The Video Game awards 2021 aired on Thursday night in the US. Here in Europe, it was Friday morning. Early. Over the years The Game Awards has gained increased hype from gamers due to being used by creators to announce new games or release gameplay reveals. This year, there were more than ever. And plenty of ‘wow‘ moments too… Although, keep in mind the show was nearly 4 hours long, so it did lull at times to say the least. With all the news from The Game Awards, I just want to focus on 5 things that I saw that made me think ‘wow’. Not all of them were video game reveals or gameplay, and not all of them good. Some are hot takes, so get your glasses of milk ready.
Star Wars: Eclipse
Anyway, into the list of topics. I can’t get away without mentioning the Star Wars game. That’s right! After announcing earlier in the year that they were working on an open world Star Wars Game, independent studio Quantic Dreams and Lucas Film teased their upcoming game Star Wars: Eclipse. As yet, not much is known about this game other than what is in the trailer below. One thing we do know is, Quantic Dreams’ pedigree in story driven RPGs. Based on that fact, it seems like they should be a good fit for a Star Wars game?
Breaking down this trailer to try and speculate… Star Wars: Eclipse is set in the time of The High Republic, before the events of The Phantom Menace. First thing I’ll mention is, The Eclipse was the name of Emperor Palpatine’s ship in the original trilogy, so it will be interesting to see if there is any ‘forceshadowing’ there. We see Yoda inside the Jedi council chambers, so it is probably safe to assume that Yoda will appear as an NPC. There were indications of some villains from the prequel era, such as the Trade Federation. There was an group in there that looked like The Pyke Syndicate too, so could be an early iteration of them with control over certain systems… Lastly, we see a Jedi with a white lightsabre. These have previously been known to be used by Jedi Temple guards, so it could be interesting to see if they come into it or you can somehow choose your Jedi path. At the very least I expect lightsabre customisation. I’m sure there will be a lot more speculation about this game between now and release, which will probably be a while from now as it was announced to be in ‘early development’. There was no indication of platform exclusivity that I saw, but that could change.
Starfield vs Elden Ring
My next wow moment may shock some. It is around the decision made when judging the most anticipated game of 2022. I really expected Starfield to pick this one up. Don’t get me wrong, it was a strong line-up but I thought it was still a bit of a no brainer. Elden Ring looks great. FromSoftware produce fantastic looking, challenging RPGs (which I love) but if Starfield is anything close to what they have said, we will have one of those Bethesda Game Studios, generation defining masterpieces on our hands. My main case in the defence of Starfield (aside from me being a Bethesda Game Studios fanboy) if you look at the two trailers, firstly for Elden Ring.
Now Starfield..
Which game concept has been done already? An open galaxy space adventure RPG, with Skyrim levels of depth to the world and quests, or Elden Ring an open world fantasy RPG, albeit with fantastic story and depth too? My excitement lies with the unexplored Space RPG. Plus overall, you would think that Starfield would innovate more than Elden Ring, not least because it is a next-gen only title…? I guess it could be that we haven’t seen any gameplay from Starfield or Elden Ring could just have the benefit of being a multi-plat.
HellBlade 2 Senua’s Saga
Moving on again I want to talk a tiny bit about HellBlade 2 Senua’s Saga. Visually, a true jaws on the floor moment. I am sure I have a different opinion to most here. Ninja theory showed it’s first gameplay reveal. The game looked incredible. I mean, really. It was impossible to tell cut scene from gameplay! Check out the video below.
I guess I don’t have to say ‘I told ya so’. That said, despite all of this. Despite being perhaps the best looking game I have ever seen, I struggle to find hype for this game. There, I said it. Well typed it, but yeh… This game to me looked more like an interactive movie and that is something I don’t like in my games. It is actually one of the things that irked me about some of the PlayStation games of last gen. Just too much like a movie, not enough of a game. I know some most people like this and that’s fair enough, but for me I need more of a gameplay feel. Those who know, know. As as side note, I recognise it is a genre that Xbox’s first party had lacked in prior, so definitely recognise its importance.
Sonic The Hedgehog
Sonic is making a return! There were two pieces of Sonic The Hedgehog news. The first of which was there is going to be another Sonic The Hedgehog movie… At the time I was thinking ‘errm there was a first movie?’ Seeing a clip for it I guess it looked okay. Still, I can’t imagine going to see it when it releases in April 2022.
If that wasn’t wow enough for you, they are releasing another Sonic The Hedgehog game, Sonic Frontiers. It looks very interesting to me. I definitely got Sonic Adventure vibes from it. Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 being the best Sonic games ever in my opinion. I’m really excited for this because I feel like Sonic has been neglected in recent years and an IP by Sega. Sonic is one of THE iconic gaming mascots, and the quality of recent Sonic games I’ve seen lately has not reflected it for me personally. What do you all think of the trailer for the new Sonic game?
Amazon, Meta, Google & The Future
My final ‘wow’ moment is something I felt as the show went on, something I initially thought when Microsoft made gaming one of it’s core pillars of business. It encompasses the gaming industry in general. Kind of like the feeling of knowing a financial asset is about to go parabolic. One thing that was evident, is that this show had MONEY pumped into it. If I’m brutally honest, at times if felt like one long advert, not a celebration of gaming and its creators.
Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft have been ‘the big three’ in gaming for a while but one thing that slapped me in the face was how much of Google, Meta(Facebook) and Amazon there was. Make no mistake people. The industry is about to grow, FAST. These companies don’t throw money like this at stuff and things just stay the same. Interactive entertainment huge, and there are plans to make it much bigger. This could be fantastic, but I urge gamers to be careful. Vote with your wallets when these companies try to implement anti-consumer practices. Examples off the top of my head are Google Stadia.. Great tech, poor business model for us, the consumer. Even Sony’s $10 charge for a next gen patch is borderline when you have Xbox doing Smart delivery.
The Game Awards – Conclusion
I guess the conclusion I am led to is: Exciting times for gaming, but exercise caution. We have the power to make sure the industry is transformed in the right way for us, the gamers. Keep an eye out for corporate greed and call it out with your wallet. Well done to It Takes Two – Deserved Game of The Year!
I feel like I made quite a few good/correct calls regarding The Game Awards 2021. If you want to see how I voted, see my article on The Game Awards.
