 Christmas is here, Christmas is here, Christmas is here, Christmas is here, Christmas is here, Christmas is here. You know what, I'm realizing I have a lot of traditions I do around this time of year, and this is another one that's accidentally happened. I think this is the third or fourth year now. The Game Awards. We're going to be voting today, and you can go and vote yourself and throw your hat into the ring, but it amounts for nothing. I think the viewer vote is like 5% or something of what they take into consideration, and ultimately the people that run the Game Awards just make the choice themselves on the night. But I like making these videos regardless because it's a way of summing up the year with you guys and talking about a lot of our favorite games. There's a lot of games that came and went that I didn't talk about, you know, because they're on other consoles other than Switch, so I get to talk about those briefly. But for the most part, you know, it's just, it's fun. I like doing it, so shut up. I'm doing it again. I will also be streaming the Game Awards probably on Twitch on the night, so make sure to follow me on Twitch if you want to watch that. Let's just do it. Best Esports event. I, these all happened. These were all things that happened. I have no idea. Sure, League of Legends. Fantastic. It is gonna make me sign in. I knew it was gonna make me sign in. All right, League of Legends. Moving on. Best Esports coach. He looks nice. Best Esports team. Not fate. Nothing phase. Not a fan of phase. We'll go team spirit. They sound nice. Best Esports athlete. They called athletes now. All right, who here looks the fittest? They're this guy. That's fine. I don't care. Oh, I just realized that some of these categories are sponsored. Presented by Grubhub? Best Esports game. Presented by Grubhub. Not a sponsor. Actually, you know who is a spy? I probably shouldn't talk. ExpressVPN. Stop the video. Stop the video right now. I'm being hacked. Oh, wait, except I'm not because I use ExpressVPN. At this point, I've been using ExpressVPN for years because not having it is like buying a giant jar of jelly beans and only being able to eat the licorice one. Actually, I kind of like licorice, but my point is there are so many other things to try. You can use ExpressVPN to unblock content on streaming sites like Netflix. Like right now, I'm rewatching Modern Family by connecting to a Canadian server with just one easy click. Oh, and if you want to talk about privacy, I don't know why I did that. I don't know if you know this, but right now your internet service provider is using you by selling your data to advertisers. Not this guy though. I turn on my ExpressVPN with a couple of easy clicks rerouting my location through one of ExpressVPN's many encrypted servers and good luck selling my information to Amazon Now Spectrum. Find out how you can get three months of ExpressVPN free by visiting expressvpn.com forward slash beat em ups or by clicking the link in the description below. Thank you ExpressVPN for sponsoring this video. Okay. Best esports game. My guy daughter too is never going to win this, but it's my favorite. So I'm voting for it. Most anticipated game. I don't know how most anticipated game is an award for 2021. That seems really weird to me because for the most part an anticipated game has to do with marketing and how well a game was marketed. You're just asking people what are they most excited for? I'd say it has to be Breath of the Wild. All these games are pretty highly anticipated. I mean, Starfield is like Skyrim, Space, Elden Ring is Lord of the Rings, Dark Souls. I think Elden Ring has had the most hype for it, but I'm going to go Zelda because I love Zelda. Best debut indie. The artful escape, the forgotten city, Kenna, Sable and Valheim. Valheim took the world by storm and will probably win this category, but for me it was Kenna. That game was gorgeous. Fantastic visuals, fun gameplay, great music. It had everything. Kenna looked like a game from a studio that's been making games for years. Oh, great. Content creator of the year. So yo, me, you got Bob Wolf in there maybe? Maybe Scott the Dream? I feel mean every time I get to this category because I legitimately, and I'm not like saying this like passive aggressively, do not know who any of the people ever are. As far as notoriety, I mean I'm going to vote Dream because it's the only one I've heard of. Best multi-player for outstanding online multi-player gameplay and design. Multi-player, I don't think it should include co-op. I think that's mean to include co-op because co-op