'Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice' Wins GOTY At The Game Awards

The Game Awards 2019 took place last night (or earlier this morning depending on where you live) in sunny Los Angeles, and a fairly surprising winner took home the ultimate prize. FromSoftware's brutally challenging Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was crowned Game Of The Year, beating out the likes of Resident Evil 2, Control, and Death Stranding.

It seems most were expecting the gong to go to either Kojima's Death Stranding or Remedy's Control, but it was the Dark Souls developer who took the big win with its critically-acclaimed ninja action/adventure title. A well-deserved win it is, too. Which is not to say that the other games in the category aren't all great - because they are.

Released back in March, we awarded Sekiro a 9/10. In our review, we hailed it as a punishingly difficult GOTY contender, and a game that "demands your patience, focus, and respect from the very beginning, and it doesn't let up for even a moment." It wasn't the only award Sekiro took home that night either - it also scooped the prize for best action/adventure.

You can check out the rest of the winners in every category below, alongside their nominees. The victors are highlighted in bold. But you probably didn't need me to tell you that. Other notable wins include Super Smash Bros Ultimate for best fighting game, Devil May Cry V for best action game, and Control for best art direction.

Game of the Year

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

Best Community Support

• Apex Legends
• Destiny 2
• Final Fantasy XIV
• Fortnite
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege

Best Score/Music

• Cadence of Hyrule
• Death Stranding
• Devil May Cry 5
• Kingdom Hearts III
• Sayonara Wild Hearts

Best Esports Coach

• Eric "adreN" Hoag (Team Liquid, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)
• 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, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)

Best Esports Team

• Astralis (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)
• G2 Esports (League of Legends)
• OG (Dota 2)
• San Francisco Shock (Overwatch League)
• Team Liquid (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)

Best Esports Event

• 2019 League of Legends World Championship
• 2019 Overwatch League Grand Finals
• EVO 2019
• Fortnite World Cup
• IEM Katowice 2019
• The International 2019

Best Esports Host

• Alex "Goldenboy" Mendez
• Alex "Machine" Richardson
• Duan "Candice" Yu-Shuang
• Eefje "Sjokz" Depoortere
• Paul "Redeye" Chaloner

Best Fighting Game

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

Best Narrative

• A Plague Tale: Innocence
• Control
• Death Stranding
• Disco Elysium
• The Outer Worlds

Best Role Playing Game

• Disco Elysium
• Final Fantasy XIV
• Kingdom Hearts III
• Monster Hunter World: Iceborne
• The Outer Worlds

Best Esports Player

• Kyle "Bugha" Giersdorf (Immortals, Fortnite)
• Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok (SK Telecom T1, League of Legends)
• Luka "Perkz" Perkovic (G2 Esports, League of Legends)
• Oleksandr "S1mple" Kostyliev (Natus Vincere, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)
• Jay "Sinatraa" Won (San Francisco Shock, Overwatch League)

Best Audio Design

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
• Control
• Death Stranding
• Gears 5
• Resident Evil 2
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Best Strategy Game

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

Content Creator Of The Year

• Jack "Courage" Dunlop
• Benjamin "Dr. Lupo" Lupo
• Soleil "Ewok" Wheeler
• David "Grefg" Martínez
• Michael "Shroud" Grzesiek

Best Art Direction

• Control
• Death Stranding
• Gris
• Sayonara Wild Hearts
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
• The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

Best Action Game

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

Games For Impact

• Concrete Genie
• Gris
• Kind Words
• Life Is Strange 2
• Sea of Solitude

Best Family Game

• Luigi's Mansion 3
• Ring Fit Adventure
• Super Mario Maker 2
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
• Yoshi's Crafted World

Best Sports/ Racing Game

• Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
• Dirt Rally 2.0
• eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer 2020
• F1 2019
• FIFA 20

Best Mobile Game

• Call of Duty: Mobile
• Grindstone
• Sayonara Wild Hearts
• Sky: Children of Light
• What the Golf?

Best Multiplayer Game

• Apex Legends
• Borderlands 3
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
• Tetris 99
• Tom Clancy's The Division 2

Best Ongoing Game

• Apex Legends
• Destiny 2
• Final Fantasy XIV
• Fortnite
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege

Best Esports Game

• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
• Dota 2
• Fortnite
• League of Legends
• Overwatch

Best Performance

• Ashly Burch as Parvati Holcomb - The Outer Worlds
• Courtney Hope as Jesse Faden - Control
• Laura Bailey as Kait Diaz - Gears 5
• Mads Mikkelsen as Cliff - Death Stranding
• Matthew Porretta as Dr. Casper Darling - Control
• Norman Reedus as Sam Porter Bridges - Death Stranding

Best AR/VR Game

• Asgard's Wrath
• Blood & Truth
• Beat Saber
• No Man's Sky
• Trover Saves the Universe
  

Player's Voice Award

• Death Stranding
• Fire Emblem: Three Houses
• Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Fresh Indie Game

• Disco Elysium
• Gris
• My Friend Pedro
• Outer Wilds
• Slay the Spire
• Untitled Goose Game

Best Independent Game

• Baba Is You
• Disco Elysium
• Katana Zero
• Outer Wilds
• Untitled Goose Game
  

Best Game Direction

• Control
• Death Stranding
• Resident Evil 2
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
• Outer Wilds

Best Action/Adventure Game

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