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Game Awards 2021 – All Winners and Nominees

Posted on Dec 14, 2021 by bisecthosting

The 2021 Game Awards have come to a close, and like every year, some of the choices left a few people riled up. Agree or disagree, today we will be bringing you the full and complete list of this year’s nominees and winners. Opinions and post-award controversies included at the end.

Winners and Nominees

Game of the Year

Recognizing a game that delivers the absolute best experience across all creative and technical fields.

Deathloop
It Takes Two
Metroid Dread
Psychonauts 2
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
Resident Evil Village

Best Game Direction

Awarded for outstanding creative vision and innovation in game direction and design.

Deathloop
It Takes Two
Returnal
Psychonauts 2
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Best Narrative

For outstanding storytelling and narrative development in a game.

Deathloop
It Takes Two
Life is Strange: True Colors
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy
Psychonauts 2

Best Art Direction

For outstanding creative and/or technical achievement in artistic design and animation.

The Artful Escape
Deathloop
Kena: Bridge of Spirits
Psychonauts 2
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Best Score and Music

For outstanding music, inclusive of score, original song and/or licensed soundtrack.

The Artful Escape
Cyberpunk 2077
Deathloop
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy
Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139

Best Audio Design

Recognizing the best in-game audio and sound design.

Deathloop
Forza Horizon 5
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
Resident Evil Village
Returnal

Best Performance

Awarded to an individual for voice-over acting, motion and/or performance capture.

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

Games for Impact

For a thought-provoking game with a pro-social meaning or message.

Before Your Eyes
Boyfriend Dungeon
Chicory: A Colorful Tale
Life is Strange: True Colors
No Longer Home

Best Ongoing Game

Awarded to a game for outstanding development of ongoing content that evolves the player experience over time.

Apex Legends
Final Fantasy XIV Online
Fortnite
Genshin Impact
Call of Duty: Warzone

Best Indie Game

For outstanding creative and technical achievement in a game made outside the traditional publisher system.

12 Minutes
Death's Door
Inscryption
Kena: Bridge of Spirits
Loop Hero

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Best Mobile Game

For the best game playable on a mobile device.

Fantasian
Genshin Impact
League of Legends: Wild Rift
Marvel Future Revolution
Pokémon Unite

Best Community Support

Recognizing a game for outstanding community support, transparency and responsiveness, inclusive of social media activity and game updates/patches.

Apex Legends
Destiny 2
Final Fantasy XIV Online
Fortnite
No Man's Sky

Innovation in Accessibility

Recognizing software and/or hardware that is pushing the medium forward by adding features, technology and content to help games be played and enjoyed by an even wider audience.

Far Cry 6
Forza Horizon 5
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
The Vale: Shadow of the Crown

Best VR / AR Game

For the best game experience playable in virtual or augmented reality, irrespective of platform.

Hitman 3
I Expect You to Die 2
Lone Echo II
Resident Evil 4
Sniper Elite VR

Best Action Game

For the best game in the action genre focused primarily on combat.

Back 4 Blood
Chivalry II
Deathloop
Far Cry 6
Returnal

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Best Action / Adventure Game

For the best action/adventure game, combining combat with traversal and puzzle solving.

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy
Metroid Dread
Psychonauts 2
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
Resident Evil Village

Best Role Playing Game

For the best game designed with rich player character customization and progression, including massively multiplayer experiences.

Cyberpunk 2077
Monster Hunter Rise
Scarlet Nexus
Shin Megami Tensei V
Tales of Arise

Best Fighting Game

For the best game designed primarily around head-to-head combat.

Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles
Guilty Gear -Strive-
Melty Blood: Type Lumina
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl
Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown

Best Family Game

For the best game appropriate for family play, irrespective of genre or platform.

It Takes Two
Mario Party Superstars
New Pokémon Snap
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury
WarioWare: Get It Together!

Best Sim / Strategy Game

Best game focused on real time or turn-based simulation or strategy gameplay, irrespective of platform.

Age of Empires IV
Evil Genius 2: World Domination
Humankind
Inscryption
Microsoft Flight Simulator

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Best Sports / Racing Game

For the best traditional and non-traditional sports and racing game.

F1 2021
FIFA 22
Forza Horizon 5
Hot Wheels Unleashed
Riders Republic

Best Multiplayer Game

For outstanding online multiplayer gameplay and design, including co-op and massively multiplayer experiences, irrespective of game genre or platform.

Back 4 Blood
Knockout City
It Takes Two
Monster Hunter Rise
New World
Valheim

Content Creator of the Year

For a streamer or content creator who has made an important and positive impact on the community in 2021.

Dream
Fuslie
Gaules
Ibai
Grefg

Best Debut Indie Game

For the best debut game created by a new independent studio.

The Artful Escape
The Forgotten City
Kena: Bridge of Spirits
Sable
Valheim

Most Anticipated Game

Recognizing an announced game that has demonstrably illustrated potential to push the gaming medium forward.

Elden Ring
God of War Ragnarök
Horizon Forbidden West
The Sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Starfield

Best Esports Game

For the game that has delivered the best overall esports experience to players (inclusive of tournaments, community support and content updates), irrespective of genre or platform.

Call of Duty
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
DOTA2
League of Legends
Valorant

Best Esports Athlete

The esports athlete judged to be the most outstanding for performance and conduct in 2021, irrespective of game.

Chris "Simp" Lehr
Heo "ShowMaker" Su
Magomed "Collapse" Khalilov
Oleksandr "S1mple" Kostyliev
Tyson "TenZ" Ngo

Best Esports Team

Recognizing a specific esports team (not the full organization) judged the most outstanding for performance and conduct in 2021.

Call of Duty - Atlanta Faze
League of Legends - DWG KIA
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive – Natus Vincere
Valorant - Sentinels
DOTA2 - Team Spirit

Best Esports Coach

The esports coach judged to be the most outstanding for performance and conduct in 2021.

Airat "Silent" Gaziev
Andrey "ENGH" Sholokhov
Andrii "B1ad3" Horodenskyi
James "Crowder" Crowder
Kim "Kkoma" Jeong-gyun

Best Esports Event

Recognizing an event (across single or multiple days) that delivered a best-of-class experience for participants and the broadcast audience.

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

Game Awards in Review

Amongst an abundance of trailers and streamer advertisements, we saw thirty awards handed out this year. I personally found most choices fitting, but then again, the games I wanted to win won, so that is likely a bit biased of me. (Go Final Fantasy 14!) My only complaint, which isn’t much of one, is that they may want to consider a name change to The Game Awards & Trailers. There were a lot of trailers.

Moving onto controversies, a few categories such as “Content Creator of the Year” led to things getting out of hand. So much so that Dream himself released some pretty angry tweets in retaliation.

https://twitter.com/dreamwastaken/status/1469159752550830081

Over on Twitch, a few streamers were unhappy with the event for other reasons. CohCarnage, for example, criticizing the Game Awards for advertising other streamers after inviting him to stream the event.