is a whole different thing. It's a whole different genre because it takes two in Hazelight Studios are creating co-op games better than I've ever seen them done, but two people sitting down on a couch and playing a co-op game as opposed to a massive MMORPG like New World. Like those are two completely different experiences. Honestly, it takes two is so good. It could have been in best game of the year. Like it was that good. As far as best multi-player, I don't think, I mean you have to go with a multi-player game, not a co-op game. You know what? I'm going to vote for my guy because that game is gorgeous and honestly could have been in the running for game of the year. If you haven't played it, grab a friend and play it. Best sports racing. Uh, four to five. Yeah. Yeah, easy. Highly recommend. Uh, looks great. Amazing. Best sim strategy. Ah, game awards. I get it. There's probably not been that many sim games released this year that were worthy of their own category, but sim and strategy are so different. Age of Empires is the only one here I know, other than Microsoft Flight Simulator. I tried playing Flight Sim and I crashed into my own house. So Age of Empires. Oh, what the heck? It takes two is in here as well. Game awards. You're so confusing. I mean, it counts as an extra nomination. So honestly, I'm happy. All right. Best family game. So this is just a game you play with your family. I always find it weird when they shoehorn in like just a PG or G Nintendo game into this category. Like New Pokemon Snap. You can't play that with anyone. You play it on your, it's very much a solo experience. Family to me is Mario Party, which boom, bam, you've won Mario Party, not even a question. I love that Nintendo always dominates this category by the way. Best fighting. Have I played any of these? Yes. I don't know if I can give that the best fighting game. Great game. Fun, fun game. Best fighting. I haven't played any of these other than that one. And I already know that that's not the winner. Screw it. My vote doesn't matter anyway. I'll give the sponge my vote. Best role playing game. Oh, that has to be. Oh, how could it not be? I'm, I am, you know, I will say I'm glad that they didn't put it in game of the year period because there was a big concern. The game awards are very, I don't know what word I can use to put it politely, but they, they, uh, they're crap. They definitely are sellouts for the companies and the game, the game industry in general. No one would have been surprised if Cyberpunk was in best game despite it being a terrible game. Um, but that said, they did have to put it somewhere. And this is where it gets a little tough for me actually. I'm, I think my vote is going to go with Rise. I think Rise was incredible, but it's tough because I've seen a lot of tales and I can't wait to play it. I have a feeling I'm going to like Rise more, but I haven't played it. I also haven't played Scarlet Nexus and I heard amazing things and I have played like five, six hours of Shimagami. Not for me, but I can tell it's a great game in the series. So I would take my vote here with a pinch of salt, but I really liked Monster Hunter and I think it does deserve to win this as much as these other three. Anyway, best action adventure. This is a, this is getting tough and I like them all a lot to varying degrees. I loved Dread. That's a stellar game. Uh, Psychonauts 2 I also really enjoyed. That's surprisingly great. Whether you played the first one or not, give it a shot. Ratchet and Clank is a wonderful eight hour adventure. Like it's very short, but it's, what it has there is jam packed. And then Resident Evil Village is obviously that's good. Honestly, it's split between Dread, Psychonauts and Ratchet and Clank. I think they all deserve to win for different reasons, but I would just love to see Dread come out on top. Best action game. Not Far Cry 6. So sorry to tell you. So cookie cutter Far Cry. Far Cry 5 was way better and that's saying something. They just didn't, they didn't improve anything. It was the same freaking game again. Deathloop I heard amazing things about and still haven't given it a chance. Returnal I loved. I actually thought that was sick. Uh, I had a love-hate relationship with it, but ultimately I really enjoyed it. I think it comes down to Deathloop and Returnal and I'm going to go with Returnal because that's what I've played and I really liked it. Best VR AR. I have not played any of these. However, I pulled this out of storage the other day. I haven't played VR in like a year. I pulled it out because I saw girlfriend reviews, review