Twelve games have been unveiled as finalists for the main awards at the 2026 Korea Game Awards, which select the country's top game of the year. They include Pearl Abyss' "Crimson Desert" and NC's "Aion2", as well as three titles developed by Netmarble affiliates.

The Korea Game Industry Association announced finalists by category, including the main awards and the Popular Game Award, on its official website on Oct. 26. The main awards comprise the grand prize, best award, excellence award and technology and creative awards.

Main award finalists are: "Dokkaebi's World" (Supercat), "Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch" (Ocean Drive Studio), "MONGIL: Star Dive" (Netmarble Monster), "Crimson Desert" (Pearl Abyss), "Stone Age: Raising" (Netmarble N2), "Eclipse: The Awakening" (Npixel), "The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin" (Netmarble F&C), "Imjin War: Joseon's Counterattack" (Red Zingco Games), "Zeus: The God of Arrogance" (Averton), "Chaos Zero Nightmare" (Smilegate), "Aion2" (NC) and "Mimesis" (Relu Games).

The finalists were selected from games made and released in South Korea between Oct. 3 last year and Oct. 12 this year. The list includes titles submitted by developers and winners of the "Best Game of the Year" awards overseen by the Korea Creative Content Agency.

The finalists range across genres, from major new releases by large game companies to titles from small and mid-sized developers.

"Crimson Desert" from Pearl Abyss is an open-world action-adventure game released in March. It recorded 2 million units sold on its release day and surpassed 6 million in cumulative global sales in 83 days. The company plans to release the first paid downloadable content for an improved version, "Crimson Desert Enhanced", titled "Unknown Journey", on Oct. 30.

NC's Aion2 is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game released in South Korea and Taiwan last November. It follows the world view of its predecessor, "Aion", and a global version was also released earlier this month. This is NC's first submission to the Korea Game Awards in 14 years, since "Blade & Soul" won the grand prize in 2012.

Netmarble put three affiliate-developed titles on the finalist list, the most by a single company. Netmarble Monster's "MONGIL: Star Dive" is a character-collecting action RPG. Netmarble N2's "Stone Age: Raising" is an idle RPG using the existing Stone Age intellectual property. Netmarble F&C's "The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin" is an open-world RPG based on a Japanese manga IP.

Finalists in the mobile MMORPG genre include "Dokkaebi's World", developed by Supercat and serviced by Kakao Games, "Zeus: The God of Arrogance", developed by Averton and serviced by Com2uS, and "Eclipse: The Awakening", developed by Npixel and serviced by Smilegate.

Other finalists include Smilegate's subculture RPG "Chaos Zero Nightmare", AI-based cooperative horror game "Mimesis" developed by Krafton unit Relu Games, turn-based strategy RPG "Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch" from Ocean Drive Studio, and strategy game "Imjin War: Joseon's Counterattack" from Red Zingco Games.

Nine titles were selected as finalists for the Popular Game Award: "Dokkaebi's World", "MONGIL: Star Dive", "Crimson Desert", "Agatha: Raising", "Eclipse: The Awakening", "Imjin War: Joseon's Counterattack", "Zeus: The God of Arrogance", "Aion2" and "Mimesis".

The Popular Voice Actor Award, created last year, includes nominees Nam Do-hyeong (남도형), who played Cloud in "MONGIL: Star Dive", Lee Jae-hyun (Lee Hyun) (이재현(이현)), who played Cliff in "Crimson Desert", and voice actor Lee Jang-won (이장원), who portrayed Yi Sun-shin in "Imjin War: Joseon's Counterattack".

Online voting to pick the final winners runs from Oct. 26 through 5 p.m. on Nov. 16. Winners will be decided based on a panel's evaluation and a combined tally of public and media votes.

The 2026 Korea Game Awards ceremony, hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and organized by the Korea Game Industry Association, will be held at BEXCO in Busan on Nov. 18, the day before the opening of G-Star. Awards will be given in 13 categories, including the main awards, Popular Game Award and Indie Game Award. Total prize money is 30 million won.