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This was the 10th anniversary of TGA, and it probably was one of the best in terms of games, awards, and speakers. In terms of the presenters and what Geoff spoke about, I think Geoff learned his lesson from the 2023 show where there was many issues. Last year, he glossed over many different issues that was plaguing the games industry and barely mentioned them. He also cut off developers from their speeches including the GOTY speech from Baldur’s Gate 3 developers. Gamers saw the “Wrap It Up” sign that was shown on the teleprompter as it was all over the internet. This year, he didn’t cut off anyone talking about either their projects, speeches, or other aspects in the games industry. Geoff mocked himself a couple of times in the show about what has happened in the past and the Muppets that were located at the show mocked him a few times as well. Things like a sellout comment from the Muppets or wrap it up moment came up and I thought that was terrific that he can learn from that criticism and figure out a way to improve overtime.
Geoff even did something that I was actually shocked about. He mentioned the difficulties that have been plaguing the industry all year. He mentioned multiple layoffs and the turmoil in the games world; however, he also didn’t actually mention any company specifically or mention the reasons for them happening (AI, Corporate Greed, etc.). Also, he did not cut anyone off from the microphone from speaking about it, including a brand new award that was given out this year that blew me away.
TGA Game Changer award that was given was awarded to Amir Satvat, someone who spent a large amount of time working with developers to help them find new jobs in the industry if they lost theirs. He also connected with many developers that worked with others in coaching others for free to find new spots. He is so real about this situation that you can see it in his emotion and expressions when it was being talked about. I absolutely respect Geoff for letting the talk go on for as long as was needed! Gamers have to actually remember that game developers are real people with real lives that are affected when layoffs or closures occur and its hard to see teams or individuals have issues. Watch it below if you haven’t seen it as this was a strong highlight of the show for me, as someone who loves games in general!
In terms of the awards given for games specifically, there were many things that I never expected to win certain categories and I was blown away with what actually won in certain areas. I am glad that a certain DLC didn’t win GOTY because I feel like that was not fair for it to be nominated when other games in years past have had massive and terrific DLCs and them be completely skipped over. I will say for a suggestion, I wish there was a specific DLC category for The Game Awards as that would be nice in my book compared to competing with full games. I will say that everyone’s favorite GOTY, favorite RPG, favorite music, and every other category is different than a group consensus. My GOTY is different than Astro Bot which won last night, but I will say Astro Bot is absolutely in my top 5 games from the year.
In terms of the games that were revealed, man he packed a lot into this show. Sometimes, there are many games I don’t really like that he showcases, but this time I counted a bunch of games that I really want to buy and play on day 1 just from what was already shown. There were my favorite top 10 games that were at the show, and there were a few more beyond this I am interested in for sure.
In the pre-show, there were a few cool new titles that were revealed that didn’t make it into the main show. One of these was a new game from Dotemu, The Game Kitchen, and in collaboration with Koei Tecmo. It was revealed that Ninja Gaiden Ragebound is coming out and looks to be another great release from the Dotemu publishing label. They were the ones that published TMNT Shredders Revenge, Streets of Rage 4, Metal Slug Tactics, and much more! They have had a bunch of great games that I have played/are on my to be played list! The game comes out in Summer of 2025 for PC, Nintendo Switch, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
Pac-Man was teased to be at the show in some way, but I never expected what was there. I definitely need this game now very badly! Shadow Labyrinth from Bandai Namco is a brand new game in the Pac-Man universe… but in an entirely different gameplay structure. This appears to be a metroidvania platformer where you use Pac-Man in a darker way by bending powers to your whim, and honestly that alone gets me excited to play it! Playing as Pac-Man in its regular form with Pac-Dots was only shown briefly, but my guess is its a way to regain power to use abilities in the human form to survive and defeat enemies. It will be launching sometime in 2025 for Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. I hope that it is sooner rather than later in the year.
This one is still an untitled game from GenDesign and published by Epic Games. The creator of the game, Fumito Ueda, is the person who created ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, and The Last Guardian at Japan Studio with Sony Interactive Entertainment. We didn’t really see a lot of gameplay from the little teaser trailer they showcased, and they also gave no information about release plans like year or platforms, but nevertheless I am excited to see it. Now, this title gives me even more reason to finish The Last Guardian in 2025.
