Earlier this month, The Game Awards gave out statues to the best video games of 2024, from Astro Bot to Balatro. There’s a catch, though. Since the show airs in early December, no game released after late November in a given year is eligible for awards that year. They can compete in the 2025 show, but that requires voters to remember what’s eligible. This year, December 2023 games like Sonic Dream Team, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, and Arizona Sunshine 2 were all shut out (that last one is especially odd, as Arizona Sunshine Remake got a Best VR nomination instead).
While 2025’s show is a a full year away, the jury already has its hands full. This December has been an unexpectedly fantastic one for games. We got one of the best puzzle games of the year in Lok Digital, a successful early access launch for Path of Exile 2, and a much welcome console port of Apple Arcade hit Fantasian. On top of all that, though, we’ve gotten what already feel like some serious Game Awards contenders in a variety of categories — including Game of the Year.
Whether you want to start watching the awards race way too early or are just looking for a great game to play right now, these are some of December’s best games. Don’t forget them in 12 months!
For Your Consideration: Game of the Year, Best Action/Adventure Game, Best Performance (Troy Baker, Marios Gavrilis)
It’s very rare for a game released in December to get a Game Awards nomination the next year. Nintendo pulled that feat off with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, but it’s a difficult task. If all goes well, Xbox could pull it off with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Machinegames’ latest is the biggest surprise of 2024, delivering a faithful ode to Indy that combines Uncharted and Dishonored. Even if the Game of the Year race ends up being too tight for it to make the cut, you can expect it to be a front-runner in Best Action/Adventure Game and Best Performance, where Troy Baker already feels like a shoo-in (though for my money, Marios Gavrilis deserves a spot already for his excellent take on Emmerich Voss).
For Your Consideration: Best Action/Adventure, Best Mobile Game, Best Score/Soundtrack
With over 20 million players in its first week, Infinity Nikki is already a hit. The open-world dress-up game is truly one of a kind, fulfilling the dream of a big-budget Barbie game. While it may have a tough time breaking into a Game of the Year field, Infold Games has a great shot at a few awards this time next year. Best Action/Adventure feels within reach, as does Best Score/Soundtrack considering its infectious opening credits theme. More realistically, you can likely expect to see it competing in Best Mobile Game next year. While its available on PS5 and PC, that’s the platform that’s really helping it become a phenomenon. If Infold Games handles its post-launch support right, it could even earn nominations for Best Ongoing Game and Best Community Support too.
For Your Consideration: Best Mobile Game, Best Score/Soundtrack
Despite its quiet launch this month, Monument Valley 3 should already be a no-brainer for the Game Awards jury. It’s a strong new entry in one of the best mobile series of all time, so why wouldn’t it get a nomination for that? In a perfect world, its fantastic score would also deserve some praise. There’s a bit of a harsh reality to this one, though: Netflix Games has never gotten its due at The Game Awards. Fantastic games like Poinpy and Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure tend to get shut out entirely in favor of middling free-to-play games that are easier to access. Hopefully, that’s not the case this year, but Netflix will need to put in some effort if it wants to keep this one on voters’ radar.
For Your Consideration: Best Multiplayer Game
Marvel Rivals may just be Overwatch with comic book heroes, but that premise has already catapulted it to success. Netease’s superhero shooter successfully rekindles the thrills of Blizzard’s team-based shooter while working in some creative new character abilities (see the beloved Jeff the Land Shark as an example). All of that should make it a an obvious pick for Best Multiplayer Game next year, barring a barrage of excellent games. Like Infinity Nikki, it could turn that one nomination into three, as Best Ongoing Game and Best Community Support are on the table. We’ll just have to wait and see if it can earn either long term.
For Your Consideration: Best VR/AR Game
Best VR/AR Game is one of The Game Awards’ most disappointing categories year after year. While it always produces a worthy winner, the list of nominees tends to be dominated by VR versions of existing games rather than wholly original ones. Hopefully, that can change in 2025 as there already are a few games that could fit the bill. While Skydance’s Behemoth didn’t quite live up to the hype, Alien: Rogue Incursion is a tightly constructed VR shooter with some great scares. It might just be the best Alien game since Isolation, which should give it a chance of competing next year.
For Your Consideration: Best Independent Game
Best Independent Game is always the hardest field to predict as its nominees almost always come out of left field. We already have a possibly contender, though: AntonBlast. The energetic ode to Wario Land certainly has a vision,and it perfects it with zany visuals, animations, and sound. It’s an aesthetic explosion, but one that’s already resonating with players. In fact, it’s currently the 20th best reviewed game of 2024 per Metacritic. That puts it ahead of Neva, one of the games nominated for Best Independent Game at this year’s Game Awards. It’ll just need to maintain strong word of mouth next year to make sure its at the top of voters’ minds come November.
For Your Consideration: Games for Impact
Naiad may have swum under the radar due to its surprise launch during a busy week, but the indie game could have a shot at one award next year. The minimalist adventure game tells a heartfelt story about a river spirit sworn to protect the environment, and that kind of premise is usually a great fit for the Games for Impact category. Though that’s likely the only spot it could realistically take, Naiad is an aesthetically gorgeous game that should get a chance at Best Art Direction and Best Sound Design too. It likely won’t considering that those categories tend to be reserved for big-budget spectacles, but it’s not unprecedented. Neva nabbed a surprising Best Art Direction nod at this year’s show, so there’s a little hope for Naiad there.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.