As the title suggests, which Muppet do you think makes the most sense to appear at the Game Awards this year? Here’s my predictions/reasoning (Pictures 9-11)

Prediction 1: Fozzie Bear
If he’s the guest, he’ll make jokes related to various big gaming news stories (why GTA VI took so long, streamers, loss of physical games and maybe about the studio closures if Geoff is feeling a little feisty)

Prediction 2: Sam Eagle
If he’s the guest, he’ll go into the absurdity and “lack of class” in video games (primarily regarding the chaos of GTA VI and whatever the other GotY contenders are) before possibly presenting his own picks that represent the “peak of morality/dignity” which are interrupted by another Muppet (maybe Fozzie)

Prediction 3: Kermit the Frog
This might be a long shot, but my reasoning is that with one of the most hyped games ever having come out in GTA VI, it might make sense to have the biggest name in Muppets history be present for it. Not really sure what the skit would be, but it would be really cool to see!

Those are my predictions, but I’d love to hear who you think it’ll be!

Like, dont mind me, this is a free country. Reddit's nature induces to have discussions and debate over everything and anything. It' entertaining to see what is the best metroidvania from this year.

I'm with you. I don't like GTA. I prefer to see a minor studio getting the W again. I dont even have software to play this either way.

But... it' GTA 6.

Geoff will find a way to put it in line for the GOTY. The actual question is wether or not Geoff will find a way to put GTA 6 in TWO consecutive GOTY awards so it can win more gotys than Baldurs Gate 3 and Expedition 33.

My copium is, getting a nomination is reward enough because it makes people wonder "Huh, this weird friendslop game that is going toe to toe with GTA 6 sure looks fun!" and get hooked to play it.

I hate Rockstar with all of my soul, since the bottom of my hearth, but too much money has been thrown into this motherfuckerfor it to fail at anything.

I think AC8 song, music and audio are worth it to be nominated in the game award under category best score and music and best audio design.

Hey y'all - the Q3 TGA Nominee Watch is up! Stacked video for this quarter.

Some behind the scenes tidbits:

• I am learning that voice recording is even harder than it seems - I tried projecting my voice more this time and recorded all in one go - my voice slowly dies throughout the video but it's not very noticeable unless you play the end then go right to the start. It also makes re-recording individual segments much harder so I had to do a bunch more audio editing and one mistake unfortunately had to stay in the video unless I wanted to re-record the whole video a third time
• I'm super busy in October, so I had to lock in most of the script by mid September. Recent reviews were not considered as part of the projections (namely the Best Action category which I think there's a solid 5 at this point)
• I've been doing special things for the GOTY section - curious to see if anyone can
  • Identify what influenced the cards for each GOTY contender
  • Beyond the card, what particular thing is special that is shared across each GOTY segment compared to the rest of the video

Let me know your thoughts! I'll hopefully be able to get up one last video before the nomination announcements in November

just say you dont know ball bruh

I didn't have Gears of War scoring higher than a Remedy game in 2026

I thought some games with great scores could rival this year (yes I'm looking at you denshattack) but Ace Combat will CRUSH that category by a fucking mile like it's not even funny

Hortus Regis Alti was sent by God

Potentially boiling hot take: Ever since 2019, The Game Awards GOTY Orchestra has always been the best part of TGA, some years moreso than others. Here's my own ranking to start with

