Everything Announced at The Game Awards 2022

Couldn't make it to this year's The Game Awards 2022? Here is a recap of everything you missed


Published: December 8, 2022 7:41 PM /

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The Game Awards 2022 logo on a dark red background.

As the holiday season rolls around, the gaming industry has its own tradition. The Game Awards 2022, hosted by Geoff Keighley, is an event where the best titles of the year are given awards and new projects are announced. But who will win this year? And what will be coming next year? This is our recap of the event.

Dead Cells Return to Castlevania Announcement

Castlevania comes to Dead Cells

The show opened with a new content update for the indie roguelike hack and slasher, Dead Cells. It opens with a trailer showing the hero entering a castle and doing battle with Castlevania’s own Alucard and Richter Belmont, before ending with him confronting the iconic Dracula. Yep, the official Castlevania crossover DLC is coming to Dead Cells, and it's called Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania.

The winner of Best Mobile Game was announced next. The award went to Marvel Snap, beating out Genshin Impact and Diablo Immortal.

Vampire Survivors comes to mobile devices

Following the award, three world premiere trailers were announced. The first of these is a mobile game port of Vampire Survivors. It is free to play on both Apple and Android right now, as well as on Steam where it's available for under $5.

Valiant Hearts is ALSO coming to mobile devices

Next is a title by Ubisoft which appears to be a follow-up to Valiant Hearts. Valiant Hearts Coming Home is coming to mobile phones.

Ubisoft has been heavily criticized over allegations of sexual harassment and toxic workplace culture issues. These have led to executives leaving and Ubisoft saying it was making changes. Employees however have maintained that not much is happening over multiple years, leading to a French Union suing the company. Outside of covering these developing issues at the company, TechRaptor is not covering Ubisoft games at this time until the situation has improved for employees.

Returnal coming to PC

Finally, the Sony published bullet hell sci-fi roguelike action game Returnal is officially coming to PC. No release date has been announced aside from early 2023.

After a round of ads, the winner of Best Fighting Game was announced. The gold medal ultimately went to Multiversus, beating out Sifu, DNF Duel, and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R in a knockdown brawl in a year that lacked major franchises in the genre.

Hellboy fighting a Werewolf in Hellboy Web of Wyrd

Hellboy action game coming soon

A world premiere shortly followed. The trailer shows some new sights: cel-shaded werewolves with ominous narration. Unsettling figures in silhouette. A distinctly high contrast artstyle with red… before revealing the red-skinned fighter of the supernatural: Hellboy. That’s right, Hellboy Web of Wyrd,is available to wishlist now, and is coming soon to PlayStation 4/5, Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.

Following that, some esports awards were given out. Valorant won the title for Best Esports Game. The Best Esports Athlete winner was Yay. Best Esports Team went to Loud. Bzka won Best Esports Couch. Finally, Best Esports Event went to 2022 League of Legends World Championship, as The Game Awards moved as quickly as possible through the esports awards.

Horizon: Call of the Mountain gets a new trailer

Next, a new trailer dropped for the PSVR2 game, Horizon: Call of the Mountain. The trailer was brief but undeniably showed off Horizon gameplay with robotic monsters, bows, slings, and beautiful vistas. It releases next year for Sony's virtual reality headset.

Post Trauma is set to spook

Following that, Raw Fury showed off a trailer for a new horror game. It was heavy on atmosphere and mood, showing an older man moving through empty buildings, gross hallways of muscle and blood. Post Trauma is coming soon to PC.

Afterward, a new indie puzzle game made its debut. It is one where you take photographs and use them to manipulate the environment around you. The trailer is full of impressive tricks of perspective. Viewfinder is coming soon to PlayStation 5 as well as PC.

Next, a new action-packed trailer for the mechanical sci-fi game, Atomic Hearts debuted. It is packed with a rocking soundtrack, fast-paced shooter combat, and a release date. Atomic Hearts will be released on February 21, 2023.

