The Game Awards, the video game industry’s biggest annual awards ceremony, has revealed its full list of nominations for the best 2020 releases.
Unlike film, game releases have largely been unaffected by the coronavirus pandemic beyond obvious shortages and slowdowns in production and distribution pipelines. It’s also been seen as a strong year for gaming following a comparatively quiet 2019.
Leading this year’ is Naughty Dog’s “The Last of Us Part II” with ten nominations followed by celebrated indie game “Hades” with nine; Sucker Punch’s “Ghost of Tsushima” with seven; Square Enix’s “Final Fantasy VII Remake” with six; mediatonic’s “Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout,” id Software’s “Doom Eternal” and Valve’s “Half-Life: Alyx” with four each; and Epic’s “Fortnite,” Moon Studios’ “Ori and the Will of the Wisps” and Nintendo’s “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” with three each.
Other titles scoring shout outs were “Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales,” “Spiritfarer,” “Call of Duty: Warzone,” “Carrion,” “Spelunky 2,” “No Man’s Sky,” “Desperados III,” “Yakuza: Like a Dragon,” “Microsoft Flight Simulator,” “No Man’s Land,” “Crusader Kings III,” “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2,” “Apex Legends,” “Tell Me Why,” “Resident Evil 3,” “Among Us,” “Valorant” and more.
The Games Awards will be presented on December 10th.
Game of the Year
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Doom Eternal
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Ghost of Tsushima
Hades
The Last of Us Part II
Best Game Direction
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Ghost of Tsushima
Hades
Half-Life: Alyx
The Last of Us Part II
Best Narrative
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim – Written by George Kamitani
Final Fantasy VII Remake – Written by Kazushige Nojima, Motomu Toriyama, Hiroaki Iwaki and Sachie Hirano
Ghost of Tsushima – Written by Ian Ryan, Liz Albl, Patrick Downs and Jordan Lemos
Hades – Written by Greg Kasavin
The Last of Us Part II – Written by Neil Druckmann and Haley Gross
Best Art Direction
Final Fantasy VII Remake – Square Enix
Ghost of Tsushima – Sucker Punch Productions/SIE
Hades – Supergiant Games
Ori and the Will of the Wisps – Moon Studios/Xbox Game Studios
The Last of Us Part II – Naughty Dog/SIE
Best Score & Music
Doom Eternal – Composed by Mick Gordon
Final Fantasy VII Remake – Composed by Nobuo Uematsu, Masashi Hamauzu and Mitsuto Suzuki
Hades – Composed by Darren Korb
Ori and the Will of the Wisps – Composed by Gareth Coker
The Last of Us Part II – Composed by Gustavo Santaolala, Additional Music by Mac Quayle
Best Audio Design
Doom Eternal – id Software/Bethesda
Half-Life: Alyx – Valve
Ghost of Tsushima – Sucker Punch/SIE
Resident Evil 3 – Capcom
The Last of Us Part II – Naughty Dog/SIE
Best Performance
Ashley Johnson as Ellie – The Last of Us Part II
Laura Bailey as Abby – The Last of Us Part II
Daisuke Tsuji as Jin Sakai – Ghost of Tsushima
Logan Cunningham as Hades – Hades
Nadji Jeter as Miles Morales – Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Games for Impact
If Found – Dreamfeel
Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition – Cardboard Computer
Spiritfarer – Thunder Lotus Games
Tell Me Why – Dontnod Entertainment/Xbox Game Studios
Through the Darkest of Times – Paintbucket Games
Best Ongoing Game
Apex Legends – Respawn/EA
Destiny 2 – Bungie
Call of Duty: Warzone – Infinity Ward/Activision
Fortnite – Epic Games
No Man’s Sky – Hello Games
Best Indie
Carrion – Phobia Game Studio/Devolver
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout – Mediatonic/Devolver
Hades – Supergiant Games
Spelunky 2 – Mossmouth LLC
Spiritfarer – Thunder Lotus Games
Best Mobile Game
Among Us – Innersloth
Call of Duty Mobile – TiMi Studios/Activision
Genshin Impact – miHoYo
Legends of Runeterra – Riot Games
Pokémon Cafe Mix – Genius Sonority
Best Community Support
Apex Legends – Respawn/EA
Destiny 2 – Bungie
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout – Mediatonic/Devolver
Fortnite – Epic Games
No Man’s Land – Hello Games
Valorant – Riot Games
Best VR/AR
Dreams – Media Molecule/SIE
Half-Life: Alyx – Valve
Marvel’s Iron Man VR – Camouflaj/SIE
Star Wars: Squadrons – Motive Studios/EA
The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Skydance Interactive
Innovation in Accessibility
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla – Ubisoft Montreal
Grounded – Obsidian Entertainment
Hyperdot – Tribe Games
The Last of Us Part II – Naughty Dog/SIE
Watch Dogs Legion – Ubisoft Toronto
Best Action
Doom Eternal – id Software/Bethesda
Hades – Supergiant Games
Half-Life: Alyx – Valve
Nioh 2 – Team Ninja
Streets of Rage 4 – Dotemu
Best Action/Adventure
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla – Ubisoft Montreal
Ghost of Tsushima – Sucker Punch/SIE
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales – Insomniac Games/SIE
Ori and the Will of the Wisps – Moon Studios/Xbox Game Studios
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order – Respawn/EA
The Last of Us Part II – Naughty Dog/SIE
Best Role-Playing
Final Fantasy VII Remake – Square Enix
Genshin Impact – miHoYo
Persona 5 Royal – Atlus/P Studios/Sega
Wasteland 3 – Inxile/Deep Silver
Yakuza: Like a Dragon – Ryu Ga Gotoku/Sega
Best Fighting
Granblue Fantasy: Versus – Arc System Works/Cygames/XSeed Games
Mortal Kombat 11 – Netherrealm Studios/WB Games
Street Fighter V: Champion Edition – Dimps/Capcom
One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows – Spike Chunsoft/Bandai Namco
Under Night In-Birth EXE: Late (Cl-R) – French Bread/Arc System Works/Aksys
Best Family
Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo
Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time – Toys for Bob/Activision
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout – Mediatonic/Devolver
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit – Velan Studios/Nintendo
Minecraft Dungeons – Mojang/Double Eleven/Xbox Game Studios
Paper Mario: The Origami King – Intelligent Systems/Nintendo
Best Sim/Strategy
Crusader Kings III – Paradox Development Studio/Paradox
Desperados III – Mimimi Games/THQ Nordic
Gears Tactics – Splash Damage/The Coalition/Xbox Game Studios
Microsoft Flight Simulator – Asobo/Xbox Game Studios
XCOM: Chimera Squad – Firaxis/2K
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Best Sports/Racing
Dirt 5 – Codemasters Cheshire/Codemasters
F1 2020 – Codemasters Birmingham/Codemasters
FIFA 21 – EA Vancouver/EA Sports
NBA 2K21 – Visual Concepts/2K Sports
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 – Vicarious Visions/Activision
Best Multiplayer
Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo
Among Us – Innersloth
Call of Duty: Warzone – Infinity Ward/Activision
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout – Mediatonic/Devolver
Valorant – Riot Games
Best Debut Game
Carrion – Phobia Game Studio/Devolver
Mortal Shell – Cold Symmetry/Playstack
Raji: An Ancient Epic – Nodding Heads Games
Röki – Polygon Treehouse
Phasmophobia – Kinetic Games
Best Esports Game
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare – Infinity Ward/Activision
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive – Valve
Fortnite – Epic Games
League of Legends – Riot Games
Valorant – Riot Games