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.
Your First Look At Quantic Dream’s Dramatic New Star Wars Game
We already knew this was coming, but a reveal at The Game Awards tonight makes it official: Quantic Dream, the controversial developers of games like Detroit: Become Human and Heavy Rain, are working on a brand new game set in the Star Wars universe, on what looks like a brand new world of their creation.
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.
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.
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League Gets Long-Awaited Gameplay Reveal
It may not have Margot Robbie, but Rocksteady’s upcoming Suicide Squad game made a moderately impressive showing during Geoff Keighley’s three-hour advertising gauntlet tonight.
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.
Battle Royale Wrestling Game Looks Like A Cool Take On The Crowded Genre
Whether you’re a gym rat, a lifeguard, or a music performer, the premise of Rumbleverse is simple: everyone’s out to beat the shit out of everyone else. Tonight, Iron Galaxy Studios revealed the battle royale at The Game Awards.
Here’s The First Trailer For The Upcoming Halo TV Series
Geoff’s Big Show gave us our first full trailer for the upcoming Halo TV series, streaming on Paramount+. It looks...fine. Its really hard to make Doom Guy armor look good in a real human setting.
Sonic The Hedgehog 2's First Trailer, And Knuckles, Debuts At The Game Awards
Tonight at The Game Awards Jim “Dr. Robotnik” Carrey and Ben “The Hedgehog” Schwartz took the stage to introduce the world premiere trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Somehow the First One Worked. Who’s ready for some hot Sonic and Tails action?
New Game Nightingale Is Probably Your Next Time Traveling Co-op Fixation
Time travel. A Fae realm. A shared world with all manner of gameplay elements, from crafting to shooting. Yes, Nightingale, the next game helmed by former BioWare vet Aaryn Flynn, is essentially Cool Game Yahtzee!, and I am here for it. Here’s an initial trailer, first shown at The Game Awards tonight:
Good News, The Final Fantasy 7 Remake Is Coming To PC
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, the re-imagining of a Square Enix JRPG that’s better than it has any right to be, will head to PC at long last on December 16 so non-console players can experience one of 2020's best games.
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.
Steelrising Game Says What If The French Revolution But With Robots?
Steelrising got a new trailer tonight during The Game Awards 2021, showing off its wild mix of robots and an 18th century France. The game is coming out next year to PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5.
Silent Hill Creator Is Working On A Spooky New Horror Game
It might not be the Silent Hill announcement that fans have been waiting for, but the trailer for Slitterhead revealed at The Game Awards looks just as spooky and dreadful as its spiritual successor.
Horizon Forbidden West’s Dinosaurs Are Suitably Epic In New Footage
Guerrilla Games showed off more of Horizon Forbidden West—which criminally is not titled Horizon One Dawn or Horizon Zero Dusk—at The Game Awards tonight. Take a look:
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
It Takes Two Wins Game Of The Year At The 2021 Game Awards (Plus all the other winners as well)
It Takes Two won Game of the Year at the 2021 Game Awards, beating out games like Deathloop and Metroid Dread for the top spot.