our Review)
- Divinity: Original Sin II (Our Review)
- Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Our Review)
- Horizon Zero Dawn (Our Review)
- NieR: Automata (Our Review)
- Night in the Woods (Our Review)
- Persona 5 (Our Review)
- Resident Evil 7: biohazard (Our Review)
- Super Mario Odyssey (Our Review)
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Our Review)