Home Games The Game Awards 2021 Nominations Revealed, Deathloop Leads With 9 Nominations

The Game Awards 2021 Nominations Revealed, Deathloop Leads With 9 Nominations

November 16, 2021

Geoff Keighley, host and creator of the annual Game Awards, has announced the nominees for the 2021 Game Awards, which will broadcast live from Los Angeles on December 9.

The six games nominated for Game of the Year include Deathloop, Psychonauts 2, It Takes Two, Resident Evil: Village, Metroid Dread, and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart.

Arkane Studios’ Deathloop leads all games with 9 nominations, including Game of the Year and Best Game Direction. It Takes Two from Electronic Arts and Hazelight is tied for second-most at five nominations with Double Fine’s Psychonauts 2.

The 14 combined noms for Deathloop and Psychonauts are a major factor in Xbox/Bethesda leading all other publishers with 20 nominations at this year’s show. Sony Interactive Entertainment is second with 11 nominations, while Square Enix and EA are tied for third with 10 each.

The 2021 Game Awards kicks off Thursday, December 9 at 4 PM Pacific Time / 7 PM Eastern Time. Host Geoff Keighley has already teased 40-50 world premiere game announcements to go along with the awards presentations.

The full list of nominees for The Game Awards 2021 is below:

Game of the Year

Deathloop (Arkane Studios/Bethesda)
It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios/EA)
Metroid Dread (Mercury Steam/Nintendo)
Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine/Xbox Game Studios)
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (Insomniac Games/SIE)
Resident Evil Village (Capcom)

Best Game Direction

Deathloop (Arkane Studios/Bethesda)
It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios/EA)
Returnal (Housemarque/SIE)
Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine/Xbox Game Studios)
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (Insomniac Games/SIE)

Best Ongoing

Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
Call of Duty: Warzone (Infinity Ward/Raven/Activision)
Final Fantasy XIV Online (Square Enix)
Fortnite (Epic Games)
Genshin Impact (MiHoYo)

Best Indie

12 Minutes (Luis Antonio/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 Debut Indie

Kena: Bridge of Spirits (Ember Lab)
Sable (Shedworks/Raw Fury)
The Artful Escape (Beethoven & Dinosaur/Annapurna)
The Forgotten City (Modern Storyteller/Dear Villagers)
Valheim (Iron Gate/Coffee Stain)

Best Narrative

Deathloop (Arkane Studios/Bethesda)
It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios/EA)
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)
Kena: Bridge of Spirits (Ember Lab)
Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine/Xbox Game Studios)
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (Insomniac Games/SIE)
The Artful Escape (Beethoven & Dinosaur/Annapurna)

Best Score and Music

Cyberpunk 2077 (Marcin Przybylowicz, Piotr T. Adamczyk, Composers)
Deathloop (Tom Salta, Composer)
NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139 (Keiichi Okabe, Composer)
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (Richard Jacques, Composer)
The Artful Escape (Johnny Galvatron & Josh Abrahams, Composers)

Best Audio Design

Deathloop (Arkane Studios/Bethesda)
Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games/Xbox Game Studios)
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (Insomniac Games/SIE)
Resident Evil Village (Capcom)
Returnal (Housemarque/SIE)

Best Performance

Erika Mori as Alex Chen, Life is Strange: True Colors
Giancarlo Esposito as Anton Castillo, Far Cry 6
Jason E. Kelley as Colt Vahn, Deathloop
Maggie Robertson as Lady Dimitrescu, Resident Evil Village
Ozioma Akagha as Julianna Blake, Deathloop

Games for Impact

Before Your Eyes (GoodbyeWorld Games/Skybound Games)
Boyfriend Dungeon (Kitfox Games)
Chicory (Greg Lobanow, Alexis dean-Jones, Lena Raine, Madeline Berger, A Shell in the Pit/Finji)
Life is Strange: True Colors (Deck Nine/SQUARE ENIX)
No Longer Home (Humble Grove, Hana Lee, Cel Davison, Adrienne Lombardo, Eli Rainsberry/Fellow Traveler)