Awards: Video Game Awards 2019 Winners

Touted as the closest thing the video game industry has to the Oscars, The Game Awards is a US annual ceremony honouring achievements in the video game industry. For parents, this creates a really helpful list of brilliant games in two ways.

The Best Family Game category means that a huge amount of time spent nominating, assessing and judging games that specifically work for families. These include those that are age appropriate as well as those that offer new ways to enjoy gaming time together.

The Games with Impact category uncovers many games that parents wouldn't come across themselves. These are titles that will often be of interest for older players and parents themselves. They address important topics in unusual ways and are often games that mums and dads are surprised to want to play themselves.

The Best Independent Games category is useful as this includes games you may not have heard of. Also, because they are created by smaller team they are often more personal and about themes not included in other titles.

The Best Narrative category is also worth keeping an eye on as this includes games that tell good stories in unusual ways. Characters, worlds and plot combine in unique ways with the interactive nature of video games so that encountering a story in this way can be powerful, moving, playful or more long-lasting than other media.

We've spent the day leafing back through the different awards literature to compile this super-list of winners and nominations. It's a great place to start to find game for your family as well as games you will want to play yourself once the children are in bed or at school.

BEST FAMILY GAME

For the best game appropriate for family play, irrespective of genre or platform.

2019 Luigi's Mansion 3

Ring Fit Adventure

Super Mario Maker 2

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Yoshi's Crafted World

2018 Winner: Mario Tennis Aces

Nintendo Labo

Overcooked 2

Starlink: Battle for Atlas

Super Mario Party

2017 Winner: Super Mario Odyssey

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle

Sonic Mania

Splatoon 2

2016 Winner: Pokémon Go 

Dragon Quest Builders

Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Ratchet & Clank

Skylanders: Imaginators

2015  Winner: Super Mario Maker 

Disney Infinity 3.0

Lego Dimensions

Skylanders: SuperChargers

Splatoon

2014 Winner: Mario Kart 8

Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes

Fantasia: Music Evolved

Skylanders: Trap Team

Tomodachi Life

GAMES FOR IMPACT

For a thought provoking game with a profound pro-social meaning or message.

2019 Winner: Gris Concrete Genie

Kind Words

Life is Strange 2

Sea f Solitude

2018

11-11 Memories Retold

Celeste

Florence

Life is Strange 2: Episode 1

The Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories

2017 Winner: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

Bury Me, My Love

Life is Strange: Before the Storm

Night in the Woods

Please Knock on My Door

What Remains of Edith Finch

2016 Winner: That Dragon, Cancer

Block’hood

Orwell

Sea Hero Quest

1979 Revolution: Black Friday

2015 Winner: Life Is Strange

Cibele

Her Story

Sunset

Undertale

2014 Winner: Valiant Hearts: The Great War

Mountain

Never Alone

The Last of Us: Left Behind

This War of Mine

BEST INDEPENDENT  GAME

These are games made by small studios or lone individuals. Because of their more artistic nature, they often cover unusual subjects. Some of these games will have been made with only adults in mind.

2019 Winner: Disco Elysium

Baba Is You

Katana Zero

Outer Wilds

Untitled Goose Game

2018 Winner: Celeste

Dead Cells

Into the Breach

Return of the Obra Dinn

The Messenger

2017 Winner: Cuphead

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

Night in the Woods

Pyre

What Remains of Edith Finch

2016 Winner: Inside

Firewatch

Hyper Light Drifter

Stardew Valley

The Witness

2015 Winner: Rocket League

Axiom Verge

Her Story

Ori and the Blind Forest

Undertale

2014 Winner: Shovel Knight 

Broken Age Act I

Monument Valley

Transistor

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

BEST NARRATIVE GAME

These are games with strong stories and characters. They will vary in rating and some of them have been designed for adults only.

2019 Winner: Disco Elysium

A Plague Tale: Innocence

Control

Death Stranding

The Outer Worlds

2018 Winner: Red Dead Redemption 2

Detroit: Become Human

God of War

Life Is Strange 2

Marvel's Spider-Man

2017 Winner: What Remains of Edith Finch

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

Horizon Zero Dawn

Nier: Automata

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

2016 Winner: Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

Firewatch

Inside

Mafia III

Oxenfree

2015 Winner: Her Story

Life Is Strange

Tales from the Borderlands

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Until Dawn

2014 Winner: Valiant Hearts: The Great War

South Park: The Stick of Truth

The Walking Dead: Season Two

The Wolf Among Us

Wolfenstein: The New Order