Recapping The Game Awards 2021

The Game Awards 2021 Winners and Losers! Did your favorite game get shafted?

Last night, Geoff Keighley hosted the 8th annual edition of The Game Awards. Prior to the award ceremony, controversy arose due to Keighley’s stance on Activision Blizzard and excluding Forza Horizon 5 from the Game of the Year category. Tonight at The Game Awards, Keighley opened the show addressing bullying, harassment, and discrimination in the industry without mentioning names – opting to scold the crowd and viewers over online harassment as opposed to, ahem.. other types of harassment that we’ve heard about . Despite starting late, gamers around the world eagerly awaited world premieres. Some of the games revealed at The Game Awards were Star Wars Eclipse, Sonic Frontiers, Alan Wake 2, GTFO, and Elden Ring. Will some of these titles be future The Game Awards winners or losers?

With a bunch of surprises and new world premieres, The Game Awards 2021 felt more like E3 trailers than an award show. Additionally, some of The Game Awards winners felt like they were to appease the people in the industry rather than the video game community as a whole, but that’s an argument for another time. With that being said let’s recap The Game Awards 2021 winners and losers; winners will be in bold.

Game of the Year

Deathloop – Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks
It Takes Two – Hazelight Studios/Electronic Arts
Metroid Dread – MercurySteam/Nintendo
Psychonauts 2 – Double Fine/Xbox Game Studios
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart – Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Resident Evil Village – Capcom

Best Game Direction

Deathloop – Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks
It Takes Two – Hazelight Studios/Electronic Arts
Psychonauts 2 – Double Fine/Xbox Game Studios
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart – Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Returnal – Housemarque/Sony Interactive Entertainment

Best Narrative

Deathloop – Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks
It Takes Two – Hazelight Studios/Electronic Arts
Life Is Strange: True Colors – Deck Nine/Square Enix
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy – Eidos Montreal/Square Enix
Psychonauts 2 – Double Fine/Xbox Game Studios

Best Art Direction

Deathloop – Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks
Kena: Bridge of Spirits – Ember Lab
Psychonauts 2 – Double Fine/Xbox Game Studios
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart – Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment
The Artful Escape – Beethoven & Dinosaur/Annapurna Interactive

Best Score and Music

Cyberpunk 2077 – Marcin Przybylowicz and Piotr T. Adamczyk
Deathloop – Tom Salta
Nier Replicant ver 1.22474487139 – Keiichi Okabe
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy – Richard Jacques
The Artful Escape – Johnny Galvatron and Josh Abrahams

Best Audio Design

Deathloop – Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks
Forza Horizon 5 – Playground Games/Xbox Game Studios
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart – Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Resident Evil Village – Capcom
Returnal – Housemarque/Sony Interactive Entertainment

Best Performance

Erika Mori as Alex Chen – Life Is Strange: True Colors
Giancarlo Esposito as Antón Castillo – Far Cry 6
Jason E. Kelley as Colt Vahn – Deathloop
Maggie Robertson as Lady Dimitrescu – Resident Evil Village
Ozioama Akagha as Juliana Blake – Deathloop

Games for Impact

Before Your Eyes – GoodbyeWorld Games/Skybound Games
Boyfriend Dungeon – Kitfox Games
Chicory: A Colorful Tale – Greg Lobanov/Finji
Life Is Strange: True Colors – Deck Nine/Square Enix
No Longer Home – Humble Grove/Fellow Traveller

Best Ongoing Game

Apex Legends – Respawn Entertainment/Electronic Arts
Call of Duty: Warzone – Raven Software/Activision
Final Fantasy XIV – Square Enix
Fortnite – Epic Games
Genshin Impact – miHoYo

Best Indie Game

12 Minutes – Luís António/Annapurna Interactive
Death’s Door – Acid Nerve/Devolver Digital
Kena: Bridge of Spirits – Ember Lab
Inscryption – Daniel Mullins Games/Devolver Digital
Loop Hero – Four Quarters/Devolver Digital

Best Mobile Game

Fantasian – Mistwalker
Genshin Impact – miHoYo
League of Legends: Wild Rift – Riot Games
Marvel Future Revolution – Netmarble/Marvel Games
Pokemon Unite – TiMi Studio/The Pokémon Company

Best Community Support

Apex Legends – Respawn Entertainment/Electronic Arts
Destiny 2: Beyond Light – Bungie
Final Fantasy XIV – Square Enix
Fortnite – Epic Games
No Man’s Sky – Hello Games

