Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree gets Nebula Awards nom

Plus, 1000xResist and Pacific Drive make the list as well

Mar 14, 2025, 4:01 PM UTC

A Tarnished warrior riding on Torrent looks toward the corpse of the giant dead drake at the foot of Jagged Peak in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco via Polygon

Maddy Myers has run Polygon’s games section since 2020 as deputy editor. She has worked in games journalism since 2007, at Kotaku, The Mary Sue, and the Boston Phoenix.

The Nebula Awards, a long-running honor for excellence in science fiction and fantasy writing, has included video game writing since 2018. It previously bestowed its top prize in game writing to Elden Ring in 2023. FromSoftware’s Hidetaka Miyazaki has now received the honor of a nomination once again this year, this time for Elden Ring DLC Shadow of the Erdtree.

Although Shadow of the Erdtree might be one of the more recognizable names on the list, it’s perhaps more impressive and just plain cool to see indie darling 1000xResist getting a nomination (especially given its snub at The Game Awards 2024), as well as Pacific Drive, which was nominated for Best Debut Indie Game at TGAs but did not take home that prize. All three games made Polygon’s own Top 50 Games of the Year list last year.

Here’s the full list of the Nebula Awards’ video game writing nominees:

A Death in Hyperspace by Stewart C Baker, Phoebe Barton, James Beamon, Kate Heartfield, Isabel J. Kim, Sara S. Messenger, Naca Rat, Natalia Theodoridou, and Merc Fenn
Wolfmoor by Infomancy.net
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree by Hidetaka Miyazaki
The Ghost and the Golem by Benjamin Rosenbaum
Pacific Drive by Karrie Shao and Alexander Dracott
1000xRESIST by Remy Siu, Pinki Li, and Conor Wylie
Restore, Reflect, Retry by Natalia Theodoridou