The Game Awards 2021: Here are the hottest trailers and game announcements
New Star Wars and Wonder Woman game announcements made this a very interesting show.
Image: Lucasfilm Games
The Game Awards 2021 has ended, paying tribute to the year’s best and biggest games while also looking forward to the industry’s future. Game Awards host Geoff Keighley unleashed a torrent of trailers and announcements this morning, not only previewing upcoming videogames like Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and Star Wars Eclipse but also movies like Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and The Matrix: Resurrections.
These announcements might be difficult to sort through at first glance, which is why we've made a handy list of the biggest news that dropped today below. Check out the biggest announcements from The Game Awards 2021:
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2
Ninja Theory continued its trend of popping up at The Game Awards to reveal more Hellblade trailers this morning. The macabre sequel sees Senua and her company dealing with a hostile giant, who goes on a murderous rampage before reaching out to Senua - and suddenly asking for her help. If the jaw-dropping visuals aren’t enough to get you interested, how about that amazing soundtrack by Heilung?
Star Wars Eclipse
Quantic Dream’s next game has been revealed. Star Wars Eclipse comes from the studio behind Detroit: Become Human and Beyond Two Souls, set in the High Republic Era - which is around 200 years before the events of the Skywalker Saga. This action-adventure game can be experienced, “in many ways,” according to Lucasfilm Games, and puts the fate of, “multiple playable characters,” in your hands. Judging by Quantic Dream’s past work, we can safely say that there will be as many choices to make as there will be consequences to deal with.
It’s worth noting that Quantic Dream has been investigated for allegations of sexual abuse and harrassment as recently as 2018.
Wonder Woman
It’s about time! Wonder Woman, iconic member of the holy DC Comics trinity next to Superman and Batman, is finally getting her own videogame from Monolith Productions. Monolith previously developed Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and its sequel Shadow of War, so this game seems right up their alley. For now, all we know about Wonder Woman is that it’s a singleplayer open-world action game that lets you play as Diana Prince, as she fights to unite her Amazon family and present-day humanity. Interestingly, the game will also include the Nemesis System, which lets players form deep connections with enemies and allies alike as they go from fighter to leader.
Alan Wake 2
Alan Wake’s world is getting turned upside down once again. Fans have asked for a new Alan Wake game for years, and the character has seen a resurgence in popularity after showing up in a Control expansion and Alan Wake Remastered. Unlike the first game however, this sequel is going to be a survival-horror game.
Horizon Forbidden West
Guerrilla Games’ open-world sci-fi adventure brings back Aloy for more intense robot fights, and this new trailer shows off a few more of her foes. We spotted new machines that spout fire, others that roll around like armadillos, a behemoth snapping turtle, and an absolutely horrifying giant-sized cobra. I’m not looking forward to fighting that thing. Ah, who am I kidding? I totally am.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
We finally got a gameplay reveal for Rocksteady Games’ (the Batman: Arkham series) new DC Comics videogame. This new trailer pits the Suicide Squad against the Flash, whom Captain Boomerang has a personal vendetta against. The Justice League seems to be controlled by Brainiac while ruling over a version of Metropolis overrun by aliens. They don’t call them the Suicide Squad for nothing.
A Plague Tale: Requiem
A Plague Tale: Innocence was such a pleasant surprise, and this sequel looks truly special. Amicia and Hugo set off on adventure in this trailer, travelling by foot and on boat across a gorgeous world ravaged by the rat plague. Amicia seems to be worried about her wellbeing and Hugo’s, but does she have what it takes to survive their next epic journey together?
Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course
Cuphead’s DLC (hence the name Delicious Last Course) takes players to a not-quite-paradise island filled with a variety of bosses and enemies brought to life with the game’s unique old-timey art style.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Between the new movie reboot and this videogame, Leatherface is having a moment. The creators of Friday the 13th: The Game, Gun Interactive are making a game focused on the grisly horror icon, based on the 1974 movie of the same name. Who could have seen this announcement coming?
