Special Feature: Reveals from The Game Awards 2017

It’s that time of the year again! The Game Awards, an event that’s mostly a video game awards show hosted by Geoff Keighley and serves as a spiritual successor to the SpikeTV Video Game Awards, just happened. Awards for winners in specific categories are handed out throughout the show, as chosen by the gaming audience online. But let’s be honest: The real attractions are the new game showcases and reveals. This is the fourth installment after the show started in 2014, and it’s clear from the level of excitement and the production values that its popularity is increasing each year. Fortunately, it’s done that while not being as cringeworthy as the VGAs during their lowest points.

Since the reveals are the biggest attraction, I’ll focus on those for this post. You can see all the winners here. About half of the winners were announced unceremoniously during the show, so you’re nearly getting the same effect by reading them.

The show’s first premier occurred during the preshow, which was for a World War Z game for consoles that will be developed by Saber Interactive and published by Warner Bros. It was the kind of reveal that thankfully wasn’t an indication of the kind that awaited, though the final game could be good. Also revealed during the preshow were Vacation Simulator, which is coming to all VR platforms, and Accounting+ for PSVR. The latter’s trailer seemingly foretold how vulgar this show would be, and how the organizers were glad it didn’t have to air on TV.

The final game teased during the preshow was From Software’s next project. It included a “Shadows Die Twice” tagline, and was so vague that no one could tell what it could be. It made for one of the best moments of the show, as the audience clearly thought the flash of the company’s logo would lead into the rest of the trailer, and not mark the end. Guesses as to what the game could be have ranged from a new Bloodborne title to a revival of the Shadow Tower series, but given how the former is a Sony franchise and the latter is too obscure for a reveal at this show, it could be a mixture of the two. From plans to reveal it sometime in 2018.

The first reveal of the show was In the Valley of Gods, a new title from Firewatch developer Campo Santo. No platforms were revealed, and it’s not due until 2019, but it appeared to be another adventure game with a unique art style. It also prominently featured a black woman, which further helped it stand out compared to other titles shown. Also shown through a trailer was GTA Online: The Doomsday Heist, with some plotlines that seemed too real considering the downfall of civilization is easy to imagine these days. It will arrive on December 12th.

After going into a mysterious respite for a while, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s second DLC, The Champions’ Ballad, was shown. It looked much more substantial than the first one from the trailer alone. But you can determine that right now if you own Breath of the Wild, since it released shortly after the show. Who knew Nintendo was waiting for this opportunity to release it?

The show wasn’t all awards, reveals, ads, and game deals. Each year, recognition is given to an industry icon, and this year’s was Carol Shaw, best known for being the developer programmer for River Raid at Activision for the Atari 2600. Her games are older than many of those watching the show, and I’m sure some of their parents would appreciate the segment. (My dad was and is a big fan of River Raid.) It was a great moment, and there’s no way they would even think about ending these in the future.

There’s a new SoulCalibur game in development after all. It’s SoulCalibur VI, whose trailer showed Sophitia and Mitsurugi battling it out. But something was noticeably peculiar: Both characters looked considerably younger than they did in recent appearances. The details from earlier today confirm that this will be a retelling of the original SoulCalibur’s events. While the decision makes sense given how SoulCalibur V made several cast changes vocal fans didn’t like, it’s strange to call this “SoulCalibur VI,” but it’s not too big of a deal. The game is due for release by the end of next year for PS4, XB1, and PC, so hopefully it’s not rushed this time.

Also shown was Fade to Silence, a survival game where the player has to survive harsh winter conditions and monsters roaming around. It’s also another game about the downfall of civilization, because these are “in” right now for good reason. It’s being published by THQ Nordic, and will release on Steam Early Access on December 14th, next Thursday.

Nintendo COO Reggie Fils-Aime was present to confirm that Bayonetta 1 & 2 are coming to Switch on February 16th, meaning that hint from PlatinumGames earlier this year was bang-on after all. But Reggie had just One More Thing™ and finished by showing a teaser for Bayonetta 3, in development exclusively for Switch. No date was given, but fans of previous games are simply happy that Nintendo green lit a sequel at all; and if her appearance in the newest Super Smash Bros. title wasn’t enough, this could solidify Bayonetta as a Nintendo character — though the property is still owned by Sega.

Since Hideo Kojima and Norman Reedus were present, and Keighley and Kojima are good friends, there was no way there wouldn’t be a new Death Stranding trailer. It contained no gameplay, and it’s currently tough to tell whether it’s a game at all, but it was an impressively weird trailer. The eight-minute presentation even topped previous ones in terms of how bizarre it was, but there are clues here to be put together, you can bet that fans are giving it their best shot to figure everything out. Perhaps we’ll see a game one day soon.

Witchfire was announced, a horror shooter from the developers of The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, whose developers were in attendance to accept the “Best Narrative” award for that game. It takes place in a world full of monsters and zombies that attack the player, suffused with a dark and gothic atmosphere. No release date and platforms were confirmed, sadly.

A Way Out from the Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons developers at Hazelight was confirmed for March 23rd. But the real highlight of this segment was director Josef Fares, who in addition to detailing the game, took some time to rant. He said “fuck the Oscars” multiple times in reference to Keighley’s desire to make The Game Awards their video game equivalent, and talked about how publisher EA has been good to them, though all publishers “fuck up sometimes.” I could describe the rest, but this has to be seen.

MediaMolecule’s Dreams received a new trailer, which showed why this has been in development for so long. The game has a little of everything, including rhythm segments, platforming, and racing. It’s due for release on PS4 sometime next year, and more should be shown at PlayStation Experience over the weekend.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is one of the biggest games ever, as it’s sold 24 million copies worldwide on PC alone. The new “Miramar” desert map is currently available on the test servers, which is another 100-player deathmatch map. It will be released alongside the 1.0 version on December 20th. Also, the Xbox One version will arrive in early 2018, which should include all the content from the 1.0 version, and any released afterward.

10 Chambers Collective, the developers behind the Payday games, announced a new four-player co-op horror shooter called GTFO. Players will control a team of scavengers who explore ruins for artifacts and discover their past while fighting monsters, though they’ll have to, well, GTFO when they’re too overwhelmed. The game will release in 2018, though the platforms weren’t mentioned.

The final game shown was Metro: Exodus, previously revealed at the Xbox E3 Briefing this year. It’s a successor to the previous Metro games (2033 and Last Light) that takes place in a post-apocalyptic Moscow, where the player is searching for other remains of human life. But the only living beings that roam the land from what can be seen are monsters, so it will be hell battling them while discovering the mysteries of a decayed world. It’s due for a release in fall 2018 for PS4, XB1, and PC.

The Game of the Year award went to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which won several others. It appeared Super Mario Odyssey would take it after BotW won so many, and with how performer (and voice actress) Kate Higgins performed theme song “Jump Up, Super Star!” live on stage. But at least Odyssey won something, as Horizon Zero Dawn didn’t win a single award. Some fans were bound to be upset regardless of what titles won, but watch out for some colorful comments out there — beyond Josef Fares’.

The crop of reveals and showcases is getting better every year, and they could soon rival the SpikeTV VGAs at their best if they maintain this — though ideally without the embarrassing material. I don’t regret watching it, so that’s a sign that it was enjoyable enough. The show was a little over two-and-a-half hours this year, shorter than the time where the show went on seemingly forever (2015), but not too bad.

If you want to watch the entire event, feel free to do so here. You can see each segment split into several videos on The Game Awards’ YouTube channel.