The Game Awards 2021: all the news and trailers

It’s that time of the year: The Game Awards, a three hour-long event where the awards take backstage to trailers and reveals. This year’s show was a busy one, with news covering everything from Star Wars and The Expanse to Halo and Among Us. We even got a new Alan Wake. Also, Sting was there.

If you weren’t able to catch the show live, here are all the biggest announcements you missed.

Explore the Matrix in Unreal Engine

Epic’s latest demo for Unreal Engine 5 isn’t just a pretty cinematic, but rather an interactive feature you can download for free right now on a PlayStation 5. Even better, it’s a chance to explore the cyberpunk world of The Matrix ahead of the fourth movie’s release later this month — which we just so happened to get a fresh look at tonight, as well. For even more, be sure to check out our interview with Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss.

Alan Wake 2 moves the series into survival horror

One of the biggest surprises was that Alan Wake is getting a sequel. We don’t know much about it, but creative director Sam Lake says the series will be moving in a survival horror direction.

Silent Hill creator returns with Slitterhead

Bokeh Game Studio, a team led by Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, teased an extremely creepy new game with the equally creepy title Slitterhead. It’s so creepy I can’t embed the trailer — check it out here.

Elden Ring still looks incredible

We’ve already seen plenty of Elden Ring — and even played a little bit of it — but that doesn’t mean we don’t want to keep watching trailers. The latest is more focused on story than gameplay, and makes the wait for the game’s February launch that much harder.

A proper look at the Suicide Squad game

It’s been a long time since Rocksteady — the studio best-known for the Arkham series of Batman games — revealed that it was working on a Suicide Squad title, but we got a fresh look at Kill the Justice League thanks to a new trailer. The game is expected to launch in 2022, making it Rocksteady’s first new game in nearly seven years.

Wonder Woman is getting her own game

In other DC news, Monolith Productions — the team behind Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor — is making a Wonder Woman game. It’ll be a third-person action game with that will make use of Mordor’s famed “nemesis system.” No word yet on release date or platforms.

Final Fantasy VII Remake is finally coming to PC

The formerly PlayStation-exclusive remake of classic Final Fantasy VII is now coming to PCs — and it’s coming soon. The port will be out on December 16th, and it’ll be the enhanced Intergrade version that previously graced the PS5.

Quantic Dream is making a Star Wars game

Quantic Dream, the studio behind the, let’s say, questionable game Detroit: Become Human, is now making a title based in the Star Wars universe. It’s called Eclipse, is set during the High Republic era, and is described as “an intricately branching action-adventure game that can be experienced in many ways, and puts the destinies of multiple playable characters in your hands.” No word on a release window or platforms yet.

A new trailer for the live-action Halo series

While everyone is hooked on Halo Infinite, there’s another big addition to the Halo universe coming as well. At the Game Awards we got our first real look at the live-action Halo TV show that’s coming to Paramount Plus early next year.

Among Us is coming to VR

You can already play social deduction hit Among Us on a big range of platforms, but its next release offers something different: virtual reality. The new version is being developed by VR studio Schell Games (I Expect You to Die) and will shift the experience from a cute 2D game to a first-person, 3D experience. No word on a release date, but it’s coming to Meta Quest, PlayStation VR, and Steam VR headsets.

Google Play games are coming to PC

In a surprise announcement, Google teased a new tool that will make it possible to play Android games from Google Play on a PC. We don’t have many details yet, but it’s expected to be available in 2022.

A double dose of Sonic

In addition to the surprise reveal of a new “open zone” game called Sonic Frontiers, the latest attempt to make a good 3D Sonic The Hedgehog, we also got a glimpse at the sequel to the live-action Sonic movie from 2020 — including the first look (and listen) of Idris Elba as Knuckles.

Dune: Spice Wars is an RTS spinoff

The world of Dune is set to expand with Spice Wars, a real-time strategy game from developer Shiro Games that’s slated to launch in early access on PC in 2022.

A long, uncomfortable trailer for Hellblade 2

The sequel to Hellblade — a terrifying game about madness — looks bigger in just about every way, from the world you’ll be running through to the creepy monsters you’ll take on. In short, it looks terrifying, but you can get a good feel for the experience with this lengthy new trailer.

Cuphead’s expansion makes a fresh appearance

It’s been a long time since we’ve heard from Studio MDHR about The Delicious Last Course, a big expansion coming to run-and-gun platformer Cuphead. Now we not only have a fresh look, but a release date: the DLC will be available on June 30th, 2022 on all platforms that Cuphead is on.

Another chill League of Legends album

This summer Riot released an extremely chill album full of copyright-free music designed specifically for streamers. Now it’s released its second, based on League character Diana, which features 43 tracks composed by 25 different artists. It’s available to stream now on services like Spotify and Apple Music.

PUBG is now free-to-play

Years after its initial release, the genre-defining battle royale PUBG is finally going free to play. The change puts the game on even footing with contemporaries like Fortnite and Apex Legends (along with the mobile spinoffs PUBG Mobile and PUBG: New State) and should go a long way towards keeping the game’s competitive scene alive for the next few years.

Star Trek gets a Telltale-style adventure

Dramatic Labs, a new studio made up of veterans from ill-fated adventure game developer Telltale, is using that same choose-your-own-adventure format for an upcoming Star trek game. It’s called Resurgence, and the studio says it tells an all-new story set not long after the events of The Next Generation. It’s due to launch next spring on Xbox, PlayStation, and the Epic Games Store.

…and Telltale is making an Expanse game

Meanwhile, the revived version of Telltale is also working on a sci-fi title, with a new series based on The Expanse. It’s billed as a prequel to the Amazon Prime series, and is being co-developed by Life is Strange studio Deck Nine.

Thirsty Suitors has strong Scott Pilgrim vibes

The latest release from Falcon Age developer Outerloop Games is called Thirsty Suitors, and it’s described as “a narrative action-adventure game that grapples with themes of complex family dynamics, navigating difficult relationships, and discovering one’s true self.” It also has some strong Scott Pilgrim vibes with fights against exes, along with some Tony Hawk-style skateboarding. The Annapurna-published game is listed as “coming soon” for PC.

Release dates for Tunic, CrossfireX, and Lost Ark

Nestled amongst all of the trailers and reveals were a few newly announced release dates. The adorable Zelda-like Tunic is coming out on March 16th for the Xbox and PC — and we also got a charming new trailer to go along with the date. CrossfireX, the upcoming Xbox shooter that’s a collaboration between Smilegate and Remedy, will debut on February 8th. (While Smilegate developed the multiplayer portion, Remedy handled the single-player campaign.) Meanwhile, Lost Ark, an MMO published by Amazon, will be available on February 11th on Steam.