The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is honored with the Game of the Year award at the Game Developers Choice Awards, an event held as part of the 2016 Game Developers Conference.
Last night saw industry insiders gather in San Francisco, as the 16th annual Game Developers Choice Awards got underway as part of this year's Game Developers Conference. Despite strong competition from a crop of popular titles, CD Projekt RED's widely acclaimed RPG The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt came out on top, being named Game of the Year.
Based on a series of books by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, The Witcher follows protagonist Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter who combines skill with supernatural abilities to stalk and kill his targets. While the first two games in the series were well-received, Wild Hunt was given huge amounts of praise across the board upon its release last year.
The game was described as 'one of the best role-playing games of all time' in the Game Rant review published upon its release. Most would agree that it's one of the must-play titles of 2015.
The Witcher 3 is now the most awarded game of all time, according to data collected by a user on popular video game forum NeoGAF. Wild Hunt has now received 251 Game of the Year plaudits, just edging out that 249 that The Last of Us picked up after releasing in 2013.
Before the release of The Witcher 3, CD Projekt RED stated that the game would be the last title centring around Geralt that the studio would work on. However, given the enormous amount of praise the game received, there's a slim chance that plans might have changed since that time.
Other titles nominated for the GDC Game of the Year award were Fallout 4, Bloodborne and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Among these AAA releases, popular motorized football sim Rocket League and its development studio Psyonix also got a nod.
The Independent Games Festival Awards — which are run in tandem with the Game Developers Choice Awards — honoured Her Story with its Innovation Award. The unusual police procedural uses live action video and some unique game mechanics to craft a wholly original narrative surrounding a man's disappearance.
Both the Game Developers Choice Awards and the Independent Game Festival Awards were spoiled for choice this year, with excellent releases being offered up by both wings of the video game industry. With the awards for games launched in 2015 now handed out, we'll have to wait and see with 2016 titles make the same impact.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is available now for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
Source: PC Gamer