2020 Game Awards Predictions

As ever, I didn’t do a good job keeping up with video games in the past year. And yet the video game world still ensnares me, and today, the nominees for The Game Awards 2020 were announced. For the third year in a row, I’ll be providing my predictions on what will win for each category, most likely resulting in a failing score when the winners are announced on December 10. Of course, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the show won’t be held in-person with a live audience. But if there’s an audience used to people sitting on camera by themselves talking about video games, it’s gamers.

Anyways, by my calculations, THE LAST OF US PART II was the most nominated game of the event (not a big surprise) with ten whole nominations across 30 categories. However, I will only be considering 23 of those 30 categories; I just don’t even try with the esports and content creator ones. I’ll bold my pick in the lists below!

Game of the Year

• ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW HORIZONS
• DOOM ETERNAL
• FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE
• GHOST OF TSUSHIMA
• HADES
• THE LAST OF US PART II

Best Game Direction

• FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE
• GHOST OF TSUSHIMA
• HADES
• HALF-LIFE: ALYX
• THE LAST OF US PART II

Best Narrative

• 13 SENTINELS: AEGIS RIM
• FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE
• GHOST OF TSUSHIMA
• HADES
• THE LAST OF US PART II

Best Art Direction

• FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE
• GHOST OF TSUSHIMA
• HADES
• ORI AND THE WILL OF THE WISPS
• THE LAST OF US PART II

Best Score and Music

• DOOM ETERNAL
• FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE
• HADES
• ORI AND THE WILL OF THE WISPS
• THE LAST OF US PART II

Best Audio Design

• DOOM ETERNAL
• HALF-LIFE: ALYX
• GHOST OF TSUSHIMA
• RESIDENT EVIL 3
• THE LAST OF US PART II

Best Performance

• Ashley Johnson — THE LAST OF US PART II
• Laura Bailey — THE LAST OF US PART II
• Daisuke Tsuji — GHOST OF TSUSHIMA
• Logan Cunningham — HADES
• Nadji Jeter — MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN: MILES MORALES

Games for Impact

• IF FOUND
• KENTUCKY ROUTE ZERO: TV EDITION
• SPIRITFARER
• TELL ME WHY
• THROUGH THE DARKEST OF TIMES

Best Ongoing

• APEX LEGENDS
• DESTINY 2
• CALL OF DUTY: WARZONE
• FORTNITE
• NO MAN’S SKY

Best Indie

• CARRION
• FALL GUYS: ULTIMATE KNOCKOUT
• HADES
• SPELUNKY 2
• SPIRITFARER

Best Mobile

• AMONG US
• CALL OF DUTY MOBILE
• GENSHIN IMPACT
• LEGENDS OF RUNETERRA
• POKEMON CAFE MIX

Best Community Support

• APEX LEGENDS
• DESTINY 2
• FALL GUYS: ULTIMATE KNOCKOUT
• FORTNITE
• NO MAN’S SKY
• VALORANT

Innovation in Accessibility

• ASSASSIN’S CREED VALHALLA
• GROUNDED
• HYPERDOT
• THE LAST OF US PART II
• WATCH DOGS LEGION

Best VR/AR

• DREAMS
• HALF-LIFE: ALYX
• MARVEL’S IRON MAN VR
• STAR WARS: SQUADRONS
• THE WALKING DEAD: SAINTS & SINNERS

Best Action

• DOOM ETERNAL
• HADES
• HALF-LIFE: ALYX
• NIOH 2
• STREETS OF RAGE 4

Best Action/Adventure

• ASSASSIN’S CREED VALHALLA
• GHOST OF TSUSHIMA
• MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN: MILES MORALES
• ORI AND THE WILL OF THE WISPS
• STAR WARS JEDI: FALLEN ORDER
• THE LAST OF US PART II

Best Role Playing

• FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE
• GENSHIN IMPACT
• PERSONA 5 ROYAL
• WASTELAND 3
• YAKUZA: LIKE A DRAGON

Best Fighting

• GRANBLUE FANTASY: VERSUS
• MORTAL KOMBAT 11 ULTIMATE
• STREET FIGHTER V: CHAMPION EDITION
• ONE PUNCH MAN: A HERO NOBODY KNOWS
• UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH EXE: LATE[CL-R]

Best Family

• ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW HORIZONS
• CRASH BANDICOOT 4: IT’S ABOUT TIME
• FALL GUYS: ULTIMATE KNOCKOUT
• MARIO KART LIVE: HOME CIRCUIT
• MINECRAFT DUNGEONS
• PAPER MARIO: THE ORIGAMI KING

Best Sim/Strategy

• CRUSADER KINGS III
• DESPERADOS III
• GEARS TACTICS
• MICROSOFT FLIGHT SIMULATOR
• XCOM: CHIMERA SQUAD

Best Sports/Racing

• DIRT 5
• F1 2020
• FIFA 21
• NBA 2K21
• TONY HAWK’S PRO SKATER 1+2

Best Multiplayer

• ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW HORIZONS
• AMONG US
• CALL OF DUTY: WARZONE
• FALL GUYS: ULTIMATE KNOCKOUT
• VALORANT

Best Debut Game

• CARRION
• MORTAL SHELL
• RAJI: AN ANCIENT EPIC
• ROKI
• PHASMOPHOBIA

Well, I see THE LAST OF US PART II taking home seven of its ten nominations. While I think the game is the clear favorite, I’m often wrong about these things, and anyways, most of the other categories are totally up in the air (although I think it’s also clear that HADES is beloved). We’ll see how I did in a little under a month!