F*** the Oscars is still terrific quote that stays in the head for people watched a previous Game Awards show. This year Josef Fares came back and did swear a bit on stage before he talked about Hazelight’s next adventure that is once again a co-op only experience, Split Fiction. A Way Out and It Takes Two are other games from this team, and this one looks even better than It Takes Two which already won the Game of the Year award back in 2021. I am just letting the trailer speak for itself here, but thankfully we don’t have to wait too long as it launches on March 6th, 2025 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC!
RGG Studio has been a development team that has made a lot of titles in the Yakuza franchise, and they had two reveals at the show this year. One of them was Project Century which at first looked like a new game in the Yakuza franchise, but I think it could also be a new franchise with a slightly different formula. Yakuza is a franchise I am going to be finally diving into during 2025, but I have seen many people gush over the IP. There were no date or platforms for the game, but it looks good so far so I am excited to see more about it.
One of the absolute surprises is when I saw the Universal Studios logo, I thought oh this is going to be a Jurassic Park or another sim based game in that universe. Well, I was completely wrong and it was actually the reveal for Turok Origins, from Saber Interactive. This is a third person game where you are hopefully doing a lot of dinosaur wrangling and hunting while playing with friends in this solo and co-op shooter! I never played original Turok games because they were first person, but I am excited to play this as it is not FPS! It is coming to PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X/S in the future… 2025? 2026? I hope it’s not too far away.
Capcom came out with multiple reveals last night, and the first one was a brand new game in a somewhat dormant IP. Onimusha: Way of the Sword was revealed to come out in 2026 for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC and it looks absolutely stunning! We got some gameplay mixed with in game cinematics and it looks like it is going to be more intensive close combat fighting with some tough battles to come. I think that Capcom has been on a massive comeback streak for a while, and this is a game already on my wishlist for 2026!
Sega loves to tease different games and hype up different trailers all the time. I love that Sega is working with Sonic and Shadow so much this year from the Sonic X Shadow Generations game, to the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 movie coming soon. There was one more thing for Sonic from this year that was revealed to us last night. Sonic Racing Cross Worlds was revealed with a car and character model for Shadow the Hedgehog going through a portal. It is a new sonic racing game and hopefully they go back to the Sonic and Sega racing formula as I didn’t really like the Team Sonic Racing formula that they attempted before. The game is coming out in 2025 to PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
Like I said earlier, Capcom had multiple reveals for this show… and the second one is even bigger than that of Onimusha for many people. Capcom is working to bring back another IP that has been dormant for a while, with the original director Hideki Kamiya at the helm of the project. The Okami Sequel is currently in production at his new studio Clovers Inc, where they did warn it might be a while before it comes back to light. There was no date or platforms announced for it. I played Okami on Switch and beat the boss that I thought was the ending but learned not too long ago that it wasn’t the actual ending. So, I am going to replay the game soon to fully beat it, but from everything I have played before I loved it a lot and I am already super excited for this sequel game that is cooking now!
The final game that I absolutely loved in the show was a surprise from Sony and Naughty Dog. Unfortunately, up until now, Naughty Dog has literally only done ports and remasters for the PS5 (basically all of which I considered mostly useless…), but they finally showed an announcement trailer for the game they have been working on. Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is a new IP from Neil Druckmann and the team at Naughty Dog and there isn’t much known besides the fact you play as a bounty hunter and is a third person game. It is coming to PS5, but we have no more information such as release year, but hopefully it isn’t more than a year or two out from release.
Sometimes, Geoff doesn’t do everything right in his different shows. However, in this year’s game awards, he definitely has changed his ways a bit and definitely responded to the criticism from years past. He still has a bit more to go for different things, but he is clearly on the correct and right path to restore trust with developers, fans, and everyone else in the games industry. He let people talk about different issues and struggles that are happening in 2024, and while he didn’t dive into it completely, he did allow others to talk about it without a time crunch or constrains. I am excited to see what the future shows for games and more throughout the overall industry of entertainment with gaming adaptations, and the ecosystem around something a lot of us love!
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