It’s that time of the year again where we showcase the best that gaming has to offer for 2021. The Game Awards is happening in less than a month and the nominees have already been announced on their website and also during a special live stream by none other than the man himself, Geoff Keighley.

In case you just want to see who the nominees for The Game Awards are, check out the whole list below:

The Game Awards 2021 Nominees

Game of the Year

• 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 (SIE/Insomniac Games)
• Resident Evil Village (Capcom)

Best Game Direction

• Deathloop (Arkane Studios/Bethesda)
• It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios/EA)
• Returnal (Housemarque/SIE)
• Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine/Xbox Game Studios)
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (SIE/Insomniac Games)

Best Narrative

• Deathloop (Arkane Studios/Bethesda)
• It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios/EA)
• Life is Strange: True Colors (Deck Nine/Square Enix)
• Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine/Xbox Game Studios)
• Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (Eidos Montreal/Square Enix)

Best Art Direction

• Deathloop (Arkane Studios/Bethesda)
• It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios/EA)
• The Artful Escape (Annapurna Interactive/Beethoven & Dinosaur)
• Psychonauts 2 (Microsoft Studios/Double Fine)
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (Playstation Studios/Insomniac)
• Kena Bridge of Spirits (Ember Lab)

Best Score and Music

• The Artful Escape (Johnny Galvatron, Josh Abrahams)
• Cyberpunk 2077 (Marcin Przybylowicz, Piotr T. Adamcyzk)
• Deathloop (Tom Salta)
• Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (Richard Jacques)
• NieR Replicant ver1.22474497139… (Keiichi Okabe)

Best Audio Design

• Deathloop (Arkane Studios/Bethesda)
• Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games/Xbox Game Studios)
• Returnal (Housemarque/SIE)
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (SIE/Insomniac Games)
• Resident Evil Village (Capcom)

Best Performance

• Erika Mori as Alex Chen, Life is Strange: True Colors
• Giancarlo Esposito as Anton Castillo, Farcry 6
• Jason Kelley as Colt Vahn, Deathloop
• Maggie Robertson as Lady Dimetrescu, Resident Evil Village
• Ozioma Akagha as Julianna Blake, Deathloop

Games for Impact

• Before Your Eyes (Goodbye World Games/Skybound Games)
• Boyfriend Dungeon (Kitfox Games)
• Life is Strange: True Colors (Deck Nine/Square Enix)
• Chicory: A Colorful Tale (Greg Lobanow, Alexis Dean-Jones, Lena Raine, Madeline Berger, A Shell in the Pit/Finji)
• No Longer Home (Humble Grove, Hana Lee, Cel Davison, Adrienne Lombardo, Eli Rainsberry/Fellow Traveler)

Best Ongoing

• Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
• Final Fantasy XIV Online (Square Enix)
• Call of Duty Warzone (Infinity Ward/Activision)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• Genshin Impact (MiHoYo)

Best Indie

• 12 Minutes (Luis Antonio/Annapurna Interactive)
• Death’s Door (Acid Nerve/Devolver Digital)
• Inscryption (Daniel Mullins Games/Devolver Digtial)
• Loop Hero (Four Quarters/Devolver Digtial)
• Kena Bridge of Spirits (Ember Lab)

Best Mobile

• Fantasian (Mistwalker)
• League of Legends: Wild Rift (Riot Games)
• Marvel Future Revolution (Net Marble)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• Pokemon Unite (Timi Studios/The Pokemon Company)

Best Community Support

• Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
• Destiny 2 (Bungie)
• Final Fantasy XIV Online (Square Enix)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)

Innovation in Accessibility

• Farcry 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 (SIE/Insomniac Games)
• The Vale: Shadow of the Crown (Creative Bytes Studios/Falling Squirrel)

Best VR/AR

• Hitman 3 (IO Interactive)
• I Expect You To Die (Schell Games)
• Lone Echo II (Ready At Dawn/Oculus Studios)
• Resident Evil 4 (Armature Studio/Capcom/Oculus Studios)
• Sniper Elite VR (Coat Sink/Just Add Water/Rebellion Developments)

Best Action

• Back 4 Blood (Turtle Rock/WB Games)
• Chivalry II (Torn Banner Studios/Tripwire Interactive)
• Deathloop (Arkane Studios/Bethesda)
• Farcry 6 (Ubisoft Toronto/Ubisoft)
• Returnal (Housemarque/SIE)

