After guessing that Nintendo Switch hit Xenoblade Chronicles 3 would be the biggest snub at the 2022 Game Awards, stunned Xeno-heads and Tetsuya Takahashi-stans can’t believe it. Geoff Keighley revealed on Monday that it is actually one of the six finalists for his show’s Game of the Year category, alongside frontrunners like Elden Ring and God of War Ragnarök.

It was the type of surprise that might throw some much-needed spice into a ceremony that can sometimes feel overly predictable and commercial. While Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has been lauded by critics and fans alike, JRPGs about fighting against fate and making the numbers go up rarely get mainstream recognition. I was also happy to see the excellent rat-infested stealth game A Plague Tale: Requiem get a nod, alongside the two remaining GOTY nominees, sci-fi cat sim Stray and and robot-dino wrangler Horizon Forbidden West.

Ahead of next month’s ninth annual Game Awards, host and creator Keighley also revealed the full list of other nominees today for categories ranging from Best Game Direction to Best Esports Event. While Sony is the publisher with the most games nominated, nearly double runners-up Nintendo and Annapurna Interactive, plenty of games with less fanfare were nominated as well.

Neon White and Tunic both received shoutouts in the Best Indie category, while Norco and Vampire Survivors were both recognized in the Best Debut Indie category. And because there are more good indie games than anyone knows what to do with, the third category of “Games for Impact” recognized standouts like Citizen Sleeper and I Was a Teenage Exocolonist as well.

One new category this year is Best Adaptation, aimed at recognizing the growing number of major games cashing in on Hollywood spin-offs. Sadly, Master Chief’s ass was snubbed: the Halo TV show did not get nominated. In the Content Creator of the Year category, meanwhile, recently departed star of gaming Twitter, Nibellion, was nominated. The lightning-quick news tweeter announced earlier this month that he was leaving the platform at just the moment Elon Musk began lighting it on fire.

While the real reason most people tune into Keighley’s show is to see the latest trailers and game announcements he’s managed to corral for the coming year, my eyes will be exclusively glued to find out whether Xenoblade Chroncles 3 can do the unthinkable in a year of stacked open-world blockbusters. It would be a shocking, if still extremely unlikely tribute to the culmination of one of the most ambitious and underrated series of the last three decades.

And hey, the game’s heroes already dethroned god once this year. Maybe they can do it again. The 2022 Game Awards will be livestreamed on December 8 starting at 7:30 p.m. ET.

GAME OF THE YEAR

A Plague Tale: Requiem (Asobo Studio/Focus Entertainment)

Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)

God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)

Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)

Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Monolith Soft/Nintendo)

BEST GAME DIRECTION

Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)

God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)

Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)

Immortality (Half Mermaid)

Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)

BEST NARRATIVE

A Plague Tale: Requiem (Asobo Studio/Focus Entertainment)

Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)

God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)

Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)

Immortality (Half Mermaid)

BEST ART DIRECTION

Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)

God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)

Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)

Scorn (Ebb Software/Kepler Interactive)

Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)

BEST SCORE AND MUSIC

Olivier Deriviere, A Plague Tale: Requiem

Tsukasa Saitoh, Elden Ring

Bear McCreary, God of War Ragnarök

Two Feathers, Metal: Hellsinger

Yasunori Mitsuda, Xenoblade Chronicles 3

BEST AUDIO DESIGN

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (Infinity Ward/Activision)

Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)

God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)

Gran Turismo 7 (Polyphony/SIE)

Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)

BEST PERFORMANCE

Ashly Burch, Horizon Forbidden West

Charlotte McBurney, A Plague Tale: Requiem

Christopher Judge, God of War Ragnarök

Manon Gage, Immortality

Sunny Suljic, God of War Ragnarök

GAMES FOR IMPACT

A Memoir Blue (Cloisters Interactive/Annapurna)

As Dusk Falls (Interior Night/Xbox Game Studios)

Citizen Sleeper (Jump Over The Age/Fellow Traveller)

Endling - Extinction is Forever (Herobeat Studios/HandyGames)

Hindsight (Team Hindsight/Annapurna)

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist (Northway Games/Finji)

BEST ONGOING GAME

Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)

Destiny 2 (Bungie)

FINAL FANTASY XIV (Square Enix)

Fortnite (Epic Games)

Genshin Impact (HoYoverse)

BEST INDIE

Cult of the Lamb (Massive Monster / Devolver Digital)

Neon White (Angel Matrix/Annapurna)

Sifu (Sloclap)

Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)

TUNIC (TUNIC Team/Finji)

BEST DEBUT INDIE

Neon White (Angel Matrix/Annapurna Interactive)

NORCO (Geography of Robots/Raw Fury)

Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)

TUNIC (TUNIC Team/Finji)

Vampire Survivors (poncle)

BEST COMMUNITY SUPPORT, PRESENTED BY DISCORD

Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)

Destiny 2 (Bungie)

FINAL FANTASY XIV (Square Enix)

Fortnite (Epic Games)

No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)

