BEST AUDIO DESIGN

RUNNER-UP RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2

Developer/publisher Rockstar Games Format PS4, Xbox One The lavish attention to detail of Rockstar’s astounding world extends to its audio presentation. It’s there in the thumping crack of wild-west gunfire, in the delicate scruff of hooves on a dusty plain and in the distant rumble of thunder that signals a coming storm. Above all it’s in a note-perfect performance from an enormous, and terrific, ensemble cast.

RUNNER-UP RETURN OF THE OBRA DINN

Developer/publisher 3909 LLC Format PC Those visuals only give you half the picture – if that. The legwork is really in what comes before: snippets of dialogue, wooden creaks and groans, the boom of a musket, a blood-chilling scream – all ample warning for the gruesome reveal to follow. And the single note that greets a correct deduction is 2018’s most satisfying sound.

WINNER TETRIS EFFECT

Developer Monstars, Resonair Publisher Enhance Games Format PS4, PSVR The music’s great, of course, an achingly modern trip across the full spectrum of electronic sound. But it’s what you add to it that really counts. Block rotations, movements and drops generate sound effects, as the Mizuguchi house style demands. Yet they have never fit so well as this, making for a game that’s as much about the performance as it is the puzzle.