The Game Awards 2021 were unlike any other games show we’ve seen yet. Some of this year’s biggest and most well-received games fought it out for Game of the Year, while others walked away with awards in specialized categories like Best Ongoing, Best Narrative, and Best Art Direction. At the end of the day, only one game could take home Game of the Year, and that game was It Takes Two, one of the year’s biggest indie darlings.
This year, Deathloop and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart led the field of nominees, but that only scratched the surface. Metroid Dread, It Takes Two, and Psychonauts 2 were just a few of the heavy hitters that battled for this year’s top awards. Halo Infinite kicked off the gold derby by taking home a player’s choice trophy (even though the game launched yesterday and wasn’t eligible for any other categories).
The show premiered on almost every social media platform, including Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and more. No one game swept the awards, which speaks to the diversity of gaming experiences that were available to players in 2021. Here is the full list of winners.