Five Things We Cant Wait to See at The Game Awards
The Game Awards are quickly approaching. Over the last five years, the show has emerged as one of the biggest gaming events of the year. It has grown from a simple awards ceremony to a heavily anticipated presentation of new titles, gameplay footage, performances, and, yes, awards. Here are the top five things we're looking forward to this year.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Gameplay
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was one of the nicest surprises of 2019. After a string of mediocre Star Wars games throughout the 2010s, along comes a Dark Souls-esque entry focused on the darkest period of the Empire's rule. Cal Kestis ended up being a simple but likable protagonist and the supporting cast was strong. The villainous Second Sister was as tragic as she was interesting, and the game was all around a ton of fun.
We now know we're going to be getting some gameplay for the follow up Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and we could not be more excited. We're hoping to get an idea of what is happening in the wake of Cal's thrilling escape at the end of the first game. It should be interesting to see how they grow and adapt the combat system, but hopefully, they don't step too far away from what worked in the first game.
Does God of War: Ragnarok Win GOTY?
It is the Game Awards, we have to be excited about at least one of them. In 2018, God of War stormed onto the scene and resurrected a franchise that had been dormant since 2013's God of War: Ascension. No one could have expected it to be as good as it was.
While God of War had always been popular, it had always been simple. A fun excuse to fight and maim giant mythological figures and not really think twice about it. 2018's God of War introduced us to a more complex Kratos, navigating a dark past while trying to provide a better future for his son, Atreus.
It won Game of the Year in a landslide and set up the sequel, Ragnarok, to do the same. While Ragnarok wasn't quite as good as the original, in my opinion, it was still a great follow up and closed out the story really well.
Square Enix's Special Presentation With Naoki Yoshida
It's no surprise that Square Enix is looking to have a presence at this year's Game Awards. With Final Fantasy XVI slated for release next year, they'll be looking for any opportunity to market they can find. And indeed, with Naoki Yoshida set to present, we can probably expect our best look yet at the latest installment in the beloved franchise.
Fresh off the success of Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers, Yoshida was tapped to helm FFXVI. And unsurprisingly, it looks beautiful. The only other thing this presentation might be touching on is the future of FFXIV, but that's a long shot.
Surprise Announcements
The Game Awards are always good for a few shock announcements that no one was expecting. While many companies are already putting out warnings that they aren't going to be making any announcements, there will definitely be a few that will catch us off guard. If you're worried about spoilers, be careful about leaks on social media over the next few days!
Esports Awards
And, of course, we have to talk about the contenders for the various esports categories this year. I would expect the League of Legends World Championships to cruise to Esports Event of the Year, but everything else feels like a toss up to me. Will Riot sweep esports event and best esport?
From a team perspective, it's even tougher to divine the tea leaves. Yay certainly would be deserving of Esports Athlete of the year, but I wouldn't be upset about Chovy or S1mple winning it. As for the best team, there's no wrong answer as far as I'm concerned.
The good news is we'll only have to wait a little while longer to find out! Check out The Game Awards tonight on Twitch and Youtube.
