The Game Awards: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice takes game of the year

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice won the Game of the Year at The Game Awards.

That turned out to be the surprise of the night, as Sekiro, an action-adventure game set in a samurai universe. From Software (the makers of the excellent Dark Souls and Bloodbourne games) is the developer, Activision is the publisher. It’s the second win of the night for Sekiro, which received nominations in multiple categories.

Sekiro beat out favorites like Death Stranding, Control, Outer Worlds, Resident Evil 2, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. It’s not my kind of game, as it takes a lot of skill to take out the big bosses in the game.

Here’s the nominees and the winners (in bold) for the full evening.

Game of the Year

• Control
• Death Stranding
• Resident Evil 2
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (winner)
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
• The Outer Worlds

Independent Game

Action Game

• Apex Legends
• Astral Chain
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
• Devil May Cry 5 (winner)
• Gears 5
• Metro Exodus

Mobile Game

Action/Adventure Game

• Borderlands 3
• Control
• Death Stranding
• Resident Evil 2
• The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (winner)

Multiplayer Game

Art Direction

Narrative

Audio Design

Ongoing Game

Community Support

Performance

• Ashly Burch as Parvati Holcomb – The Outer Wilds
• Courtney Hope as Jesse Faden – Control
• Laura Bailey as Kait Diaz – Gears 5
• Mads Mikkelsen as Cliff – Death Stranding (winner)
• Matthew Poretta as Dr. Casper Darling – Control
• Norman Reedus as Sam Porter Bridges – Death Stranding

Content Creator of the Year

Role-Playing Game

Family Game

Score & Music

Fighting Game

• Dead or Alive 6
• Jump Force
• Mortal Kombat 11
• Samurai Shodown
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (winner)

Sports/Racing Game

Fresh Indie Game

Strategy Game

• Age of Wonders: Planetfall
• Anno 1800
• Fire Emblem: Three Houses (winner)
• Total War: Three Kingdoms
• Tropico 6
• Wargroove

Game Direction

VR/AR Game

• Asgard’s Wrath
• Blood & Truth
• Beat Saber (winner)
• No Man’s Sky
• Trover Saves the Universe

Games for Impact

Esports Game of the Year

Esports Team

Esports Player

Esports Coach

• Eric “adreN” Hoag (Team Liquid, CS:GO)
• Nu-ri “Cain” Jang (Team Liquid, League of Legends)
• Fabian “GrabbZ” Lohmann (G2 Esports, League of Legends)
• Kim “Kkoma” Jeong-gyun (SK Telecom T1, League of Legends)
• Titouan “Sockshka” Merloz (OG, Dota 2)
• Danny “Zonic” Sørensen (Astralis, CS:GO) (winner)

Esports Event

Esports Host

Fan vote

Correction, 9:05 p.m. Pacific: Sekiro won two awards, not one, tonight.