Hello and welcome to VGChartz’s 17th annual Game of the Year Awards!

As always the winners will be chosen by a combination of community and staff voting, and returning for a second year is the two-stage voting system:

1. The first stage is called Preliminary Voting. It lasts five days and the idea behind it is for community voting alone to reduce the often lengthy lists of games for each award down to a much smaller list of Nominees. Games that receive 5% or more of the vote during Preliminary Voting will go through to the second stage.
2. This second stage is called Final Voting. Final Voting will determine both the final Shortlist of games to be featured in each award article and, of course, the Winner. It will last around 10-14 days, just like the old system of voting, and will use a mixture of user and staff voting (with the usual 50/50 split in terms of weighting).

Here’s the link to our Preliminary Voting Form. All you need to take part is a Google account:

>>LINK<<

As a reminder this first round of voting will not determine any winners – be sure to come back in a few days’ time to take part in Final Voting and help decide which title from 2023 will be joining this illustrious list of former winners:

Elden Ring

Metroid Dread

The Last of Us Part II

Resident Evil 2

God of War

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

Rocket League

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

Super Mario 3D World

Journey

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Mass Effect 2

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

LittleBigPlanet

BioShock

FAQs:

Q - When does voting close?

A – Preliminary Voting closes on Wednesday 20th December.

Q - Can I change my vote/edit my voting form after submitting it?

A - Yes, you can edit your voting form up until we close voting.

Q - Do I have to select a game for every award?

A - Nope. Select your favourite for as many or as few categories as you wish.

Q - Why is game XXXXXXXX only listed for one of its genres and not the others?

A - Our past experiment where we allowed games to be nominated for all their various genres didn't work out well in practice. Everyone just voted for their favourite game in all its genres without a second thought. Because each game could ultimately only be picked for its most popular genre, this resulted in many wasted votes (over half in some genres), and also meant some games made the Shortlists with just a handful of votes. In order to avoid that, each game will only be listed for one genre.

Q – But you picked the wrong genre!

A – Let us know if a game should be listed under a different genre (ideally with a link to back it up, such as the game's own website or a storefront listing) and we’ll correct it.

Q - You forgot game XXXXXXX, you idiots.

A - Hundreds of games release every year and, while we try to catch all of the best ones when compiling the Game of the Year lists for voting, we invariably miss some. If a game you wish to vote for is missing then post in this thread and we'll add it as soon as possible. Do note that games must have released in the west for the very first time in 2023 though. Remasters and Ports (enhanced or otherwise) also aren't eligible for any awards other than Most Disappointing.

Q - Where's Grand Theft Auto VI/The Elder Scrolls VI/XXXX for Most Anticipated?

A - For the Most Anticipated of Award, only games that have firm release dates for next year have been included. That is why the likes of Grand Theft Auto VI, The Elder Scrolls VI, and more aren't on the list. If you think a major game is missing from this list despite having a firm release date, then provide a good source announcing a solid 2024 release and we'll add it.

Q - When and how will the Winners be announced?

A - Winners will be announced in a series of articles (as well as a thread I'll post) that we'll start publishing in early January. But remember, this is only the Preliminary Voting stage – be sure to come back in a week or so to take part in Final Voting and help determine the winners!

Glad to see the Talos Principle II in best narrative, definitely my choice. Looks like I won't have to request any additions this year

Great choice of games and a lot of good options (as is the nature of the gaming year 2023). Minor thing: I didn't see Against the Storm listed with Indie, even though I think it qualifies (at least I never heard of Hooded Horse as a big publisher) and the game made multiple other categories.

Added it to the list. If there's anything else missing just let me know.

Thanks. I played Against the Storm a lot this year, even before it left early access a few days ago.

I thought System Shock gunplay was good enough to be considered for Best Shooter. Also, kind of surprised Resident Evil 4 VR mode wasn't considered. But great list of games overall!

System Shock is listed under Action/Adventure.

I'll add Resident Evil 4 VR in now.

Spiderman score and artstyle didnt deserve nomination, asking people who played it

I'm very disappointed not to see Metroid Prime Remastered on the list. It's probably the best game I've played all year.