After plenty of speculation about who would win big at 2019's The Game Awards, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice emerged as the Game of the Year winner. Of course, The Game Awards are often filled with surprises and upsets ranging from announcements to award winners. The 2019 version of the annual show was no exception to this, especially when looking at the onslaught of victors and reveals that the Geoff Keighley-hosted affair delivered.
The biggest surprise came in the form of Microsoft's Project Scarlett being officially revealed and shown as the Xbox Series X. Alongside the hardware reveal (which is said to be a powerhouse of an Xbox console under the hood) was the world premiere of Hellblade II, which looked absolutely incredible as a game coming to the new Xbox console. As the build to the final awards and reveals happened, though, gamers ended up signing off from the event with a sense of surprise. At least, that's a mild way of putting it.
Despite favorites like Control, Death Stranding, and Super Smash Bros Ultimate getting Game of the Year nominations, it was Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice that managed to sneak out with the event's biggest win. After the orchestra finished playing a beautiful melody comprised of elements from songs in each nominated game, Vin Diesel himself read out (albeit while stumbling somewhat) Sekiro's name to what appeared to be a group of somewhat surprised developers.
As the FromSoftware devs picked up their award, a brief aknowledgement was given by them before Geoff Keighley came out to inform viewers that the show had ended. At that point, people began taking to social media to share their opinions on the final award recipients and reveals. There were highs and lows for each, but there's no question that Sekiro deserved to be nominated – despite the odd pacing for game releases in 2019 as studios prepare games for a new generation of hardware in 2020.
Even with the Game of the Year win and glowing reviews, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice isn't everyone's cup of tea. The title is a brutally challenging affair that'll give even FromSoftware's own Dark Souls a run for its money, albeit still a critical darling amongst reviewers and fans alike. Screen Rant's own Sekiro review had nothing but good things to say about the romp, going so far as to call it a "masterpiece." In that light, the GotY award seems like it's in good hands.