The Game Awards 2021: Game of the Year nominees
The Game Awards will celebrate video game culture once again and recognize the year’s best titles. More than 100 media publications and influencer outlets participate in the jury process to select the winners.
There will be 30 awards handed out on the night, including the coveted Game of the Year award. Last year, The Last Of Us Part II dominated the night with seven awards including the GOTY. In this year’s nominations, Deathloop, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, It Takes Two, and Psychonauts 2 are the top contenders to win it.
GOTY nominees
It will be a tough competition once again in the main category as there are no obvious favorites.
There are some great titles, such as Deathloop. Arkane’s developed FPS game has a grappling loop that builds on great storytelling. The puzzle storyline is told through gunplay, stealth, skills, and gadgets, which provides players with a thrilling experience.
As an independent title (despite being under EA’s umbrella), It Takes Two demonstrates Josef Fares’ status as a top-tier developer. The gameplay mechanics are well-implemented and contribute to the fresh feeling of the game with the wit and humor of its script. A co-op mechanic is also utilized, a feature that is often overlooked in this industry.
Nintendo’s EPD division collaborated with MercurySteam, a Spanish studio, to create Metroid Dread. Like most previous Metroid games, it is a 2D side-scrolling action/adventure game with a strong emphasis on open-ended exploration. With its various challenging difficulty levels, this game demonstrates skillfully why the Metroidvania subgenre got its start in this franchise.
Double Fine’s Psychonauts 2 stands out with its stylish, recognizable, and unique design created by the master Tim Schafer. Thanks to its psychic-themed world, the game looks like a classic platform-adventure game, but with a quirky twist.
Insomniac Games once again develop a rock-solid game with Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. The well-established franchise is maintained and enhanced by polishing and upgrading the elements of the new game. A visual treat, it is one of those games where players can’t help looking at every detail on the screen.
The last competitor for the GOTY 2021 is Resident Evil Village. Despite the fact that the creators opted to remove components that worked so well in the two most popular titles in the series, the game was still well-received.
On the show
In addition to the awards, the audience will be able to see plenty of forthcoming games, with many premieres and reveals planned, such as the trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and a new Sonic game presented by Jim Carrey and Ben Schwartz, the premier of a game that has been in development for 2.5 years as teased by Geoff Keighley, Destiny 2’s Witch Queen expansion, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and many more.
Also, look forward to seeing a variety of brand new and highly anticipated PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC games at the show. You can watch the 180-minute event on their official Youtube channel, as well as Twitch, Facebook Live, Twitter, Steam, Oculus Venues, Tik Tok Live, and Trovo.
