Gaming Influence: Predictions - Game Awards 2023 ~ Part 3

Hello everyone, 

Welcome to Gaming Influence, a reboot of the same name I created in WrestleCorp. However, not only will I be giving my thoughts on certain video games and video game series, but also video game movies, video game anime, video game digital presentations, etc.

For this edition of Gaming Influence, I'll be giving my predictions for the 2023 Game Awards which will be airing the show live worldwide on December 7, 2023. I'm definitely excited for the game announcements and trailers for the show as anything can happen from all of the gaming companies so we'll see what they got.

However, the focus with these predictions is not on what games will appear on the show, but more on the awards themselves as I will only be doing some of them, but I'll be doing sixteen predictions for sixteen categories for the Game Awards this year. In addition, these predictions will be separated into four parts so this is Part 3 of my Game Awards predictions which will include Best Debut Indie Game of the Year, Best Independent Game of the Year, Best Audio Design of the Year, and Best Score and Music of the Year. Plus, I'll first give my thoughts on the game themselves for the category they're under before giving my predictions on which game I think and want to win the award.

Anyway, let's get started!

We'll start with this category, the Best Debut Indie Game of the Year.

Cocoon is a puzzle adventure game developed by Geometric Interactive and published by Annapurna Interactive. This game combines the mix of puzzle solving and adventure quite well with a beautiful art style and fun gameplay. With this being Geometric Interactive's first game, this game has every right to win the Best Debut Indie Game of the Year. 

Dredge is a fishing game developed by Black Salt Games and published by Team 17. This game is relaxing and cozy at times, but can also be very intense. However, that's what fishing is all about in real life too so they captured that aspect very well. With this being Black Salt Games' first game, it's impressive what they did and even though, I wouldn't consider this game, the Best Debut Indie Game of the Year, I do like the concept and it executed that concept quite well.

Pizza Tower is a platformer developed and published by Tour de Pizza. I've been waiting for a new Wario Land game for such a long time and even though we still haven't gotten a new Wario Land game, Pizza Tower fills that mold as its gameplay took inspiration from the Wario Land games and I love this game because of it. With it being Tour de Pizza's first game, this game has every right to win the Best Debut Indie Game of the Year. 

Venba is a narrative cooking game developed and published by Visai Games. This game definitely has a certain feeling to it especially with its narrative as it goes deep with Indian culture and adding cooking to the mix with its gameplay makes it very cozy as well. With this being Visai Games' first game, it's impressive what they've done and even though, I wouldn't consider this game, the Best Debut Indie Game of the Year, I like the direction that they went here and I hope they continue to improve as time goes on.

Viewfinder is a puzzle game developed by Sad Owl Pictures and published by Thunderful Publishing. I really like the vibe that this game brings and the puzzles in this game are quite good and fun to solve too. With this game being Sad Owl Pictures' first game, it has every right to be the Best Debut Indie Game of the Year because of how the puzzles are designed and the vibe that the game brings as a whole.

In terms of which game I think will be the Best Debut Indie Game of the Year, I think the winner will be Cocoon. The Game Awards and Summer Game Fest have been hyping up this game as they were showcased in their shows last year and earlier this year. Not only that, the game has been well received as well so I expect the Game Awards' judges to pick this game to win Best Debut Indie Game of the Year because of how much they promoted the game on their shows.

In terms of which game I want to be the Best Debut Indie Game of the Year, I want it to be Pizza Tower. As much as I enjoy Cocoon and Viewfinder, Pizza Tower definitely got me the most in terms of its presentation and gameplay as I mentioned the game reminds me a lot of Wario Land and is a great spiritual successor to it. Due to my personal taste, I want Pizza Tower to win the Best Debut Indie Game of the Year.

Next, we'll talk about this category, Best Independent Game of the Year.

Cocoon is a puzzle adventure game developed by Geometric Interactive and published by Annapurna Interactive. This was Geometric Interactive's first game and I mentioned it in the Best Debut Indie Game of the Year category, it combined puzzle-solving and adventure quite well while having a beautiful art style and fun gameplay. This game has every right to be the Best Independent Game of the Year because Geometric Interactive's first game delivers greatly with this puzzle adventure.

