Combining combat with exploration, the Action/Adventure genre encompasses many games, but it’s up to The Game Awards to decide the best.
UPDATE: God of War Ragnarok won Best Action/Adventure Game at The Game Awards 2022!
The Game Awards are fast-approaching, and a lot of gamers are already making their predictions for which titles are going to win out in the 31 categories for the show. The Game Awards provides more than just a celebration for the year's biggest and best games, as it can be a place where new titles are unveiled or more information is given out on upcoming releases. However, for the most part, The Game Awards mark an occasion to praise the past year for its gaming achievements.
2022 has been a strong year for video games, as shown by the competition in almost every category for this year's Game Awards, and the Action and Adventure nominees also make up a list of some impressive titles. This year, A Plague Tale: Requiem, God of War: Ragnarok, Horizon Forbidden West, Stray, and Tunic are all up to potentially win Best Action/Adventure, which celebrates games that mix in combat with traversal and puzzle solving.
Following the success of A Plague Tale: Innocence, A Plague Tale: Requiem has been praised as a great sequel, building on the foundations set by the first game without moving too far away from it. Picking up a few months after the events of Innocence, A Plague Tale: Requiem follows Amicia and Hugo as they continue their search for safety in a fictional version of Medieval France. With Amicia being a bit older this time around, she takes on a much more mature role in the story of A Plague Tale: Requiem.
As Amicia is much more willing to kill in A Plague Tale: Requiem, this has significantly changed the gameplay of the sequel from its predecessor. Amicia's crossbow, for example, allows for the quick dispatching of guards she would have otherwise had to avoid in A Plague Tale: Innocence. Also, in A Plague Tale: Requiem, Hugo's rat powers have changed, again expanding the gameplay options for the player and bringing some more action into this Action/Adventure title.
One of the most talked about and hyped games for 2022 launched recently, and for a lot of players, God of War: Ragnarok is living up to the hype. Throwing players right into the heat of the conflict between Kratos and the Aesir gods, God of War: Ragnarok gives players plenty of action, as well as crafting some visually excellent and deep realms to explore, each with their own unique environment and enemies.
As in the 2018 God of War, there is a lot of loot to pick up in God of War: Ragnarok, and a lot of it isn't directly given to the player. Instead, they'll have to explore to find the health and rage boosts from the Nornir Chests. This means that alongside God of War: Ragnarok's increased roster of enemies to fight, there are also a lot more puzzles to interact with and land to explore this time around.
The third sequel among the category's list of nominees, fans could have predicted that Horizon Forbidden West would perfectly fit the bill for an Action/Adventure title long before it released. As an open-world game, Horizon Forbidden West gives the player more space to explore than either of the two previous nominees, and it makes excellent use of that space by cramming it with collectibles, quests, and secrets of the world for players to find.
This world also features plenty of new machines added with Horizon Forbidden West, and plenty of extra environments for Aloy to discover more knowledge about the old world in. Already, Horizon Forbidden West has received a lot of praise, with many stating that it is a great follow-up to Horizon Zero Dawn. The game even managed to take home a Best Storytelling award at the Golden Joystick Awards.
While Stray might not have the in-depth combat of Horizon Forbidden West or God of War: Ragnarok, it does include some battling later on, as the player's trusty drone companion can be used to destroy smaller robots that are looking to cut the adventure of the feline protagonist short. Within the futuristic, dystopian cityscape that Stray takes place in, there are plenty of secrets to discover and puzzles to complete in order to continue the journey.
Stray is a notably shorter game than most of the other titles in the running for Best Action/Adventure, but it certainly packs a lot into the hours it takes to beat. With a cute cat as the protagonist as well, Stray became a hugely popular game, despite being BlueTwelve Studio's debut title. Perhaps this surge in popularity could rocket Stray to the win for best Action/Adventure game.
One of the biggest indie hits of 2022, Tunic is a game that some thought would make it onto this year's Game of the Year list. First releasing on Xbox and PC in March, and coming to PlayStation and Switch later in the year, Tunic's staggered releases have helped it remain in many gamers' memories throughout 2022. A homage to classic Nintendo titles like The Legend of Zelda, Tunic evokes the nostalgic feeling of those games with its isometric style and gameplay.
A player cannot enter a new area in Tunic unless they manage to collect a new weapon or ability first. This means that Tunic's world is often locked until the player has explored enough. Despite its cutesy art style, Tunic can be a difficult game, and has even been compared to FromSoftware's catalog. Like Stray, Tunic is a notably shorter game than some of the other nominees, but it packs a lot of content into the hours players will spend with it.
Horizon Forbidden West may offer a huge map for players to explore, and Stray might have a cute cat as its protagonist, but it is difficult to imagine a game knocking the juggernaut that is God of War: Ragnarok from the top spot for the Best Action/Adventure category. Combining gorgeous areas with visceral combat, praising God of War: Ragnarok may only be adding to the chorus of other positive notes the game has received since launch, but this tremendous reception hasn't come out of nowhere.
Also, while there is some hand-holding in God of War: Ragnarok where its puzzles are concerned, a lot of the interaction with the world feels natural, rather than a barrier that's been put in place to keep the player from progressing too quickly. Therefore, to see another game take home the Game Awards' title of Best Action/Adventure would be quite the upset.