Resident Evil 4 in VR and it looks sick. So I bought it, but I haven't played it. That said, I'm just vote for it. Innovation in accessibility. I, this is always a hard one for me because I don't, I'm, I don't use any of the features. So I think I'm just going to not vote because I don't know. Best community sport. Apex Legends, Destiny 2, Final Fantasy 14, Fortnite. No Man's Sky? Sorry to the dozens of No Man's Sky community members. I'm not kidding. I don't. Does that have a community still? Isn't that a single player game? Oh no, they did make it multi-player. Whatever. I, I play Final Fantasy 14 sometimes. I log in on Saturdays to see if I won the lottery. I guess that's got a nice community. I mean, everyone's been really nice to me. So best mobile game. Can't help you. Oh, actually, I can't. Pokemon Unite. I actually love Pokemon Unite. Best indie. Okay. All right. It's Death's Door. And I haven't even played it yet. So all of these are fantastic. I played 12 minutes with Kim and I loved it. It was a bit clunky though. Loop Hero, I've heard really good things about and people keep telling me to play it. So I will. I swear to God, I will. Leave me alone. Kenner, I've already said I loved Death's Door. I have a code for it. I downloaded it last night. I still haven't played it, but I've seen people play it and I know that it's going to be my favorite. Ports the video. Quick side note, I felt really bad for not having played either of these two games. So I spent all yesterday playing both and I do love both and I agree with my Death's Door pick, but Loop Hero is sick. All right. Keep going. Best ongoing. There is a lot of these online ongoing community categories and I really don't, I don't, I play single-player games. Where's Halo? I've been playing Halo, Apex, Final Fantasy, Fortnite. It's the same category. You don't need two of these. That said, I usually always vote Fortnite because I do think they deserve to win every time. It's frustrating, I know. I know I hate Fortnite too, but they're leading the genre, leading the most innovative in that space by far. You can't deny that. Whether you love or hate, I hate the game, but I can't deny that they are changing the game. Literally. Games for impact. Look, I haven't played any of these. I am playing Life is Strange soon though because it's coming to Switch and they're also talking about sponsoring the video. So Life is Strange, definitely the best one here by far. Everyone go play it, but wait a week because I'll have a link. Best performance awarded to an individual for voice over acting. Erica in Life is Strange goaded. Great game. Poggies. Best audio design. Ah, okay. We're getting into the top six. It's getting more intense. Best audio design. Deathloop haven't played it. Fartforza, great. Ratchet and Clank, great. It's Ratchet and Clank. Although Returnal had a really good game, our audio design as well. Say what you wanted by Ratchet and Clank, but from audio design to visuals to gameplay, everything was as perfect as the games ever been. They did a great job. Best score and music, not you. Okay, the music wasn't bad. I do this every year where I end up listening to the music. Oh, just like the game, the music won't even play. Look, the music wasn't bad. That said, I haven't played these four games. Do I vote for Cyberpunk? I mean, I honestly don't, I don't know, so I'm gonna skip it. But Cyberpunk had decent music. I just don't know where to gauge it. Best art direction. Art is very subjective. I mean, I love this art. Like this is the same kind of surreal looking, colorful, psychedelic trip looking. I think my vote has to be Psychonauts. Ratchet and Clank had gorgeous visuals. But when you go art direction, I mean, I feel like I shouldn't have to explain this, but art direction is the direction they took with the art, not how it ended up looking or necessarily how crisp or gorgeous the visuals were. And so I do think Psychonauts wins Best Art Direction. That's my vote. Easy. Best narrative. Oh, God. So I've only played Psychonauts and It Takes Two. I'm glad to see It Takes Two getting three nominations here. So It Takes Two is the story of a married couple who are facing divorce. They end up turning into little dolls because their child puts a curse on them and then they need to work together to fix their relationship, essentially, but get back to human form. It's a really cute story and I really appreciated it. And it worked really well in the confines of a gaming experience that you had to play co-op because you literally had to come together and learn how to work together in