DAVE THE DIVER is an adventure game developed and published by Mintrocket. As much as I love this game, unfortunately, this game is not independent as this game got backed up by Nexon which helped them with the funding of the game. It's a shame that this game is categorized as an independent game even though it isn't. Despite loving the game, it doesn't deserve the Best Independent Game of the Year because it isn't an independent game to begin with. 

Dredge is a fishing game developed by Black Salt Games and published by Team 17. As I mentioned in the Best Debut Indie Game of the Year category, it's impressive what Black Salt Games has done with this game being their first as they made a fun relaxing but intense game by making the fishing very realistic while playing. Even though I don't see this game as the Best Independent Game of the Year, I can appreciate what this game has done and give a lot of props to Black Salt Games for what they did here.

Sea of Stars is a role-playing game developed and published by Sabotage Studio. As I mentioned in the Best RPG of the Year category in Part 2 of my Game Awards 2023 predictions, it was one of my most hyped games to play and it delivered as it brought the classic 90s RPGs like Chrono Trigger to a modern era. For an indie game, it's really impressive and due to that, this has every right to be the Best Independent Game of the Year.

Viewfinder is a puzzle game developed by Sad Owl Pictures and published by Thunderful Publishing. As I mentioned in the Best Debut Indie Game of the Year category, it's impressive what Sad Owl Pictures did with their first game as I thought the way they did the puzzles in this game was well designed. Due to the well-designed puzzles that this game did, it has every right to be the Best Independent Game of the Year.

In terms of which game I think will be the Best Independent Game of the Year, the winner will be DAVE THE DIVER. Even though I have my thoughts on this game despite being a great game, it's not independent, but the fact that the Game Awards' judges view DAVE THE DIVER as an independent game and a lot of people like it, it'll probably win this category. As much as I don't like this, I have a big feeling it's going to happen.

In terms of which game I want to be Best Independent Game of the Year, I want the winner to be Sea of Stars. As much as I love every other game in this category, I want Sea of Stars to win it because it definitely is a great game and everything about it is impressive on what Sabotage Studio has done with this game. Even though it has stiff competition with DAVE THE DIVER, I really want Sea of Stars to win the Best Independent Game of the Year as I feel like it deserves it. 

Next, we'll discuss the category, Best Audio Design of the Year.

Alan Wake II is a survival horror game developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Epic Games as it's the long-awaited sequel to the first Alan Wake released in 2010. The audio design for this game has been well done since they made this game more survival horror which really increased the atmosphere in this game. The sounds of the old cabins creaking, the sounds of the twigs and branches moving on trees, and the sounds of the phones feel very realistic. Due to those aspects, this game has every right to win the Best Audio Design of the Year.

Dead Space is a survival horror game developed by Motive Studio and published by Electronic Arts as it's a remake of the original game back in 2008. The way the game has upgraded to the original in terms of audio design is extremely impressive. The sounds of the vacuum sound very realistic and when you hear the footsteps in the game, it really feels like someone is going after you even if you don't see it which I have to give props to the audio design team here. Due to those aspects, this game has every right to win the Best Audio Design of the Year.

Hi-Fi Rush is a rhythm-based action game developed by Tango Gameworks and published by Bethesda as it combines rhythm and action into one. Since this game is pretty much about music due to it being a rhythm game while combining the action, it really does mesh together pretty well. The beats to the songs while you play with the electric guitar and other instruments here are really great to listen to and it feels like you're a part of the band as well. Due to those aspects, this game has every right to win the Best Audio Design of the Year.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is an action-adventure game developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, it's the sequel to the first Marvel's Spider-Man as it continues the journey of one of the most well-known Marvel superheroes ever, Spider-Man. The sound design for Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is pretty good just like the first game. The sound effects when shooting webs when swinging, the sounds of the traffic when traveling through New York, and the explosions, when buildings get destroyed, feel and sound impactful. Due to those aspects, this game has every right to win the Best Audio Design of the Year.

Resident Evil 4 is a survival horror game developed by Capcom as it's the reimagining of the original game that was made back on the GameCube in 2005. Resident Evil games generally deliver on audio design and with Resident Evil 4, it was no different. The sounds of enemies coming at you are intense, the sound of a chainsaw makes you shiver in fear, and the shots and explosions you make when using your weapons feel and sound powerful and impactful. Due to those aspects, this game every right to win the Best Audio Design of the Year.

