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The Game Awards 2021 Nominees

[Sigma]

Member
  • Best Audio Design
    • "Deathloop"
    • Forza Horizon 5
    • Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
    • Resident Evil: Village
    • Returnal

Your winner is already determined. Tempest 3D Audio!
I-have-spoken.gif
 

Bryank75

Banned
Seems like a pretty solid list. I’d probably switch one or two myself, but they all seem like fantastic games.

Most of them are but I think a lot of people are sick of the almost relentless push behind Deathloop from the media....

Then some things like It Takes Two just don't have that GOTY type quality about it, it seems like a smaller game which may not square with some people.
 
Game of the Year:

DEATHLOOP
It Takes Two
Metroid Dread
Psychonauts 2
Ratchet & Clank
Resident Evil Village

Best Game Direction:

DEATHLOOP
It Takes Two
Returnal
Psychonauts 2
Ratchet & Clank

Best Narrative:

DEATHLOOP
It Takes Two
Life is Strange: True Colors
Guardians of the Galaxy
Psychonauts 2

Best Indie:

12 Minutes
Death's Door
Kena
Inscryption
Loop Hero

Best Action:

Back 4 Blood
Chivalry 2
Deathloop
Far Cry 6
Returnal

Best Action/Adventure:

Guardians of the Galaxy
Metroid Dread
Ratchet & Clank
Resident Evil Village
Psychonauts 2
For me Kena is the best indie❤️
 

sloppyjoe_gamer

Gold Member
Eastward not being in the Best Indie category is a crime! Deathloop being in any is another crime!!

Metroid Dread is easily the best one in the GOTY list. Only one close is Ratchet.
 
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cormack12

Gold Member
I thought it was because of the date but no

Despite all of that success surrounding its launch, a quick glance at the requirements for selection shows that the cutoff was actually November 19, 2021. That’s 10 days after Horizon 5 hit the shelves – meaning it was eligible and has been rejected.
 

Ivory Blood

Member
What? Cyberpunk didn't get the narrative nomination? Really?

this_is_bullshit_the_wire.gif


Also Cherami Leigh deserved the acting one.
- Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous completely snubbed from Best RPG category is a total joke of decision, just because the game was PC only and had some depth in its RPG mechanics, with small review amount doesnt mean its okay to shove it aside like this in favor of a much worse RPG games like Scarlet Nexus. Once again TGA prove they only play and choose popular games.
- Cyberpunk 2077 missing a nomination in best narrative, while the other choices contain; Deathloop (a game that heavily relies on reading bland texts in an outdated Arkane style), It Takes Two (co-op platformer) and Life is Strange (didnt play yet but im skeptical) tells me its sus, I dont think Cyberpunk story is worse than them, it should have definitely got a nomination here.
- The Game Awards is bloated with (sorry for this) irrelevant awards like the esports (they have their own ceremony) and less important awards like debut indie, ar, and accessibility, but still doesnt feature awards for BEST GAMEPLAY, BEST LEVEL DESIGN, BEST COMBAT MECHANICS. why? those are important gaming aspects, why no award? no attention for them?
- Forza Horizon 5, highest MC score of the year, missing from GOTY, doesnt make sense, and shows the the jury has bias against Racing games and CRPGS
- Metroid Dread will not win, it has no nomination in Directing, which according to Geoff is the 2nd most important award. Deathloop or Psychonauts 2 or It Takes Two are going to win. My money is on Psychonauts 2.
Spot on. Absolutely agree on Pathfinder also, should have been put in the best RPG, cause it's the only fucking real rpg released this year.
 

Bragr

Banned
No, that's the complete opposite of your point. You are saying the judges didn't have time to formulate their opinion but you had to time to formulate yours? That doesn't work. If you had time, they had time.

"I think Forza Horizon 5 is slightly generic, but I can't see a scenario where it's not included over stuff like Resident Evil or Ratchet & Clank."

You misunderstand. I did play the games, so I can form an opinion, my point is, a lot of them did not.

The judges are predetermined a long time ago and most of them did not review the game or got the time to play it daily for the last 2 weeks, there is simply not enough time to make the judgement call to name something like Forza Horizon 5 a GOTY for most people, it hasn't had enough time to fester and gather impressions. Most of these judges probably got assignments to play other games too.
 

Bragr

Banned
from their site: "Games eligible for The Game Awards this year must be available for public consumption on or before November 19, 2021" So yeah FH5 was eligible the press as a whole just didn't deem it worthy. People don't realize how this works. A Forza Horizon 5 review is from one person at each outlet. Each Outlet has to form their nominations as a group. So if the person who gave FH5 a 10/10 at that outlet wants it nominated but no one else at that outlet does then it's not going to go on their ballot as a nomination for GOTY.
But when was the last date for the nomination choices? because the 19th is 3 days from now, but the nominations are set.

Then you are agreeing with me, most of the outlet beyond the reviewer of the game probably hasn't had time to play this enough if they only had it for a week or two.
 

Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
I came purely for the drama lol. I couldn’t care less who wins what.

To be honest im not bothered who wins, its only a mix of a popularity contest and a few judges opinions, dont really mean much.

2021 has been a pretty good year for games. But for me not amazing, i like Bethesda/rockstar/naughty dog games.
 

JLB

Banned
My vote goes for It Takes Two only because if he gets drank this show will have one memorable moment.
 
