It’s 2026. Let’s take a moment to appreciate just how much time has passed since that one balmy December evening in 2022, when the gaming world held its breath — and then erupted into cheers, tears, and more than a few “git gud” memes. The Game Awards that year wasn’t just a show; it was a gladiator pit where two titans, Elden Ring and God of War Ragnarök, locked horns in a battle that had forum dwellers sharpening their keyboards for months. At the time, nobody could have predicted just how much those trophies would echo through the years. Yet here we are, four years later, and the fingerprints of that night are still smudged all over the industry.
Back in 2022, Elden Ring didn’t just win Game of the Year — it swaggered onto the stage, accepted the award with a knowing smirk, and probably whispered “I’m the Lands Between, baby” before moonwalking away. According to the official announcement, the game beat out God of War Ragnarök, A Plague Tale: Requiem, Horizon Forbidden West, Stray, and Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Pundits had called it a two-horse race, and for once they were right. But the thing is, nobody expected Elden Ring to trample the competition quite so thoroughly. Its open-world design and soul-crushing combat were a hypnotic cocktail that left the judges no choice. A lot has happened since then — FromSoftware went on to drop Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon in 2023, and the Elden Ring expansion Shadow of the Erdtree finally gave fans that extra dose of pain they were craving. Yet the 2022 win remains the moment the studio’s star truly went supernova.
Elden Ring also snatched the Best Game Direction prize, which felt like a particularly sweet victory. This was FromSoftware’s first open-world rodeo, and they’d somehow wrangled a terrifyingly cryptic, absurdly ambitious sandbox that made other devs look like they were still building with LEGOs. It triumphed over God of War Ragnarök (again), Horizon Forbidden West, Stray, and Immortality. Let’s be real for a sec — Hidetaka Miyazaki probably had that trophy on his nightstand and used it as a lamp to read more weird folklore. In 2026, we still talk about that direction like it was a masterclass in controlled chaos. You know, it’s funny… some things never age.
Meanwhile, God of War Ragnarök wasn’t exactly going home empty-handed. The Santa Monica Studio epic bagged Best Narrative, cementing Kratos’ journey from god-stomping rage machine to grumpy dad with a heart of gold. The 2018 reboot had already proven the series could make you sob, but Ragnarök doubled down on heavy themes and emotional punches that, frankly, I still haven’t recovered from. It outpaced Horizon Forbidden West, Immortality, A Plague Tale: Requiem, and — yes — Elden Ring in this category. Looking back from 2026, that story has aged like fine mead; we’ve seen countless attempts at “dad-simulator” narratives since then, but none quite so resonant. The game even got a PC port a couple of years later, and the fanbase collectively sighed in relief because now they could mod Atreus into a giant marshmallow. Priorities, people.
Ragnarök also claimed Best Action/Adventure game, reminding everyone that its combat wasn’t just flashy — it was the kind of stylish violence that made you want to frame every axe swing. DualShockers’ review at the time called every fight a “flashy and stylish affair,” and they weren’t whistling Dixie. The other nominees — A Plague Tale: Requiem, Horizon Forbidden West, Stray, and Tunic — all had their charms, but none could match the brutal ballet of Kratos’ Leviathan Axe. In a weird twist of fate, the adventure genre has since drifted toward cozy experiences and farming sims; GoW Ragnarök now feels like a beautifully-raged relic from a bygone era.
Ah, but the real heart-warmer of the night was Stray, which clawed its way to Best Indie Game. BlueTwelve Studio’s feline fantasy had players meowing their way through neon-drenched robot cities, unraveling a tragic backstory while casually knocking objects off shelves. The novelty of being a cat turned out to be far more compelling than anyone expected — it even spawned a thousand reaction videos of actual cats attacking TV screens. The competition was fierce: Cult of the Lamb, Sifu, Neon White, and Tunic. But Stray had the face. As of 2026, we still haven’t gotten a proper sequel, though there’s been no shortage of “Stray 2 when?” posts online. The game just… sits there in our collective nostalgia, purring softly.
Finally, Best Action Game went to Bayonetta 3, PlatinumGames’ flamboyant witch extravaganza. Known for high-octane spectacles like Nier: Automata and Astral Chain, the studio delivered a third entry that critics adored — though the fandom tempest over voice actor drama made it feel like every copy came with a side of popcorn. Bayonetta 3 dispatched Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, Neon White, Sifu, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge to claim the prize. Fast forward to 2026, and the Bayonetta chatter has cooled off a bit, but the game’s combat mechanics are still cited in design discussions as “how to make a witch feel like a nuclear-powered ballerina.” And frankly, that’s a legacy worth celebrating. …
So there it is, folks — a walk down memory lane that somehow feels both distant and immediate. The 2022 Game Awards didn’t just hand out trophies; it wrote the next chapter of gaming history. Some of those winners have spawned sequels, others have faded into cult status, but all of them left a mark that a 2026 gamer can still feel when firing up a new title and thinking, “This reminds me of that one cat game…” Time flies, but great games — and the nights they were crowned — stick around forever.
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