Xbox has treated us to a bunch of fantastic new releases this year, and one of them is the beloved Psychonauts 2. Unfortunately, despite being nominated in five categories, it didn't end up winning anything at The Game Awards.
It was in the running for Game of the Year, Best Game Direction, Best Narrative, Best Art Direction and Best Action/Adventure game, but ultimately missed out. As you're likely aware, EA's It Takes Two won the big GOTY award.
It's a shame Psychonauts 2 didn't manage to win anything, as it's absolutely one of our favourite games of the year (we gave it the coveted 10/10 rating here at Pure Xbox), and lots of fans have been sharing similar sentiments:
Nevertheless, Psychonauts 2 did manage to take home an award recently, winning Xbox Game of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards back in late November. It'll undoubtedly be topping many GOTY lists over the next few weeks as well.
Additionally, Xbox head Phil Spencer praised the game as possibly his Game of the Year for 2021 — which is arguably the highest praise the dev team could have hoped for — calling it the best game Double Fine has ever released.
Sad that Psychonauts 2 didn't get recognition at The Game Awards? Let us know down below.
Comments 33
I guess there's one good way to look at it, and this isn't me crapping on Xbox. Things are definitely much better with Xbox now for the first time since sometime during the Xbox 360 generation if there's a game people think got robbed at The Game Awards. Hopefully things continue and maybe they will get one that finally wins big sooner or later (Hellblade 2 maybe?).
Still, Psychonauts 2 probably should have won something, even if it wasn't going to get GOTY. It Takes Two might have been a bit of a stretch, but at least it went to something different than the usual winners and it was a really good game in it's own right from the reviews.
Not enough people who played it voted, perhaps.
Did pay enough
Whilst 'winning' is what people will remember, being nominated as one of the 'best' games in those categories is still a big acknowledgement and should be taken as a big positive. Its not a negative they didn't win, its a big positive to be nominated.
It was my GOTY so I do agree it’s a huge shame.
It did well to be nominated for 5 awards. Not played it or It Takes Two yet but everyone speaks wonderfully about both.
Good haul from Microsoft though
@themightyant Age of Empires IV got best strategy/sim too for what it’s worth!
Ratchet and Psychonauts likely split the vote, robbing both great games from some well-deserved praise.
@themightyant I don’t think I saw that whole list. What did Halo Infinite win?
At least it got nominated. Lost Judgment got the shaft with nothing at all. A true shame I loved that game.
@xMightyMatt14x Some kind of "People's Voice" award.
@xMightyMatt14x Halo won Players voice award AKA the only fully fan voted award at TGA's. This was interesting as only the multiplayer was released for 90% of the vote
Full winners list
https://www.purexbox.com/features/roundup-the-game-awards-2021-all-the-winners
I was sure Psychonauts 2 would win best narrative. But it doesn't matter really. It's still a great game and I had plenty of fun with it.
@K1LLEGAL Thank you. Even better haul!
@themightyant interesting. Well if anything it shows that it’s popular right now. Or at least has a fairly large and super passionate fan base. So that’s bodes well for now with player count.
How did Deathloop win best art direction over this? The psychedelic level in the game looking for the band members on its own was stunning.
@xMightyMatt14x Always hard to tell with 100% fan votes as they are prone to social manipulation and brigading. E.g. If Pewdiepie or some other giant streamer told their fanbase to go vote for game X now it would likely win in a landslide.
But taking it at face value the multi-player is apparently wonderful and it's a well deserved award. I'm enjoying the campaign but it's early days to have a full judgement.
Even Liam at Push Square said "If the campaign is just as good as the multiplayer, Halo Infinite is my GOTY too. Leave the fanboyism out of it." High praise
Out of all my family and friends, I don’t think I know a single person who knows what Psyconauts is. And I only just began playing it. Granted I didn’t do any voting but still, my guess is just not enough poeople knew about it or played it. I’ve heard amazing things and can’t wait to jump back in, though!
You know the world is broken when Psychonauts 2, easily a GOTY choice, walks away with nothing, Arkane walks away with multiple awards, and Marvel anything gets best narrative
This is such a shame though, IDK what happened. This game deserved awards. Heck, it should have at least got Best Narrative. If a Marvel game wins best narrative.....what's the worst?
@themightyant Wait, how did Halo win anything? It was released 28 hours before the awards ceremony, with a multiplayer beta barely out during the voting window?!
