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.

What were your thoughts on the Game Awards this year? Do you plan to watch them again? We would love to hear!

Until Next Time,

BisectHosting =)