Star Trek: Resurgence
Some ex-Telltale Games staff in studio Dramatic Labs are making this new narrative-driven Star Trek game, and it shows. It looks like the story will take Trekkies through familiar sights where they’ll be forced to make difficult decisions that might just determine the fate of their crew. It’s not so easy being in the captain’s seat yourself, is it?
Arc Raiders
This looks like one of those cases where a great game got saddled with a bad trailer. Despite its strange musical choices, Arc Raiders looks like an interesting PvE multiplayer game set in the post-apocalypse, where you and some friends are going to have to team up to battle giant robots.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake: Intergrade on PC
Experience Final Fantasy 7 Remake and its expansion Intergrade in all its glory on PC! The Square Enix game comes to the Epic Games Store on 16 December (next week), with a new story DLC focused on Yuffie Kisaragi.
The Expanse: A Telltale Series
I’ll admit it - I might have screamed in surprise at this one. Amazon’s brilliant sci-fi TV series The Expanse is getting a videogame adaptation from Telltale Games. Players will control Camina Drummer, with Cara Gee returning to portray her from the show. She leads a crew of scavengers to look for a mysterious treasure on the edges of the Belt, making decisions along the way that will decide the fate of the Artemis and its inhabitants. The Expanse's final season also premiered today, so we're getting good content all the way down.
Dune: Spice Wars
If the wait for Dune: Part Two is already starting to hurt, check out Shiro Games’ (Northgard) new real-time strategy game that adapts the books. It looks like you’ll take on the role of tactician as you attempt to carve out a slice of Arrakis for yourself, while fighting off its various hostile forces. It’s all about the Spice, after all.
Saints Row
The Saints Row reboot gets a new gameplay trailer, showing off the Saints’ adventures in Santo Ileso. The game looks just as insane as fans of the franchise might expect, with new vehicles, combat, outfits, customisation and helicopter heists.
Slitterhead
In September 2020, Silent Hill and Gravity Rush creator Keiichiro Toyama left his longtime position at Sony Japan Studio along with two other developers to set up their own operation called Bokeh Game Studio. And now, they’re revealed their first title - a spicy horror game called Slitterhead. At surface level, it seems to take a few pages out of Resident Evil’s book, though the freaky shape-shifting entities are more reminiscent of Hitoshi Iwaaki’s Parasyte series. Regardless, it’s a game that horror fans should definitely keep an eye on, and its gruesome, visceral combat seems quite promising too.
Sonic Frontiers
If you can’t get enough of the Blue Blur, then you’ll be more than happy to pick Sonic Frontiers up when SEGA rolls it out. While the trailer doesn’t really tell us much about the setting nor the narrative, our best guess is that Sonic and gang have ended up in some sort of mysterious fantasy realm given the weird machinery dotting the landscape. Still, the 3D animation looks absolutely gorgeous, and that’s more than enough reason to check it out when it releases Holiday 2022.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II
I...we...no. No words can accurately describe the level of surprise and excitement we’re feeling right now. Arguably one of the most surprising entries from this year’s awards show, Sabre Interactive is really knocking the showcase ball out of the park with this sequel, and there’s no denying that the trailer is simply badass. In short, it’s time to pick up your chainsword and bolter once again, Space Marine - now go tear the Emperor’s enemies a new one.
Elden Ring
By now, it should come as no surprise that From Software’s Elden Ring has once again bagged the Most Anticipated Game award. And yet, we remain sitting here absolutely gobsmacked because of the new trailer the developers have rolled out. The excellence of the animation and the narrative atmosphere it teases is absolutely staggering, and nothing is quite so annoying as having to wait for February 25.
Well, maybe the frequent deaths will be equally so considering it’s a Soulslike, but that goes without saying, doesn’t it? Bless your controllers, guys.
The Matrix Awakens
Well, this title definitely speaks for itself, and you know what they say about leaving the best for last. Introduced by none other than Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss, The Matrix Awakens is an Unreal Engine 5 experience that’s already available for well...experiencing on next-gen consoles, and sure enough, the level of detail in the trailer alone certainly puts the ‘unreal' in “Unreal Engine 5”. Frankly, not much else needs to be discussed at this point, so let’s just say it’s time to find out exactly how far down this rabbit hole goes.
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