Earlier this week I wrote about how Geoff Keighley is not using the huge platform of the Game Awards to their full extent in trying to better the gaming world in a non-commercial way with response to Activision Blizzard. While that is disappointing and you can read about that here, I want to look towards the positive and celebrate the games nominated with some predictions for some of the top awards, and talk about some announcements I would like to see during the show.
BEST NARRATIVE
Deathloop
It Takes Two
Life is Strange: True Colors
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
Psychonauts 2
Best Narrative is gonna be one of the harder ones to predict, since all of these are really strong contenders. I have played 4 out of the 5, and everything I had heard about when it comes to It Takes Two makes it seem like it belongs in this category. I am almost done with Guardians of the Galaxy, and just finished Chapter 3 of Life Is Strange: True Colors. Both games have amazing stories and I could easily see True Colors taking this one home. Deathloop is actually the outlier here, it was something that I bounced off of after about 10 hours.
Psychonauts 2 blew me away with how good the story is, and was really the driving force behind me finishing that game since the gameplay was not my favorite. “It really is a culmination of what Double Fine has been about since the first Psychonauts came out in 2005, using their imagination to transport you to new worlds, and I think this is their best one yet” is what I wrote at the end of my review for Psychonauts 2 and I 100% stand by that
What I want to win: Psychonauts 2 What will win: Life Is Strange: True Colors
GAMES FOR IMPACT
Before Your Eyes
Boyfriend Dungeon
Chicory: A Colorful Tale
Life is Strange: True Colors
No Longer Home
I think this category has 2 games in in that should really be in the Game of the Year category in Chicory: A Colorful Tale and Life Is Strange: True Colors.
During my review of Chicory in August, I wrote “Whether it is imposter syndrome, depression, pressure of expectations, or personal anxieties, Chicory does a great job of handling each of these topics with tact, and actually goes somewhat in depth with conversations between the characters.” Chicory still stands up to me as one for best representations of mental health in video games.
In the same way that Chicory is a gold star for talking about mental health, Life Is Strange: True Colors is the same for dealing with grief and emotions, at least so far though Chapter 3. The way Alex is able to understand peoples emotions and to see how everybody in the town handles grief in their own ways. The game really goes into why certain people are feeling these emotions and sometimes you can’t just take away their grief because that is a process you have to go through to better yourself and get closure.
I think a dark horse for this category is Before Your Eyes, something that I wish I had the ability to play. The game follows the story of Benjamin Brynn on his way to the afterlife. The way you interact with his memories is through eye tracking with a webcam that knows when you blink. Every time you blink, the scene changes in the game.
What I want to win: Chicory: A Colorful Tale What will win: Chicory: A Colorful Tale
BEST INDIE
12 Minutes
Death’s Door
Kena: Bridge of Spirits
Inscryption
Loop Hero
This a very weird category and probably one of the hardest categories to get down to five. There were tons of great indies this year including Chicory: A Colorful Tale, Maquette, and Sable that are not on this list, which makes the nomination of 12 Minutes so puzzling. 12 Minutes does not deserve to be on this list with these other four games, I would even put another indie game Lake on here than 12 Minutes and I thought Lake was a little disappointing.
Regardless the other four games definitely belong on the list with the standout for me being Death’s Door. I usually try to take my time with games I am having a great time with to savor the moment, but I could just not put down Death’s Door. Like I said back in August during my review of Death’s Door, it was and still is one of my top gaming experiences in 2021 and the world that Acid Nerve created here is magical.
Other strong contenders include Kena: Bridge of Spirits, which looks like it was made by a 100 person team, not a 20-30 person team, and Inscryption which is a hybrid of a card-building and horror. Inscryption makes me want to go out and buy a gaming PC immediately, the uniqueness of that game is why I love indie games.
What I want to win: Death’s Door What will win: Kena: Bridge of Spirits
Announcement Predictions
Before getting into what is nominated for Game of the Year, I figured I would put some predictions down for some things that could show up as announcements.
I think one of the big ones could be a confirmation of the Chrono Cross remake that has been rumored for a couple of months now. I think it will be too early to show off game footage, but definitely could see a logo and a tentative date.
I also would not be surprised if you saw Dragon Age 4 instead of anymore Mass Effect. Whatever is left of Bioware is really trying to nail Dragon Age 4 after Anthem and they have some momentum after the release of the Mass Effect Trilogy remasters. Dragon Age 4 has been so many different things during development so it would be interesting to see what it has turned into.
One of the easier predictions I think is that you are going to see a new trailer for Legend of Zelda: BOTW sequel, possibly with a new name attached to it. Nintendo usually has some kind of presence at the Game Awards, and I don’t expect this year to be any different.
Alright lets predict The Game Award’s pick for 2021 GOTY
GAME OF THE YEAR
Deathloop
It Takes Two
Metroid Dread
Psychonauts 2
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
Resident Evil Village
Like with the Best Indie category, there are a couple of games I would remove on here (looking at you Resident Evil Village and Deathloop) but that is what makes Game of the Year so fun, everyone has different tastes and thoughts on what is the best.
There are 3 standouts in this category to me. The first is Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. This was the first game that made me realize that we were in the next generation of consoles. The way that the game uses the PS5’s SSD and quick loading is one of the top technical achievements of 2021. Pairing the tech with a great story, characters, and you have Playstation’s best console exclusive of 2021. The second is Psychonauts 2, which I have talked about previously in this article. Double Fine is one of the few developers that still has that feel good attitude about them and I love that they try different ideas instead of making a bunch of sequels, so when they actually make a sequel it still feels unique. There is so much heart and soul put into Psychonauts, so Double Fine winning Game of the Year would be a great feel good moment for the industry.
The other option I would choose for GOTY is something that I have not personally played but everyone around has and seeing how much they enjoyed it makes it hard to argue it not having a shot win and that is Metroid Dread. It getting announced this year was a huge shock, and the fact that MercurySteam seems to have made a near-perfect Metroid game with tight controls and challenging enemies while updating the formula in tiny ways but keeping it feeling like a 2D Metroid game is amazing. This game was the perfect showcase of the Switch OLED and it seems Metroid fans are finally getting something they have deserved for a while: Metroid being put in the spotlight.
What I want to win: Psychonauts 2 What will win: Metroid Dread
Well those are my predictions for some of the categories for The Game Awards, and some announcements that are made during the show. I think 2021 has been an interesting year in games and I will talking about it more when I start coming up with my personal list of top games and movies of 2021 later this year.
Hopefully this show can look past its missteps this week and be beacon of positivity for a industry that can have a lot of negativity around it
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