Picture it: December 2013, a time when gamers everywhere huddled around their screens, not just to see who would snatch the coveted Spike VGX trophies, but to witness the glorious awkwardness of a show that always felt like your dad trying to be cool at a LAN party. The nominations for what was then called VGX (because “VGA” was so 2012) read like a time capsule of peak seventh-generation ambition—before battle royale took over the planet, before indie darlings routinely slapped AAA budgets around, and before Troy Baker basically voiced everything. In 2026, looking back at that list feels like scrolling through a middle school yearbook: some faces still dominate the headlines, some faded politely into obscurity, and a few are remembered only for the Memes.

Let’s rewind and do a little autopsy, shall we?

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The Game of the Year race was filthier than a multiplayer lobby after a 12-year-old discovers profanity. Five titans stood chest-to-chest: BioShock Infinite, Grand Theft Auto V, Super Mario 3D World, The Last of Us, and Tomb Raider. Honestly, trying to pick a winner from that bunch feels like asking someone to choose their favorite kidney. GTA V rolled in with nine nominations total, flashing a middle finger and a heist plan. BioShock Infinite had eight and a head full of quantum physics. The Last of Us carried seven and enough emotional trauma to fill a sequel (which it did, spectacularly). And then there was Tomb Raider, the scrappy reboot with five nods, proving Lara Croft still had enough arrows in her quiver to threaten the big boys. Spoiler: history decided that all of them won, because honestly, when’s the last time you played a bad game from that lineup?

But the real drama? The categories were voted on by Editor-in-Chiefs from places like IGN and Gamespot. Fancy. The only award fans could actually influence was Most Anticipated Game — a title that turned out to be a crystal ball wrapped in a punchline. That year’s nominees were South Park: The Stick of Truth, Destiny, Watch Dogs, Titanfall, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Fast forward to 2026: one of those is widely considered one of the greatest RPGs ever made (cough, The Witcher 3), two redefined live-service hype and disappointment cycles (Destiny and Watch Dogs), one gave us a superhero grappling hook before it was cool (Titanfall), and South Park… well, it delivered exactly the fart jokes we ordered. You know what’s funny? In 2013, nobody would have bet their rent money that Geralt of Rivia would become a household name while the ‘hacker vibe’ of Watch Dogs would be remembered like a regrettable tribal tattoo.

Now, let’s dissect some other categories that aged like fine wine or like milk left in a dumpster.

Best Shooter invited Battlefield 4, BioShock Infinite, Call of Duty: Ghosts, and Metro: Last Light. Three of those are still spoken of with reverence, and then there’s Ghosts, which remains the Call of Duty entry people use to win arguments about the franchise’s low points. Somewhere in 2026, a teenager is reading this and asking, “What’s a Ghosts?” Exactly.

Best Action Adventure threw Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag into the ring with the GOTY heavyweights. Smart move. The shanties alone deserved a separate Grammy. To this day, if you hum “Leave her, Johnny, leave her…” in a crowded gaming expo, at least three people will harmonize.

Troy Baker and his vocal cords had one heck of a year. Nominated for Best Voice Actor as both Joel in The Last of Us and Booker DeWitt in BioShock Infinite, the man was basically competing against himself. Steven Ogg’s unhinged Trevor Philips also showed up to the party, bringing chaos and cannibalism. On the Best Voice Actress side, Ashely Johnson’s Ellie and Courtnee Draper’s Elizabeth made everyone cry in different ways. You’ve got to hand it to 2013—it’s the year voice acting permanently deleted the “cheesy video game dialogue” stigma from the industry’s hard drive.

Let’s not sleep on the indie scene. Best Independent Game spotlighted Gone Home, Papers, Please, The Stanley Parable, and Kentucky Route Zero. In retrospect, that list is practically a curriculum for narrative design courses. “Glory to Arstotzka” is still a secret handshake among PC gamers, and The Stanley Parable continues to mess with our heads in 2026 via Ultra Deluxe patched expansions that add more doors and existential dread.

But sure, the VGX always had its, ahem, “broad church” moments. Best Casual Game included Disney Infinity and Skylanders Swap Force, reminding us all that our plastic toys-to-life addiction was a genuine sickness. And Best Driving Game? Forza Motorsport 5 and Need for Speed Rivals battled while Grid 2 sat quietly in the corner, hoping someone would notice its taillights.

Looking at the platform-specific awards, a few things stand out. The Last of Us hoovered up PlayStation love, but it’s wild to see Rayman Legends popping up on both the Nintendo and PlayStation lists. That limbless wonder was the Switzerland of gaming: beloved everywhere, enemy to none. Meanwhile, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons landed an Xbox nomination and now stands as the “I’m not crying, you’re crying” benchmark for short narrative games.

And finally, because award shows need a random banger segment: Best Song in a Game pitted Eminem’s “Survival” (Call of Duty: Ghosts) against Kendrick Lamar’s “ADHD” (GTA V) and the emotionally devastating “Will the Circle be Unbroken” from BioShock Infinite. That’s a playlist that would give even the calmest DJ whip-lash.

In 2026, the VGX is but a memory, transformed and rebranded, but its 2013 nominations chart remains a beautiful, messy portrait of a medium in transition. Some games became eternal classics, others became punchlines, and a few—like Papers, Please—quietly proved that a stamp could be more gripping than a rocket launcher. One thing’s for sure: if we ever need to remind ourselves why we love this hobby, a glance at that lineup does the trick. It was loud, it was weird, and it was perfectly gaming.