After a long evening filled with huge announcements, emotional speeches, and significant accolades, Geoff Keighley's annual Game Awards showcase for 2020 has come to a close. Throughout the night, several games took home trophies, including Among Us, Ghost of Tsushima, and Hades. However, at the tail-end of the show, The Last of Us: Part 2 was the game that clinched the honor of being called Game of the Year.
Announced by iconic movie director Christopher Nolan, Naughty Dog's post-apocalyptic epic managed to outdo Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Doom Eternal, Ghost of Tsushima, Hades, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons for the coveted trophy. It's no doubt a huge honor and one shared by very few games in the event's history, including God of War, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Outside of the heralded Game of the Year trophy, The Last of Us: Part 2 also swept six other categories, winning Best Direction, Best Narrative, Best Audio Design, Innovation in Accessibility, Best Action/Adventure, and Best Performance for Laura Bailey's portrayal of Abby. All in all, it was a dominant night for the popular first-party PlayStation studio, with creative director Neil Druckmann and his team thanking all those who worked on the game and supported its release.
For those who didn't play the sequel to Naughty Dog's seminal 2013 adventure, The Last of Us: Part 2 follows Ellie and Joel a few years after the events of the original story. Staying in a quiet town and trying to live an average life, things suddenly go awry during an expedition beyond the settlement's gates, forcing Ellie to venture out on a malice-filled revenge mission against a mysterious woman by the name of Abby. Arriving in Seattle, the pair suddenly wind up on a violent collision course, with the ensuing carnage making for a deeper, darker, and more morally provoking adventure than its predecessor.
The game has quickly become one of the year's more talked about titles, with its shocking prologue and series of unexpected twists and turns making it a divisive discussion point online. It seems the voters were entirely behind its worthiness to take home the coveted Game of the Year trophy, however, with the ballot consisting of several members of the games industry, media, and a small percentage of fan voters. Several huge titles were also announced during The Game Awards showcase, including a new Perfect Dark sequel, an Evil Dead video game, and Striking Distance Studio's spiritual successor to Dead Space, The Callisto Protocol.
The Last of Us 2 is out now on PlayStation 4.