Best VR/AR Game

Hitman 3 – IO Interactive
I Expect You to Die 2 – Schell Games
Lone Echo II – Ready at Dawn/Oculus Studios
Resident Evil 4 – Armature Studio/Capcom/Oculus Studios
Sniper Elite VR – Coatsink/Just Add Water/Rebellion Developments

Innovation in Accessibility

Far Cry 6 – Ubisoft
Forza Horizon 5 – Playground Games/Xbox Game Studios
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy – Eidos Montreal/Square Enix
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart – Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment
The Vale: Shadow of the Crown – Falling Squirrel

Best Action Game

Back 4 Blood – Turtle Rock Studios/WB Games
Chivalry II – Torn Banner Studios/Tripwire Interactive
Deathloop – Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks
Far Cry 6 – Ubisoft
Returnal – Housemarque/Sony Interactive Entertainment

Best Action/Adventure Game

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy – Eidos Montreal/Square Enix
Metroid Dread – MercurySteam/Nintendo
Psychonauts 2 – Double Fine/Xbox Game Studios
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart – Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Resident Evil Village – Capcom

Best Role-Playing Game

Cyberpunk 2077 – CD Projekt RED
Monster Hunter Rise – Capcom
Scarlet Nexus – Bandai Namco
Shin Megami Tensei V – Atlus/Sega
Tales of Arise – Bandai Namco

Best Fighting Game

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles – CyberConnect2/Sega
Guilty Gear Strive – Arc System Works
Melty Blood: Type Lumina – French Bread/Delightworks
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl – Ludosity/Fair Play Labs/GameMill Entertainment
Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown – Sega

Best Family Game

It Takes Two – Hazelight Studios/Electronic Arts
Mario Party Superstars – NDcube/Nintendo
New Pokémon Snap – Bandai Namco Studios/The Pokémon Company
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury – Nintendo
WarioWare: Get It Together! – Nintendo

Best Sports/Racing Game

F1 2021 – Codemasters/EA Sports
FIFA 22 – EA Vancouver/EA Sports
Hot Wheels Unleashed – Milestone
Forza Horizon 5 – Playground Games/Xbox Game Studios
Riders Republic – Ubisoft

Best Sim/Strategy Game

Age of Empires IV – Relic Entertainment/Xbox Game Studios
Evil Genius 2: World Domination – Rebellion Developments
Humankind – Amplitude Studios/Sega
Inscryption – Daniel Mullins Games/Devolver Digital
Microsoft Flight Simulator – Asobo Studio/Xbox Game Studios

Best Multiplayer Game

Back 4 Blood – Turtle Rock Studios/WB Games
It Takes Two – Hazelight Studios/Electronic Arts
Knockout City – Velan Studios/Electronic Arts
Monster Hunter Rise – Capcom
New World – Amazon Games
Valheim – Iron Gate Studio/Coffee Stain Studios

Best Debut Game

Kena: Bridge of Spirits – Ember Lab
Sable – Shedworks/Raw Fury
The Artful Escape – Beethoven & Dinosaur/Annapurna Interactive
The Forgotten City – Modern Storyteller/Dear Villager
Valheim – Iron Gate Studio/Coffee Stain Studios

Most Anticipated Game

Elden Ring – FromSoftware/Bandai Namco
God of War Ragnarök – Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Horizon Forbidden West – Guerrilla Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sequel – Nintendo
Starfield – Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks

Players’ Voice

Halo Infinite – 343 Industries/Xbox Game Studiosdouble-dagger
Forza Horizon 5 – Playground Games/Xbox Game Studios
It Takes Two – Hazelight Studios/Electronic Arts
Metroid Dread – MercurySteam/Nintendo
Resident Evil Village – Capcom

Best Esports Game

Call of Duty – Activision
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive – Valve
Dota 2 – Valve
League of Legends – Riot Games
Valorant – Riot Games

Best Esports Player

Chris “Simp” Lehr
Heo “ShowMaker” Su
Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov
Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev
Tyson “TenZ” Ngo

Best Esports Team

DAMWON KIA (League of Legends)
Atlanta FaZe (Call of Duty)
Natus Vincere (Counter Strike: Global Offensive)
Sentinels (Valorant)
Team Spirit (Dota 2)

Best Esports Coach

Airat “Silent” Gaziev
Andrey “Engh” Sholokhov
Andrei “B1ad3” Horodenskyi
James “Crowder” Crowder
Kim “kkOma” Jeong-gyun

Best Esports Event

2021 League of Legends World Championship
The International 10
PGL Major Stockholm 2021
PUBG Mobile Global Championship 2020
2021 Valorant Champions Tour: Stage 2