Geoff!

Game Awards 2021 complete list of winners, including Game of the Year

Best games of the year!

Updated: 
Originally Published: 
eSports Winner Trophy Standing on a Stage in the Middle of the Computer Video Games Championship Are...
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Like 2020 before it, 2021 proved to be an unprecedented year for gaming. And, at every step of the way, Geoff Keighley remained a steadfast presence in the gaming community. Now, he's back in person for the 2021 Game Awards. Will the Game of the Year be Resident Evil Village? Or will Samus Aran be victorious with Metroid Dread? Winners will be updated in real-time, so keep reading to see which games, content creators, and more win in each category.

Games For Impact

  • Before Your Eyes
  • Boyfriend Dungeon
  • Chicory: A Colorful Tale
  • WINNER: Life is Strange: True Colors
  • No Longer Home

Read Inverse’s Life is Strange: True Colors review.

Alex is the lead in Life is Strange: True Colors.

Square Enix

Best Esports Athlete

  • Chris "Simp" Lehr
  • Heo "ShowMaker" Su
  • Magomed "Collapse" Khalilov
  • WINNER: Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev
  • Tyson "TenZ" Ngo

Best Esports Team

  • Atlanta FaZe (Call of Duty)
  • DWG KIA (League of Legends)
  • WINNER: Natus Vincere (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)
  • Sentinels (Valorant)
  • Team Spirit (DOTA 2)

Best Esports Coach

  • Airat "Silent" Gaziev
  • Andrey "Engh" Sholokhov
  • Andrii "B1ad3" Horodenskyi
  • James "Crowder" Crowder
  • WINNER: Kim "kkOma" Jeong-gyun

Best Esports Event

  • WINNER: 2021 League of Legends World Championship
  • PGL Major Stockholm 2021
  • The International 2021
  • PUBG Mobile Global Championship 2020
  • VALORANT Champions Tour: Stage 2 Master

Read Inverse’s Forza Horizon 5 review.

Best Audio Design

  • Deathloop
  • WINNER: Forza Horizon 5
  • Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
  • Resident Evil Village
  • Returnal

Best Independant Game

  • 12 Minutes
  • Death’s Door
  • WINNER: Kena: Bridge of Spirits
  • Inscryption
  • Loop Hero

Best Debut Indie

  • The Artful Escape
  • The Forgotten City
  • WINNER: Kena: Bridge of Spirits
  • Sable
  • Valheim

Kena is victorious.

Best Performance

  • Erika Mori as Alex Chen (Life is Strange: True Colors)
  • Giancarlo Esposito as Anton Castillo (Far Cry 6)
  • Jason Kelley as Colt Vahn (Deathloop)
  • WINNER: Maggie Robertson as Lady Dimitrescu (Resident Evil Village)
  • Ozioma Akagha as Julianna Blake (Deathloop)

Here’s a deep dive into why the people love Lady D so much.

Best Action Game

  • Back 4 Blood
  • Chivalry 2
  • Deathloop
  • Far Cry 6
  • WINNER: Returnal

Read the Inverse game recommendation for Returnal.

Best Art Direction

  • The Artful Escape
  • WINNER: Deathloop
  • Kena: Bridge of Spirits
  • Psychonauts 2
  • Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Deathloop won for art direction.

Bethesda

Best Role-Playing Game

  • Cyberpunk 2077
  • Monster Hunter Rise
  • Scarlet Nexus
  • Shin Megami Tensei 5
  • WINNER: Tales of Arise

Best Score and Music

  • The Artful Escape
  • Cyberpunk 2077
  • Deathloop
  • Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
  • WINNER: NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139

Content Creator of the Year

  • WINNER: DREAM
  • fuslie
  • Gaules
  • Ibai
  • Grefg

Best Multiplayer

  • Back 4 Blood
  • Knockout City
  • WINNER: It Takes Two
  • Monster Hunter Rise
  • New World
  • Valheim

Genshin Impact wins best mobile game of the year!

miHoYo

Best Mobile Game

  • Fantasian
  • WINNER: Genshin Impact
  • League of Legends: Wild Rift
  • Marvel Future Revolution
  • Pokémon Unite

Best Narrative

  • Deathloop
  • It Takes Two
  • Life is Strange: True Colors
  • WINNER: Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
  • Psychonauts 2

Read the Inverse review for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.

Best Action-Adventure

  • Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
  • WINNER: Metroid Dread
  • Psychonauts 2
  • Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
  • Resident Evil Village

Samus for the win!

Nintendo

Best Ongoing Game

  • Apex Legends
  • WINNER: Final Fantasy XIV Online
  • Fortnite
  • Genshin Impact
  • Call of Duty: Warzone

Best Community Support

  • Apex Legends
  • Destiny 2
  • WINNER: Final Fantasy XIV Online
  • Fortnite
  • No Man’s Sky

Innovation in Accessibility

  • Far Cry 6
  • WINNER: Forza Horizon 5
  • Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
  • Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
  • The Vale: Shadow of the Crown

Best Sports/Racing

  • F1 2021
  • FIFA 22
  • WINNER: Forza Horizon 5
  • Hot Wheels Unleashed
  • Riders Republic

Now THIS is a car!

Microsoft

Best Game Direction

  • Deathloop
  • It Takes Two
  • WINNER: Returnal
  • Psychonauts 2
  • Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Best Esports Game

  • Call of Duty
  • Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
  • Dota 2
  • WINNER: League of Legends
  • Valorant

Best Family Game

  • WINNER: It Takes Two
  • Mario Party Superstars
  • New Pokémon Snap
  • Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury
  • WarioWare: Get It Together!

It Takes Two is a dazzling experience about a marriage in turmoil.

Electronic Arts

Best Fighting Game

  • Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles
  • WINNER: Guilty Gear -Strive-
  • Melty Blood: Type Lumina
  • Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl
  • Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown

Best Sim/Strategy Game

  • WINNER: Age of Empires IV
  • Evil Genius 2: World Domination
  • Humankind
  • Inscryption
  • Microsoft Flight Simulator

Best VR/AR

  • Hitman 3
  • I Expect You to Die 2
  • Lone Echo 2
  • WINNER: Resident Evil 4
  • Sniper Elite VR

Most Anticipated Game

  • WINNER: Elden Ring
  • God of War Ragnarok
  • Horizon Forbidden West
  • The Sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
  • Starfield

Game of the Year

  • Deathloop
  • WINNER: It Takes Two
  • Metroid Dread
  • Psychonauts 2
  • Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
  • Resident Evil Village

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