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The Game Awards 2019 Recap: Ghost of Tsushima, Xbox Series X, and Many More

2019 has been another great year for gaming and what better way to celebrate it than with The Game Awards. The annual video games award ceremony was once again hosted by its founder, Geoff Keighley, and boasts several big and impressive titles such as Death Stranding and Apex Legends.

Of course, the show isn’t all about awards and we do get sneak peeks into the various upcoming games with trailers and teasers that both excite and remind us that though the year is ending, there will still be many more games to look forward to in the years to come.

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Just in case you missed out on The Games Awards, here is a quick recap for you!


MAIN REVEALS

Ghost of Tsushima

The longest game premiere in the entire award ceremony, The Ghost of Tsushima’s trailer showcased its gameplay along with impressive cinematic cutscenes. We also get to meet the titular Ghost who we will assume is from Tsushima. The screen then lifts to reveal a whole live orchestra performing scores from the game. The game is set to release in Summer 2020.

Xbox Series X

Xbox’s Project Scarlett finally gets a name, meet the Xbox Series X. According to Microsoft’s Phil Spencer, Series X will set a new bar for “performance, speed and compatibility” and will come with “the biggest lineup of our exclusive games in our history”, which was ultimately one of the biggest flaws in the Xbox One. Those excited to get their hands on the Xbox Series X will have to wait till the 2020 holidays to get it.

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II

Following the reveal of the Xbox Series X, Spencer introduced a new Hellblade game which is also the first game announcement for the new Series X. In the trailer for Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, as the game is called, we see Senua chanting, with blood-red markings all over her face. The haunting and sombre vibes from the first game are still very much present. No release date has been announced for the game and it is not known if the game will be exclusive only to Xbox.

Godfall

We finally get our first game announced for the PlayStation 5. Introducing Godfall, a “third-person fantasy looter-slasher focused on melee combat” that is set in an entirely new fantasy world. Much like Borderlands, Gearbox will also have an emphasis on collecting loots and weapons throughout the game. The game is scheduled to be out holiday 2020.

Bravely Default 2

Bravely Default II is the sequel the Nintendo 3DS game Bravely Default (Not to be confused with Bravely Second, another game in the Bravely Default universe). The trailer for the sequel shows us brief glimpses of the game, a mysterious lady holding a crystal, lush greenery, and a ragtag group of heroes that we will inevitably grow to love as the game progresses. Bravely Default II will be available on the Nintendo Switch and will be released in 2020.

Warframe – Empyrean

To everyone’s pleasant surprise, Digital Extremes announced during The Game Awards that the newest expansion for Warframe, titled Empyrean, will be available on the PC starting today. The expansion is based around large scale spaceship combat as well as four-player co-op.

Magic: The Gathering Arena – Theros: Beyond Death

Wizards of the Coast have just revealed their newest set of cards for Magic: the Gathering and it is called Theros: Beyond Death. This new set will be available in Magic: The Gathering Arena from January 16, and will be appearing in physical stores from January 17. From the trailer revealed, the tone for Theros is much darker than what we are used to from Magic, with a pretty graphic scene involving knight Elspeth Tirel being drowned.

Sons of the Forest

A sequel to 2018’s open-world survival horror game The Forest, little is known about Sons of the Forest except that it seems fairly more narrative-driven than it’s predecessor, with its trailer filled with several bizarre creatures and monstrous entities that come with one too many limbs for you to hunt down in the forest.

Ruined King: A League of Legends Story

It’s been less than a month since the launch of Riot Forge and we are already getting our first game announcement for it. Ruined King: A League of Legends Story is a single-player game developed by Airship Syndicate (Darksiders Genesis). From the trailer, it seems the game will focus on the bustling city of Bilgewater.

