Black Friday is over and the Christmas holiday season is just about to begin. It’s just about that time of year when the glitterati of the gaming industry dust off their going out hoodies for The Game Awards.
Not only are the studios competing for the coveted Game of the Year award, amongst the many other illustrious accolades being given out. The developers have also been using The Game Awards as a platform to showcase some of their latest trailers and make some big ass announcements. Here’s everything you may have missed if you weren’t able to catch the show live.
Epic Launches Its Steam Competitor
Epic Games‘ digital storefront for PC and Mac games is now live. It launched at this year’s Game Awards with a slate of high-profile indie titles, including Annapurna Interactive and A44’s Ashen, old hits like Super Meat Boy, and newer titles like Darksiders 3. Is this going to be a Steam killer? Well, the 88% revenue that Epic is awarding to the devs might make it a more favourable platform for the industry.
Supergiant Games’ Unleashes Hades
Creator of the classic indie game Bastion, Transistor and more recently Pyre. Supergiant Games have announced their latest game Hades, and it looks like you’ll be fighting your way through the underworld in Transistor style. The game is available now in early access from Epic’s game store for USD$19.99.
Far Cry: New Dawn Will Be A Post-Apocalyptic Sequel
Set 17 years after the nuclear ending of Far Cry 5, in which villain Joseph Seed sets off a nuclear bomb. New Dawn looks to feature a drastic change in tone and style. The world of Hope County has changed a whole lot since Far Cry 5, with the kind of improvised weapons, colourful spray paint, and scavenged gear that brings to mind the lighthearted tone of games like the upcoming Rage 2 more than the dour world of the previous game.
The good news is the game is coming soon — be it comes out on February 15th for $39.99 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Far Cry: New Dawn is available for pre-orde on the PlayStation Store in Malaysia for RM 159 / Singapore for SGD 53 for digital and Malaysia for RM 189 / Singapore for SGD 64 for deluxe.
Ashen
Ashen has been more than four years in the making, having first been announced as an Xbox console exclusive back in 2014. The fantasy adventure game, which looks to be inspired by Dark Souls and Team Ico classics, is from developer A45 and published by Annapurna’s game development arm. Here’s how A45 describes it:
Ashen is a co-op adventure game about a wanderer in search of a place to call home. At its core, Ashen is about forging relationships, as players may cross paths with one another and choose to guide those they trust to their camp, encouraging them to rest at the fire and perhaps remain. There is no sun and the natural light that exists comes from eruptions that cover the land in ash. This is a world where nothing lasts, no matter how tightly one clings to it.
It’s out now with a surprise launch on both the Xbox One and Epic’s new game store.
No Man’s Campfire
While No Man’s Sky continues to grow, developer Hello Games is announcing its next project, and it’s something very different. Called The Last Campfire, the game is a beautiful, and much smaller experience compared to the sprawling No Man’s Sky. “We call it a Hello Games Short,” says Sean Murray. “Like Pixar shorts, it’s a way to foster creativity and new voices in the studio.” I gotta say I’m digging that soundtrack.
The Last Campfire is an adventure, a story of a lost Ember trapped in a puzzling place, searching for meaning and a way home. Together you will discover a beautiful wilderness filled with lost folk, strange creatures, and mysterious ruins. There’s no release date for the game, nor do we know what platforms it’ll be on. (That said, The Last Campfire does have a Steam page.)
Journey Is Now On PC
If you haven’t played Journey before you, first of all, are missing a piece of your video game soul so go ahead and download it on PC. Thatgamecompany’s Journey is an indie classic, back when it released on PlayStation 3 in 2012. The game’s mystic narrative, stunning visuals, and an ingenious multiplayer element that paired players with silent, anonymous strangers over the internet made it a truly transcendent experience gaming hadn’t seen before. Prior to today, it’s been a PlayStation exclusive, having only been ported to the PlayStation 4 in the years since. Now, it’s going to be available on PC for the very first time through Epic’s new store sometime next year.
The Outer Worlds By Obsidian Entertainment
https://youtu.be/MGLTgt0EEqc
The RPG legends at Obsidian Entertainment have a new game coming out called The Outer Worlds featuring intergalactic travel and all manner of sci-fi technology. The trailer showed off intergalactic travel, numerous planets, and sci-fi technology. A brief introduction to weapons and characters players will encounter also appear.
Having become a major force in the genre through Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, Fallout: New Vegas, and Pillars of Eternity, Obsidian has been a carrier of the traditional RPG flame for years now. Now, it looks like The Outer Worlds will be all-new territory for the studio.
EA Teases Dragon Age 4
It’s been over four years since the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition, the most recent instalment of BioWare’s fantasy RPG series, and at The Game Awards, the company finally announced the next entry — albeit with an extremely vague teaser that didn’t even provide a title.
Sayonara Wild Hearts Has Been Announced For The Switch
It’s been years since we’ve had a new game from Simogo, the small Swedish studio behind offbeat hits like Device 6 and The Sailor’s Dream. But at the Game Awards, the team announced its long-awaited next project: Sayonara Wild Hearts, and it looks completely different than anything the studio has done before. It’s described as “a euphoric music video dream about being awesome, riding motorcycles, skateboarding, dance battling, shooting lasers, wielding swords, and breaking hearts at 200mph.”
It clearly has a heavy musical focus — as you can see in the trailer above — and an absolutely wild sense of style, like an interactive music video. It’s also not explicitly a mobile game like most Simogo titles, but instead will be launching on the Nintendo Switch and “other platforms” sometime next year. We don’t know much else right now.
Mortal Kombat 11
There’s a new Mortal Kombat on the way, and it looks just as gruesome as ever. Unfortunately that’s about all we know about Mortal Kombat 11, which was revealed on-stage at the awards show. But it shouldn’t be long before we find out: the game is launching on April 23rd, with a proper reveal event on January 17th.
Joker From Persona 5 Enters The Ring
Nintendo revealed the first downloadable character for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and it’s a huge surprise: Joker from Persona 5. The game isn’t even available on a Nintendo platform, but that said, the slick and stylish Joker does seem like a fun addition to the lineup. At least he’ll come with some great music.
There’s no word yet as to when the DLC will be out, but we do know that along with Joker as a playable character, the DLC pack will also include a new, Persona-themed stage and a collection of new music from Persona. Each Smash Bros. ultimate DLC pack will cost $5.99 separately, with Nintendo also offering a bundled “Fighter’s Pack” for $24.99.
