Resident Evil Village as a shooter? Yes. it's first person but it's a survival horror game (I'd settle for action/adventure I guess if there's no survival horror category)

It seems that Returnal won’t get any award, too bad.

Still think it got Robbed

First of all, I take great pride in being credited with a role in the creation of this category. This category encompasses a good majority of the games that interest me in any given year anymore, and my favorites typically rank among them. These are games that are still today being made the way I remember video games being made back in the glory days of industry innovation: by small, close-knit groups of passionate people who are in it for the fun and satisfaction of creating something special that they themselves believe in and want to play rather than what market tests well and is safe enough to get the support of a massive publisher. And on those occasions when major publishers are willing to support such projects by providing smaller developers with the resources they need to fully realize their visions (while staying the hell of of the development process, I mean), something extra special often results! I want games like this -- games with real heart and soul in them -- to have the visibility that they deserve, and I don't think they'd get it without a dedicated category here at minimum.

In fact, my original proposal went further than simply the creation of a special Indie Game award category. I suggested that there be two winners in each category: a AAA winner and an indie winner (including for Game of the Year), for the same reasons just mentioned, but I guess that was too much of an ask. Still, I'm glad this exists now!

I voted for It Takes Two for all the reasons that have been cited and more. It was my favorite game of the year, and my runner-up choice was Returnal, which was a AA title also created by a small development team. They're tonally very different games, but have in common a passion that just wasn't matched in the AAA market for my taste.

Now to answer the speculation as to whether It Take Two's large margin of victory here will likely continue to be a rule of how this category works in the future, I personally doubt it. I mean It Takes Two won Game of the Year at the Game Awards recently, for example,  and is also the overall clear critic favorite of the year, and I think developments like that influence people's buying decisions. I don't think you'll have an analogous situation just every year. Indie games don't win that often at the Game Awards and so forth. Anyway, I've been greatly pleased that such a deserving project from outside the industry proper has been properly rewarded!

I feel like ENDER LILIES is kinda underappreciated. It's my personal favorite game from last year. Very challenging, but not really unfair, and the visuals and soundtrack are very beautiful.

Still, I'm glad it made it to the list.

I picked it for Best RPG!

Well, as you can see, not in the reader's choice awards (it's in second overall in those categories), but I think that's likely a visibility issue. Critics have basically all played It Takes Two because it's part of their job, while most average gamers almost certainly haven't because it just doesn't have a competitive marketing budget, being, after all, a game created by a smaller development team with finite resources. But awards increase the visibility of such games.

Same here. I’m super glad it made the shortlist here. It’s my third favorite game of the year and one of my top 10 Metroidvanias ever.

Personally I thought it was something unique brought to the table.

There was another co-op game, more or less aimed at couples released last year I believe, called Haven, but that felt more simplified compared to IT2. IT2 feels like it fits for both couples and fans of co-op platforming puzzle solving gameplay, and we don't exactly get much of a combo of the two, let alone being aimed at couples, and I dig that it's a thing.

Since we got Battle Royale booming, I'd like to see more games aimed at couples becoming a thing too.

Well, many contenders doesn't equal high competetivness. It may be different in other years though, It takes two got a lot of praise even outside of indie game recognition. Thanks for this category, it is great to give these smaller games a place to shine.

I think it's a valid category. There's some really top notch DLC/expansions released nowadays and it's nice to underline the best of them. It might even enticed people to try a game that was on their "maybe list".