The Game Awards 2020 is taking place on 10 December 2020, but Geoff Keighley has announced the nominated games three weeks earlier. Despite being plagued with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this year has seen some pretty good games.
You can vote now on the official website here. Check out the full The Game Awards 2020 nomination list below:
Game of the Year
Recognizing a game that delivers the absolute best experience across all creative and technical fields.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo)
DOOM Eternal (id Software / Bethesda Softworks)
Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix)
Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Hades (Supergiant Games)
The Last of Us Part 2 (Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Best Game Direction
Awarded for outstanding creative vision and innovation in game direction and design.
Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix)
Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Hades (Supergiant Games)
Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)
The Last of Us Part 2 (Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Best Narrative
For outstanding storytelling and narrative development in a game.
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 2 (written by Neil Druckmann and Haley Gross)
Best Art Direction
For outstanding creative and/or technical achievement in artistic design and animation.
Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix)
Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Hades (Supergiant Games)
Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Moon Studios / Xbox Game Studios)
The Last of Us Part 2 (Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Best Score and Music
For outstanding music, inclusive of score, original song and/or licensed soundtrack.
DOOM Eternal (composed by Mick Gordon)
Final Fantasy VII Remake (composed by Nobuo Uematsu, Masashi Hamazu, and Mitsuto Suzuki)
Hades (composed by Darren Korb)
Ori and the Will of the Wisps (composed by Garreth Coker)
The Last of Us Part 2 (composed by Gustavo Santaolala with additional music by Mac Quayle)
(This one’s a very packed bunch of entries. While I would replace a couple of them with No Straight Roads and Streets of Rage 4, these picks are still darn good. -Mr Toffee, resident SoundScape guy)
Best Audio Design
Recognizing the best in-game audio and sound design.
DOOM Eternal (id Software / Bethesda Softworks)
Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)
Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Resident Evil 3 (Capcom)
The Last of Us Part 2 (Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Best Performance
Awarded to an individual for voice-over acting, motion and/or performance capture.
Ashley Johnson as Ellie in The Last of Us Part 2
Laura Bailey as Abby in The Last of Us Part 2
Daisuke Tsuji as Jin Sakai in Ghost of Tsushima
Logan Cunningham as Hades in Hades
Nadji Jeter as Miles Morales in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
(Why is The Last of Us Part 2 nominated twice in the same category? Be fair and pick one; give the remaining slot to another game/VO that deserves it – Mr Toffee)
Games for Impact
For a thought-provoking game with a pro-social meaning or message.
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
Awarded to a game for outstanding development of ongoing content that evolves the player experience over time.
Apex Legends (Respawn Entertainment / Electronic Arts)
Destiny 2 (Bungie)
Call of Duty: Warzone (Infinity Ward / Activision)
Fortnite (Epic Games)
No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
Best Indie
For outstanding creative and technical achievement in a game made outside the traditional publisher system.
Carrion (Phobia Game Studio / Devolver Digital)
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (Mediatonic / Devolver Digital)
Hades (Supergiant Games)
Spelunky 2 (Mossmouth)
Spiritfarer (Thunder Lotus Games)
Best Mobile Game
For the best game playable on a mobile device.
Among Us (Innersloth)
Call of Duty Mobile (Timi Studios / Activision)
Genshin Impact (miHoYo)
Legends of Runeterra (Riot Games)
Pokemon Cafe Mix (Genius Sonority / Nintendo)
(Why is a game made in 2018, Among Us, in a game awards nomination category with other 2020 games? – Mr Toffee)
Best Community Support
Recognizing a game for outstanding community support, transparency and responsiveness, inclusive of social media activity and game updates/patches.
Apex Legends (Respawn Entertainment / Electronic Arts)
Destiny 2 (Bungie)
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (Mediatonic / Devolver Digital)
Fortnite (Epic Games)
No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
Valorant (Riot Games)
Best VR / AR
For the best game experience playable in virtual or augmented reality, irrespective of platform.
Dreams (Media Molecule / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)
Marvel’s Iron Man VR (Camouflaj / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Star Wars: Squadrons (Motive Studios / Electronic Arts)
The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners (Skydance Interactive)
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.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)
Grounded (Obsidian Entertainment / Xbox Game Studios)
Hyperdot (Tribe Games)
The Last of Us Part 2 (Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Watch Dogs: Legion (Ubisoft Toronto / Ubisoft)
Best Action
For the best game in the action genre focused primarily on combat.
DOOM Eternal (id Software / Bethesda Softworks)
Hades (Supergiant Games)
Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)
Nioh 2 (Team Ninja / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Streets of Rage 4 (Dotemu)
Best Action / Adventure
For the best action/adventure game, combining combat with traversal and puzzle solving.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)
Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Moon Studios / Xbox Game Studios)
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (Respawn Entertainment / Electronic Arts)
The Last of Us Part 2 (Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Best Role-Playing
For the best game designed with rich player character customization and progression, including massively multiplayer experiences.
Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix)
Genshin Impact (miHoYo)
Persona 5 Royal (Atlus / P Studio / Sega)
Wasteland 3 (inXile Entertainment / Deep Silver)
Yakuza: Like a Dragon (Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio / Sega)
Best Fighting
For the best game designed primarily around head-to-head combat.
Granblue Fantasy: Versus (Arc System Works / Cygames / XSEED Games)
For the best debut game created by a new independent studio.
Carrion (Phobia Game Studio / Devolver Digital)
Mortal Shell (Cold Symmetry / Playstack)
Raji: An Ancient Epic (Nodding Heads Games / Super.com)
Roki (Polygon Treehouse / United Label)
Phasmophobia (Kinetic Games)
Best Esports Athlete
The esports athlete judged to be the most outstanding for performance and conduct in 2020, irrespective of game.
Ian “Crimsix†Porter (Call of Duty)
Heo “Showmaker†Su (League of Legends)
Kim “Canyon†Geon-bu (League of Legends)
Anthony “Shotzzy†Cuevas-Castro (Call of Duty)
Matthieu “ZywOo†Herbaut (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)
Best Esports Coach
The esports coach judged to be the most outstanding for performance and conduct in 2020.
Danny “Zonic†Sorensen (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)
Dae-Hee “Crusty†Park (Overwatch)
Fabian “Grabbz†Lohmann (League of Legends)
Lee “Zefa†Jae-Min (League of Legends)
Raymond “Rambo†Lussier (Call of Duty)
Best Esports Event
Recognizing an event (across single or multiple days) that delivered a best-of-class experience for participants and the broadcast audience.
BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 European Finals (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)
Call of Duty League Championship 2020 (Call of Duty)
IEM Katowice 2020 (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)
League of Legends World Championship 2020 (League of Legends)
Overwatch League Grand Finals 2020 (Overwatch)
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: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward / Raven Software / Activision)
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve)
Fortnite (Epic Games)
League of Legends (Riot Games)
Valorant (Riot Games)
Best Esports Host
The best host or commentator of esports events (both in-venue and/or broadcast) in 2020, irrespective of game or language.
Alex “Goldenboy†Mendez
Alex “Machine†Richardson
Effje “Sjokz†Depoortere
James “Dash†Patterson
Jorien “Sheever†Van Der Heijden
Best Esports Team
Recognizing a specific esports team (not the full organization) judged the most outstanding for performance and conduct in 2020.