After watching The Game Awards, one word kept crossing my mind. I thought about writing my blog post on the event as soon as it finished and starting with that word, but I didn’t want to be a prisoner of the moment. I wanted a few days for things to simmer. I wanted post-Geoff clarity if you will.
Now that we are a few days away, I think I feel comfortable saying what I wanted to say. Because I still feel that way.
This awards show was not just special. It was transcendent.
I’ve watched every E3 since it became a big thing. I devour every big Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo conference. I’ve never been thinking about a show multiple days later like I have been with this one.
There was one excellent trailer after another. There were multiple “Holy Shit” moments. There were musical performances that actually blew me away when I didn’t care about them at all. And there were important and emotional moments that can only come from an awards show type of setting.
The Game Awards still aren’t perfect. I still think it’s a shame that some major awards get quick throw away type of presentations. But the show was still a significant step up from 2023. I had a great time watching it, and it made me even more excited to be a gamer than I already am. If you weren’t moved by this show even a little bit, I think you may have a level of cynicism that will never allow you to find true happiness.
With that, here are my TWENTY biggest winners from the show!
Like usual for me, when it comes to new games, the winners are almost all games that managed to make me more excited for their game when I watched it. It’s rare for a trailer without gameplay to win me over (though not impossible, as you will see). As another example, I am hyped beyond belief for Slay The Spire 2, as the first was my Game of the Year in 2019, but nothing about the trailer really amped my excitement any extra for that game.
20. Splitgate 2
Despite that fact that I don’t play a lot of multiplayer games, I ended up jumping into Splitgate with a friend of mine for a week or two, and actually thought it was a pretty cool concept. I love Halo, and I love Portal, so it was a pretty logical mix for me, and I thought all of the elements blended together pretty well. But it was definitely not a game with incredible production values, and that matters in the FPS genre more than probably any other genre.
I’ve mostly forgotten about the game since then, but this trailer was a really nice reminder. This game looks significantly better than the last game, and I kind of see why they abandoned it to make this sequel now. The odds of me jumping in still aren’t super high, but this trailer made it at least a little bit more likely.
19. Untitled Project by Fumito Ueda
One of my biggest gaming blindspots is that I have never played any of the Team Ico games. That includes Shadow of the Colossus.
Because of that, this trailer didn’t hype me up as much as many. There obviously was not much shown here. But the gravitas of the developer and some other elements still had me interested here. There was something really intense about this. The music, visuals, and general design were all excellent. Without any gameplay, I suddenly felt compelled to at least try a game from Team Ico soon. That is a big win for the trailer.
18. Elden Ring: Nightreign
This trailer was wild. It basically looks like Elden Ring, but a bit faster paced in terms of mobility, and it has co-op.
And honestly, that alone is enough to get me excited. I really enjoyed Elden Ring, but I came up against a wall eventually, and I didn’t have the energy to keep going. Perhaps co-op could have helped me, but I didn’t have the energy to figure out the convoluted co-op system it has either. Just having the ability to experience this gameplay with friends easily sounds like a blast.
The trailer doesn’t even reveal that the game is actually a roguelike of sorts, which sounds fascinating. I doubted I’d ever touch anything related to Elden Ring until an inevitable sequel one day, but I’m very happy to have this to try out now.
17. Geoff Keighley
I AM A CORPORATE SHILL BABY!!!
Look, I wrote last year about how disappointed I was with The Game Awards. I am someone who truly loves the awards element of the show, and I thought it was disrespectful to the games and people who made them that no one had the chance to speak or say damn near anything for the entire show.
But I also made the case in that piece that it wasn’t good long-term business for The Game Awards either. Yes, the reveals are the star of the show, but the awards drive a lot of the conversation and hype leading up to it, too. It drives viewers and benefits winning developers with free marketing. Everyone should want the awards to remain a decent focus in the show.
Well, Geoff listened. No one was played off the stage this year while giving an acceptance speech. The awards felt like a slightly bigger deal (though there are still a few too many awards that get the sidestage treatment). He also gave people a chance to speak frankly about the games industry while admitting he had struggled in the past on how to address the layoffs that have ravaged the industry.
Then, he delivered some of the biggest game reveals in show history. One way or another, it’s tough not to appreciate the fact that he did listen and try to get better this year.
16. Balatro/The Mystery of localthunk
Balatro winning best indie has to be a big deal. While Balatro has sold incredibly well, I have to imagine that being spotlighted at such a big show has to give it yet another boost. Especially with it also getting an actual full-on Game of the Year nomination.
