Best trailers, announcements, and moments at The Game Awards 2022
The Game Awards 2022 was the biggest show in recent years, in terms of surprising announcements and brilliant moments. We won’t talk about the kid who gatecrashed the stage for the Elden Ring GOTY acceptance speech, but let’s recap the good moments from the two-and-a-bit-hour show.
Christopher Judge’s acceptance speech
Chris Judge deservedly took home the trophy for best performance for his role as Kratos in God of War Ragnarok, and he had a lot of people he wanted to thank. The heartfelt speech he gave was around nine minutes long, and he even carried on when the music started to come in. Honestly, we could have listened to him all day.
Hades 2
Hades developer Supergiant has never made a sequel before, but it’s not a huge surprise that this is changing for Hades, the company’s most successful game by far. In this one, we play as a new character who’s tasked with killing Chronos, the Ancient Greek personification of time.
Ken Levine’s new game
It’s been almost ten years since the launch of Ken Levine’s last game, BioShock Infinite, but we finally got a look at what he’s cooking up with new studio Ghost Story Games. The game is called Judas, and people are saying it looks like BioShock in space – or, if you’re old like us, System Shock.
Kevin Conroy as Batman in Suicide Squad
We still haven’t seen it properly in action yet, but we got another glimpse of Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League at the show. The story trailer gave us a look at a corrupted Batman, voiced by the late Kevin Conroy, the legend behind the Batman from the Arkham games, Batman: The Animated Series, and other excellent DC entertainment. The game is planned to launch on May 26, 2023.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor trailer
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was a decent game, but its direct sequel looks to step things up more than a notch. Once again you play as Cal Kestis, but now he has stubble and can dual-wield lightsabers, which is objectively cool. It looks like the game features far more open areas this time around, as expressed by the introduction of mountable creatures, and there seems to be much more enemy variety too. You won’t have to wait long either – it’s out on March 17.
Death Stranding 2 shows off an old Norman Reedus
We have no idea what’s going on in the Death Stranding 2 reveal trailer, but we’re into it. It’s got wobbly kid cheek physics, a grey-haired Norman Reedus, and the usual Hideo Kojima weirdness. Kojima never pulls the same trick twice and all the Metal Gear Solid games had different mechanics and themes, so we’re excited to find out how this sequel expands on the groundwork laid by the first game. Kojima said he went back and rewrote the entire story of Death Stranding 2 when the pandemic happened because he was tired of predicting the future.
Crime Boss: Rockay City and its all-star cast
Sitting somewhere between GTA 5 and PayDay 2, this co-op shooter is all about pulling off daring heists across a single-player campaign and co-op modes. With the tone of ‘90s crime movies, the game has an all-star cast. Not only do you play as a de-aged Michael Madsen (Reservoir Dogs) in Crime Boss: Rockay City, but you’ll also bump into Danny Trejo, Chuck Norris, Michael Rooker, Danny Glover, Kim Basinger, and Damion Poiter.
Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty and Idris Elba
Cyberpunk 2077 is back with a whole-ass expansion. Anyone who’s played The Witcher 3 knows CD Projekt Red is good at those. Taking you to an unexplored location in Night City, Phantom Liberty is described as a spy thriller and features Idris Elba (Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and some other stuff) in a key role. Keanu Reeves also returns as Johnny Silverhand.
Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon reveal
Armored Core has always been a niche game, but perhaps all of that will change now that FromSoftware is a household name. Don’t expect more Dark Souls from Armored Core 6, though – this mech game series has its own identity. It’ll probably still grind your bones to dust, but don’t worry about it, that’s just a part of its charm.
Final Fantasy 16 trailer
It’s been a while since we’ve had a new mainline Final Fantasy game, and this one looks to shake up the series in a meaningful way. Instead of focusing on a party of heroes, you’re one guy who’s out for revenge. The blood in the trailer suggests a much darker tone than other Final Fantasy games, too. Final Fantasy 16 is out for PS5 on June 22.
