The Game Awards has revealed its annual nominees, and just like every year before this one, everyone is up in arms about which games have been picked, and which have been snubbed. Personally, I believe Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth getting GOTY nods over Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth is one of the biggest crimes the show has ever committed, but that’s a conversation for another day. Instead, we’re here to talk about its weird relationship with horror.
Ever since The Game Awards debuted back in 2014, the ceremony hasn’t once had a dedicated category for horror games. That’s fairly understandable when you look at the horror offerings throughout the 2010s, but the genre has seen a massive resurgence in recent years.
Just last year, two horror games in Alan Wake 2 and Resident Evil 4 were nominated for GOTY, and that’s without even mentioning some of the fantastic indie games that launched alongside them, like Paranormasight, Dredge, and Slay the Princess. This year has seen even more gems emerge, and yet very few – if any at all – have received any praise in this year’s nominations.
Horror Games Are Not Action Adventure Games
Instead, horror titles like Silent Hill 2 – and seemingly any other great game that doesn’t fall into The Game Awards’ specific boxes – get thrown into the “Best Action/Adventure” category. This year, Silent Hill 2 is up against the likes of Astro Bot, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, and Star Wars Outlaws. Only one of those games is actually an action adventure title, and it’s the worst one of the lot.
Alan Wake 2 shared a similar fate in 2023, losing out to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. You couldn’t get two more opposing titles if you tried, and while Tears of the Kingdom and most likely Astro Bot deserve their wins, it’s unfair to pit them against horror games that are going for a completely different experience.
Note: You can’t just throw a horror game, a metroidvania, a puzzle game, a platformer, and an action/adventure game into one category and still attempt to call yourself a competent awards ceremony.
More than ever, The Game Awards needs a dedicated horror category. It’s a genre that doesn’t really fit into any other classification, made evident by how often horror games are vaguely referred to as “Action/Adventure”. Indie devs that make a psychological horror game may as well kiss their chances of appearing at the show goodbye, unless it’s exceptional enough to be a GOTY contender in its own right. But not everyone can be Balatro…
Horror Is Thriving In 2024 And Beyond
It’s not a case of there not being enough horror games to fill a category either. Can you honestly look at the “Best Adaptation” category and then tell me without cracking a smile that Knuckles and Like A Dragon: Yakuza are award-winning shows? The Game Awards would likely disagree, but they’re very clearly there to make up numbers in a year that hasn’t been all that great for video game adaptations, outside a couple of high-profile shows.
Even then, we’ve had games like Crow Country (please go play it, I beg), Still Wakes The Deep, Mouthwashing, The Outlast Trials, The Casting of Frank Stone, Pacific Drive and that’s without even mentioning the elephant in the room that is Silent Hill 2. Next year is looking pretty good too, with games like Reanimal, Urban Myth Dissolution Center, and Demonschool already on my radar. To argue that there aren’t enough horror games to fill a category is to completely disregard an entire genre and the creative efforts of dozens of indie developers.
I’m going to end this rant by saying that I don’t much care for The Game Awards as a whole. I think it’s a horrifically commercialized, hollow excuse for an awards ceremony that focuses far too much on hawking Fortnite skins and providing Geoff Keighley with an outlet to fawn over his celebrity buddies. But, I also think that it’s, unfortunately, the biggest stage for representation that the games industry has right now.
One of the best parts of The Game Awards is seeing a niche game that you love get introduced to potentially millions of people for the first time, and having a throwaway category as something to toss popular horror games into like they’re a nuisance robs indie horror developers of their chance to have their work recognized and appreciated on a grand scale. If The Game Awards wants to keep up the charade that it’s about showcasing the industry’s talent and creativity, then it needs to start respecting every aspect of it, and horror is no exception.
The Game Awards
Founded by Geoff Keighley, The Game Awards is a video games event centered on celebrating the best of the year’s titles, with emphasis on reveals and promos for upcoming launches.