UPDATE: Deathloop won the Best Art Direction award at The Game Awards 2021!

Art Direction is one of the most integral aspects of a video game. Along with other technical elements such as sound and graphics, a game's particular art direction can leave a lasting impact on a player. Looking back at the previous winners of The Game Awards' Art Direction category, it's clear to see that the committee tends to vote for titles that have a strong focus on one particular style of art and visuals, with Ghost of Tsushima, Control, and Return of the Obra Dinn winning the category in the last few years.

This year, the category is more stacked than ever, with Deathloop, Kena: Bridge of Spirits, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, The Artful Escape, and Psychonauts 2 all being nominated for best Art Direction in a video game. Each of these titles were critically acclaimed, with many outlets praising, in particular, their unique and distinct artstyles. At this point, it really is anyone's game, but there are some aspects that could point to one being the winner.

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Deathloop

deathloop state of play

Arkane's time-bending Deathloop is in the running for Best Art Direction, and it isn't difficult to see why. The Dishonored devs decided to go with a unique 1960s B-Movie aesthetic, and it gives the entire game a distinct and unique look that has come to define much of Deathloop's tone and action. Character models look a little Play-Doh-y, with their edges being unrefined, but that only makes the sharp weapon models and important objects in the game-world pop even more. The lighting in the game is beautiful, not only being used from a gameplay perspective to denote the time of day, but also looking truly next-gen.

While Deathloop does have a solid chance of winning this category, showing all that next-gen hardware is capable of already, its visuals are not what many players remember about the game. With its numerous nominations, it is more likely that Deathloop will take home at least one award, but that's likely to be Best Action or even Game of the Year.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits

Kena-Cast

A Pixar video game is what all the critics called Kena: Bridge of Spirits before and after launch. From its first trailer in PlayStation's "Future of Gaming" showcase, it was pretty evident that Kena was a game to look out for, specifically for its unique artstyle. As all outlets were quick to report, the facial animations and adorably cute "Rots" (the little Soot Gremlin creatures) looked very similar to creatures and faces in many Pixar movies, which is far from a bad thing. Upon its eventual release, Kena proved itself to be more than just a Pixar rip-off, with a vast array of unique creature, character, and world designs that set it apart from its inspirations.

With Sony's financial backing and the aid of Vietnamese animation studio Sparx, Kena's bold and charming artstyle may be enough to get it the Game Award. Even with some fierce competition, there's no denying that Kena's Art Direction delivers the Game Awards' exact definition of "outstanding creative and/or technical achievement in artistic design and animation." This is all especially impressive as Kena is Ember Lab's very first video game, which many committee members will likely want to praise wherever they can.

Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart

Rivet from Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart

Insomniac Games is knocking it out of the park right now. In just the last few years, it's released Marvel's Spider-Man, its follow-up Miles Morales, and now Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, an excellent return to a very beloved series. Rift Apart marries stylism with realism, creating a game that looks phenomenal while also having its own unique flares. For example, for every minutely detailed fur on Ratchet's head, there's some stylistically vibrant purple laser zipping past the screen. The game's entire visual style perfectly balances this photo-realism with bright and vibrant sci-fi stylism, forming one of the best looking console games available right now.

The Game Awards is no stranger to giving the Art Direction trophy to realistic games, with Ghost of Tsushima winning last year and Control winning the year before; both having a realistic art design overall with small splashes of stylism, much like Ratchet. But, in a category this chock-full with first-class art direction that really stands out, it might not be Ratchet's year.

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The Artful Escape

the artful escape

A game that may have passed by many gamers unnoticed this year, The Artful Escape has an incredibly distinctive and vibrant artstyle that is sure to turn the heads of voters. Every frame of The Artful Escape is like a beautifully neon-soaked painting. Pixel-art-inspired character models and cyberpunk aesthetics blend together perfectly here, harkening back to LucasArts' classics like Day of the Tentacle. The crisp, bright, and stylish backdrops of each conversation and each encounter makes The Artful Escape memorable, even to those who haven't had a chance to play it yet.

Critically, the game performed quite well, but not as well as some other entries in this list. Still, one element critics universally agreed on was its art design. If The Artful Escape's going to win anything this year, it's Best Art Direction.

Psychonauts 2

Psychonauts-2-Raz-Quality-Of-Life-Update-Xbox

The long-awaited Psychonauts 2 finally released this year to somewhat surprising critical fanfare. Along with a Psychonauts 2's compelling narrative and fleshed out combat mechanics, the game's visuals were highly praised. Essentially taking what worked about the first game and elevating it with new next-gen technological advancements, Psychonauts 2 is an extraordinary display of bright and bombastic color. The trippy visuals go hand-in-hand with the game's mind-hopping plot and tongue-in-cheek tone. The unique geometry of each level is also a point in Psychonauts 2's favor.

As is the case with Deathloop, though, this category may not be where the game picks up its win. Psychonauts 2 is nominated in quite a few categories, so voters may be more likely to give the game its due in a category such as Best Action/Adventure, where its other critically-acclaimed elements come into play.

Final Prediction

kena bridge of spirits (1)

This is a tough category to predict, as every single entry in this year's nominations could win the award, and deserve to win the award. But at the end of the day, only one winner can be announced, and it seems likely that Kena: Bridge of Spirits will take the crown for Best Art Direction in the Game Awards 2021. With the game's core focus being on animation and visual design, and with it being an incredibly impressive first outing for the developers, it seems likely that the voting committee will want to praise Kena for the one element it pulled off flawlessly.

The Game Awards 2021 stream December 9 at 5:00 p.m. PST.

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