NEW YORK, Dec 14 — Japanese ninja warrior action game Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice won Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2019, in a group that also included Control, Death Stranding, Resident Evil 2, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and The Outer Worlds.
Sekiro also received Best Action-Adventure Game ahead of Control and Death Stranding; paranormal agency mission Control was worthy of Best Art Direction in the eyes of an international jury composed of staff from online text and video media outlets.
Death Stranding, a hugely well-anticipated game about restoring connections and delivering mail after an interdimensional event, and one in which The Game Awards host and producer Geoff Keighley had a cameo, won Best Game Direction, Best Score/Music, and Best Performance (film and TV actor Mads Mikkelsen).
But the night’s most frequently-named winner wasn’t even in the running for Game of the Year.
Disco Elysium, a detective thriller that turns its main character’s amnesia and personal traits into a uniquely immersive experience, emerged with four trophies, scooping Best Narrative, Best Independent Game, Best Role Playing Game and Fresh Indie Game for its studio’s debut.
Having beat out prestige nod The Outer Worlds to Best Narrative and Best RPG, one wonders how it might have done up against Sekiro for the Game Awards’ top accolade.
Among other multiple winners, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare collected Best Audio Design while Call of Duty: Mobile won Best Mobile Game.
The past few years’ enormous hit Fortnite was given the award for Best Ongoing Game while its inaugural world champion, Kyle Bugha Giersdorf, was named eSports Player of the year.
Another much older eSports favorite was responsible for three: League of Legends was named eSports Game of the Year, its 2019 League of Legends World Championship the eSports Event of the Year and G2 Esports the Team of the Year.
Danny Sorensen (aka Zonic), of Astralis’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team, was named eSports Coach of the Year, having won the same title at the Esports Awards in November.
Ex-eSports pro Michael Grzsiek, better known by his online handle, shroud, won Content Creator of the Year for his Twitch streams. (Grzsiek has since moved to rival platform Mixer.)
Nintendo was guaranteed at least one statuette, given that Best Family Game—won by Luigi’s Mansion 3—was entirely populated by Nintendo nominees, and added to its haul through another Family Game contender, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, becoming Best Fighting Game.
The 2019 Game Awards’ other winners were Devil May Cry 5 (Best Action Game), the recently free-to-play Destiny 2 (Best Community Support), Beat Saber (Best VR/AR Game), Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Best Strategy), Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled (Best Sports / Racing Game, even beating soccer games FIFA and PES).
Four-category nominee Apex Legends received a measure of glory as Best Multiplayer Game, while the contemplative Gris, also under consideration for Art Direction and Fresh Indie Game awards, won the Games for Impact category. — AFP-Relaxnews
