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Deathloop, It Takes Two, And Forza Horizon 5 Lead Game Developers Conference Award Nominations

January 11, 2022

With just over two months until the 22nd annual Game Developers Choice Awards, the conference organizers have announced the nominees across each of the award show’s nine categories. Leading the pack in nominations is Arkane Studio’s Deathloop, the hit immersive-sim-meets-first-person shooter GameSpot lauded as our Game of the Year last month. Deathloop’s six nominations are followed closely by Hazelight’s It Takes Two, which received five, and Forza Horizon 5 with four.

Among the categories Deathloop has been nominated for are best audio, best design, best narrative, best visual art, the innovation award, and, last but not least, Game of the Year. The vibrant and cheeky multiplayer platforming title It Takes Two received its nominations for best design, best narrative, the social impact award, the innovation award, and Game of the Year, while Forza Horizon 5–the latest entry in the hit racing sim series–earned them for best audio, best technology, best visual art, and Game of the Year.

In addition to these three titles, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Unpacking, Psychonauts 2, Halo Infinite, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart also got a fair bit of love from the GDC. Several independent and studio debuts have also made some serious waves, including Kena: Bridge of Spirits, Inscryption, Unpacking, and Wildermyth.

You can read up on every game nominated for a GDC award–as well as all the honorable mentions–over on the conference’s official webpage. Here’s a list of the contenders for the award show’s top nine categories:

Best Audio

Returnal (Housemarque / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Unpacking (Witch Beam / Humble)
Deathloop (Arkane Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (Eidos Montreal / Square Enix)
Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games / Xbox Game Studios)

Best Debut

Kena: Bridge of Spirits (Ember Lab / Electronic Arts)
Valheim (Iron Gate Studio / Coffee Stain Publishing)
Wildermyth (Worldwalker Games / WhisperGames)
The Artful Escape (Beethoven & Dinosaur / Annapurna Interactive)
Sable (Shedworks / Raw Fury)

Best Design

It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)
Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine / Microsoft)
Halo Infinite (343 Industries / Xbox Game Studios)
Deathloop (Arkane Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
Inscryption (Daniel Mullins Games / Devolver Digital)

Innovation Award

It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)
Wildermyth (Worldwalker Games / WhisperGames)
Unpacking (Witch Beam / Humble)
Inscryption (Daniel Mullins Games / Devolver Digital)
Deathloop (Arkane Studios / Bethesda Softworks)

Best Narrative

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (Eidos Montreal / Square Enix)
Deathloop (Arkane Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)
Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine / Microsoft)
Unpacking (Witch Beam / Humble)

Social Impact Award

Before Your Eyes (GoodbyeWorld Games / Skybound Games)
It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)
Life is Strange: True Colors (Deck Nine / Square Enix)
Boyfriend Dungeon (Kitfox Games)
Chicory: A Colorful Tale (The Chicory: A Colorful Tale Team / Finji)

Best Technology

Halo Infinite (343 Industries / Xbox Game Studios)
Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games / Xbox Game Studios)
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Returnal (Housemarque / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Hitman 3 (IO Interactive)

Best Visual Art

Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games / Xbox Game Studios)
Kena: Bridge of Spirits (Ember Lab / Electronic Arts)
Deathloop (Arkane Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine / Microsoft)