Best Art Direction – Winner: Control
What Should Have Won: Gris
Art is probably the most subjective thing that exists. One person’s trash is another’s treasure, as they say.
Not one of the nominees for Best Art Direction at The Game Awards 2019 is trash, in fact, they are all gorgeous games.
While it was definitely worthy of a nom’, I was genuinely surprised that Control took home the award. I would have personally ranked it close to last on the list of nominees that The Game Awards had this year for this category.
Control is beautiful but its environments are quite repetitive. The red glow over floating bodies aesthetic is striking, but you see it over and over throughout the game. Same goes for the blocky world of The Board, and the various offices and departments around the FBC.
Out of the nominees The Game Awards went into the show with, we would have gone with Gris, which is one of the most beautiful games released this generation full-stop. I’m not even sure if Control is in my top five just for 2019.