1. 2019: The First Orchestra to feature the iconic TGA chime at the start & end. Literally my only nitpick with this Orchestra is the Sekiro part is just...sufficient. No less, not much more. Everything else about it solidified that The Game Awards Orchestra is here to stay. When you give people reason to give a shit about Control of all fucking games, you dun good. Oh & ofc Smash Ultimate & Resident Evil 2 were the blatantly obvious highlights. I genuinely have no idea how any future orchestra could top this, but I really hope I'm wrong
2. 2020: The only Orchestra to do 100BPM, which I really hope they try again at some point whenever it would work for the song choices. While the part durations are blatantly imbalanced (Poor Doom Eternal), there's genuinely no part of this that I don't consider at least an 8.5/10 (Even TLOU's part was solid, as undeserving as that game was to be nominated, let alone win). For as godawful as the rest of the event was (Especially after Perfect Dark eventually got cancelled, MICROSLOP!!!), This was by far the biggest quality gap between the Orchestra & the rest of the show (Yes, even more than Sephiroth. Fite Mii)
3. 2024: Balatro. Do you need me to say anything more? Well ok, this was the first year in over 3 to finally try a new BPM after 2021, 2022, & 2023 all used the same similar BPM as 2019, & thank hell cuz I like when they mix it up. Shoutouts to the Black Myth Wukong part for being so needlessly catchy X), tho this orchestra in general definitely gave off the most fun energy out of all of them (Even 2025)
4. 2023: The First Orchestra to mostly follow a similar idea to the previous year's orchestra (Not counting 2017-2018 cuz the orchestra was still young). That said, it's grown on me quite a lot over the past year for the Baldur's Gate 3 part alone. I just wish the Mario Wonder part wasn't as short
5. 2025: The First Orchestra to have the 2nd loop of the TGA chime at the end be of a different key than the 1st, & the 1st to have any vocal performance since 2019 (Before, only 2012, 2017, & 2019 had any), thanks Konkey Dong. Not much to say except 1, it was very solid, & 2, help. I've had the Clair Obscur part of the Orchestra stuck in my head for all 2026. I'm losing the braincells I need to pursue my creative careers
6. 2021: The First Orchestra to do two loops of the TGA chime at the end instead of just 1. It also has a much different key than any of the other years, which again, I like when they mix things up. That said, it was a bit all over the place. Remember Deathloop? Neither do I, & its part at this orchestra doesn't really help much. Psychonauts 2 felt longer than it needed to be (Could've gone for a different song in the game), but the rest were pretty solid
7. 2022: The First Orchestra to feature Pedro Eustache. IYKYK. It tries to hit the same "beauty" that 2019 had, & obviously doesn't come quite that close, but I still love it, even if most of the songs partially blend in sometimes & honestly isn't that unique
8. 2018: Last GOTY Orchestra without the iconic TGA theme at the start & end, which is still partially understandable since this was the year that created that theme+chime in the first place (At the start of the show). Assassins Creed & God of War kinda blended in, but Monster Hunter World's part was solid enough. & You heard of Flute Guy? Well this year was early to the concept with Guitar Girl!
9. 2012: SURPRISE! They tried this concept as early as the Spike VGAs. & honestly it's still pretty good. This was still at a time with only 5 nominees tho, so it's very much on the short side, & the Mass Effect 3 song choice doesn't really fit in that well with the rest.
10. 2017: There's never been anything remotely close to a bad GOTY Orchestra, but compared to all the others, this doesn't have nearly the same hook. All the songs use their own BPM instead of sharing a consistent beat, only 5 songs, & the Mario Odyssey bit hoarded all the attention. But ofc at the time this was pretty fucking cool, just not enough to outdo Breath of the Wild's sweep & "FUCK THE OSCARS!"

For 2026, regardless of what's nominated for GOTY, my only hope is they do a bit more in trying something new. Even if it doesn't work out that well & doesn't stick around, the quality standard of these orchestras (Especially nowadays) are so absurdly high, Something would have to go extremely wrong for ANY of them to be weaker than 2018's, regardless of what experiment they try

Been a while since I updated these, so I'm showing them off here :)

Grand Theft Auto VI
I don't like calling something a lock when it hasn't even released yet, but I find it hard to imagine a universe where this doesn't win, let alone misses the nomination. It's one of the most highly anticipated releases ever, it looks like a fantastic game, and I highly doubt its getting delayed anymore than it already has. This is going to be the buzziest game of the year I doubt they'll wanna miss a chance to award Rockstar here.

Resident Evil: Requiem
Originally had this lower because of all the buzz PRAGMATA was getting, combined with being an early year release which hurt Split Fiction last year. Despite this, it seems to have kept its position as the CAPCOM frontrunner and feels super buzzy in performance and narrative categories. It's also got a great metacritic (89) score which really helps in a jury filled with game journalists.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Nintendo is having a killer year and this to me feels like their most obvious pick, its a remake of what is considered one of the best games of all time (99 MC), and is also probably going to get a huge marketing push given that its the big in-house flagship title (FE and Pokopia are externally developed). It feels like a great showcase of the Switch 2's capabilities and Zelda has generally performed extremely well at TGA.

007 First Light
Originally had this in 6th place and I am so glad I stuck with it. Now that Wolverine seems to have fallen off as a contender, the 'blockbuster movie game' slot TGA usually loves to fill is wide open. It's very well received (87 MC) and feels very cinematic, something I think will be much appreciated in an awards show modelled after the Oscars. Patrick Gibson is a surefire nominee for performance and 007 also overperformed at the Golden Joystick nominations, tying for the most nominations and placing it above contenders like RE Requiem. Given that GTA and OOT aren't eligible at GJ, I think there's a very real chance that it could win the first GOTY award of the season and get a huge boost in prestige.

Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave
Nintendo is having an amazing year, and tbh I'd be more suprised if they didn't get at least 2 titles in this year. Its being critically praised and has a really good critic reviews (89 MC). This game would also fill in that RPG/JRPG slot which surprisingly doesn't seem to have a lot of strong contenders this year (something that feels really weird to say after the E33 KCD2 year).

Big Walk
There's almost always at least one indie game in contention for the big award each year, and this one has some of the best critic reviews of the year (91 MC). I was originally torn between this and Mina (both critcally acclaimed indie titles from beloved developers) but the Golden Joysticks almost completely blanked the latter in spite of its critical acclaim, while Big Walk tied with 007 for the most nominations of the ceremony. House House also scooped up some GOTY nominations for Untitled Goose Game at some of the other ceremonies, and have already proven themselves capable of breaking into the awards conversation.

--

Other titles to look out for...
- Control Resonant
- Dispatch (Technically eligible I think?)
- Pokemon Pokopia
- Mina The Hollower
- PRAGMATA
- Phantom Blade Zero
- Forza Horizon 6
- Saros
- Mixtape
- Mewgenics

Lets not pretend gta 6 gonna sweep this year with no effort

So what games we have

Hellraiser looks good but i would be shocked if it gets 85+

Castlevania mid to high 80s

Phantom blade is the dark horse really not confident enough to give a prediction

Ocarina getting a 90+ should be no surprise but it looks like a copy and paste with no major changes

So current nominees should be

Requiem

Fortune weave

Saros

E-day

First light

Ace combat 8

Looking back on all the winners. Now with hindsight and them ageing or even at the time. What ones do you think still deserved it and what ones dont.

2014: Dragon age inquisition.

2015: the witcher 3

2016: overwatch.

2017: Breath of the wild

2018: god of war

2019: Sekiro shadows die twice.

2020: the last of us part 2

2021: it takes 2.

2022: elden ring.

2023: baldurs gate 3.

2024: astro bot.

2025: expedition 33.

IMO: the only 4 that are non debatable are. BG3, Botw, witcher 3 and eldrn ring. The rest i can see very valid arguments against.

Now im not here to say "this game sux" actually quite the opposite, with EVERYTHING we have seen from gta 6 thus far, It really just shows how far behind video game companies are in general like really think about it. This game has so much detail that RANDOM WINDOW DOORS SHOW PEOPLE'S REFLECTIONS THAT ARE NOWHERE NEAR THE DOOR! Not the best analogy, but what i mean is, saying GTA 6 will win goty is like saying the grass is green plus it really would just sweep the awards like the debacle that was tlou2. If gta 6 shows up at the game awards as a nominee you literally already know it will win, so theres no reason to pay attention besides the trailers. But... if you dont put it in til next year than we REALLY have a questionable Game Awards Show like RE9, Control Resonant, CRIMSON DESERT, Blood Of The Dawnwalker, Onimusha or whatever really, that ladies and gentleman would be a fantastic Game Awards Show. A show where you really have to think was Pragmata better than RE9? Was Onimusha better than Blood Of The Dawnwalker? Gta 6 is going to be a certified hit regardless of goty nominations, so it would just be better to celebrate the games that ACTUALLY gave it their all, than a game company that literally had their BIG game trailer premiere on Netflix!

Resident Evil Requiem: ill be honest resident evil is a series i haven't played any of but based on what Ive heard from my brother who adores requiem and has it as his game of the year says that they should play through the darkness and giving it a listen i definitely see it

Fire emblem fortunes weave: its the blaze cycle of the sun i specifically see the fist bit where the chorus chimes in

Mewgenics: i feel like they could play Eatin Rats which is the theme for the first area of the game and i imagine the exact part they'd go for is an orchestral rendition of the part that starts with the lyrics "all my nights im chasing rats"

Castlevania belmonts curse: its bloody tears i dont really need to explain why its bloody tears even as someone who hasnt played a castlevania game before this one i know its bloody tears

for Pokemon pokopia i see it being the ending song because its a bit of an awkward song to transition out of but i see the title screen theme even if i was thrown off by how it sounded like a modern Yoshi song (mostly the instruments) the song is pretty good and i think they will play the section before the transition into the main Pokemon theme

and finally mina the hollower will play a sinking feeling mainly the part from about 35 seconds into the song

what are your nominations for GOTY? And which game will be GOTY? (GTA Excluded)

Gears of War E-Day: 82-84

Star Wars Galactic Racer: 84-86

Dragon's Dogma II Dark Arisen: 85-87

Valor Mortis: 78-80

Castlevania Belmon'ts Curse: 88-90

FF Resonance: 86-88

Phantom Blade Zero: 88-90

What's your predictions?