Scars Above main character exploring

Following that was the trailer of a new sci-fi game, showing a young woman traveling through an alien world, desperate for a way home. Gameplay appears to be a third-person action title. Scars Above is coming on February 28th, 2023.

Next is an animated arcade action title called Relic Hunters Legend. It is packed with personality showing off novel weapons, four player co-op, and madcap action. The sequel to the completely free roguelite shooter Relic Hunters, you can expect more loot, mayhem and general fun with this one.

Among Us Hide and Seek Announced

Among Us character at a cafeteria

A world premiere for the social deduction game, Among Us debuted next on the show. The trailer depicts a new game mode, one which ditches the main social deduction gameplay for a faster-paced mode. Among Us’ Hide and Seek mode launches tomorrow, which seems pretty sus to us.

Private Division shared a trailer for their upcoming title After Us. It shows a moody third-person platformer of an ethereal woman exploring a harsh industrial environment. There is a lot of beautiful color contrast and lighting on display, showing nature and industry. After Us is slated to release in Spring 2023.

Another world premiere then graced the screens. The trailer depicts a moody 1950s aesthetic with a foreboding atmosphere, and what appear to be deadly robots. The gameplay appears to be a 2D sidescroller. Replaced is set to release sometime in 2023.

From here, the show gave out its award for Best Family Game. The winner was Kirby and the Forgotten Land, beating out other Nintendo competition like Splatoon 3 and Mario+Rabbids Spark of Hope.

After this award, a new world premiere trailer for Street Fighter 6 debuted. The trailer opens with what appears to be the game’s story mode, showing off generic character models in different fights, including what appear to be 2-on-2 fights. It shortly switches to story cutscenes showing off new looks for Deejay as well as new fighters like Mahon, Marisa, and JP. The trailer continues to showcase these fighters and their unique fighting styles. It also confirms the leaked release date of June 2 2023 as well as pre-order bonuses.

Geoff Keighley then took the stage of The Game Awards and addressed various guests at the event such as Elden Ring’s Director Hidetaka Miyazaki, Nintendo’s own Doug Bowser, and Josef Fares the director of last year’s GOTY winner, It Takes Two, and perhaps best known for his "fuck the Oscars" speech at The Game Awards several years ago.

Following that, Al Pacino took the stage to announce the winner of Best Performance. The award went to Christopher Judge for his role as Kratos in God of War Ragnarok.

Hades 2 gameplay screenshot

Hades II Surprise Revealed

After a long acceptance speech, Supergiant Games announced their follow-up to their award-winning darling Hades. The game depicts a battle between magic users in a forest at night, showcasing the studio’s distinctly vibrant artstyle. The lead appears to be a woman with a glowing skeletal arm. And it appears to be a direct sequel to Hades featuring the exact same gameplay along with new gods like Apollo and Nemesis, and Cronos as well as new locations. Hades 2 will be coming to early access at a later determined date.

Judas gives off Bioshock vibes

Following that, Bioshock creator Ken Levine’s newest project makes its debut. The game appears to be in the same style of Bioshock with anachronistic technology, creepy enemies, and fantastical technology. The game is called Judas and it currently has no release date.

Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon gives a Bayonetta that you've never seen before

Afterwards, a new trailer for a new Bayonetta title was revealed. Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon is an isometric action game done in a children’s artbook style and features a young Bayonetta exploring a mysterious forest. It will debut March 17th 2023 on Nintendo Switch.

 

After the winner for Best indie Debut dropped, a new trailer for Destiny 2 Lightfall premiered. It features the return of character Osiris as well as the new location of Neptune. The trailer also showcases the game’s new Darkness subclass: Strand, with Guardians ripping through enemies in stylized battles.

