We’re nearing the end of 2020. In some ways, the year flew by and sort of disappeared. In other ways, we’ve felt stuck in March for the past 9 months or so. It’s crazy to think that this year still brought us so many great games. Video games played a huge role in our lives during all the pandemic panic. Games provide an escape, relaxation, distraction, and most of all, fun. There are a ton of great games up for awards this year. The Game Awards 2020 nominations arrived today, and they’re a great reminder of what a wonderful year in gaming it really was. Here are the titles up for Game of the Year and many more top-billed categories.
The Game Awards 2020 Nominations for Game of the Year, Best Game Direction
Image Credit: Bethesda
The two top categories at The Game Awards always include Game of the Year and Direction. The latter is one many consider to be substantially less impactful than the former. Still, the people directing our favorite games are why they exist in the first place. In a lot of ways, great titles from this year would not have reached our consoles and PCs without the minds helming these projects. So, who’s up for Game of the Year? In all honesty, none of them are a surprise from left field. That said, they’re all wonderful titles deserving of critical and community praise.
The two titles leading the GOTY nominations actually released the same day: Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Doom Eternal. Square Enix’ Final Fantasy VII Remake is also up for the award, as well as other PS4 exclusives, Ghosts of Tsushima and The Last of Us Part II. The final nominee is the rogue-like Hades, which fans seem to be head over heels for this year.
Best Direction includes four of those GOTY nominees. The Last of Us Part II, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Hades, and Ghosts of Tsushima are all included in the category. The fifth title up for the award is Half-Life: Alyx. If I had to go with my gut, then I’d say Ghosts of Tsushima takes GOTY and Half-Life: Alyx takes Best Direction. Ghosts of Tsushima feels like the perfect way to encapsulate this console cycle. Alyx, on the other hand, feels like a glimpse into the future of VR.
Other Notable Nominees
Image Credit: Devolver Digital
There are some fun surprises in a few of the categories for The Game Awards 2020. Under best narrative, you can find 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim. Additionally, Best Indie Game is going to be a royal rumble. Carrion (check out our review), Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, Hades, Spelunky 2, and Spiritfarer are all incredible games. There’s always a debate around this time of year about what sort of games deserve awards. Something like Animal Crossing: New Horizons deserves a ton of praise for being so darn popular. Popularity, however, sometimes seems to hurt the titles up for major awards.
Much like the Oscars or the Golden Globes, The Game Awards are hotly debated amongst fans and critics. My Game of the Year won’t be the same as some writers at other sites, let alone fellow writers here at Comic Years. The best part of these retrospective awards is the time to reflect on what we got to play. It’s a blast to argue what game was best or who deserves more props for their work. It’s a harmless way of expressing which games touched us most this year. I think all things considered, this year was a great year for games. I played a lot of stuff I’d rank higher than previous years’ best titles. We’ll have to see which game wins GOTY and what titles win the other accolades on December 10.
Explore all the nominees for The Game Awards 2020 here.
Featured Image Credit: Square Enix