Eating A Little Crow (TGA Edition)
Look, a lot happened last night. The Game Awards were on, I ate a majority of a crow, Statler & Waldorf heckled Geoff Keighley mercilessly, Amir Satvat won the FIRST EVER TGA Gamechanger Award and Harrison Ford didn’t convince 21 Pilots to let him steer their plane.
Huge congratulations to my Big Three games for the year that pulled out victories in almost all their fields, Astro Bot (Game of the Year, Best Game Direction, Best Action/Adventure Game, Best Family Game), Balatro (Best Independent Game, Best Debut Indie Game, Best Mobile Game) & Metaphor: ReFantazio (Best Narrative, Best Art Direction, Best RPG)!
This year’s event seemed like what should be it’s final form, they spoke to the truth of industry layoffs, allowed developers time to speak without rushing them off stage and in all it felt… like an awards show! Whoever directed this year should keep the job forever, this iteration felt breezy and fun compared to last years herding.
BUT that’s not all that happened last night! A LOT of games were announced or received updates on release schedules last night (very few Games as a Service in sight) and I got a list that I’m looking forward to in the future, both near and far.
1) Borderlands 4 - Coming out in Early 2025
My relationship with Borderlands started with BL2 when I first started streaming and when BL3 came out I was pretty excited to dive in. Despite the problem with the main protagonists, I had a lot of fun in my playthroughs with all the Vault Hunters and I liked each DLC more than the main campaign (with the exception of Bounty of Blood).
This trailer for Borderlands 4 brings us back to the root of the first two games, seemingly taking place on just one planet this time around. The new Vault Hunters will each have the new ability to grapple, so that’s neat. What I’m mainly looking forward to is a good ole fashion looter shooter that I can play with some buds occasionally!
We don’t have much insight into the new Vault Hunters so far, but here’s to hoping they have jokes with references that are more recent for Claptrap to spew.
2) Witcher 4 - Coming out sometime in the next 100 years
This trailer looked excellent and Ciri stepping into the spotlight feels promising for the franchise! No gameplay footage to see here, but what was rendered was on par with the recent Secret Level episodes that dropped.
3) Dispatch - Coming out in 2025
This game looks like an Adult Swim cartoon and the voice talent is tremendous (Aaron Paul, Laura Bailey, Jeffrey Wright to name a few). Created by ADHOC Studio, whose ranks boast some former Telltale veterans, this looks like a fun skewering of Super Hero media.
4) Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet - Coming out sometime in the next 100 years
I was conflicted about whether to stick this one at 3 or 4 so I decided to round down a little here. The trailer here looks excellent! The aesthetic seems like it borrows a bit from Cyberpunk and the retro-tech you’d see in a Star War. Seeing Kumail Nanjiani involved got me pretty excited, too. This seems like something that should be right up my alley, but I’m worried.
I have no doubt that the team at Naughty Dog will make something INCREDIBLY playable and compelling. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross providing music is a definite plus. The excessive product placement may take me out of it. You gotta pay for your game, I get it, but something about the far future and Porsche just doesn’t click with me.
5) Elden Ring: Nightreign - Coming out in 2025
Boy howdy, you like yourself some Elden Ring?! You want to play with your friends in some Elden Ring? Well here’s some Elden Ring!
6) Turok Origins - Coming out sometime in the next 100 years
Saber Interactive is bringing the long dormant Turok franchise out of retirement. I accidentally called it during my talk-over with Rev, but this game looks like it’ll be a bunch of fun! It was giving me some Monster Hunter style vibes, but who knows if that will actually be how the game turns out. Some of the creatures look MASSIVE and your suit seems more than up to the task of whoopin’ on some dinos. With the success of this year’s Warhammer 40000: Space Marine II, I’m sure the fighting will feel just as brutal.
7) Rematch - Coming out in Summer 2025
I’m not one for sports games generally, but this Soccer/Futbol game from the team behind Sifu looks really good! Sure, it’s Rocket League without the cars, but you get to kick stuff and the Sifu team is really good about making kicking stuff feel awesome!
All in all it was a pretty great show and I’m actually excited to see where they go next year with TGA. If they bring back Statler & Waldorf, it’s gonna be an easy sell.
