Because everyone loves round numbers, let’s take a look back at the 2015-2016 DICE Awards, which celebrated games that were released exactly ten years ago.
Operating on a slightly different wavelength than 2015’s The Game Awards, the voting panel from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences chose to award Crystal Dynamics’s Rise of the Tomb Raider with the most nominations… though the second entry in Lara Croft’s rebooted series of adventures only managed to score a single win (“Outstanding Achievement in Character”).
Instead, Bethesda’s Fallout 4 was the most-awarded game of the night as it took home the “Game of the Year” statuette, as well as “Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction” and “Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year”. However, it also had to share the stage with a trio of other games that won a trio of awards.
The unique audio/visual experience of Moon Studios’s Ori and the Blind Forest contributed to its victories in the “Animation”, “Art Direction”, and “Original Music Composition” categories.
Psyonix’s vehicular soccer game, Rocket League, embraced its status as a crowd-pleaser by winning the “DICE Sprite Award” (the previous name of the “Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game” award), as well as “Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay” and “Sports Game of the Year”.
Finally, Geralt of Rivia (or rather, the development team from CD Projekt Red) stomped on stage to collect three statuettes for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The expansive RPG was the recipient of Outstanding Achievement awards in “Game Design” and “Story”, as well as “Outstanding Technical Achievement” for its depiction of The Continent.
A handful of other games were winners at the 2015-2016 DICE Awards, including Star Wars: Battlefront (“Action Game of the Year” and “Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design”), Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (“Adventure Game of the Year”), Super Mario Maker (“Family Game of the Year”), Mortal Kombat X (“Fighting Game of the Year”), and more.
Speaking of Hideo Kojima, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences inducted the always colorful developer into their Hall of Fame, and Nintendo’s Satoru Iwata was posthumously awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award for his work leading Nintendo from 2002 until his death in 2015.
A complete list of all the winners and nominees from the 2015-2016 DICE Awards, as well as a replay of the ceremony, can be found after the break.
Game of the Year
- WINNER: Fallout 4
- Bloodborne
- Ori and the Blind Forest
- Rise of the Tomb Raider
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Handheld Game of the Year
- WINNER: Helldivers
- Earth Defense Force 2: Invaders From Planet Space
- Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon
- Yo-Kai Watch
Mobile Game of the Year
- WINNER: Fallout Shelter
- DomiNations
- Lara Croft Go
- Pac-Man 256
- The Room Three
DICE Sprite Award
- WINNER: Rocket League
- Galak-Z: The Dimensional
- Her Story
- Kerbal Space Program
- Undertale
Outstanding Achievement in Animation
- WINNER: Ori and the Blind Forest
- Assassin’s Creed Syndicate
- Batman: Arkham Knight
- The Order: 1886
- Rise of the Tomb Raider
Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction
- WINNER: Ori and the Blind Forest
- Lara Croft Go
- The Order: 1886
- Rise of the Tomb Raider
- Star Wars: Battlefront
Outstanding Achievement in Character
- WINNER: Lara Croft – Rise of the Tomb Raider
- Evie Frye – Assassin’s Creed Syndicate
- Hannah Smith – Her Story
- Max Caulfield – Life Is Strange
- Geralt of Rivia – The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Outstanding Achievement in Game Design
- WINNER: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
- Fallout 4
- Her Story
- Lara Croft Go
- Massive Chalice
Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction
- WINNER: Fallout 4
- Life Is Strange
- Rise of the Tomb Raider
- Undertale
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay
- WINNER: Rocket League
- Destiny: The Taken King
- Halo 5: Guardians
- Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
- Splatoon
Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition
- WINNER: Ori and the Blind Forest
- Batman: Arkham Knight
- Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture
- StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design
- WINNER: Star Wars: Battlefront
- Destiny: The Taken King
- The Order: 1886
- Ori and the Blind Forest
- Rise of the Tomb Raider
Outstanding Achievement in Story
- WINNER: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
- Fallout 4
- Her Story
- Rise of the Tomb Raider
- Tales from the Borderlands
Outstanding Technical Achievement
- WINNER: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
- Just Cause 3
- The Order: 1886
- Rise of the Tomb Raider
- Star Wars Battlefront
Action Game of the Year
- WINNER: Star Wars: Battlefront
- Destiny: The Taken King
- Helldivers
- Just Cause 3
- Splatoon
Adventure Game of the Year
- WINNER: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
- Batman: Arkham Knight
- Life Is Strange
- Ori and the Blind Forest
- Rise of the Tomb Raider
Family Game of the Year
- WINNER: Super Mario Maker
- Guitar Hero Live
- Lego Dimensions
- Rock Band 4
- Tearaway Unfolded
Fighting Game of the Year
- WINNER: Mortal Kombat X
- Dead or Alive 5: Last Round
- Rising Thunder
Racing Game of the Year
- WINNER: Forza Motorsport 6
- Need For Speed
- Project CARS
Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year
- WINNER: Fallout 4
- Bloodborne
- Pillars of Eternity
- Undertale
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Sports Game of the Year
- WINNER: Rocket League
- FIFA 16
- Madden NFL 16
- MLB 15: The Show
- NBA 2K16
Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year
- WINNER: Heroes of the Storm
- Cities: Skylines
- Fallout Shelter
- Grey Goo
- Kerbal Space Program
Hall of Fame
- WINNER: Hideo Kojima
Lifetime Achievement Award
- WINNER: Satoru Iwata
Technical Impact Award
- WINNER: Visual Basic