Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 leads the pack at this year’s Game Awards with 12 nominations.

The critically acclaimed role-playing game (RPG) is up for Game of the Year, as well as three entries in the best performance category.

Other contenders for the top game prize this year are Death Stranding 2, Nintendo platformer Donkey Kong Bananza, indie games Hollow Knight: Silksong and Hades 2, and medieval adventure Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2.

They will all compete at the event – the world’s most-watched ceremony celebrating video games – on 11 December in Los Angeles, California.

Organisers say there were 154 million livestreams in 2024, when platformer Astro Bot was named Game of the Year.

Often referred to as the “Oscars of gaming”, the Game Awards, hosted by founder Geoff Keighley, will hand out prizes in 29 categories this year.

Despite the nickname, the roughly three-hour show is a mixture of traditional ceremony, including musical performances and celebrity appearances, as well as advertising.

One of the main reasons viewers tune in is to see trailers for upcoming and unannounced games.

Last year, audiences got their first glimpses of The Witcher 4, Elden Ring Nightreign and Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, from Last of Us studio Naughty Dog.

This year’s most-nominated game, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, was made by a core team of about 30 people at developer Sandfall Interactive’s offices in Montpellier, France.

Inspired by old-school, turn-based RPGs, it stunned critics and was praised for its storyline, battles and performances.

Three actors who appear in the game – Ben Starr, Charlie Cox and Jennifer English – are nominated for best performance, and the game is also up for the best narrative prize.

It is also nominated for best independent game – a selection that may prove controversial as the project was worked on by global support studios and had the backing of publisher Kepler Interactive.

Sony, which traditionally does well at the Game Awards, has two exclusive titles with eight nominations each.

As well as Game of the Year, Death Stranding 2, directed by celebrated video game developer Hideo Kojima, is up for best narrative.

But none of its famous cast, including Walking Dead star Norman Reedus, is in line for an acting prize.

Samurai-themed adventure Ghost of Yōtei – another PS5-only release – is nominated in the same number of categories, with star Erika Ishii up for a performance award.

Going up against the blockbusters are Game of the Year nominees Hollow Knight: Silksong and Hades 2 – both sequels to massive hits made by small teams.

Silksong, described as the “GTA 6 of indie games” due to its long development and fevered fan anticipation, crashed various online stores when it was released.

Rounding out the top category are Donkey Kong Bananza – one of the first big releases on Nintendo’s new Switch 2 console – and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2.

Split Fiction, from Hazelight Studio, led by flamboyant former film director Josef Fares, was a follow-up to previous Game of the Year winner It Takes Two, but missed out on a nomination itself.

And mystery game Blue Prince, which received some of the year’s best review scores, was only nominated in the best independent game category.

The Game Awards has been criticised in the past for prioritising advertising over awards, with winning speeches being cut short and on-stage presentations being absent in some categories.

There was praise of 2024’s show for going some way to address criticisms, but developers have continued to call on organiser Geoff Keighley to better acknowledge problems in the industry, such as the high number of job losses in recent years.

This year, there have been complaints about the awards abandoning its Future Class scheme – an initiative founded in 2020 to highlight “rising stars” in video games.

It was last run in 2023, when current and former members of the group signed an open letter urging the awards to address the Israel-Gaza war.

In the run-up to this year’s nominations, after it was confirmed Future Class would not return, alumni accused the scheme of tokenism and not doing enough to help them build contacts.

Last year, the ceremony gave out a new game changer award to Amir Satvat, for his work to help laid-off developers find jobs.

BBC Newsbeat has approached organisers for comment.

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