Here are the top 10 new game announcements of The Game Awards, 2021.
Starting with number 10, it's Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine 2, which is a mouthful of a title, but it's also been too long since the original. It was a game from 2011 that was well received. I enjoyed it, it was a good kinda combination of hack and slash and shooting, and it was one of those games that just took its IP and did it justice. It was a great depiction of Warhammer 40K. It ended on a cliffhanger though, and then another game just didn't come out. I don't know whether it wasn't financially successful enough. It seemed like it had a fairly big following to me at the time. I wasn't paying attention to the numbers too closely, but it's great to know that a sequel is coming. Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2 has been announced, we don't have a release date, but it will be landing on PS5, the Xbox Series, and PC.
And number nine is Sonic Frontiers being billed by Sonic Team as a new kind of Sonic game. It is an open-world game, and I've seen a lot of people compare it to Breath of the Wild in terms of look, I'm not sure I agree. It reminds me a lot of Sonic Adventure, except for obviously with significantly better graphics, lots more detail, et cetera, et cetera. And of course, it is an open-world game. So we have dealt with hub worlds in Sonic, particularly with Sonic Adventure, but it's not been something that's been dabbled in too much, and let's just say the games where they did it, didn't go that great. I'm looking at you, Sonic 2006. But, we also live in a time where a lot of open-world ideas have been worked on, and in terms of Sonic's 3D movement, momentum is understood much better. Sonic Colors just came out, and I have a feeling that's kind of a bit of a hint as to what type of 3D we're going to be experiencing. And I think if they do it right, this could be an extremely good Sonic game. Now, with Sonic Team, if they do it right, has always been a question that is up in the air. Sometimes they nail it, like with Sonic Generations. And then they do things like Sonic Forces, where it's trying to capture Sonic Generations and make it more, or possibly less, I don't know. I feel like the re-release of Sonic Colors is kind of a message like, "Hey, we understand which ones of these games are good." And my fingers are crossed. Sonic Frontiers is landing on pretty much every console. The PlayStations, the Xboxes, the Switch, and PC, in 2022.
At number eight is ARC Raiders, which from the trailer, I'm kind of getting PVE kinda horde, or wave style gameplay. It's a co-op, and you have a pretty wide range of different types of enemies. Anyway, this is a free-to-play, first-person sci-fi shooter, that looks pretty interesting. First off, it's the first game by a new studio, called Embark Studios, which was founded by the former EA chief designer. And we see a lot of interesting things here. You're fighting these spider-looking walker things. And then, of course, there's kinda stealthy-looking gameplay, where you're trying to avoid these scout-type drone things. And it looks like a lot of it takes place at night, with these really good-looking colored lights, and kinda frenzied situations if you get detected. And it seems like it might escalate from that into large-scale fighting, that kinda looked equal parts, Gears, and Horizon Zero Dawn to me, which is super interesting for a combination of gameplay in a co-op game. I like the sound of that. But again, we will have to find out more, as we get closer to it. ARC Raiders is gonna be hitting PS5, the Xbox series, and PC in 2022.
And number seven is Star Trek Resurgence. A game that looks like it takes everything you know about, let's say, a Telltale Games release, adds maybe a little bit more polish to it, and even gives me somewhat of a Mass Effect in terms of, well, not necessarily action, but a feeling of the Mass Effect diplomacy options. It's the first game by Dramatic Labs, which was founded by some former Telltale Games folks, but it does look like they're attempting to add something new to the formula. What exactly pans out to me, and I'm not 100% sure, but there was a point where you were wielding what seemed like a weapon in the trailer. However, it is of course, primarily a narrative game. And the trailer itself reminds you, hey, this was made by the creators of The Walking Dead, and the Batman Telltale Series, and so on. It's interesting that we now have a Telltale that looks like it understands what Telltale was doing, and is continuing it. And a studio made up of former Telltale people continuing on the path that they were originally on. Star Trek's probably a good IP for them to be doing that in, and we'll see where this one goes when it comes out on the PlayStations, the Xboxes, and on PC in 2022.
And number six is Rumbleverse. Again, this is billing itself as a pro-wrestling battle royale. I would go a little bit further and say, it's kind of a 3D brawl-type game, set in a battle royale. It does actually, I think have a bit of promise here. It seems to embrace a goofiness to it, and that's really what makes it look good. That, and the verticality and traversal, is well beyond what a pro-wrestling match would allow for. You can climb up the sides of buildings, and do some kind of parkour-looking moves. I think this looks like it could be a really fun game. It does depend on the execution. And fortunately, we don't have to wait too long to see that. We're gonna be running around this, frankly, pretty cool-looking, large-looking map, on February 8th, on PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC. So early next year, be on the lookout for Rumbleverse.
