Today at the Paley Center for Media, hosts Manon Gage and Makeda Byfield revealed the nominations for the 13th Annual New York Game Awards.
The 2023 awards celebrate the year’s outstanding games and align with the New York Game Critics Circle’s work in educating underserved communities.
It may be too early for many of these 2023 games to already have keys on sites like Fanatical at discounted prices, but they are readily found on Steam, Gog and Amazon.
New York Game Awards – Big Apple Award for Best Game of the Year
- Alan Wake II
- Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
- Hi-Fi Rush
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
- Starfield
Off Broadway Award for Best Indie Game
- A Space for the Unbound
- Chants of Sennaar
- El Paso Elsewhere
- Jusant
- Pizza Tower
- Sea of Stars
- The Talos Principle II
- Viewfinder
Herman Melville Award for Best Writing in a Game
- Alan Wake II
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
- Starfield
- Tchia
- Thirsty Suitors
Statue of Liberty Award for Best World
- Alan Wake II
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Chants of Sennaar
- Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
- Final Fantasy XVI
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
- Starfield
Tin Pan Alley Award for Best Music in a Game
- Alan Wake II
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Final Fantasy XVI
- Hi-Fi Rush
- Tchia
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Great White Way Award for Best Acting in a Game
- Amelia Tyler as The Narrator in Baldur’s Gate 3
- Ben Starr as Clive Rosfield in Final Fantasy XVI
- Elizabeth Saydah as Riley in Oxenfree II: Lost Signals
- Idris Elba as Solomon Reed in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
- Melanie Liburd as Saga Anderson in Alan Wake II
- Neil Newbon as Astarion in Baldur’s Gate 3
Coney Island Dreamland Award for Best AR/VR Game
- Asgard’s Wrath 2
- Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR
- Body of Mine
- Horizon Call of the Mountain
- Humanity
- We Are One
Central Park Children’s Zoo Award for Best Kids Game
- Disney Illusion Island
- Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2
- Pikmin 4
- Super Mario Bro. Wonders
- Tchia
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
A-Train Award for Best Mobile Game
- Hello Kitty Island Adventure
- Honkai: Star Rail
- Kimono Cats
- Laya’s Horizon
- Monster Hunter Now
- Terra Nil
Freedom Tower Award for Best Remake
- Dead Space
- Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
- Metroid Prime Remastered
- Resident Evil 4
- Star Ocean: The Second Story
- Super Mario RPG
Joltin’ Joe Award for Best Esports Player of the Year
- Alexis “Zen” Bernier (Team Vitality) – Rocket League
- Arslan “Arslan Ash” Siddique (Twisted Minds/Red Bull eSports) – Tekken 7
- Choi “Zeus” Woo-je (T1) – League of Legends
- Lee “Faker” Sang-Hyeok (T1) – League of Legends
- Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut (Team Vitality) – Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- Paco “HyDra” Rusiewiez (New York Subliners) – Call of Duty
Chumley’s Speakeasy Award for Best Hidden Gem
- 9 Years of Shadow
- American Arcadia
- Conrad Stevenson’s Paranormal P.I.
- Outer Terror
- Slay the Princess
- Videoverse
NYC GWB Award for Best DLC
- Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
- Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania
- God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla
- Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores
- Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways
- Vampire Survivors: Co-op Mode
Knickerbocker Award for Best Games Journalism
- Andrea Long Chu, Vulture
- Blessing Adeoya Jr., Kinda Funny Games
- Brendan Sinclair, GamesIndustry.biz
- Ed Smith, PCGamesN/Bullet Points Monthly
- Hanif Abdurraqib, The Paris Review
- Nicole Carpenter, Polygon
- Reid McCarter, Bullet Points Monthly
The awards are run by the nonprofit New York Videogames Critics Circle. Last year, Elden Ring won the Big Apple Award for Game of the Year.
The 13th final will be held on the 23rd with hosts Reggie Fils-Aime and Harold Goldberg, who will honour Neil Druckmann, the Israeli-American writer behind Uncharted and The Last of Us.
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