Well, that’s a wrap! After a seemingly endless parade of ads, Geoff Keighley and more ads, peppered with celebrity appearances, musical performances and major game reveals, the 2021 Game Awards are done and in the bag. Here’s everything you missed, or caught and just want to catch up on all over again.
Below you’ll find links to our complete coverage of the evening’s news (click/tap on the headline to be taken to the post), from announcements to trailers to botched attempts at getting an important message across.
Sega Reveals Sonic Frontiers, The First Open-World Sonic Game
We’ve seen Sonic the Hedgehog games with free-roaming hub areas, but a fully open-world Sonic? That’s an entirely new animal. Ready or not, here comes Sonic Frontiers, which Sega is calling Sonic’s first “open-zone-inspired gaming experience.” Check out the first trailer, as well as a few screenshots of its vast, fully explorable areas.
Surprise: The Matrix Unreal Demo Is A Simple, Weirdly Fun Open-World Game
Later this month, the next movie in The Matrix franchise hits theaters and streaming via HBO Max. But before that lands, WB and Epic Games have teamed up to bring fans something they’re calling “The Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience.” So, what exactly is that? Well, it turns out it’s part campy cutscene, part QTE-filled shooter, and part open-world GTA-like exploration. It’s weird.
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Geoff Keighley Opens Game Awards With Disappointing Vagueness
In a series of remarks that forcefully called out abuse in gaming, but didn’t specify which kinds or who was responsible, Keighley referenced recent headlines about misconduct at Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard without addressing the company or the allegations against it by name.
Hell Yeah, Wonder Woman Is Starring In Her Own Big Game
The folks at Monolith Productions are developing a Wonder Woman game, The Game Awards revealed tonight with a barebones teaser. And as no release date or even intended platforms were discussed, we might be waiting a while to hear more.
Space Marine II Announced, Ten Years After The Original
A sequel to Space Marine has just been announced at the Game Awards, and it was certainly a pleasant and unexpected surprise. The original is one of the best Warhammer: 40K games ever made, and was a fine brawler in its own right, so seeing it languish while 175,249 other shitty 40K games were made and released in its stead over the last decade has been a weird thing to see.
Alan Wake 2 Finally Announced
After a brutal 11 years, there is finally an Alan Wake sequel, and it’s a survival horror game. I, for one, am beyond excited.
Dune: Spice Wars Is A New Real-Time PC Game
Dune has a long history of very good strategy games, dating all the way back to 1992 when we got not one but two all-time greats based on the license. It’s been a while between then and now—with a little Dune 2000 in the meantime—but we’re now heading back to Arrakis in Dune: Spice Wars.
Homeworld 3 Shows First Gameplay, Looks Great
I don’t know if the game is OK, since I haven’t played it and won’t be for a while, but we can at least finally see how it’s shaping up in this first gameplay trailer, and it looks big. Like, wow, a lot bigger than the older Homeworld games, with platforms and ships and battles that dwarf those we’re used to seeing.
Ex-Telltale Devs Are Making A Star Trek Game
The best Star Trek games are adventure games, and one of the best makers of adventure games was the original Telltale Games. Tonight at The Game Awards, Dramatic Labs, a studio made up of over 20 ex-Telltale folks, announced Star Trek: Resurgence, an interactive narrative adventure set just after The Next Generation feature films. Set phasers to incredibly interesting, which isn’t a phaser setting, I know.
It’s A Flashy Turn-Based RPG With Scott Pilgrim Vibes
During the preshow for tonight’s Game Awards, indie mega-publisher Annapurna Interactive pulled back the curtain on the next big game in its portfolio. It’s a turn-based RPG called Thirsty Suitors, made by the folks behind Falcon Age. There’s some sweet-looking skateboarding. And it all smacks of serious Scott Pilgrim vibes throughout. Have a look