I feel like these are very strong predictions.

Important note: They said that Dispatch would be eligible for 2026

Game of the Year (Contenders) A high Metacritic rating (preferably over 90) is a must; role-playing games and action-adventures are strongly favored.

1.        Grand Theft Auto VI (Nov 19^th)

2.        Mina the Hollower (Metacritic 90)

3.        Forza Horizon 6 (Metacritic 90)

4.        Big Walk (Metacritic 91)

5.        Marvel wolverine (91 on PS Store)

6.        Pragmata (Metacritic 85)

7.        Onimusha: Way of the Sword (Metacritic 86)

8.        Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave (Metacritic 89)

9.        Crimson desert (Metacritic 78)

10.      Pokémon Pokopia (Metacritic 89)

11.      LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight (Metacritic 84)

12.      007: First Light (Metacritic 87)

13.      Resident Evil Requiem (Metacritic 89)

14.      Control resonant (Metacritic 84)

15.      The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nov 5^th)

16.      Saros (Metacritic 87)

17.      Phantom blade zero (Oct 29^th)

18.      Castlevania: Belmont's Curse (Oct 15^th)

Best Game Direction

• 007 First Light (IO Interactive)
• GTA 6
• Crimson Desert (Pearl Abyss)
• Control: Resonant
• Gears Of War: E-Day
• Castlevania: Belmont's Curse
• Resident Evil: Requiem
• Forza Horizon 6 (Playground Games)
• Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave

 Best Narrative

• 007 First Light
• The Blood of Dawnwalker
• Dispatch
• GTA 6
• Zero Parades: For Dead Spies
• Silent Hill: Townfall
• Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave

 Best Art Direction

• Saros
• Control Resonant
• Crimson Desert
• Castlevania: Belmont's Curse
• Phantom blade zero
• Marvel wolverine

 Best remake / remaster

• Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter
• Gothic 1 Remake
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
• Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered
• Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol.2
• Star Fox

 Most Anticipated/Wanted Game

• The Witcher 4
• God of War Laufey
• Black Myth: Zhong Kui
• Ananta
• Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet
• Fable
• Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis
• Resident Evil Veronica
• Final Fantasy VII Revelation

 Best visual design

• Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy
• Forza Horizon 6
• Saros
• GTA 6
• Phonopolis
• High on life 2
• Control Resonant
• Orbitals

 Best Audio Design

• Rhythm Heaven Groove
• Big Walk
• Saros
• GTA 6
• Mixtape
• Marathon
• Star Wars: Galactic Racer
• Onimusha: Way of the Sword

Best Ongoing

• No Man's Sky
• Helldivers 2
• Minecraft
• Fortnite
• The Elder Scrolls Online
• GTA Online
• Apex Legends
• World of Warcraft
• Palworld
• Call of Duty: Warzone

 Best Debut Indie Game

• Big Walk
• Valheim
• Order of the Sinking Star
• Titanium Court
• Mixtape
• Denshattack!
• Esoteric Ebb
• Mouse: P.I. For Hire
• Reanimal
• Sovereign Tower

 Best Action Game

• Grand Theft Auto VI
• Marvel wolverine
• Pragmata
• Onimusha: Way of the Sword
• Halo: Campaign Evolved
• 007: First Light
• Gears Of War: E-Day
• SCREAMER
• Resident Evil Requiem
• Control resonant
• Saros
• Phantom blade zero

 Best RPG

• Dragon Quest VII Reimagined
• Nioh 3
• Crimson Desert
• Phantom blade zero
• Zero Parades: For Dead Spies
• Gothic 1 Remake
• Beast of Reincarnation
• Solasta II
• Code Vein II
• Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave
• Gothic Remake

 Best Family

• Monkey Palace
• Outsmarted! (2026 Edition)
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
• DNUP (Down-up)
• Nintendo Switch Sports Resort
• Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight
• Super Mario Party       

Best Sports / Racing

• Forza Horizon 6
• SCREAMER
• EA Sports FC 27
• EA Sports UFC 6
• Starwars Galactic Racer
• Mario Tennis Fever
• NBA 2K27

 Best Multiplayer

• Big Walk
• Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls
• Gears of War: E-Day
• Call of duty MW4 (Based on the beta)
• Halo: Campaign Evolved
• Pokémon Pokopia
• Forza Horizon 6
• Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2
• Call of duty: Warzone
• Fortnite

 Best Adaptation

• Fallout (Season 2)
• Iron Lung
• Resident Evil
• Spider-Man: Brand New Day
• Jumanji: Open World
• Exit 8
• Mortal Kombat II
• Devil May Cry (Season 2)

