Official logo for the NAVGTR AwardsOn January 11, The National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers (NAVGTR, henceforth) revealed their list of nominees for their 2020 NAVGTR Awards. This year, Sakura Wars was reveled to be a nominee for four categories:

  • Outstanding Art Direction, Period Influence
  • Outstanding Costume Design
  • Outstanding Game, Franchise Role Playing
  • Outstanding Original Light Mix Score, Franchise

The full list of nominees for these categories is as follows:

Outstanding Art Direction, Period Influence

  • Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
  • The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope
  • Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise
  • Ghost of Tsushima
  • Sakura Wars

Outstanding Costume Design

  • Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
  • Genshin Impact
  • Ghost of Tsushima
  • The Last of Us Part II
  • Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
  • Sakura Wars

Outstanding Game, Franchise Role Playing

  • Final Fantasy VII Remake
  • Sakura Wars
  • Trials of Mana
  • Wasteland 3
  • World of Warcraft: Shadowlands
  • Yakuza: Like a Dragon

Outstanding Original Light Mix Score, Franchise

  • DragonBall Z: Kakarot
  • Game for Peace
  • Ori and the Will of the Wisps
  • Sakura Wars
  • Streets of Rage 4
  • Yakuza: Like a Dragon

Winners in the NAVGTR Awards will be announced on February 22.

NAVGTR is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation that focuses on promoting and recognizing game developers. The organization is a consortium of more than 12,000 subscribers and 1,200 voters. The voting body consists of journalists, reviewers, writers, analysts, and content creators from across the industry and mainstream press.

About Sakura Wars (2019)

Key art for Sakura Wars 2019, which shows Sakura Amamiya holding her sword as she climbs into a Kobu.Sakura Wars (2019) is the sixth console entry into Sega’s long-running Sakura Wars franchise. The game features a soundtrack by series composer Kohei Tanaka (One Piece, Mobile Fighter G Gundam, Gunbuster 2: Diebuster), and a story by Jiro Ishii (Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, Under the Dog). Bleach creator Tite Kubo provided original character designs, while Masashi Kudo (Bleach, MAOYU) provided in-game character designs.

In addition to Kubo’s designs, the title features character designs from a half dozen guest artists, including Yukiko Horiguchi (K-ON!), Noizi Ito (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya), and Shigenori Soejima (Persona series)

Sega describes the title as:

The stage is set in a steampunk version of 1940s Imperial Tokyo. Only a short while ago, a cataclysmic event destroyed the Imperial Combat Revue of Tokyo, the capital’s global defense force stationed at the Imperial Theater. Now home to the Flower Division, an inept rookie squad who also strives to impart hope on the citizenry with their theatrical talents, the theater has fallen on hard times and risks closure. It’s up to Seijuro Kamiyama as the captain of the new Tokyo revue to lead his squad and restore the Imperial Combat Revue and the theater back to their former glory! With the help of the revue’s five colorful performers, he must rise to the challenge of competing in the Combat Revue World Games, protecting the inhabitants of Tokyo and getting the theater back on track.

References

  • NAVGTR (Thanks to Princess Ozaline for the tip!)