As has been the case every year since 2014, the Game Awards will be taking place in Los Angeles this year. This year though, it will be a virtual ceremony hosted by video game personality Geoff Keithley, as the COVID-19 pandemic has prevented the organizers from putting on a show in front of a live audience.
The Game Awards 2020 nominees were announced last week, with three of the year’s best games leading the pack when it comes to nominations.
These games are The Last of Us Part II, Ghost of Tsushima and Hades. The Last of Us Part II is in the running for the most awards this year – it has been nominated for a total of 10 awards in nine categories (twice in the Best Performance category). Meanwhile, Ghost of Tsushima and Hades could win up to 7 awards as they’ve been nominated in seven different categories each.
What’s clear, though, is that these games couldn’t be more different. The Last of Us Part II is a post-apocalyptic third-person game with survival horror gameplay and a strong focus on characters and story, and as is typical for a game with zombies in it, there’s plenty of brutal violence in it too.
Meanwhile, Ghost of Tsushima takes place in feudal Japan during the Mongol invasion, and draws inspiration from video games such as Assassin’s Creed to offer an open world gameplay experience (its combat is a notch above Assassin’s Creed’s according to quite a few people too).
Finally, Hades is an indie game from the people behind Bastion and Transistor. An action role-playing game whose story is based on Greek mythology, this is one of the highest-rated video games of the year so far, garnering a score of 93 on Metacritic for the Nintendo Switch version. It’s already been highlighted as a Game of the Year contender by a few outlets, so it’s likely many expect Hades to pick up an award or two at the Game Awards show this year, and maybe the top prize too (Game of the Year).
Will Hades triumph at this year’s Game Awards?
Aside from Hades, The Last of Us Part II and Ghost of Tsushima have been nominated for Game of the Year as well. They will be competing in this category with Doom Eternal, Final Fantasy VII Remake and Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
As stated earlier, The Last of Us Part II has picked up the most nominations this year, so it’s obviously a strong contender for the Game of the Year award, even if the controversy which erupted around its characters and story may have hurt its chances, though.
Ghost of Tsushima, another PlayStation exclusive, is another solid candidate to pick up the Game of the Year award. It has one of the highest Metacritic user scores of any game to date (9.2), and answered many players’ hopes when it arrived this summer.
This is because people had hoped over the years that Ubisoft would release an Assassin’s Creed game set in Japan (something which has not happened to date), and Ghost of Tsushima is the closest thing we’re going to get for a while. Thankfully, it’s a jolly good game and visually stunning too, so nobody is complaining.
Will Ghost of Tsushima be crowned game of the year at the Game Awards 2020?
Regarding Hades, it’s definitely taken many people by surprise in 2020 – it’s surely Supergiant Games’ best release to date according to critics, and a rogue-like experience that fans of the genre will definitely won’t want to miss, so there’s a strong possibility it could pick up the Game of the Year award as previously mentioned.
To do so, it will need to beat not only The Last of Us Part II and Ghost of Tsushima, but also Doom Eternal, Final Fantasy VII Remake and Animal Crossing: New Horizons as stated earlier. May the best game pick up the award this year, then.
(Here follows a list of all the nominees for this year’s Game Awards).
Note: The Game Awards 2020 ceremony took place on December 10, 2020. The list has been updated to highlight the winner in each category.