In terms of which game I think will be the Best Audio Design of the Year, I think the winner will be Alan Wake II. As I mentioned in Part 2 of my predictions of the 2023 Game Awards, the Game Awards' judges tend to favor Western games, and Alan Wake II just recently came out, I can see a recency bias towards this game since it'll be fresh on people's minds and a lot of people are talking about the game as well which can give this game a huge advantage. Due to that, I can see this game winning the Best Audio Design of the Year.

In terms of which game I want to win Best Audio Design of the Year, I want the winner to be Resident Evil 4. Even though all of the games in this category definitely have the right to win Best Audio Design of the Year, the one that leaves me with the most impact is Resident Evil 4. As I mentioned earlier, Resident Evil games tend to excel when it comes to audio design, and Resident Evil 4, it delivered on that front as it adds the spookiness and creepiness of the game while adding epicness to it as well in terms of sound design. Therefore, I want Resident Evil 4 to win the Best Audio Design of the Year.

Finally, we'll talk about this category, Best Score and Music of the Year.

Alan Wake II is a survival horror game developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Epic Games as it's the long-awaited sequel to the first Alan Wake released in 2010. The soundtrack in Alan Wake II definitely has a great mix of spookiness, epicness, smoothness, and drama all into one where it's a good mix of licensed and unlicensed music. Here are a few songs from the OST for you to listen to.

Baldur's Gate III is a role-playing game developed by Larian Studios as it's one of the most talked about games today. Even though I haven't played much of this game, I will say that the music of this game is really good. With other Western RPGs, they have a good mixture of epicness, drama, and smoothness when it comes to the music in the game as they have both licensed and unlicensed songs. Here are a few songs from the OST for you to listen to.

Final Fantasy XVI is an action role-playing game developed by Square Enix as it's the sixteenth mainline game of the popular role-playing game series, Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy tends to deliver when it comes to music and with Final Fantasy XVI, it's no different. The soundtrack has a great mix of environmental themes, battle themes, and the main theme of the game is very catchy as well. Here are a few songs from the OST for you to listen to.

Hi-Fi Rush is a rhythm-based action game developed by Tango Gameworks and published by Bethesda as it combines rhythm and action into one. Since this game is mainly a game that has a lot of music to it since it's a rhythm game mixed with action, this game has a great soundtrack to listen to. This game has a great mix of upbeat songs that get you to the beat of the game with its rhythm including unlicensed and licensed songs. Here are a few songs from the OST for you to listen to.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is an action-adventure game developed by Nintendo as it's the sequel to the 2017 Game of the Year winner, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The Legend of Zelda games tend to have great music overall and with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, it's no different. Granted, compared to the other The Legend of Zelda games, it still has some memorable songs that are impactful whether you're exploring the open world, in battle, or experiencing cutscenes within the game. Here are a few songs from the OST for you to listen to. 

In terms of which game I think will win Best Score and Music of the Year, the winner will be Baldur's Gate III. As I mentioned numerous times in other parts of my predictions for the Game Awards 2023, the Game Awards' judges tend to favor Western games and the fact that the game actually has a great soundtrack increases its chances of winning. Along with the support of the fans of this game, I can see Baldur's Gate III winning the Best Score and Music of the Year.

In terms of which game I want to win the Best Score and Music of the Year, I want the winner to be Final Fantasy XVI. Even though I do think all of the games in this category deserve to win as all of these games have amazing soundtracks in their own right, for my personal tastes and preferences, I want Final Fantasy XVI to win this category. I feel like out of all of the games in this category, it has the perfect balance of every genre of music in its soundtrack as Final Fantasy tends to deliver on that front. Therefore, I want Final Fantasy XVI to win the Best Score and Music of the Year even though it has stiff competition in this category.

Those are my predictions for the Best Debut Indie Game of the Year, the Best Independent Game of the Year, the Best Audio Design of the Year, and the Best Score and Music of the Year for Game Awards.

Which games do you think or want to win the awards in each category?

Let me know in the comments below and look forward to the final part, Part 4, of my predictions for Game Awards 2023.

Thank you for reading.