The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences announced the official list of finalists for the 26th annual DICE Awards. 61 games released in 2022 are competing across 23 different categories, including Game of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Animation, Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition, Role-Playing Game of the Year, and more.
Founded in 1992, the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences is a non-profit organization best known for organizing the annual Design Innovate Communicate Entertain summit since 1998. The latter is also known as DICE and should not be confused with the game developer of the same name. The 26th annual DICE Awards will be live-streamed from the Aria Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, on February 23.
The five finalists for the DICE Award’s Game of the Year are From Software’s Elden Ring, Santa Monica Studio’s God of War Ragnarok, Guerrilla Games’ Horizon Forbidden West, BlueTwelve Studio’s Stray, and Luca Galante’s solo-developed Vampire Survivors. God of War Ragnarok has 12 nominations overall, including two shots at Outstanding Achievement in Character, thanks to Kratos and Atreus’s separate nominations. Meanwhile, Horizon Forbidden West has eight nominations, Elden Ring has seven, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Immortality, Moss: Book 2, Tunic, and Vampire Survivors each have four. Finally, Stray has three nominations, including Game of the Year.
In addition to jockeying for the top spot, Elden Ring, God of War: Ragnarok, and Horizon Forbidden West are also competing against and for the Outstanding Achievement in Animation award. Fellow nominees for that award include Moss: Book 2 and Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course.God of War Ragnarok and Horizon Forbidden West are also in the running for Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction alongside Modern Warfare 2, Stray, and The Callisto Protocol. Meanwhile, Atreus and Kratos competitors for Outstanding Achievement in Character include MW2’s Alejandro Vargas, Forbidden West’s Aloy, and Guybrush Threepwood from Return to Monkey Island.
There are too many nominees and categories to do all of them justice here. However, notable categories include Immortality, Neon White, TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge, Tunic, and Vampire Survivors competing for Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game. Other interesting categories include Outstanding Achievement in Story, Mobile Game of the Year, Online Game of the Year, and the two categories for Immersive Reality Games. Gamers can find the complete list of categories and nominees on the AIAS website and tune into the official livestream hosted by IGN.