Best Action/Adventure

• 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 (SIE/Insomniac Games)
• Resident Evil Village (Capcom)

Best Role Playing

• Cyberpunk 2077 (CD Projekt Red)
• Monster Hunter Rise (Capcom)
• Scarlet Nexus (Bandai Namco)
• Shin Megami Tensei V (Atlus/Sega)
• Tales of Arise (Bandai Namco)

Best Fighting

• Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles (CyberConnect2/Aniplex/Sega)
• Guilty Gear -Strive- (ArcSystemWorks)
• Melty Blood: Type Lumina (French-Bread/Delight Works)
• Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl (Ludiosity/Fair Play Labs/Gamemill)
• Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown (Sega)

Best Family

• Mario Party Superstars (Nocube/Nintendo)
• It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios/EA)
• New Pokemon Snap (Bandai Namco/The Pokemon Company/Nintendo)
• Super Mario 3D World – Bowser’s Fury (Nintendo)
• Warioware: Get It Together (Intelligent Systems/Nintendo)

Best Sim/Strategy

• Age of Empires IV (Relic Entertainment/Xbox Game Studios)
• Evil Genius 2: World Domination (Rebellion Developments)
• Humankind (Amplitude Studios/Sega)
• Microsoft Flight Simulator (Asobo/Xbox Game Studios)
• Inscryption (Daniel Mullins Games/Devolver Digtial)

Best Sports/Racing

• F1 2021 (Codemasters Birmingham /Codemasters)
• FIFA 22 (EA Vancouver/EA Sports)
• Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games/Xbox Game Studios)
• Hotwheels Unleashed (Milestone)
• Riders Republic (Ubisoft Annecy/Ubisoft)

Best Multiplayer

• Back 4 Blood (Turtle Rock/WB Games)
• Knockout City (Velan/EA)
• It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios/EA)
• Monster Hunter Rise (Capcom)
• New World (Amazon Games)
• Valheim (Iron Gate Studio/Coffee Stain)

Best Debut Indie

• The Artful Escape (Beethoven & Dinosaur/Annapurna Interactive)
• The Forgotten City (Modern Storytellers/Dear Villagers)
• Kena Bridge of Spirits (Ember Lab)
• Sable (Shedworks/Raw Fury)
• Valheim (Iron Gate Studio/Coffee Stain)

Content Creator of the Year

• Dream
• Fusil
• Gaules
• Ibai
• Grefg

Best Esports Game

• Call of Duty (Activision)
• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve)
• Dota 2 (Valve)
• League of Legends (Riot Games)
• Valorant (Riot Games)

Best Esports Athlete

• Chris “Simp” Lehr
• Heo “Showmaker” Su
• Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov
• Oleksander “Simple” Kostiliev
• Tyson “Tenz” Ngo

Best Esports Team

• Atlanta Faze / COD
• Dwg Kia / LoL
• Natus Vincere / Counter Strike: Global Offensive
• Sentinels / Valorant
• Team Spirit / DOTA2

Best Esports Event

• The International 2021
• PGL Major Stockholm
• PUBG Mobile Global Championship 2020
• 2021 League of Legends World Championship
• Valorant Masters Tour: Stage Two Masters

Best Esports Coach

• Airat “Silent” Gaziev
• Andrey “Engh” Sholokhov
• Andri “B1AD3” Horodenskyi
• James “Crowder” Crowder
• Kim “Kkoma” Jeong-Gyun

Most Anticipated Game

• Elden Ring (From Software/Bandai Namco)
• God of War: Ragnarok (Santa Monica Studio/SIE)
• Horizon Forbidden West (Guerilla/SIE)
• Sequel to Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo)
• Starfield (Bethesda Games Studios/Bethesda)

While we’ve anticipated most of The Game Awards nominations listed here, it is curious that Returnal did not receive a GOTY nomination but has been nominated for Game Direction. Forza Horizon 5 also didn’t make the cut this year, though it did get its fair share of nominations in other categories. Also seemingly missing from Best Score and Music is Guilty Gear Strive.

We all have our personal picks for the various categories in The Game Awards, but my pick for GOTY is definitely Deathloop.

How do you feel about the nominees for The Game Awards 2021? Did your pick make it to the list? Let us know!