Welcome back to the second of three parts of TheGamer Aces, our awards celebrating all the little parts that make video games so great. Yesterday was a good day for 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Baldur's Gate 3, which dominated 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the Character Aces, but today we're moving on to the Presentation Awards. That♔ means looking at how the game puts itself across to the audience, moving through Character Writing, Storytelling, Art Style, Character Design, and Creative Direction.

The aim of these awards is to move away from the 'big picture' approach of Game of the Year, and the often-genre focused end of year awards that look at a game entirely rather than thinking about the parts that make the whole. TheGamer Aces is designed to celebrate these parts - yo🎶u can check the video above for our🦄 discussion on each award, or scroll to see every winner in all their glory.

Best Character Writing

• Baldur's Gate 3 WINNER
• Alan Wake 2
• Final Fantasy 16

After winning four of the five Character Aces, it should be no surprise to see Baldur's Gate 3 win here. From the entertaining and charismatic conversations with each companion🐻 to the depth of their backstories you discover as the layers to their trauma, Baldur's Gate 3 shines brightest when the characters take the spotlight over the plot.

Best Storytelling

• Baldur's Gate 3
• Alan Wake 2 WINNER
• Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo

The wonderful thing about our three nominees here is that they truly represent good storytelling, rather than just a good story. Baldur's Gate 3 offers multiple directions for the story to unfurl into depending on player choice, while 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Paranormasight requires you to head down dead ends and restart in order to🥀 progress.

However, no game represents the nature of storytelling more than 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Alan Wake 2 - a game that explores what it means to tell a story, what it says about you, and how it draws from those around you. The dual narrative that interlinks and self-references, as well as connecting to Remedy's wider universe, makes this a storytelling feat that is so 🍒൩much more than just being an interesting tale. It is told interestingly, and that makes it our pick for Best Storytelling.

Most Unique Art Style

• Hi-Fi Rush
• Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo
• Slay the Princess WINNER
• World of Horror
• Sea of Stars

At first glance, the messy pencil scrawls of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Slay the Princess make it the least aesthetically pleasing art style of the bunch. But as you play the game (or maybe, as it plays you), the simplistic and imperceptibly angry artwork starts to scratch at you. Slay the Princess offers you the chance to create your own story, and the graphite scribbles help pull you in as you take up the role of creator of the universe with your every decision. It's the perfect example of not just a unique ♓art style, but one that elevates the gameplay experience.

Best Character Design

• Baldur's Gate 3
• Hi-Fi Rush
• Street Fighter 6 WINNER

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Street Fighter 6 pips Baldur's Gate to the post here, wit💛h the refreshed designs on iconic characters appealing to both returning fans and newcomers alike. Like most fighting games, Stre𓃲et Fighter has its share of recognisable stars, but here they feel not only far more vibrant, but also reflect the new dawn of Street Fighter that 6's success has ushered in.

Best Creative Direction

• Baldur's Gate 3
• Alan Wake 2 WINNER
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
• Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo

Creative direction is a fascinating element of game design that isn't discussed enough. We consider both 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Spider-Man and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Last of Us to be photorealistic games, yet they have br꧒oadly different colour palettes that represent the tones of their stories. From how each level or story beat is structured and delivered, to the options a player has before them, creative direction encompasses most things that make a game - yet we tend to think of direction as 'how a game is made', in a more numerical sense. Employees, hours, years, crunch.

When we specifically look at creat🌸ive direction, it's all about engagement with a player, without that being a euphemism for microtransactions - how does it integrate its key themes into each element of gameplay, how does that gameplay come together and mesh with the story, how does the story match the aesthetics of the game, and how does the aesthetics reflect the key themes. Everything comes together, and when we look at how well Alan Wake juggles its complex ideas yet connects every creative risk and big swing at an idea, it is clearly a game bursting with award-worthy creative genius.

Check back tomorrow for the third and final round, the Feature Aces, where we'll be handing ou𝔍t Best Level, Best Expansion, Most Creative Gam꧟eplay Mechanic, Biggest Technical Achievement, and Most Impactful Game.