Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, the open-world title by Monolith Productions, was awarded as the Game of the Year at the 15th annual Game Developers Choice Awards that was part of the ongoing 2015 Game Developers Conference.
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is an action-adventure role-playing game that was inspired by the same worlds that J.R.R. Tolkien created for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
In the game, players control a ranger of Gondor with the name of Talion, who is seeking revenge against Sauron and his forces after his family is killed. Talion is also killed in the introduction of the game, but the Elvin Lord Celebrimbor's wraith kept Talion alive, and at the same time gave him wraith-like abilities to be able to go on a quest for vengeance.
However, while Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor walked away with the grand prize at the ceremony, it was Monument Valley by ustwo that bagged the most accolades, including awards for Best Visual Art, the Innovation Award, and Best Handheld/Mobile Game.
Monument Valley, which took ten months to develop, is a critically-acclaimed title that featured visual inspired by Japanese prints and is set in an M.C. Escher-esque world.
Indie video game company Stoic Studio, which was founded by former developers of BioWare, received the Best Debut Award for developing The Banner Saga, which is a tactical role-playing game that had a Viking theme.
The Best Design Award was given to Blizzard Entertainment for Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, the massively popular digital card game, while action-packed shooter Alien: Isolation received the Best Audio Award for its chilling ambient sound and score.
Bungie's multiplayer online science fiction title Destiny also received an award, namely for Best Technology, and Kentucky Route Zero: Act III, the third part of a point-and-click adventure title, won the Best Narrative Award.
The second annual Audience Award went to Elite: Dangerous, a space-themed adventure, trading and battle simulation that continued the Elite series.
The voters for determining the winners in the Game Developers Choice Awards are the developers themselves, namely members of the International Choice Awards Network that is made up of the leading game developers all the parts of the worldwide gaming industry.
Not only video games are honored, as developers also received awards. David Braben received the Pioneer Award for co-developing the original Elite space trading title in the early 1980s, while Brenda Romero received the Ambassador Award as one of the women that has served the longest in the industry and a 2014 Fulbright fellow for her contributions to the video game industry of Ireland.
Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of the long-running classic series Final Fantasy, was given the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Photo: John Luterman | Flickr
