The 2021 Game Awards Complete List of Nominations

Every year, host and creator of The Game Awards Geoff Keighley reveals what the best games of the year were. And while we won’t know the winners until the show broadcasts on Dec. 9, the complete list of Game Awards 2021 nominations has been revealed.

While there are different categories, the biggest one is always Game of the Year. There are six nominees for that honor, including Deathloop, It Takes Two, Psychonauts 2, Metroid Dread, Resident Evil: Village, and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart.

While these are all great games, Deathloop and Psychonauts 2 seem poised to sweep the show. Deathloop has been nominated for nine different awards this year and Psychonauts has been nominated for five.

Fans can vote for winners in every category at the official Game Awards site through Dec. 8 at 6 p.m. PT / 9 p.m. ET. The fan vote will count toward 10% of the winners’ scores, with 90% being determined by an official voting jury.

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The show is returning to a live, in-person format this year, broadcast from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

The full list of 2021 Game Awards nominees 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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

Best Community Support

• Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
• Destiny 2 (Bungie)
• Final Fantasy XIV Online (Square Enix)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)

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)

Best VR/AR

• 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)

Best Mobile Game

• Fantasian (Mistwalker)
• Genshin Impact (MiHoYo)
• League of Legends: Wild Rift (Riot Games)
• Marvel Future Revolution (Netmarble)
• Pokemon Unite (TiMi Studios/The Pokemon Company)

Best Action/Adventure

• Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (Eidos Montreal/SQUARE ENIX)
• Metroid Dread (Mercury Steam/Nintendo)
• Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine/Xbox Game Studios)
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (Insomniac Games/SIE)
• Resident Evil Village (Capcom)

Best Action

• Back 4 Blood (Turtle Rock/WB Games)
• Chivalry II (Torn Banner Studios/Tripwire Interactive)
• Deathloop (Arkane Studios/Bethesda)
• Far Cry 6 (Ubisoft Toronto/Ubisoft)
• Returnal (Housemarque/SIE)

Best Fighting

• 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)
• Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown (Sega)

Best Role Playing

• 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 Sports/Racing

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

Best Family

• It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios/EA)
• Mario Party Superstars (NDcube/Nintendo)
• New Pokémon Snap (Bandai Namco/The Pokémon Company/Nintendo)
• Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury (Nintendo)
• WarioWare: Get It Together! (Intelligent Systems/Nintendo)

Best Multiplayer

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

Best Sim/Strategy

• 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)
• Microsoft Flight Simulator (Asobo Studio/Xbox Game Studios)

Innovation in Accessibility, Presented by Chevrolet

• Far Cry 6 (Ubisoft Toronto/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/SIE)
• The Vale: Shadow of the Crown (Creative Bytes Studios/Falling Squirrel)

Most Anticipated Game

• Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
• God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
• Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)
• Sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo)
• Starfield (Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda)

Best Esports Game

• Call of Duty (Activision)
• CS:GO (Valve)
• DOTA2 (Valve)
• League of Legends (Riot Games)
• Valorant (Riot Games)

Content Creator of the Year

• Dream
• Fuslie
• Gaules
• Ibai
• TheGrefg

Best Esports Athlete

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

Best Esports Coach

• Airat “Silent” Gaziev
• Andrey “ENGH” Sholokhov
• Andrii “B1ad3” Horodenskyi
• James “Crowder” Crowder
• Kim “kkOma” Jeong-gyun

Best Esports Team

• Atlanta FaZe (COD)
• DWG KIA (LOL)
• Natus Vincere (CS:GO)
• Sentinels (Valorant)
• Team Spirit (DOTA2)

Best Esports Event

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

Want to see who wins each category? Be sure to tune into The 2021 Game Awards on Dec. 9 at 4 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. ET on all major streaming services. Come for the awards show and stay for the announcements of up to 50 new game titles!