Cyberpunk 2077 – Behind The Music

Perhaps one of the most anticipated games of 2020, Cyberpunk 2077 has released a new trailer showcasing an important aspect of the game, its music. The game will be using a variety of different music genres such as punk, electronic, rap, hip-hop, and alternative artists to help set the mood of the game. The trailer also revealed the names of the artists involved with the game such as Grimes, A$AP Rocky, and Tina Guo.

Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance

A brand new video game based on the ever-popular Dungeons & Dragons game has just been announced, featuring the rogue drow Drizzt Do’Urden and the Companions of the Hall. Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance was the result of a partnership between Wizards of the Coast and video game company Tuque Games. This third-person, role-playing game is also billed as a spiritual successor to the Balder’s Gate: Dark Alliance games and will be available on both consoles and PC from the later half of 2020.

Apex Legends: Holo-Day Bash

One of the highlights of this year’s The Game Awards has to be when Apex Legend’s Mirage hijacked the show to announce the launch of the game’s holiday event, Mirage’s Holo-Day Bash. Aside from the new Christmas themed cosmetics, the Holo-Day Bash will also feature a non-Battle Royale mode on the Winter Express where three teams of three fight to capture a point on the train.

Ori and the Will of the Wisp

Ahead of its March 11, 2020 release, Moon Studios has given us another look at Ori and the Will of the Wisp, the sequel to the breathtakingly beautiful Ori and the Blind Forest. The upcoming game will be available on both PC and Xbox.

Weird West

The wild, wild west has never been weirder. Weird West is developed by former staffs of Arkane whose catalogue includes games such as Prey and Dishonoured. Weird West is a stylish looking, top-down action-RPG set in the Wild West and features a number of Western hallmarks such as gunslingers, saloons, and shoot-outs.

Magic: Legends

The world of Magic: The Gathering is being adapted into a massively multiplayer online role-playing game called Magic: Legends. According to the game’s creators, the game will allow players to “immerse themselves in the acclaimed fictional multiverse of Magic: The Gathering as a powerful, spell-wielding Planeswalker of their own creation”. Beta testing for the game will begin sometime in 2020.

Path of the Warrior

Twisted Pixel’s Path of the Warrior reimagines what it will be like if a classic sidescrolling brawler was made into a VR game. Despite its new take on the beat-’em-up genre of games, Path of the Warrior still looks incredibly bright and colourful, not at all out of place with other arcade games. The game is available right now on Occulus Quest and RIft.

Gears Tactics

Come April 2020, the Gears Of franchise will be getting a new addition in the form of the single-player, real-time-strategy game Gears Tactics. Players will have to outnumber, outwit, and outmanoeuvre the evil mastermind in the game in order to survive. It has also been noted that Gears Tactics is a prequel that takes place 12 years before the events of Gears of War, The game will release in April 2020.

Naraka Bladepoint

Earlier this week, Keighley posted a tweet about Naraka Bladepoint, with the caption, ” Where cold steel collides and blood runs dry, Souls BLOSSOM”, along with an image of a red spider lily seemingly made out of blood. It was only at The Game Awards that we got a better look at the upcoming multiplayer melee combat game that is set in the mysterious Eastern realm of Morus. The game will be released on Steam in 2020.

Nine to Five

Nine to Five is a tactical first-person-shooter with hopes of bringing something new to the genre with its emphasis on teamwork rather than the one’s response time. It is set in a world where corporations rule everything and employ mercenaries to get things done when boardroom negotiations fall through. Each match will have three teams of three competing against each other in three rounds to see who emerge victorious. The catch is that every round will have an effect on the next so players will have to properly strategise and plan for what’s to come.

New World

The Game Awards also gave us a look at Amazon’s very first open-world online game, New World. It is an open-world game set in the 17th century, the Age of Exploration, and takes place on the island of Aeternum, a supernatural island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. According to the game’s director, Scott Lane, players can look forward to “action-RPG combat with massive siege battles and a rich crafting system and character progression”. It is set to release on May 2020.

