With dozens of hot new trailers, game announcements, and industry creators, The Game Awards is evolving into a much more palatable E3. The Game Awards 2020 featured official teasers for the next Dragon Age and Mass Effect games, a surprise remake of Ghosts n’ Goblins, Vin Diesel in ARK 2, and Sephiroth as the latest DLC fighter to join Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
You can watch the entire broadcast above, and check out our highlighted list below.
ARK 2 and ARK: The Animated Series
One of the more jaw-dropping trailers of the evening starred Vin Diesel in a prehistoric world, raising all kinds of questions before the title card revealed ARK 2. ARK: Survival Evolved remains a hugely popular shared multiplayer survival-crafting game, with several large expansions and updates over the years. Studio Wildcard is also producing ARK: The Animated Series, which includes a ridiculously impressive voice cast.
Release: TBA
Back 4 Blood
Left 4 Dead is back in this spiritual successor Back 4 Blood, from the original developers at Turtle Rock Studios. It’s got four player co-op, hordes of zombies, and special zombies that can really mess up your best laid plans. You can sign up for the closed Alpha test on PC, which begins Dec. 17.
Release: June 22, 2021 (PC, PlayStation, Xbox)
Century: Age of Ashes
Century: Age of Ashes is a free-to-play multiplayer aerial combat game, starring dragons-riding knights. Multiplayer matches can support up to 18 players across three different game modes. It’s first launching in Early Access on Steam in February.
Release: February 2021 (Early Access)
Dragon Age
The new Dragon Age trailer features our first real tease of the next game in BioWare’s fantasy RPG series. It’s narrated by Varric, a fan-favorite companion from Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition, and Solas is featured in the trailer, a character who’s secret identity was a huge twist reveal toward the end of Inquisition. The as of yet unsubtitled Dragon Age 4 was first revealed back in 2018, with no real updates until now.
Release: TBA
Endless Dungeon
Amplitude Studios has created a string of strategy games with Endless in the title, including a spin-off tower-defense dungeon crawler called Dungeon of the Endless. Endless Dungeon is an entirely new game set on an abandoned space station. Recruit a squadron or play with friends as you explore every dangerous room and try to escape.
Release: TBA (PC and consoles)
Evil Dead: The Game
The Evil Dead universe is coming together for a multiplayer horror-action game. Players work as a team of four as they loot, craft, and explore their surroundings to seal the evil unleashed by the Necronomicon. Or play as the Kandarian Demon to hunt the survivors and possess Deadites and the survivors themselves.
Release: TBA (PC, PlayStation, Switch, Xbox)
F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch
If the words “dieselpunk adventure starring anthropomorphic heroes fighting machines” doesn’t excite you, then I don’t know what you’re doing here. FIST stars a vengeful rabbit armed with a huge mechanized fist in a metroidvania featuring an arcade-style combat system. What more do you need?
Release: 2021 (PlayStation 4)
Ghosts n’ Goblins Resurrection
Ghosts n’ Goblins released over 35 years ago, and I still have nightmares over its frustrating difficulty. Capcom is remaking the challenging platformer, which once again stars Arthur the knight in a medieval fantasy world. Thankfully they’re including multiple difficulty levels, including one with instant respawns and unlimited lives.
Release: February 25, 20221
It Takes Two
The developers behind two player co-op game A Way Out are back with another gameplay experience designed specifically for local and online two player co-op. In It Takes Two, two humans have been transformed into dolls, and must work together to escape their magical world, and learn important lessons about each other.
Release: March 26, 2021 (PC, PlayStation, Xbox)
Loop Hero
Loop Hero is a retro-inspired hack and slash RPG that uses cards and deckbuilding to build the looping world as you fight monsters, level up, and expand your territory. It’s developed by Devolver Digital, who did not disappoint when it came to announcing the game via their own personal awards show.
Release: 2021
Mass Effect
We’ve already had confirmation that BioWare was working on a new Mass Effect game, in addition to the remaster of the original trilogy (coming Spring 2021). The trailer features only the barest of teases – is that Liara finding a piece of the Normandy? We don’t yet have a subtitle, or any other information, but here’s hoping it’s a return to form.
Release: TBA
Open Roads
The next game by indie developer Fullbright (Gone Home, Tacoma) is a road trip adventure called Open Roads. Keri Russell and Kaitlyn Denver play the mother and 16-year old daughter as they embark on an adventure to uncover a family mystery.
Release: TBA
Perfect Dark
Perfect Dark is the debut game from one of the new Xbox Game Studios, The Initiative. It’s a “re-imagining of one of the best loved IPs from gaming history.” The original Perfect Dark released on Nintendo 64 in 2000 as a fun sci-fi first-person shooter starring Agent Joanna Dark. It spawned a sequel in 2005 and a remaster in 2010.
Release: TBA
Ruined King: A League of Legends Story
League of Legends is still one of the most popular competitive multiplayer games on the planet, and Riot is releasing several spin-off games to cover more genres. First came competitive shooter Valorant, and now there’s Ruined King, the first single player game set in the LoL universe. Form a party of several LoL heroes in a turn-based RPG as you explore the mystery behind the Ruined King.
Release: 2021
Season
The developers of zany Battle Royale Darwin Project announced Season, a much different, single player game about exploring and researching lost cultures. We don’t know much else about it, but it looks gorgeous, and coming exclusively to PlayStation 5.
Release: TBA (PlayStation 5)
Sephiroth DLC Fighter (Super Smash Bros. Ultimate)
If you had told 15-year old me that the villain from Final Fantasy 7 would be stabbing Mario in a Nintendo trailer, I would have been shocked and delighted. Poor Mario gets beat up in all these Super Smash Bros DLC reveals. Sephiroth is the latest fighter to join the huge roster (#78!), the third from the Second Fighter Pass, and the second fighter from Final Fantasy 7 after Cloud.
Release: December 18
Tchia
Tchia is an open world adventure set on a tropical archipleago. The titular young heroine can magically posses creatures and items a la Mario Odyssey while exploring her lush surroundings. The adventure is inspired by New Caledonia, a tiny island in the Pacific Ocean (and homeland of the game’s developers) and voiced by local talent (with subtitles).
Release: TBA
