The nominees are chosen by a jury of games media publications and “influencer outlets.” Disclosure: RPS was asked several times in previous years to take part, but none of us could ever be bothered to fill in our ballots. The actual winners are selected via public vote, and the voting is open now if you want to participate. Among the more interesting nominees below is Cyberpunk 2077, which was released late last year and broadly derided for its bugs and slow performance, particularly on console. It’s nominated for Best Score and Best Role Playing. Recent indie darling Inscryption is also nominated, for “Best Indie”, though notably (to RPS at least) Wildermyth is absent from all categories. Over the past several years, I’ve come to enjoy The Game Awards, or at least the chatter around them. The ceremony itself is always an awkward livestream consisting mostly of trailers for yet-to-be-released games, with the awards squeezed in between, but it’s one of the few times each year when the internet reliably comes together to dunk in real-time about something mostly harmless. Here’s the full list of nominees:
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)
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)
Apex Legends (Respawn/EA) Call of Duty: Warzone (Infinity Ward/Raven/Activision) FINAL FANTASY XIV Online (SQUARE ENIX) Fortnite (Epic Games) Genshin Impact (MiHoYo)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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
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)
Apex Legends (Respawn/EA) Destiny 2 (Bungie) FINAL FANTASY XIV Online (SQUARE ENIX) Fortnite (Epic Games) No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
Fantasian (Mistwalker) Genshin Impact (MiHoYo) League of Legends: Wild Rift (Riot Games) MARVEL Future Revolution (Netmarble) Pokemon Unite (TiMi Studios/The Pokemon Company)
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)
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)
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)
Cyberpunk 2077 (CD Projekt Red) Monster Hunter Rise (Capcom) Scarlet Nexus (Bandai Namco) Shin Megami Tensei V (Atlus/Sega) Tales of Arise (Bandai Namco)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
Dream Fuslie Gaules Ibai TheGrefg
Call of Duty (Activision) CS:GO (Valve) DOTA2 (Valve) League of Legends (Riot Games) Valorant (Riot Games)
Chris “Simp” Lehr Heo “ShowMaker” Su Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev Tyson “TenZ” Ngo
Atlanta FaZe (COD) DWG KIA (LOL) Natus Vincere (CS:GO) Sentinels (Valorant) Team Spirit (DOTA2)
Airat “Silent” Gaziev Andrey “ENGH” Sholokhov Andrii “B1ad3” Horodenskyi James “Crowder” Crowder Kim “kkOma” Jeong-gyun
2021 League of Legends World Championship PGL Major Stockholm 2021 PUBG Mobile Global Championship 2020 The International 2021 Valorant Champions Tour: Stage 2 Masters
