Horizon Zero Dawn leads 2018 DICE Awards finalists

The nominees for this year’s DICE Awards are in, and the top honoree by far is Guerrilla Games’ Horizon Zero Dawn — the sci-fi action/adventure game received nods in 10 categories.

Horizon Zero Dawn was the only title to score double-digit nominations; the next highest total went to Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which got six. Both of them are up for the Game of the Year award, alongside StudioMDHR’s Cuphead, PUBG Corporation’s PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Nintendo’s Super Mario Odyssey.

In all, 68 different games from 2017 are listed among the nominees across 24 categories. They include heavy hitters like Bungie’s Destiny 2 and MachineGames’ Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, as well as celebrated indies such as Ninja Theory’s Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice and Giant Sparrow’s What Remains of Edith Finch.

Speaking of indie games: In case you’re wondering what the DICE Sprite Award is, it was introduced for 2015’s awards to recognize games with “disproportionate resources for development and exposure (as compared to AAA titles),” ones that “represent a higher degree of risk tolerance and [advance] our industry with innovative gameplay and experiences.”

Sometimes called the “Oscars of video games,” the DICE Awards are presented by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) at the DICE Summit, a game industry conference held every February in Las Vegas. The finalists for all 24 categories are chosen by a panel of more than 260 game makers, and the AIAS membership of more than 30,000 game industry professionals votes to determine the winners. You can see the full list of nominees below.

This year’s ceremony, the 21st DICE Awards, will take place at 8 p.m. PT on Thursday, Feb. 22. Greg Miller of Kinda Funny and Jessica Chobot of Nerdist News will return to host the show, which will be livestreamed on IGN.

Outstanding Achievement in Animation
Cuphead
For Honor
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
Horizon Zero Dawn
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy

Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction
Cuphead
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
Horizon Zero Dawn
Little Nightmares
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Outstanding Achievement in Character
Assassin’s Creed Origins - Bayek
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice - Senua
Horizon Zero Dawn - Aloy
Star Wars Battlefront 2 - Iden Versio
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy - Chloe Fraser

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition
Call of Duty: WWII
Cuphead
Horizon Zero Dawn
Rime
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design
Destiny 2
Injustice 2
Star Wars Battlefront 2
Super Mario Odyssey
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy

Outstanding Achievement in Story
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
Horizon Zero Dawn
Night in the Woods
What Remains of Edith Finch
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus

Outstanding Technical Achievement
Assassin’s Creed Origins
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
Horizon Zero Dawn
Lone Echo/Echo Arena
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Action Game of the Year
Call of Duty: WWII
Cuphead
Destiny 2
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus

Adventure Game of the Year
Assassin’s Creed Origins
Horizon Zero Dawn
Super Mario Odyssey
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy

Family Game of the Year
DropMix
GNOG
Just Dance 2018
SingStar Celebration
Snipperclips - Cut it out, together!

Fighting Game of the Year
Arms
Injustice 2
Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite
Nidhogg 2
Tekken 7

Racing Game of the Year
Dirt 4
Forza Motorsport 7
Gran Turismo Sport
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Project CARS 2

Role-Playing Game of the Year
Divinity: Original Sin 2
Middle-earth: Shadow of War
Nier: Automata
Persona 5
Torment: Tides of Numenera

Sports Game of the Year
Everybody’s Golf
FIFA 18
Golf Clash
Madden NFL 18
MLB The Show 17

Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year
Endless Space 2
Halo Wars 2
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
Total War: Warhammer 2
XCOM 2: War of the Chosen

Immersive Reality Technical Achievement
Lone Echo/Echo Arena
Robo Recall
Star Trek Bridge Crew
The Invisible Hours
Wilson’s Heart

Immersive Reality Game of the Year
Lone Echo/Echo Arena
Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin
Robo Recall
Space Pirate Trainer
Wilson’s Heart

DICE Sprite Award
Everything
Gorogoa
Night in the Woods
Pyre
Snipperclips - Cut it out, together!

Handheld Game of the Year
Dragon Quest 8: Journey of the Cursed King
Etrian Odyssey 5: Beyond the Myth
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
Metroid: Samus Returns
Monster Hunter Stories

Mobile Game of the Year
Cat Quest
Fire Emblem Heroes
Gorogoa
Monument Valley 2
Splitter Critters

Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay
Call of Duty: WWII
Destiny 2
Fortnite
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands

Outstanding Achievement in Game Design
Gorogoa
Horizon Zero Dawn
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
Super Mario Odyssey
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction
Gorogoa
Horizon Zero Dawn
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
What Remains of Edith Finch

Game of the Year
Cuphead
Horizon Zero Dawn
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
Super Mario Odyssey
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild