The results are now in for the 2021 Game Developers Choice Awards and it is indie darling Hades which has scooped up a number of awards including the coveted Game of the Year. Hades is available now on the Nintendo Switch and will be available on Xbox Game Pass this month if you have a subscription. Here’s the results for this year’s Game Developers Choice Awards:
BEST AUDIO
- Hades (Supergiant Games)
- The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
- Doom Eternal (id Software / Bethesda Softworks)
- Final Fantasy VII: Remake (Square Enix)
- Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
- Honorable Mentions: Half-Life: Alyx (Valve), Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo EPD/ Nintendo), Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Moon Studios / Xbox Game Studios / iam8bit), Fuser (Harmonix Music Systems / NCsoft)
BEST DEBUT
- Phasmophobia (Kinetic Games)
- Umurangi Generation (Origame Digital / Playism, Origame Digital)
- Carrion (Phobia Game Studio / Devolver Digital)
- Mortal Shell (Cold Symmetry / Playstack)
- Raji: An Ancient Epic (Nodding Heads Games / Super!Com)
- Honorable Mentions: Call of the Sea (Out of the Blue / Raw Fury), Röki (Polygon Treehouse / CI Games), If Found… (Dreamfeel / Annapurna Interactive)
BEST DESIGN
- Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
- The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
- Hades (Supergiant Games)
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo EPD/ Nintendo)
- Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)
- Honorable Mentions: Final Fantasy VII: Remake (Square Enix), Crusader Kings III (Paradox Development Studio / Paradox Interactive), Spelunky 2 (Blitworks, Mossmouth / Mossmouth), Dreams (Media Molecule / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
INNOVATION AWARD
- Microsoft Flight Simulator (Asobo Studio / Xbox Game Studios)
- Dreams (Media Molecule / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
- Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)
- Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (Mediatonic / Devolver Digital)
- Hades (Supergiant Games)
- Honorable Mentions: Astro’s Playroom (Sony Japan Studio/Team Asobi / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment), The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Watch Dogs: Legion (Ubisoft Toronto / Ubisoft)
BEST MOBILE GAME
- The Pathless (Giant Squid / Annapurna Interactive)
- Genshin Impact (miHoYo)
- Legends of Runeterra (Riot Games)
- Alba: A Wildlife Adventure (ustwo / PID Publishing)
- If Found… (Dreamfeel / Annapurna Interactive)
- Honorable Mentions: Pokémon Café Mix (Genius Sonority / Nintendo / The Pokémon Company), Reigns: Beyond (Nerial / Devolver Digital)
BEST NARRATIVE
- Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition (Cardboard Computer / Annapurna Interactive)
- Final Fantasy VII: Remake (Square Enix)
- Hades (Supergiant Games)
- The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
- Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
- Honorable Mentions: Spiritfarer (Thunder Lotus Games), Half-Life: Alyx (Valve), Cyberpunk 2077 (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt), If Found… (Dreamfeel / Annapurna Interactive), Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment), 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (Vanillaware / Atlus)
BEST TECHNOLOGY
- The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
- Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)
- Dreams (Media Molecule / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
- Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
- Microsoft Flight Simulator (Asobo Studio / Xbox Game Studios)
- Honorable Mentions: Final Fantasy VII: Remake (Square Enix), Astro’s Playroom (Sony Japan Studio/Team Asobi / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
BEST VISUAL ART
- Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
- Hades (Supergiant Games)
- The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
- Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Moon Studios / Xbox Game Studios / iam8bit)
- Cyberpunk 2077 (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt)
- Honorable Mentions: Final Fantasy VII: Remake (Square Enix), Spiritfarer (Thunder Lotus Games), Umurangi Generation (Origame Digital / Playism, Origame Digital), Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
BEST VR/AR GAME
- The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners (Skydance Interactive)
- Paper Beast (Pixel Reef)
- Dreams (Media Molecule / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
- Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)
- Star Wars: Squadrons (Motive Studios / Electronic Arts)
- Honorable Mentions: Phasmophobia (Kinetic Games), The Room VR: A Dark Matter (Fireproof Games), Iron Man VR (Camouflaj / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Microsoft Flight Simulator (Asobo Studio / Xbox Game Studios), Until You Fall (Schell Games)
GAME OF THE YEAR
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo EPD/ Nintendo)
- The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
- Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)
- Hades (Supergiant Games)
- Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
- Honorable Mentions: Spelunky 2 (Blitworks, Mossmouth / Mossmouth), Doom Eternal (id Software / Bethesda Softworks), Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Microsoft Flight Simulator (Asobo Studio / Xbox Game Studios), Final Fantasy VII: Remake (Square Enix), Genshin impact (miHoYo)
Audience Award
- Ghost of Tsushima
Pioneer Award
- Tom Fulp, creator of Newgrounds and co-founder of The Behemoth
Lifetime Achievement Award
- Laralyn McWilliams, creative director of Free Realms and lead director of Full Spectrum Warrior
Only winners announced are the audience, pioneed and lifetine award but not the rest. Come on sickr haha
DOH! Wrote this first thing and yeah, I should have gone back to bed XD
Holy moly if that Best Narrative nominee list isn’t a sad commentary on the state of the industry I don’t know what is. The absolute best here would amount to trashy paperback novels in another medium.
Why is this 2018 game is still wining awards in 2021?
Official release was 2020. That 2018 release was ‘early access.’
Very cool! I also design 2D art for computer game developers. This is the best job in the world. You can imagine and draw everything that comes to your mind and realize your fantasies in such pictures. And perhaps in the future, it will be possible to see it in the game.
I have thought so many times of entering the blogging world as I love reading them. I think I finally have the courage to give it a try. Thank you so much for all of the ideas!