D.I.C.E. Awards Nominees Announced: Horizon Zero Dawn Leads with 10 Nods

Today The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences reached out with a press release to announce the nominees for the 21st D.I.C.E. Awards.

The award ceremony will happen on February 22nd in Las Vegas as the climax of the 2018 D.I.C.E. Summit.

68 different games received a nomination, with Guerrilla Games’ Horizon Zero Dawn leading the pack with ten nods. The Legend of Zelda: The Breath of the Wild follows with six nominations. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, and Cuphead got five nods.  Gorogoa, Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds, Super Mario Odyssey received four nominations.

Nominees for Game of the Year are Horizon Zero Dawn, Cuphead, Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds, Super Mario Odyssey, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

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 II – Iden Versio
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy – Chloe Fraiser

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

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design
Destiny 2
Injustice 2
Star Wars Battlefront II
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 II: 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 II: 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

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 II
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

D.I.C.E. Sprite Award
Everything
Gorogoa
Night in the Woods
Pyre
Snipperclips

Handheld Game of the Year
Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
Etrian Odyssey V: 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

All the nominees were selected by members of the Academy’s peer panels, with one panel for each award category. Each panel is composed of “industry experts” (mostly game developers or representatives of publishers), and the winners will be determined via a confidential voting process.

If you’re curious about who won last year (spoiler: it’s Blizzard’s Overwatch), you can get a refresh with our dedicated article. In 2016, the Game of the Year award was won by Fallout 4.