Los Angeles, California - It's time for the Oscars of the video game industry –and much like the Academy Awards, this year's Game Awards is facing a reckoning with everything that's been going wrong behind the scenes. Here's what gamers can expect from Thursday's ceremony, streamed live from the Microsoft Theater in LA.

The Game Awards was founded by entrepreneur Geoff Keighly to celebrate the best of the best in gaming, reveal upcoming releases, and give credit to the hard-working teams who make the games we love.

Thursday's big event will includes special guest appearances from Keanu Reeves alongside his Matrix: Resurrections co-star Carrie-Ann Moss.

There will also be plenty of music acts to spice things up between winner announcements. Sting and The Game Awards Orchestra are two of the big acts gracing the ceremony with shows. They will be joined by Imagine Dragons, which recently featured on the soundtrack of Arcane, the stellar Netflix series based on a Riot Games online game, League of Legends.

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The awards' selection process relies on the choices of an international jury of over 100 media and influencer outlets. The jury selected a few games for each category, and then the members of the jury got down to business, reviewing each game before the actual voting kicked off.

You can still cast your vote, and you definitely should, because even though the jury's votes make up 90% of the total, the public holds the remaining 10% of the voting power.

If you still haven't cast your vote, public voting closes December 8 at 6 PM Pacific Time, giving you some more time to make your voice heard and see what games have been nominated.

The competition for the highly-coveted award of Game of the Year (GOTY) is fierce, but there is a clear trend towards games that feature story-driven action and adventure.

Deathloop, a time-looping shooter title, has the most nominations, including for GOTY. The game is a solid entry from developer Arkon Lyon, and is expected to win at least one of the awards it was nominated for, especially since it's been reviewed so positively by critics and regular players alike.

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, a surprising reboot of the ancient Playstation franchise, came out of left field and delighted fans of the series, game critics, and new players alike with great graphics. It probably won't take home Game of the Year or Best Action Game, but its visuals and solid voice acting could give it a shot at Best Audio Design.

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Psychonauts 2, which lets you jump into other people's minds and confront their inner demons in a dazzling action experience, was another unexpected but welcome sequel. This game definitely has the content and quality to take home Game of the Year, Best Narrative, and Best Action/Adventure.

Then there's Resident Evil Village, a spooky survival shooter with bizarre characters and disturbing boss fights also in the running for a slew of prizes. The tense atmosphere and great reception give the game a shot at the GOTY crown.

Metroid Dread and It Takes Two are the last two nominees for Game of the Year, but the competition is strong enough from the other games that neither are likely to win the coveted title.

Lesser-known games get their time in the spotlight for awards like Best Indie Game, Best VR/AR Game, or Innovation in Accessibility, and those last two award categories are a pleasant surprise to see at the most high-profile industry awards ceremony.

If game developers see that games are highlighted for giving you a fun experience that makes you expand your horizon, or games you can enjoy even if you can't easily use a mouse and keyboard or a game controller, then dev teams are more likely to make more of those games in the future.

The same goes for giving credit to well-made, low-budget indie games, because even though it's great that giant game studios can give us tens or even hundreds of hours of gaming content with high-tech graphics, sometimes all you need to have a good time is to sit down with a quirky new take on a genre from a tiny gaming studio in someone's garage.

Aside from the usual round of game reveals that are a staple of each year's Game Awards, there is one surprise update for the Xbox Game Pass.

There are some mystery games that will be available to PC players when the Xbox Game Pass goes live for PC players, and you can look forward to the news during the event.

Despite all the spectacular titles vying for awards, as well as the glitz and glamour, there's no escaping the storm of controversy overshadowing the Game Awards this year.

The biggest is probably the ongoing lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, amid accusations of rampant sexual harassment at the company. That led to one of the biggest studios in gaming being officially uninvited, but it will still be indirectly represented by Raven Software's Call of Duty: Warzone.

Ironically, Raven Software is dealing with its own fallout, after it brutally fired 12 of its quality assurance workers. The layoffs have led to a walk-outs as employees demand the rehiring of their co-workers.

An older criticism targets the Game Awards itself for being a popularity contest, because for better or for worse, there is no simple measuring stick for deciding which video game is, looks, or sounds the best. There's a definite trend of awards going to the expensive games that got the most press attention, something many fans want to see changed.

Still, the Game Awards remain an important way for gamers and critics to let the developers know what games rocked, and the spotlight may even help ratchet up the tension on studios to do better in all areas.