The Real Game Awards Finally Arrive
You’ve seen The Game Awards (or maybe you haven’t; I don’t think a lot of gamers bother with those anymore), but now, you can see The Real Game Awards! The Real Game Awards is the first step taken by Stuttering Craig, the host of Side Scrollers and co-founder of Screw Attack, in his Take Games Back initiative, an attempt to return gaming culture to gamers from the media and corporations that currently control it. The Real Game Awards is an awards show Craig put together to allow gamers to vote on what games they think were the best (and worst) of the year so their voices can be heard. Voting is done by those who’ve bought a paid membership, with a board of directors including Craig, Marc the Cyborg, Kabrutus of DEI Detected, and Geeks + Gamers’ own Jeremy “DDayCobra” Griggs overseeing the voting. Stuttering Craig explains the layout in the video below:
The Real Game Awards were held tonight, and they lived up to Craig’s mission statement. As he explained early on, they don’t have any industry bigwigs or mainstream games journalists but instead feature some indie game developers, YouTube video game personalities, and some of the voters/supporters of The Real Game Awards. They also devoted some time to advertising for indie games rather than showing off more AAA titles that don’t need the help. You can watch the entire presentation of The Real Game Awards below:
And here are the categories, nominees, and winners:
Best Story
Black Myth: Wukong
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Unicorn Overlord
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Winner: Black Myth: Wukong
Best MMO
Final Fantasy XIV
World of Warcraft
Runescape
Guild Wars
Winner: Final Fantasy XIV
Best Racing Game
Parking Garage Rally Circuit
Nightmare Kart
Victory Heat Rally
Winner: Nightmare Kart
Biggest Cash Grab
The Last of Us Part II Remastered
Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered
Star Wars Outlaws
Tekken 8
Winner: The Last of Us Part II Remastered
Best Sports Game
NCAA College Football 25
Rocket League
WWE 2K24
Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions
Winner: Rocket League
Husbando of the Year
Kiryu Kazuma, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Barrett Wallace, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Broly, Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
Ichiban Kasuga, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Winner: Barrett Wallace, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Waifu of the Year
Eve, Stellar Blade
Tifa, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Burnice, Zenless Zone Zero
Juliet, LOLLIPOP CHAINSAW RePOP
Winner: Eve, Stellar Blade
Best Third-Person Shooter
Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2
Helldivers 2
The First Descendant
Earth Defense Force 6
Winner: Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2
Best FPS
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Robocop: Rogue City
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
Winner: Robocop: Rogue City
Best Company
From Software
Shift Up
Team ASOBI
Saber
Winner: From Software
Best Fighting Game
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
Tekken 8
Under Night In-Birth II
Winner: Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
Best Multiplayer Experience
Warhammer 40K: Space Marine II
Helldivers 2
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Fortnite
Winner: Helldivers 2
Worst Bait and Switch
Helldivers 2
Star Wars Outlaws
Concord
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Winner: Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Best RPG
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Unicorn Overlord
Metaphor: ReFantazio
Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake
Winner: Metaphor: ReFantazio
Best Action Game
Stellar Blade
Black Myth: Wukong
Warhammer 40K: Space Marine II
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Winner: Stellar Blade
Best Value
Warhammer 40K: Space Marine II
The First Descendant
Fortnite
Palworld
Winner: Palworld
Best Early Access Game
Hades II
Palworld
No Rest for the Wicked
Delta Force: Hawk Ops
Winner: Palworld
Biggest Industry Failure
Star Wars Outlaws
Concord
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
Winner: Concord
Best Video Game Journalist
Savvy
John F. Trent
Kirsche
Endymion
Winner: Savvy
Worst Video Game Journalist
Nick Calandra
Paul Tassi
Alyssa Mercante
Rebekah Valentine
Winner (Loser?): Alyssa Mercante
Best Nintendo IP
Mario
The Legend of Zelda
Pokémon
Splatoon
Winner: The Legend of Zelda
Best Microsoft IP
Minecraft
Doom
Call of Duty
Winner: Doom
Best PlayStation IP
God of War
Astro Bot
Stellar Blade
Helldivers 2
Winner: Stellar Blade
Best Jiggle Physics
Zenless Zone Zero
The First Descendant
Stellar Blade
LOLLIPOP CHAINSAW RePOP
Winner: Stellar Blade
Shitty Ass Game of the Year
Concord
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Dustborn
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
Winner: Dustborn
Game of the Year
Astro Bot
Black Myth: Wukong
Stellar Blade
The Fist Descendant
Warhammer 40K: Space Marine II
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Unicorn Overlord
Winner: Black Myth: Wukong
And that’s a wrap on the first edition of The Real Game Awards. I’m genuinely impressed with some of the people Craig got to participate in the show. RazörFist has appeared on Side Scrollers many times, and ItsAGundam runs in these circles, but I certainly didn’t expect The Angry Video Game Nerd or Kneon from Clownfish TV to show up. I also like that a lot of the indie games showcased are 8-bit throwbacks; they probably look quaint nowadays, but to those of us who grew up in that era, they’re comforting signs that some developers remember the ones that crawled so many of today’s blockbuster games could run. And I really appreciate Craig making Duke Nukem the announcer; he’s always been a favorite of mine, and he’s the perfect mouthpiece for an alternative game awards show that sticks it to the man. And, to top it off, I learned what the word “husbando” means, for better or worse. This was a fun first run of The Real Game Awards, and Craig promised that it will get even better in the years to come, including making the presentation a live show. Maybe the video game industry will do something crazy, like give voters more decent games to consider. Either way, it’ll be interesting to see where The Real Games Awards go from here.
Let us know what you thought of The Real Game Awards in the comments!
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