Psychonauts 2, Metroid Dread, Forza Horizon 5, It Takes Two and Deathloop are the five titles nominated in the Video Game of the Year category. The Fun & Serious festival will feature for the first time a new category of award in 2021 by including “The best adaptation”, an award in which the series “Arcane” is nominated -a production by Riot Games and the French studio Fortiche on the universe of Runeterra-, the Japanese “Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness” (produced by Hiroyuki Kobayashi) as well as the animated film “The Witcher; The Wolf’s Nightmare”, all of which will be broadcast on the Netflix streaming service.

Double Fine’s platformer that guides little Raz through an epic of the mind, Psychonauts 2, garners 4 nominations as it is also a candidate for Best Game Design, Best Narrative Design, and Best Art Direction.

The same number of nominations goes to the Arkane Studios and Bethesda published shooter Deathloop, which is up for a prize in the same list of categories: GOTY; Best Game Design, Best Narrative Design and Best Art Direction.

The Spanish production starring the bounty hunter Samus Aran, Metroid Dread (Goty, Best Game Design and Best Sound Direction) is eligible for three Titaniums whilst It Takes Two (developed by Hazelight Studios and published by Electronic Arts) is a candidate for two Titaniums in the GOTY and Best Game Design categories.

Two other titles are competing for two Titanium awards, Insomniac Games’ platform game Ratchet & Clank: A Dimension Apart is competing for two Titaniums in this edition, in this case being Best Game Design and Best Art Direction. The cinematic 12 Minutes, also with two nominations is a candidate for Best Narrative Design and Best Sound Direction.

Along with the Titanium awards, F&S, which is sponsored by the Spanish Association of Videogames, AEVI and ruled by a jury composed of prominent journalists and academics such as Inés Alcolea Llopis (Geek & Videogames), Marta Trivi (AnaitGames), Daniel Muriel and José María Martínez Burgos (Hafo), grants the FS Play to the most innovative indie video games awards of 4,000 euros.

155 video games developed by independent studios from 41 countries are to be presented in this edition. Spain (with 68 proposals) is the most represented nation. Along with the USA (10 titles), the UK (8), France (also with 8) and Germany (6).

A COMPLETE LIST OF 2021 NOMINEES FOR THE F&S GAME FESTIVAL TITANIUM AWARDS

GOTY

Psychonauts 2

Metroid Dread

Forza Horizon 5

Deathloop

It Takes Two

BEST GAME DESIGN

Psychonauts 2

Metroid Dread

It Takes Two

Deathloop

Ratchet & Clank: A Dimension Apart

BEST NARRATIVE DESIGN

Psychonauts 2

12 Minutes

Call of the Sea

Deathloop

Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy

BEST ART DIRECTION

Psychonauts 2

Deathloop

Ratchet & Clank: A Dimension Apart

Call of the Sea

Resident Evil Village

BEST SOUND DIRECTION

Metroid Dread

Returnal

Resident Evil Village

Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy

12 Minutes

BEST ADAPTATION

ARCANE

The Witcher: The Wolf’s Nightmare

Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness

About Fun & Serious Festival

The Fun & Serious Game Festival, held every December in Bilbao, is the largest video-game festival in Europe and a key meeting-point for the industry as a whole.

The event’s mission is to recognize and promote the work of video-game producers, directors, artists and developers, based on a comprehensive program of conferences, roundtables, networking and activities, aimed at both companies and the general public. As is customary each year, the Festival will conclude with an exclusive Grand Prize-Winning Gala for the best video-games of the year.

The Fun & Serious Game Festival enjoys the support of the Basque Regional Government – SPRI, Bilbao City Hall and the Provincial Council of Biscay. The event’s strategic partners include Microsoft, PlayStation and Ubisoft. The Festival features the collaboration of the Spanish Video-Games Association (AEVI), UTAD, Virtualware and Digipen.