Though the Game Developers Conference has been entirely online for the past two years, the show in 2022 will be a live event taking place in San Francisco, CA, from March 21-25. The Game Developers Choice Awards, or GDCA, are one of the most anticipated moments of the annual conference, recognizing the game developers who led the pack in audio, design, storytelling, innovation, and social impact in the previous year.

Five titles have been nominated for the GDCA Game of the Year award, and three of the nominees will be familiar to those who followed The Game Awards in December 2021. Resident Evil Village, Arkane Studios’ time-hopping first-person shooter Deathloop, and TGA Game of Year winner It Takes Two are all up for the award at GDCA as well. Also on the list are Inscryption, a horror-themed deckbuilder published by Devolver Digital, and Forza Horizon 5.

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A few of the candidates in the running for this year’s GDCA Game of the Year award have also been nominated in other categories. Deathloop is in the running for six different awards, It Takes Two has been nominated for five, and Forza Horizon 5 has kept up the pace with four. Winners in all categories will be announced at the GDCA ceremony on March 23, and the event will be livestreamed on the GDC Twitch channel.

deathloop julianna blake

Launched in September 2021 on PC and as a timed console exclusive on PlayStation 5 Deathloop sucked players into the story of two rival assassins trapped in a time loop. The FPS, developed by the studio behind the Dishonored series and 2017’s Prey, immediately stood out for its striking art style and engaging narrative. The game has already won awards from other associations and received predominantly positive reviews from both critics and players.

Hazelight Studios’ It Takes Two snuck onto the scene and quickly grabbed gamers’ attention. It Takes Two can only be played cooperatively, requiring two people to work together to solve puzzles and unravel the tangled relationship of the game’s characters. While generally classified as an adventure game, Hazelight's third title offers a skillful mashup of multiple genres, with levels that feature gameplay mechanics from platformers, shooters, racers, and all manner of games. In addition to being awarded the title of Game of the Year at TGA, It Takes Two has also won and been nominated for a number of categories by other video game award shows.

The full list of Game Developers Choice Awards nominees is below:

GAME OF THE YEAR

Inscryption (Daniel Mullins Games / Devolver Digital)

Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games / Xbox Game Studios)

Resident Evil Village (Capcom)

Deathloop (Arkane Studios / Bethesda Softworks)

It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)

BEST AUDIO

Returnal (Housemarque / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Unpacking (Witch Beam / Humble)

Deathloop (Arkane Studios / Bethesda Softworks)

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (Eidos Montreal / Square Enix)

Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games / Xbox Game Studios)

BEST DEBUT

Kena: Bridge of Spirits (Ember Lab)

Valheim (Iron Gate Studio / Coffee Stain Publishing)

Wildermyth (Worldwalker Games / WhisperGames)

The Artful Escape (Beethoven & Dinosaur / Annapurna Interactive)

Sable (Shedworks / Raw Fury)

BEST DESIGN

It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)

Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine / Xbox Game Studios)

Halo Infinite (343 Industries / Xbox Game Studios)

Deathloop (Arkane Studios / Bethesda Softworks)

Inscryption (Daniel Mullins Games / Devolver Digital)

INNOVATION AWARD

It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)

Wildermyth (Worldwalker Games / WhisperGames)

Unpacking (Witch Beam / Humble)

Inscryption (Daniel Mullins Games / Devolver Digital)

Deathloop (Arkane Studios / Bethesda Softworks)

BEST NARRATIVE

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (Eidos Montreal / Square Enix)

Deathloop (Arkane Studios / Bethesda Softworks)

It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)

Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine / Xbox Game Studios)

Unpacking (Witch Beam / Humble)

SOCIAL IMPACT AWARD

Before Your Eyes (GoodbyeWorld Games / Skybound Games)

It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)

Life is Strange: True Colors (Deck Nine / Square Enix)

Boyfriend Dungeon (Kitfox Games)

Chicory: A Colorful Tale (The Chicory: A Colorful Tale Team / Finji)

BEST TECHNOLOGY

Halo Infinite (343 Industries / Xbox Game Studios)

Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games / Xbox Game Studios)

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Returnal (Housemarque / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Hitman 3 (IO Interactive)

BEST VISUAL ART

Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games / Xbox Game Studios)

Kena: Bridge of Spirits (Ember Lab)

Deathloop (Arkane Studios / Bethesda Softworks)

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine / Xbox Game Studios)

MORE: The Game Awards 2014-2021: Every Game of the Year Winner

Source: GDC