Fast and Furious Crossroads

Presented by Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez themselves, Fast and Furious Crossroads is a brand new game from the Fast and Furious franchise developed by Project Cars’ Slightly Mad Studios. Little else is known about the game but from what we can see, it will involve a lot of cars driving to and away from explosions. It was even described by Bandai Namco, its publisher, as a “team-based, vehicular-heist action game”.


PRE-SHOWS

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 – Rise of the Phoenix DLC

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3’s new DLC brings Iceman, Cable, Gambit, and Phoenix to the game along with a new mode, The Danger Room Showdown. In the new mode, players will be able to compete against one another, against both friend and foe. The new DLC will be released on December 23, 2019.

Maneater

Ever watched Sharknado and wondered what it will be like being one of the many sharks? Maneater is here to fulfil your man-eating fantasies. With a truly bloodthirsty trailer at The Game Awards, we get a better glimpse at what to expect from the game, such as chowing down on humans as a bull shark, the ability to use electricity and evolution in real-time.

Humankind

A new trailer has finally been revealed for Amplitude Studios and Sega’s upcoming turn-based strategy game. Humankind’s newest trailer gives us a better look at the game’s land and naval battle system, as well as a new feature – the ability for players to create their own avatar. Their avatars will “evolve visually over the course of the game according to the way you play, the achievements you earn, and the way you develop your cultures and civilizations.”

No More Hero 3

With a start that was strongly reminiscent of a Studio Ghibli movie, No More Hero 3’s latest trailer told the story of an alien leaving Earth only to return years later as a self-proclaimed “goddamn superhero”, with the ability to turn humans into pink blobs. The story was then ditched to show Travis Touchdown making his return, wielding his weapon that strongly resembles a lightsaber.

Final Fantasy VII Remake

There is still quite some time to go till the release of Final Fantasy VII Remake and to keep fans happy while we wait for the game’s March 3, 2020 release, a new trailer for the game has been released at The Game Awards giving fans some more action, humour, and maybe a little romance. We also get little bits of dialogue from Cloud, Aerith, Tifa, and Barrett to tide us over till the game’s first episode is released.


AWARD WINNERS

Game of the Year: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (Software/Activision)

Best Community Support Award: Destiny 2 (Bungie)

Best Ongoing Game: Fortnite (Epic Games)

Best Score and Music: Death Stranding (Kojima Productions)

Best Fighting Game: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Nintendo)

Games for Impact: Gris (Nomada Studio)

Best Player’s Voice: Fire Emblem: Three Houses 

Content Creator of the Year: Shroud

Best Independent Game: Disco Elysium — ZA/UM

Fresh Indie Game: Disco Elysium (ZA/UM)

Best Narrative: Disco Elysium (ZA/UM)

Best Art Direction: Control (Remedy Entertainment)

Best Audio Design: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward)

Best Performance: Mads Mikkelson, Death Stranding

Best Game Direction: Death Stranding (Kojima Productions)

Best Mobile Game: Call of Duty Mobile

Best VR/AR Game: Beat Saber

Best Action Game: Devil May Cry 5 (Capcom)

Best Action/Adventure Game: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Best Role-Playing Game: Disco Elysium — ZA/UM

Best Fighting Game: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Bandai Namco/Nintendo)

Best Family Game: Luigi’s Mansion 3 (Nintendo)

Best Strategy Game: Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Best Sports/Racing Game: Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled (Beenox/Activision)

Best Multiplayer Game: Apex Legends (Respawn Entertainment/EA)

Esports Game of the Year: League of Legends (Riot Games)

Best Esports Player: Kyle ‘Bugha’ Giersdorf (Immortals, Fortnite)

Best Esports Coach: Danny “Zonic” Sørensen (Astralis, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)

Best Esports Event: League of Legends World Championship 2019

Best Esports Host: Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere

Best Esports Team: G2 Esports (League of Legends)


There you have it, all that you have missed during The Game Awards 2019!

Congratulations to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice for winning the Game of the Year award and we can’t wait to see what amazing games await us next year.