Game Awards 2020 nominees
Game of the Year
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo)
- DOOM Eternal (id Software/Bethesda)
- Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix)
- Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch/SIE)
- Hades (Supergiant Games)
- The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog/SIE)
Best Game Direction
- Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix)
- Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch/SIE)
- Hades (Supergiant Games)
- Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)
- The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog/SIE)
Best Narrative
- 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (George Kamitani)
- Final Fantasy VII Remake (Kazushige Nojima, Motomu Toriyama, Hiroki Iwaki, Sachie Hirano)
- Ghost of Tsushima (Ian Ryan, Liz Albl, Patrick Downs, Jordan Lemos)
- Hades (Greg Kasavin)
- The Last of Us Part II (Neil Druckmann, Halley Gross)
Best Art Direction
- Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix)
- Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch/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 and Music
- DOOM Eternal (Mick Gordon)
- Final Fantasy VII Remake (Nobuo Uematsu, Masahi Hamauzu, Mitsuto Suzuki)
- Hades (Darren Korb)
- Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Gareth Coker)
- The Last of Us Part II (Gustavo Santaolala, Mac Quale)
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 2 (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/Annapurna Interactive)
- Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition (Cardboard Computer/Annapurna Interactive)
- Spiritfarer (Thunder Lotus Games)
- Tell Me Why (Dontnod Entertainment/Xbox Game Studios)
- Through the Darkest of Times (Paintbucket Games)
Best Ongoing
- 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)
- Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (Mediatonic/Devolver)
- Hades (Supergiant Games)
- Spelunky 2 (Mossmouth)
- Spiritfarer (Thunder Lotus Games)
Best Mobile
- Among Us (InnerSloth)
- Call of Duty Mobile (TiMi Studios/Activision)
- Genshin Impact (miHoYo)
- Legends of Runeterra (Riot Games)
- Pokémon Café Mix (Genius Sonority)
Best Community Support
- Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
- Destiny 2 (Bungie)
- Fall Guys (Mediatonic/Devolver)
- Fortnite (Epic Games)
- No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
- Valorant (Riot Games)
Innovation in Accessibility
- Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
- Grounded (Obsidian/Xbox Game Studios)
- HyperDot (Tribe Games)
- The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog/SIE)
- Watch Dogs Legion (Ubisoft Toronto/Ubisoft)
Best VR/AR
- Dreams (Media Molecule/SIE)
- Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)
- MARVEL’s Iron Man VR (Camoflaj/SIE)
- STAR WARS: Squadrons (Motive Studios/EA)
- The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners (Skydance Interactive)
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/Ubisoft)
- 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)
- Wasteland 3 (inXile Entertainment/Koch)
- Yakuza: Like a Dragon (Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio/Sega)
Best Fighting
- Granblue Fantasy: Versus (Arc System Works/Cygames)
- Mortal Kombat 11/Ultimate (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)
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/THQN)
- Gears Tactics (Splash Damage/The Coalition/Xbox Game Studios)
- Microsoft Flight Simulator (Asobo/Xbox Game Studios)
- XCOM: Chimera Squad (Firaxis/2K)
Best Sports/Racing
- Dirt 5 (Codemasters Cheshire/Codemasters)
- F1 2020 (Codemasters Birmingham /Codemasters)
- FIFA 21 (EA Vancouver/EA Sports)
- NBA 2K21 (Visual Concepts/2K)
- 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/Raven/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/CI Games)
- Phasmophobia (Kinetic Games)
Content Creator of the Year
- Alanah Pearce
- NickMercs
- TimtheTatman
- Jay Ann Lopez
- Valkyrae
Best Esports Game
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward/Raven/Activision)
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve)
- Fortnite (Epic Games)
- League of Legends (Riot Games)
- Valorant (Riot Games)
Best Esports Athlete
- 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 / CS:GO
Best Esports Team
- DAMWON Gaming / League of Legends
- Dallas Empire / Call of Duty
- San Francisco Shock / Overwatch League
- G2 Esports / League of Legends
- Team Secret / DOTA2
Best Esports Event
- BLAST Premier: Spring E2020 European Finals (CS:GO)
- Call of Duty League Championship 2020
- IEM Katowice 2020 (CS:GO)
- League of Legends World Championship 2020
- Overwatch League Grand Finals 2020
Best Esports Host
- Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere
- Alex “Machine” Richardson
- Alex “Goldenboy” Mendez
- James “Dash” Patterson
- Jorien “Sheever” van der Heijden