Video Games
GOTY Contenders ‘Alan Wake II’ and ‘Baldur’s Gate III’ Lead The Game Awards 2023 Nominations
Gaming’s biggest awards night returns on December 7 with The Game Awards 2023, and the nominees are in across more than 30 categories. As expected, it’s crowded at the top for nominations, with Larian Studios’ Baldur’s Gate III and Alan Wake II leading the way with 8 nominations each.
The big question (as with most years) is the Game of the Year Award. This year, Baldur’s Gate III and Alan Wake II are up for the award, but Nintendo has an edge with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is also nominated, as is Capcom’s Resident Evil 4 remake, which has three nominations in total.
Aside from Resident Evil 4 and Alan Wake II, horror gaming is represented by Lies of P (Best Art Direction and Best RPG), Dead Space (Best Audio), Diablo IV (Best Multiplayer and Innovation in Accessibility), Mortal Kombat 1 (Best Fighting Game and Innovation in Accessibility), DREDGE (Best Indie Game and Best Debut Indie Game), Resident Evil Village VR (Best VR Game), and Dead Island 2 and Remnant II (Best Action Game).
Returning from last year is the Best Adaptation category, and of course, the genre titles are here as well, with Castlevania: Nocturne, The Last of Us and Twisted Metal all being nominated.
Users can vote now in all categories via the official website for The Game Awards 2023, as well as the official The Game Awards Voting Bot on Discord. Voting ends on December 6 at 6:00pm PT/ 9:00pm ET.
Video Games
Bloody Body Horror Revealed in ‘Stellar Blade: Blood Rain’, Currently in Development [Trailer]
Shift Up has shifted things dramatically from 2024’s action-adventure game Stellar Blade, offering up a body horror bonanza in the newly announced sequel, Stellar Blade: Blood Rain. The sequel is currently early in development, but if the trailer is any indication, players will be in for plenty of body horror.
Continuing the story from the original Stellar Blade, Blood Rain will star a new protagonist named Eve. Earth has been abandoned, and what is left of humanity has fled to a Colony in outer space.
Shift Up had mentioned during a Q&A following its latest earnings presentation last month that development on Blood Rain (which was still unannounced at the time) was progressing smoothly, and was on track to meet their targeted quality standards.
Shift Up stated that with this new title it would be transitioning to a first-party service model, effectively moving away from the restrictions the game experienced with original publisher Sony, which had the game under an exclusivity agreement for the PlayStation 5. “This will allow us to lead marketing strategies that fully reflect the distinctive identity of the Stellar Blade IP, and we expect to communicate the unique appeal of its universe to players more directly and effectively.”
Whether this means that Xbox Players will finally be able to play the original game (or its sequel) is still not clear. Meanwhile, Stellar Blade is reportedly being ported to the Nintendo Switch 2, but no official confirmation has been made.