The Game Awards 2017 recap: 'Zelda' wins Game of the Year

zelda-breath-of-wild — Screenshot from 'The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.' Nintendo/Press

The Game Awards 2017 winners include titles like “Cuphead” and "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild." Returning in its fourth year, the event was broadcasted from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California.

Game of the Year nominees are “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,” “Super Mario Odyssey,” “PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds,” “Persona 5” and “Horizon Zero Dawn.” After weeks of waiting, “Breath of the Wild” emerged victorious as GOTY.

Plenty of guests graced the event. First, the Game Awards Orchestra made its astounding debut this year by playing iconic music from “Skyrim” and more, then closing the show with themes from the GOTY lineup. Then Guillermo Del Toro and Hideo Kojima went onstage to announce the winner for Best Art Direction. “The Walking Dead” star Norman Reedus also appeared with Kojima after showing a lengthy and disturbing trailer for “Death Stranding.”

Of course, this wouldn’t be The Game Awards without world premieres. This year, the awarding ceremony began by showing a trailer for a new “World War Z” game. Other announcements include Owlchemy Labs’ “Vacation Simulator,” The Astronauts’ “Witchfire” and 4A Games’ “Metro: Exodus.”

Nintendo fans are in for a treat, thanks to the announcement of the new DLC for “Breath of the Wild” titled “The Champions' Ballad.” Then there’s also the Switch exclusive “Bayonetta 3.”

Meanwhile, the audience gave a standing ovation to Carol Shaw, one of the first female video game designers, as she accepted the Industry Icon Award. An inspiring moment, indeed.

Then later on, Conan O'Brien aka Clueless Gamer himself appeared on screen by discrediting every single Game of the Year nominee in a hilarious skit. And in perhaps the most attention-grabbing moment of the event, writer/director Josef Fares announced his upcoming game “A Way Out” in such an ecstatic manner, even dissing the Oscars and eliciting a wild response from the audience—every moment was worth watching.

Created by video game journalist Geoff Keighley in 2014, The Game Awards honours the most influential and popular video games of the year. Previous Game of the Year winners include “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt” and “Overwatch.”

Click here to view the complete list of The Game Awards 2017 winners and nominees. Folks can watch the entire awards show below.