And number five is a game based on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Now, info's a little scarce for this one. We've got some visuals, and we've got the developers talking about it, saying that it is very authentic. The press release said they didn't just recreate locations and characters, but a whole time and place in Texas. I don't know exactly what that means, because it's an asymmetrical horror multiplayer game, which I do not think is exactly what was imagined when The Texas Chainsaw Massacre film was created. So authenticity, it's gonna be interesting to see exactly what that means. And I'll say this, I am vaguely skeptical when asymmetrical horror games are announced. However, this is a very good franchise for that. And it comes to us from the devs that did Friday the 13th, which is a pretty good example of an asymmetrical game. Gun is a good studio. This is the type of game that, the best reaction I can have, is cautiously optimistic, and I am having that. It looks good. It's one of those where we're gonna have to wait and see for more of it though. The lack of info makes it difficult to make any real judgments based on what we saw, it looks cool though. We don't know what platforms it's coming to, probably safe to assume the mainstream ones, PC, the next-gen consoles, et cetera. And we have a TBA release date.
At number four is The Expanse: A Telltale Series, which is based on the sci-fi TV show called The Expanse. I am just gonna straight up to say, I'm not super familiar with The Expanse. I have seen that people are excited for the character they chose to be the protagonist in this game, Drummer. I think that the trailer does a good job capturing the traditional Telltale feel, perhaps even a little bit more so than the Star Trek trailer from Dramatic Labs. This is just immediately noticeable as a Telltale game. Although the graphics have received what looks like a pretty significant upgrade. I'm excited, I don't even really know the franchise personally, but I think it's got a lot of personalities. I think the trailer put forward exactly what you kinda want out of a Telltale game. And that's enough for me to at least give it a spin. The Expanse: A Telltale Series is coming to PC and consoles in the future. We don't have a release date.
At number three is a Wonder Woman game that is coming to us from the Shadow of Mordor developers. And aside from knowing it's a Wonder Woman game, we know almost nothing. Now the fact that it's being developed by the Shadow of Mordor developer makes some implications. Their studio head said they believe in the power of player-driven storytelling to unite people. I think the unite people part is the less important part. The player-driven storytelling puts us in the territory of Shadow of Mordor as well, and Wonder Woman is a very strange IP to do something like that with. But also, it kind of makes sense, 'cause there's not an established type of Wonder Woman game. So we'll keep our eyes open on this one, we don't know a lot about it yet. Again, safe to assume PC consoles, but we don't have a release date.
At number two is Alan Wake 2, which is probably gonna be the culmination of a lot of very interesting stuff. I don't know if you paid attention to Remedy or the fact that they've been operating in a connected universe since Alan Wake. But all of their games, Alan Wake, Quantum Break, Control, are all deeply connected. And Alan Wake 2, they're describing as their first survival horror game, implying that everything has maybe taken a turn for the worst. The trailer certainly gives us some very interesting locales, and we switch between them throughout a long panning shot. There's not enough to glean anything, but it says that this is a story that will eat you alive. Remedy has said they're gonna go quiet for a while in terms of press contact until they have more to show. In the meantime, we are gonna be waiting a while for Alan Wake 2, it's gonna be coming to PS5, the Xbox series, and PC in 2023.
At number one is Star Wars Eclipse, a new game from Quantic Dream. Now, Star Wars and Quantic Dream is an interesting pairing, and not exactly what I would have expected. They're not an action game developer, they're more building narratives, and creating branching, interactive stories. But at the same time, that kind of makes sense for what it looks like they're trying to do with Eclipse, which is to tell us about the high republic era of Star Wars, a couple of 100 years before the events of the prequel trilogy. We do not know a lot about this game yet, other than that they gave us an incredibly cinematic trailer that is arguably more artistic than any of the recent Star Wars trailers. I don't know, given that Quantic Dream has given us some pretty interesting stuff through the years, even when they fail, it's compelling. I would say this is at least something to keep your eyes on. We do not know anything official about the release, it's definite to assume consoles, PC though. Don't know when it's coming out though, so we'll let you know when we know more.