But I also wanted to highlight one other thing. I love that Localthunk didn’t accept his award himself, and he was still referred to as “Localthunk” during the show. I feel like that air of mystery makes the whole thing even cooler.
Also, the Balatro theme in the medley was ELECTRIC. I was happy it got nominated for Game of the Year.
15. Twenty One Pilots/The Arcane Performance
When I saw that Twenty One Pilots was going to be performing at The Game Awards, I rolled my eyes a bit. In the live watch party I was in, I even joked about how I thought they were basically Imagine Dragons now. It has been a while since I had heard anything from them, but they had gotten old pretty quick for me.
So let me tell you, I couldn’t believe how into this performance I was. All of the artists who performed were great, but Twenty One Pilots in particular absolutely blew me away. The party I was in was pretty active throughout the show. It was rare to go more than 5-10 seconds without someone saying something. But everyone went completely quiet during this performance. That told me more than just about anything. If you listen to the studio version of the song, this live performance is actually several steps above that, too. It was really impressive. I’m sorry for the slander Twenty One Pilots.
Every year, I look at the musical performances and think that they should be cut to have more time for awards… and then they seem to be consistently awesome. This year was no different.
14. Mafia: The Old Country
Mafia is another series that I’ve never been able to fully get into. I rented the first game as a teen and fell off fast. So this trailer is important for someone like me, assessing whether it’s worth trying again.
And I think this trailer did a pretty dang good job of doing so. Especially with no gameplay shown. This was an excellent narrative trailer, with great performances, music, visuals, and lots of intensity. I felt invested in this world right away. Of course, I’m going to need to see more gameplay before I know if I’ll give it a chance for real, but this was a strong start.
13. Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound
As this trailer started, I perked up immediately when I saw that the developers of Blasphemous were involved, and I did not end up disappointed.
Everything landed here. The opening cutscene is perfectly badass. The music is awesome, and my god, both the combat and platforming looked incredible. It looks so fast-paced, and like you can really string together some long attack sequences. With the track record of The Game Kitchen and the IP, I have a whole lot of faith in this game. This looks like a must play indie banger.
12. Metaphor: ReFantazio
If we had a final standings for Game of the Year, it seems pretty clear that Metaphor: ReFantazio was the runner-up for Game of the Year this year. It won Best RPG while competing with several other Game of the Year nominees. It took home Best Narrative. It shockingly even won Best Art Direction. That is a very strong performance. Especially from a turn based RPG at this show.
And I think all of that was enough to benefit the game, too. My article on why Metaphor is best on hard difficulty gets pretty consistent views because it is the top result on Google if you search about Metaphor’s difficulty. In the days since The Game Awards, that article has been getting solidly more views than it had been for weeks. It seems clear that this performance gave it a solid boost, and that is much deserved.
11. Project Century
RGG is riding high right now, so any new game from them is going to be exciting. But this new IP had me really had me intrigued.
Honestly, it looked like a Yakuza game but set in the 1910s. And I mean, I’m in for it. That’s all I need! The action looked pretty crisp, and using weapons looked fun. The setting was also really interesting, as this isn’t a super common time period that we see games in. We have a long way to go, but this looked incredibly promising.
10. The Outer Worlds 2
I don’t need to be sold on The Outer Worlds 2 at all. I enjoyed the first one quite a bit, despite its flaws. Obsidian is a really consistent and solid developer, and there’s really no reason why I wouldn’t enjoy it.
But this actually was a lot more hype than I anticipated. First off, the trailer was quite funny throughout. I thought almost every joke landed. It also showcased some combat that seemed like a nice step up from the first game. The environments also looked great, and it advertised itself as roughly 2 times bigger, which is a big deal because I did want the first game to be a bit longer and more open. This trailer moved The Outer Worlds 2 up my hype rankings several notches.
9. Sven Vincke
This was such a great speech. Vincke speaks passionately about his issues with the way many gaming executives think. It’s powerful, and has some funny moments too.
The best part is that it comes from a position of authority, as Vincke has clearly been able to be incredibly successful while actually treating employees well. I wonder if that will make some executives at least think about his speech a little bit more than they might if it was Geoff Keighley or any other rando giving the speech.
Admittedly, the answer to that is “probably not,” but it was still a nice way for the show to address these tough issues.
8. Onimusha: Way of the Sword
This was one of the two games that had me saying, “WHOA!” in terms of being the return of a major franchise that I didn’t expect. This was a short trailer that didn’t show much gameplay, but god damn was it badass. This was gruesome in all the best ways and looked super intense. It’s a ways off, but this looked like it will be an absolute banger when it releases in 2026.
