The 2023 iteration of Geoff Keighley’s The Game Awards has come and gone. This year was one of the strongest years ever in the video game space and all the contenders duked it out for the awards. On the flip side, The Game Awards is also known for showcasing a plethora of new and upcoming games. This year didn’t disappoint on that end either, and today we’re looking at our Top 10 reveals from this year’s show.
10. Light No Fire
Starting off our list is Light No Fire; the next game from No Man’s Sky developer Hello Games. You can definitely see the inspiration the game takes from its predecessor with online multiplayer, and, unlike No Man’s Sky, a singular procedural generated Earth for players to explore. The game looks gorgeous with some incredible detail. Then, the trailer shows a wide variety of things for players to experience from exploring underwater areas, to constructing different buildings, and even hopping on the back of a dragon-like creature and taking flight to see the whole world beneath the player. Unfortunately, there’s release date for Light No Fire yet, so we’ll have to wait to see when Hello Games is able to bring it to fruition.
9. Black Myth: Wukong
We’ve seen Game Science’s upcoming, Journey to the West inspired, debut game Black Myth: Wukong a few times over the past few years. People have been excited for it since its first unveiling, and, each time we see it, the game looks better and better. This trailer was no disappointment as we saw a ton more of the new soulslike game. It’s still as gorgeous as ever. Aside from the look of the game, the trailer highlighted hints at the story as well as showing some crazy boss fights like one against a giant spider. There are even some kaiju level monsters populating the world that Sun Wukong will encounter as he ventures West. The biggest takeaway from the trailer is that the game finally has a release date as it’s headed to consoles and PC next year on August 20.
8. Visions of Mana
One of Square Enix’s oldest franchises is getting its first new installment in almost a decade! Visions of Mana was officially reveal during The Game Awards, and it looks really good. The art style is similar to Dragon Quest, but is a bit more cartoony and adorable. That’s not a bad thing at all as it differentiates itself from most anime and realistic looking RPGs that release nowadays. The trailer showed a few characters and some adorable looking monsters that you’ll fight including some weird bunny/mouse things and some cute mushrooms with faces. Even the bosses look less threatening and unique even if we’ve seen them appear in many other games. Hopefully the story will be as delightful as the aesthetic is, however, with RPGs, you never know. Visions of Mana is set to release at some point next year.
7. Lost Records: Bloom & Rage
Don’t Nod has been on a tizzy since they first hit it big in 2015 with Life is Strange by developing a wide assortment of games in a variety of genres since then. They just released a game a few months ago and even have another game on the horizon for early next year. However, that didn’t stop the studio from announcing their next game in Lost Records: Bloom & Rage. This will be their first Life is Strange style game in years though it is set in its own universe and not connected to their old franchise which is being handled quite well by Deck Nine. There is a twist to their usual formula as this game doesn’t look to be split into episodes as well as featuring a story told during two different eras of the mid-1990s and the modern day lives of the characters. We don’t have to wait too long for this as Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is set to release late next year.
6. Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
First revealed back at The Game Awards 2019 alongside Microsoft’s unveiling of the Xbox Series X, we got another look, in a long line of looks, at Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II. The game still looks completely stunning from a visual standpoint as it always has. However, the biggest thing we saw was a good look at gameplay for the first time in years. Hellblade II looks to feature a lot more combat than the first game, and combat looks so much more intense than it did in the first game. There even looks to be a good variety in enemy types as well that Senua will encounter. The trailer also showed a glimpse at another character that we don’t know. Maybe Senua’s lost lover in a flashback or a completely new character? Only time will tell. Unfortunately, after all this time, there’s still no release date for the game aside from the already known nebulous 2024 window.
5. SEGA Bringing Back the Classics
Next up is something a little bit different. Unlike a usual reveal trailer, SEGA took to The Game Awards to announce a whole slate of upcoming games. The publisher announced not one, two, three, or four, but FIVE new games! Not only are they new games, but they are new games in classic SEGA franchises. These five new games are new entries in the Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Shinobi, Golden Axe, and Streets of Rage franchises. We only saw small glimpses of each new title in the montage trailer, but each had its own moment to shine in the trailer. SEGA didn’t give any sort of date for the five titles with only stating the games are currently in development. They also teased more games are in development as well, thus we may get even more classic SEGA games returning down the line.
4. God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla
Many recent rumors indicated that one of last year’s biggest games, God of War Ragnarok, would be getting DLC. That DLC was finally announced during The Game Awards on Thursday. Titled Valhalla, sees Kratos and Mimir wash up on the shores of Vahalla following the events of the main game. This new area, which can be accessed at any time outside the game, follows Kratos as he battles through trails and face many enemies from his past. The mode will be a roguelike which will change the world and enemies each time you die. There looks to even callbacks and enemies to the Greece era games in the franchise. Fans won’t have to wait long as God of War Ragnarok’s Vahalla DLC releases next week on December 12. Best of all, it will be free to anyone who already owns the game!
3. Marvel’s Blade
With the huge success of superhero games like Spider-Man coming from Sony, Microsoft finally has its Marvel game! This was probably the biggest surprise of the evening. Coming from Arkane Lyon, the developers of hits like Deathloop and Dishonored, Marvel’s Blade will see the titular Daywalker take on the hordes of vampire. Not much was shown of the game as we just got a short cinematic trailer revealing Blade getting a shave before having to get to what he does best. The game has apparently just started development, so it may be a long while before we see it. However, if it’s anything like Arkane Lyon’s other games, then Marvel’s Blade is sure to take players on an action-packed journey whenever it does finally release.
2. Monster Hunter Wilds
The last reveal of the night was one we were all expecting to see. The next entry in Capcom’s long running Monster Hunter franchise was unveiled to its ravenous fanbase. Titled Monster Hunter Wilds, the game looks like its an evolution of what Monster Hunter World brought to the franchise when the series returned to home consoles in 2017. We didn’t see much in the trailer, but we did get to see a short snip of gameplay with the player character running through herds of monsters in a desert along with battles between different monsters. The big addition that many fans will like is the return of mounts that were featured in Monster Hunter Rise. This one though looks to be capable of more as there’s a short scene of the mount gliding through the air. We’re still a ways away from the release of Monster Hunter Wilds though as the game isn’t set to release until some time in 2025.
1. OD
There’s one name synonymous with Geoff Keighley aside from The Game Awards themselves. That name is Hideo Kojima. Kojima has been at almost all of the previous events for one reason or another. Last year, he announced Death Stranding 2 which many thought we may see again when his name appeared on screen. However, instead, Kojima unveiled a first look at his new project that he is working on with Microsoft. Currently titled OD, it is Kojima’s first horror project since the massive acclaim that PT received in 2014 before the cancellation of Silent Hills which he was working prior to his departure from Konami. We didn’t see any actual gameplay of OD in the trailer just close ups of actors Sophia Lillis, Hunter Schafer, and Udo Kier appearing on screen and speaking classic rhymes. The big thing about this is that Kojima is collaborating with famed horror director Jordan Peele on this game as well as currently unknown other collaborators. Thus, OD is sure to be full of unimaginable scares that we aren’t prepared for yet.