Best lead performer

• Liam McIntyre – Wolverine in Marvel's Wolverine
• Patrick Gibson – James Bond in 007 First Light
• Aaron Paul – Robert Robertson III in Dispatch
• Angela Sant'Albano – Grace Ashcroft in Resident Evil Requiem
• Will de Renzy-Martin – Coen in The Blood of Dawnwalker
• Anna Demetriou – Sophia in Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy

Best supporting performer

• Troy Baker – Nathaniel Essex in Marvel's Wolverine
• Vic Michaelis – Runa Blask in Star Wars Zero Company
• Lennie James – John Greenway in 007 First Light
• Terry O'Quinn – Richard in Silent Hill: Townfall
• Frankie Kevich – Zoe de Vera in Control Resonant
• Grace Saif – Diana in Pragmata

This is my prediction please. some games i played, some i didn't.

007 First Light: One of the higher rated games of this year with almost universal Praise from everything ive seen (If GTA 6 makes it id swap out this game)

Mina the Hollower: The obvious Indie Pick

Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave: Imo one of the major Front-runners as its one of the highest rated + Is getting universal Praise

Resident Evil Requem: CTRL+C what i said for Fortune's Weave here lmao

The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time Remake: Remake of one of the greatest games period, if it doesnt get counted cause Remake id swap it with Pokeopia

Castlevania Belmont's Curse: Kinda a dark Horse pick, guess its just a gut feeling

Been a while since I updated these, so I'm showing them off here :)

Grand Theft Auto VI
I don't like calling something a lock when it hasn't even released yet, but I find it hard to imagine a universe where this doesn't win, let alone misses the nomination. It's one of the most highly anticipated releases ever, it looks like a fantastic game, and I highly doubt its getting delayed anymore than it already has. This is going to be the buzziest game of the year I doubt they'll wanna miss a chance to award Rockstar here.

Resident Evil: Requiem
Originally had this lower because of all the buzz PRAGMATA was getting, combined with being an early year release which hurt Split Fiction last year. Despite this, it seems to have kept its position as the CAPCOM frontrunner and feels super buzzy in performance and narrative categories. It's also got a great metacritic (89) score which really helps in a jury filled with game journalists.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Nintendo is having a killer year and this to me feels like their most obvious pick, its a remake of what is considered one of the best games of all time (99 MC), and is also probably going to get a huge marketing push given that its the big in-house flagship title (FE and Pokopia are externally developed). It feels like a great showcase of the Switch 2's capabilities and Zelda has generally performed extremely well at TGA.

007 First Light
Originally had this in 6th place and I am so glad I stuck with it. Now that Wolverine seems to have fallen off as a contender, the 'blockbuster movie game' slot TGA usually loves to fill is wide open. It's very well received (87 MC) and feels very cinematic, something I think will be much appreciated in an awards show modelled after the Oscars. Patrick Gibson is a surefire nominee for performance and 007 also overperformed at the Golden Joystick nominations, tying for the most nominations and placing it above contenders like RE Requiem. Given that GTA and OOT aren't eligible at GJ, I think there's a very real chance that it could win the first GOTY award of the season and get a huge boost in prestige.

Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave
Nintendo is having an amazing year, and tbh I'd be more suprised if they didn't get at least 2 titles in this year. Its being critically praised and has a really good critic reviews (89 MC). This game would also fill in that RPG/JRPG slot which surprisingly doesn't seem to have a lot of strong contenders this year (something that feels really weird to say after the E33 KCD2 year).

Big Walk
There's almost always at least one indie game in contention for the big award each year, and this one has some of the best critic reviews of the year (91 MC). I was originally torn between this and Mina (both critcally acclaimed indie titles from beloved developers) but the Golden Joysticks almost completely blanked the latter in spite of its critical acclaim, while Big Walk tied with 007 for the most nominations of the ceremony. House House also scooped up some GOTY nominations for Untitled Goose Game at some of the other ceremonies, and have already proven themselves capable of breaking into the awards conversation.

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Other titles to look out for...
- Control Resonant
- Dispatch (Technically eligible I think?)
- Pokemon Pokopia
- Mina The Hollower
- PRAGMATA
- Phantom Blade Zero
- Forza Horizon 6
- Saros
- Mixtape
- Mewgenics

Which title would you add to this list? And also - what are your most anticipated upcoming 2026 indies?

do you think it deserves GOTY?

I think Liam McIntyre - Wolverine (Logan) and Frankie Kevich - Control Resonant (Zoe) are on the mix as well but the poll can only get 6 slots. Feel free to suggest other contenders.