Winners in all categories will be honored at the Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA) ceremony, taking place at the 2021 Game Developers Conference (GDC) on Wednesday, July 21 at 4:30pm and held in conjunction with the Independent Games Festival Awards (IGF). The ceremony is available to watch for all GDC 2021 pass-holders.
The developer-picked nominations are led by a three-way tie between Ghost of Tsushima, Hades and The Last of Us Part II, with six nominations each, closely followed by Half-Life: Alyx, which received five nominations. All four of these titles are nominated for the Game of the Year award.
Sucker Punch Productions’ Ghost of Tsushima, the beautiful open world, action-adventure game where players control a samurai that must use the shadows and other less-than-noble techniques to save his home from Mongol invaders, was nominated for six awards: Best Audio, Best Design, Best Narrative, Best Technology, Best Visual Art and Game of the Year. Supergiant Games’ Hades, the stylish roguelike adventure to escape the Greek underworld as the rebellious son of the Greek god Hades, was also nominated for six awards: Best Audio, Best Design, Innovation, Best Narrative, Best Visual Art and Game of the Year. Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Part II, which continues the story of the critically acclaimed The Last of Us in a gritty revenge story set in a post-apocalyptic Earth, was also nominated for six awards, including Best Audio, Best Design, Best Narrative, Best Technology, Best Visual Art and Game of the Year.
Valve’s Half-Life: Alyx, the immersive, genre-bending virtual reality game set in the legendary Half-Life series, follows closely behind with five awards, including Best Design, Innovation, Best Technology, Best VR/AR Game and Game of the Year. Nintendo of America’s adorable social sim and town building game, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, rounds out the titles nominated for Game of the Year, as well as being nominated for the Best Design award. The final game up for more than two awards is Dreams, the clever game creation system developed by Media Molecule, which is nominated for three awards: Innovation, Best Technology and Best VR/AR Game.
Any video game that was released and made publicly available during the 2020 calendar year, irrespective of platform or delivery medium, is eligible for free nomination for the 2021 Game Developers Choice Awards. Both nominees and winners are selected by the Game Developers Choice Awards-specific International Choice Awards Network (ICAN), which is an invitation-only organization, composed of leading game creators from all parts of the industry.
The all-digital 35th edition of GDC will take place from July 19-23, 2021 and feature over 400 unique sessions, along with opportunities for education, inspiration, and networking all from the comfort of attendees’ own desks. The complete list of nominees, including honorable mentions, for the 21st annual Game Developers Choice Awards is as follows:
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)