But when was the last date for the nomination choices? because the 19th is 3 days from now, but the nominations are set.

Then you are agreeing with me, most of the outlet beyond the reviewer of the game probably hasn't had time to play this enough if they only had it for a week or two.
That or they don't care to play it. Or they did play it and they didn't feel it should be nominated. You can play enough of FH5 in a couple days to see what it has to offer. They had enough time
 

Markio128

Member
To be honest im not bothered who wins, its only a mix of a popularity contest and a few judges opinions, dont really mean much.

2021 has been a pretty good year for games. But for me not amazing, i like Bethesda/rockstar/naughty dog games.
Yeah, there haven’t been any stellar games this year - what I’d do for a new GTA or ND game. Next year should be much better.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
If that was the case then Call of Duty or Fortnite would win every year. I mean Untitled Goose Game won GOTY at like 3 of these shows the other year
Because it very popular in online like Among us was. Niche games will never wing GOTY awards regardless the quality of the actual game.
 

Handel

Member
Metroid or Psychonauts 2 winning GOTY would make me happy, or It Takes Two but that seems less likely given the coop nature of it. The other choices are kind of boring/safe in comparison.
 

Dr Bass

Member
I havent played Returnal but from what i heard the game has major issues/people complaining about lack of checkpoint/save places?

That could be the reason..perhaps...i dont know...
The game doesn't have "major issues." Some people are just weenies and like to cry about not everything on the planet catering to their exact whims.

The game is actually incredible and SHOULD have been on the list (from a gameplay standpoint I think it's better than Ratchet, not to mention a couple others) but them the breaks. No use whining about it, the awards shows are, in reality, totally meaningless and should be looked at as simply a night of fun.
 

DapperSloth

Member
Returnal had by far the best bosses of the year. It’s cutting edge stuff.

Just from looking at that video, that boss fight and music looked and sounded boring as hell. Muted sound, couldn't hear what was going on. And three phases? Nah fam, bullet hell is not for me.
 

Termite

Member
Of those nominees, I've only played Metroid Dread and Psychonauts 2.

Dread is a strong contender, but Psychonauts wouldn't make my list. Forza Horizon 5 would be there way before it.

Subnautica Below Zero wasn't as good as the original but it still makes my list this year.

For all the shitty microtransactions and loadouts, I really liked MLB The Show 21 as well.
 
Village probably won't win, but why not? Best graphics (on next-gen platforms) this year, most ambitious/AAA of the nominees, awesome villains, setting (the castle, house Benevento...) and gameplay, which is the perfect modern adaptation of RE4. Maybe because it's not a platform exclusive, I guess.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Most of them are but I think a lot of people are sick of the almost relentless push behind Deathloop from the media....

Then some things like It Takes Two just don't have that GOTY type quality about it, it seems like a smaller game which may not square with some people.
OMG He's back! Missed ya!
 

RoyBatty

Banned
- Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous completely snubbed from Best RPG category is a total joke of decision, just because the game was PC only and had some depth in its RPG mechanics, with small review amount doesnt mean its okay to shove it aside like this in favor of a much worse RPG games like Scarlet Nexus. Once again TGA prove they only play and choose popular games.
- Cyberpunk 2077 missing a nomination in best narrative, while the other choices contain; Deathloop (a game that heavily relies on reading bland texts in an outdated Arkane style), It Takes Two (co-op platformer) and Life is Strange (didnt play yet but im skeptical) tells me its sus, I dont think Cyberpunk story is worse than them, it should have definitely got a nomination here.
- The Game Awards is bloated with (sorry for this) irrelevant awards like the esports (they have their own ceremony) and less important awards like debut indie, ar, and accessibility, but still doesnt feature awards for BEST GAMEPLAY, BEST LEVEL DESIGN, BEST COMBAT MECHANICS. why? those are important gaming aspects, why no award? no attention for them?
- Forza Horizon 5, highest MC score of the year, missing from GOTY, doesnt make sense, and shows the the jury has bias against Racing games and CRPGS
- Metroid Dread will not win, it has no nomination in Directing, which according to Geoff is the 2nd most important award. Deathloop or Psychonauts 2 or It Takes Two are going to win. My money is on Psychonauts 2.
100% agree with all, but I think they will pick Ratchet (Sony game).
 
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Bragr

Banned
That or they don't care to play it. Or they did play it and they didn't feel it should be nominated. You can play enough of FH5 in a couple days to see what it has to offer. They had enough time
You just need to listen to a game of the year discussion at a website to hear how few games some of these guys play. I'll be shocked if more than 20% even started Forza Horizon 5.
 

Bragr

Banned
We don't know what games the judges actually played at all.
Nah, that's an excuse. Just wait until the game of the year season about a month from now when Forza Horizon 5 has gone through the circles properly, it's gonna pop up on game of the year list all over the place.
 

Papacheeks

Banned
It’s an unbelievably difficult game. It just doesn’t have enough mainstream appeal.

It really is not difficult. I dont play rogue games, but the shooting feels so good in this. I believe this game should have got GOTY. The fact its not even nominated shows how many reviewers actually played it past first Biome.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Returnal wins the award for biggest snub of 2021. What a joke that list is.

I'd imagine Housemarque are pretty stoked about any nomination. Lets face it, this is their first full-price title in many years... effectively its their first shot in the high-end space. They doing fucking great for debutantes.
 
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