BEST MOBILE

Apex Legends Mobile (Lightspeed & Quantum/Respawn/EA)

Diablo Immortal (Blizzard/NetEase)

Genshin Impact (HoYovese)

MARVEL SNAP (Second Dinner Studios/Nuverse)

Tower of Fantasy (Hotta Studio/Perfect World/Level Infinite)

BEST VR/AR

After the Fall (Vertigo Games)

Among Us VR (Schell Games/InnerSloth)

BONELAB (Stress Level Zero)

Moss: Book II (Polyarc)

Red Matter 2 (Vertical Robot)

BEST ACTION

Bayonetta 3 (Platinum Games/Nintendo)

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (Infinity Ward/Activision)

Neon White (Angel Matrix/Annapurna)

Sifu (Sloclap)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge (Tribute Games/Dotemu)

BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE

A Plague Tale: Requiem (Asobo Studio/Focus Entertainment)

God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)

Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)

Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)

TUNIC (TUNIC Team/Finji)

BEST ROLE PLAYING

Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)

Live a Live (Square Enix/Nintendo)

Pokémon Legends: Arceus (Game Freak/Nintendo/TPCI)

Triangle Strategy (Artdink/Square Enix)

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Monolith Soft/Nintendo)

BEST FIGHTING

DNF Duel (Arc System Works/EIGHTING/NEOPLE/NEXON)

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R (CyberConnect 2 Co. Ltd/Bandai Namco)

The King of Fighters XV (SNK/Plaion)

MultiVersus (Player First Games/WB Games)

Sifu (Sloclap)

BEST FAMILY

Kirby and the Forgotten Land (HAL Laboratory / Nintendo)

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (Traveller’s Tales/WB Games)

Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (Ubisoft Milan/Paris/Ubisoft)

Nintendo Switch Sports (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)

Splatoon 3 (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)

BEST SIM/STRATEGY

Dune: Spice Wars (Shiro Games/Funcom)

Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (Ubisoft Milan/Paris/Ubisoft)

Total War: WARHAMMER III (Creative Assembly/Sega)

Two Point Campus (Two Point Studios/Sega)

Victoria 3 (Paradox Development Studio/Paradox Interactive)

BEST SPORTS/RACING

F1 22 (Codemasters/EA Sports)

FIFA 23 (EA Vancouver/Romania/EA Sports)

NBA 2K23 (Visual Concepts/2K Sports)

Gran Turismo 7 (Polyphony Digital/SIE)

OlliOlli World (Roll 7/Private Division)

BEST MULTIPLAYER

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (Infinity Ward/Activision)

MultiVersus (Player First Games/WB Games)

Overwatch 2 (Blizzard)

Splatoon 3 (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge (Tribute Games/Dotemu)

MOST ANTICIPATED

FINAL FANTASY XVI (Square Enix)

Hogwarts Legacy (Avalanche Software/WB Games)

Resident Evil 4 (Capcom)

Starfield (Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda)

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)

CONTENT CREATOR OF THE YEAR

Karl Jacobs

Ludwig

Nibellion

Nobru

QTCinderella

BEST ADAPTATION

Arcane: League of Legends (Fortiche/Riot Games/Netflix)

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (Studio Trigger/CD Projekt, Netflix)

The Cuphead Show! (Studio MDHR/King Features Syndicate/Netflix)

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Sammy Group/Paramount Pictures)

Uncharted (PlayStation Productions/Sony Pictures)

INNOVATION IN ACCESSIBILITY

As Dusk Falls (Interior Night/Xbox Game Studios)

God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)

Return to Monkey Island (Terrible Toybox/Devolver Digital)

The Last Of Us Part I (Naughty Dog/SIE)

The Quarry (Supermassive Games/2K)

BEST ESPORTS GAME

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve)

DOTA 2 (Valve)

League of Legends (Riot Games)

Rocket League (Psyonix)

VALORANT (Riot Games)

BEST ESPORTS ATHLETE

Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon (Gen.G, LOL)

Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok (T1, LOL)

Finn “karrigan” Andersen ( (FaZe Clan - CS:GO)

Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev (Natus Vincere, CS:GO)

Jacob “Yay” Whiteaker (Cloud9, Valorant)

BEST ESPORTS TEAM

DarkZero Esports (Apex Legends)

FaZe Clan (CS:GO)

Gen.G (League of Legends)

LA Thieves (Call of Duty)

LOUD (Valorant)

BEST ESPORTS COACH

Andrii “B1ad3" Horodenskyi (Natus Vincere, CS:GO)

Matheus “bzkA” Tarasconi (LOUD, VALORANT)

Erik “d00mbr0s” Sandgren (FPX, VALORANT)

Robert “RobbaN” Dahlström (FaZe Clan, CS:GO)

Go “Score” Dong-bin (Gen.G, LOL)

BEST ESPORTS EVENT

EVO 2022

2022 League of Legends World Championship

PGL Major Antwerp 2022

The 2022 Mid-Season Invitational

VALORANT Champions 2022