the game. It was brilliant. So I think that might even be the winner, but Psychonauts 2 or so the narrative was bananas. Not as good as It Takes Two though, honestly. All right, we have two categories left. Best Game Direction. Oh, It Takes Two in here again. It has been a really slow year. That's not shade. It has been. Deathloop's Direction. So when you think about Deathloop, you're thinking about, okay, what direction did they go in? A player in a game that's constantly... It's essentially how you would sum up a game, I guess. So in Deathloop, it's a player stuck in a time loop that needs to figure his way out. And there's another player in the game, I believe, that they can... It's an NPC, but it can be taken over by a player that's trying to stop you and they're also in the time loop. So that's the direction they took. It Takes Two's Direction. I already explained it's co-op focused, like you have to play co-op. Returnal is a rogue-like. You die and then you have to try again. Everything's different. Nothing too new there. Psychonaut Two's Direction is... It's the best way I can explain that. And Ratchet and Clank's Direction is a parallel universe where you jump in between the two. You play as two different characters and there's a lot of universe and dimension hopping. What do I think is best out of all of those? It's very subjective on this one. I could sit here all day, honestly, breaking down this one topic. This is really tough. I'm gonna say It Takes Two again. I really did like that game. That was one of my favorites of the year. And finally, Game of the Year. No, they're six. They did six. They couldn't decide. I don't think I've ever seen six before. So everything that we've done today, everything, summarized into one game and did they nail it all. Deathloop, I haven't played. It's the only one here I haven't played. Alright, so now you gotta start breaking down visuals, gameplay, direction, art direction. And I think It Takes Two nails every category. My only complaint with It Takes Two was it was maybe a little long, but having too much of a game that you really enjoy is never a bad thing. Metroid Dread, my only complaint is maybe it could have been a little longer because other than that, it was fantastic. And it was like the perfect length for a Metroid game of that style. But the visuals were incredible. It was some of the best we've seen on Switch, probably some of the best that Switch is capable of. Super fun to play with super tight controls, probably the best Metroid, the 2D side-scrolling Metroids anyway. Psychonauts 2, I don't know if all its components came together perfectly. I think it nailed almost everything it was going for and it's a stellar game. I'd probably give it like an 8 out of 10. Ratchet and Clank, I personally believe nailed everything it was going for. It was a bit short but there was so much going on with what was there. I mean I can totally see where the time was spent. The only thing I think I have an issue there is the story. It was super cookie cutter and lackluster and the game became a little repetitive after a while. And Resident Evil Village, again I like that game, it's like a 7 or 8 out of 10. It was pretty, pretty, to me, pretty comparable to 7. With that in mind, I think it comes down to It Takes 2 Metroid Dread or Ratchet and Clank and if I'm being even more grueling, I would say It Takes 2 or Metroid Dread, I'm really tired between these two I gotta be honest. Do I lose rights to my Nintendo channel if I vote for It Takes 2 over Metroid Dread for Game of the Year when both have a chance of winning? Kim and I do Pokemon card streams on Twitch all the time and in the ETBs they give you a little coin. The coin is for if you play the game, if you like go to poison someone or confuse someone, you gotta flip heads or tails to see if you actually get to you know have that status effect. So I would say that the Pikachu head here would be the heads and then the Pokeball would be the tails right? I'm gonna say heads is Metroid Dread and tails is It Takes 2. Wait what did I say? Oh I said heads is Metroid and then okay so it's It Takes 2. Alright there you go that's my picks. The event is December 7 so watch the stream and I encourage everyone to go vote for your favorite game even though you know it doesn't really do much but it is fun to do regardless. Alright if you like this video hit the like button. Leave your thoughts down below like let's use this as a big discussion board just play nice but down below what was your favorite games of the year and maybe they weren't even on the list. Alright bye!