7. Split Fiction
One of the most exciting elements of this gaming blog for me is that I suddenly have a lot of people to play co-op games with. I really wanted to play It Takes Two back in 2021, but I just couldn’t find anyone interested in playing it with me.
The next game from Hazelight Studios, Split Fiction, looks like it might even be another level over that game. I love the way the game switches between science fiction and fantasy. It seems like there is a ton of variety to the levels between the genre switches and just having new gimmicks and mechanics in each level. I saw a nice mix of platforming, action, and just weird stuff (in the best way). Announcing a release date only a few months away was also awesome. I am VERY hyped for this one. And if you are reading this, maybe we should play it together!
6. Amir Satvat
Look, Amir Satvat should probably be higher on this list. But man, some really good shit happened after this. I have to be real.
Either way, this was such a great moment. I love that Amir came at this problem in a way that actually made an impact in people’s lives. His speech just felt so genuine and moving. I loved how he teared up while talking about his parents. This was awesome stuff
Amir has been attacked by a few sources for being a corporate employee at Tencent. They use this to essentially accuse him of being in part responsible for eventual layoffs. That just feels ridiculous and way too cynical for me. He seems to pretty clearly not be the one making any decisions like that. And if he wasn’t in that role, someone else would be. It’s not some evil job like a tobacco executive or something. He’s a business development director at a video game company. And he clearly loves both video games and the people who work on them. I’m happy a guy like him who cares about people is in any role of leadership in any big company. And I’m happy he got to have this moment.
5. Astro Bot
Look, it won Game of the Year. That is pretty cool. It didn’t dominate as much as I even expected it to. I really thought it would win Best Sound Design. But this is a game that seemed to have sold well, but not at the level you would hope for a game of its caliber. Winning Game of the Year might give that game and franchise a much needed boost that will continue to push them forward for many years into the future.
4. Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet
Here it is! The new Naughty Dog game. Of course, the usual grifters and simpletons came after this one because the lead woman is bald, but whatever. The people who care about that don’t actually care about the medium in any serious way.
The atmosphere and music were so cool here. I loved the mix of 1980s and 1990s elements mixed with in with the standard science fiction stuff. I felt very interested in the lead character, as well as where the plot was going.
It wasn’t perfect, though. I think maybe one element of product placement can be neat, but when it was caked all over the trailer, it becomes too much and a bit immersion breaking. The lack of gameplay was also a bummer. But at the very least, I am excited for what is to come here. Of course, part of that is because Naughty Dog has such a tremendous track record, but even taking them out of the equation, I still thought this was pretty cool. I will be very fascinated to see more.
3. Dispatch
Dispatch was surrounded by huge announcements, so it got a bit overshadowed during the show. But in terms of new IPs, this may have been the biggest winner of the show for me.
This is essentially a new Telltale game. But it also looked like a really fun evolution on that formula. There appear to be some sim/strategy elements to go with the standard dialogue choices, and it looked like a neat concept. They have an excellent cast, and the art style really stood out, too. The trailer showcased some plot hooks that I found genuinely interesting as well. This looks like a Telltale game, mixed with My Hero Academia and a 911 operator simulator as well. It was new, different, and cool. I loved what I saw here, and I felt totally sold on it.
2. The Witcher 4
I said at the top that it’s almost impossible for a pure cinematic trailer to make it as a winner for me. This is the kind of trailer that is the exception.
What I loved about this trailer is it told a full story in about 6 minutes. Those 6 minutes had me much more invested in the world, and Ciri as the main character.
While I enjoyed The Witcher 3, I never liked it enough to complete it. This trailer had me thinking it’s time to try and play it again. That is very high praise. While I’d much rather CD Projekt Red stick with the Cyberpunk franchise, I now find myself feeling legitimately excited for The Witcher 4. That is a massive win, especially for a cinematic trailer.
1. Okami 2
Usually, in these shows, when a quick trailer arrives that shows a game exists and nothing else, I’m not all that interested. I want to see gameplay or something that gets me excited. Even if it’s a franchise that I like.
But man, this was different. This is a sequel being announced to a classic from 2006. This was a game so unlikely to occur, that you don’t even see people dreaming about an Okami 2. No one dared to even think about it. Seeing it announced was one of the most stunning things I have ever seen at a video game conference. It’s likely a ways away, and obviously we didn’t see much here, but this is the rare exception where I’ll say a trailer merely showing that a game exists is enough for it to be the big winner of the show.
Big Nerd Gaming 
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