That's funny with Liam's quote. Personally, I'm loving the campaign, and it's robbing me of sleep, but.... IDK if I'd grant it quite those high honors. It's super fun, but at the same time it's "just more Halo." Just looking at MS's stable, something like Psychonauts 2 that's very different from anything before, or even something like FH5 which just represents unique scale and exceptionalism to it's genre's ideal would fit a GOTY more than "just more Halo" even if it's the best Halo yet. Horizon lost it's only competitor when EA messed up Criterion so it's kind of a genre unto itself now.
@Fenbops On one hand I want to say "after all the marketing for Deathloop, it's awards were purchased in cash". But the other half of me says that Arkane finally won awards they deserved after decades of being robbed.... If Sony had to buy them the awards, I'm not mad
Psychonauts was absolutely robbed. That game is a masterpiece, totally agreed on the Feel Mobile chapter, and it really is one of the most unique designs anywhere in games. That having been said, Deathloop is pretty darn trippy on its own with a blend of Dishonored, Assasin's Creed 1, NOLF, We Happy Few, and a 70's funk motif. "Gritty" still makes it too traditional in the games space compared to the completely left field Psychonauts 2, though. But at least, either way, you feel like you're on some serious drugs while playing either game....
Either Psychonauts or Returnal deserved best game direction award and best graphics. NOT Deathloop
@NEStalgia we differ there. Narratively I didn’t think Psyconauts 2 was that great. The joy was exploring the levels and collecting everything for me, it felt pure, as well as its unique visual style.
I also don’t know how Halo won anything since only the multiplayer had been released 🤣 I’m quite surprised maybe Halo is even more popular than I ever even imagined right now.
@Fenbops And Marvel anything is? The whole Maligula arc + Mental Avengers of Old Guys angle was really fun, though, you have to admit. It's a game with a sharp wit. Anything Shafer is a game with sharp wit. And any game that has Jack Black talking about tongues really deserves an award for something...
Heck, it's a BETA of a F2P multiplayer game that was out and it's winning awards!! I know there's not much real merit to an award for a game that wins as popular vote the week of its launch....but that's still something. You're right, I didn't think Halo was quite that popular still. And obviously this is just from the multiplayer crowd since the single player wasn't even out yet.
@MyThoughts31 Awards like "best direction" are kind of vague. Based on what I can think of as direction, IDK that any roguelike would be the winner for that, so Returnal is out. But I feel like sometimes "director" applies mostly to linear cinematic games and means the same as "best director" in film, and other times it's more of a holistic game design award, which really would be best design, not best direction. Based on the former, none of those games really feel like "best direction" candidates. Based on the latter, Deathloop....an immersive sim finally getting recognized for what it does would be a big win, IMO. Arkane is finally getting validated for their immersive simgames....right after they switched gears into a looter shooter with Redfalll....
Psychonauts 2 has brought more than Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart to this industry but I'm sure that Double Fine will get some other awards elsewhere. Apart from Psychonauts 2 not winning anything, it's jarring seeing Metroid Dread winning the best action/adventure game ahead of Resident Evil VIII. It's not a bad game at all but it's just a fine Metroid game at best. It's nice seeing a high-quality Japanese game (without the name Zelda) like Tales of Arise winning the best RPG award. I was expecting much worse results, to be honest.
I agree it deserved an award, but it speaks to how great the competition was this year. I honestly felt that every award this year was well deserved, which makes me think they must have changed things given all the criticism over how much of a joke the awards seemed to be last year.
Personally I played it round my partners brother house and whilst I didn't play more than 2 hours so I can't say too much about it but I believe it wasn't as good as ratchet and clank, resident evil village or it takes two.
But, that's just my own view and I'm sure many enjoyed it, it was just down to those voting and they liked the other games more, so people don't take it personally or feel like it needs to win for it to be good.
Honestly for me I would of included forza 5 as a nominee instead of psychonauts 2, or halo infinite which is quite baffling to me is how they included halo infinite in the players choice but not any other category.
Fantastic game. Really surprised me. It's on gamepass so you haven't played it yet you have got to try it
Maybe there's too little localization of the language and not enough people were able to vote.
I am not sure if these types of awards matter to the team but they did a fantastic job and the game is loved by fans and new players alike.
I feel sorry for Double Fine. They deserved at least one award. It’s my personal GOTY.
The awards were an obvious joke from the minute the nominations were announced, and anyone paying attention knows they always been a joke for years.
But hey, sting! And “world premieres”! So glad I didn’t waste my time watching that 4 hour commercial spot.
I do think Guardians has a great narrative so it’s understandable that Psychonauts missed in that category. Maybe should have won art direction!
That's why I don't watch or like award show. In the end it's whoever paid the most for the award so things that should get the award never do.
Psychonauts 2 is wat ya get if ya buy Ratchet an Clank from Wish!!! 😂😂😂
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