Suicide Squad Vs The Justice League Batman Shown

Suicide Squad... manages to kill the Flash

Moving from space opera to comic book superheroes, a new trailer debuted for Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League. The trailer opens with a cinematic of the main cast in a tough situation, trapped in a store with a knocked-out Flash. The trailer takes a horror-themed turn as Task Force X faces off against a brainwashed Batman. The trailer ends with a respectful in memoriam to Batman’s actor, Kevin Conroy.

 

The Last of Us Part 1 Will Be Coming To Steam

After a long stretch of announcements featuring updates on several indie projects, Naughty Dog dropped a quick trailer, confirming that The Last of Us Part 1 is coming to PC on March 3rd, 2023.

 

After the award for Best Adaptation was given out to the animated series Arcane: League of Legends, another world premiere

Star Wars Jedi Survivor Gameplay

Star Wars: Jedi Survivor gives you a Bastard Sword

Afterwards, the award for Best Adaptation was given out to the animated series Arcane: League of Legends. Following that was the world premiere of a long-awaited game, Star Wars: Jedi Survivor. The trailer shows off new gameplay, including new Force powers such as using stormtroopers as human shields, hero Cal Kestis traveling to new worlds including the old Jedi Temple of Coruscant, and fighting dangerous bounty hunters. The trailer also briefly shows off new gameplay elements such as a cross-guard lightsaber and a grappling hook. Jedi Survivor is set to release March 17 2023.

 

Celeste creators debut Earthblade

Afterward, another world premiere took the stage from the creators of the indie platformer Celeste. The game appears to be yet another moody 2D platformer. However, rather than climbing a mountain, it appears the hero is traveling through a dark swamp, followed by different depictions of an underworld. In addition, the hero appears to have horns, like a demon. The game is called Earthblade and it's set to release in 2024.

A second world premiere trailer debuted shortly after. It shows a desolate desert, futuristic vehicles, and what appears to be people avoiding sandworms. Yep, it is a trailer for an officially licensed Dune video game. In fact, it is a survival-based MMO set on Arakis called Dune Awakening.

 

Forspoken has a demo on PS5 available NOW

A brief trailer shortly debuted, confirming that a demo for Square Enix’s urban fantasy action RPG, Forspoken, has been shadow dropped on the Playstation Store.

 

Sam Bridges first appearance in Death Stranding 2

Kojima Productions shows a trailer for Death Stranding 2

Following that was the announcement of the next big project by industry icon Hideo Kojima. The trailer starts with dissonant imagery of family, a children’s room, a desolate desert with robed figures, and a repurposed BB unit container. The trailer continues showing a female lead desperately escaping some armed soldiers, escalating in a vehicle chase outside. The woman is shot and appears to die, the camera ominously showing a BB growing in some sort of red matter. Yep, Death Stranding 2 has been confirmed. The trailer even ends with Sam Porter Bridges returning, still played by Norman Reedus.

Following this debut is a new game by Ascendent Studios. This development team of industry veterans, with the assistance of the EA Originals program, showed off their newest project: A magical FPS full of siege battles, mystical glyphs, and magic energy called Immortals of Aveum.

 

Next up, the winner of Best Narrative was announced. While this category had a lot of stiff competition such as Immortality and Horizon Forbidden West, God of War Ragnarok ultimately won.

Tekken 8 Live Footage

Tekken 8 shows off epic combat

Following that award is gameplay footage of Tekken 8, the latest entry in the venerable series. The trailer started with high-quality cinematics before pivoting into brief gameplay footage, showing characters fight in a busy city street.

Afterward, a gameplay trailer dropped for the first-person exploration game, Nightingale. The trailer shows off more of a mysterious world full of people in victorian garb, folk monsters, and mystical portals. As for gameplay, it appears to be a survival game with resource gathering, base building, and a narrative about uncovering the secrets of the world. There is currently no release date.

Following that, Sierra’s founders, Ken and Roberta Williams took the stage to announce the winner of the Games For Impact award. The winner was the visual novel RPG As Dusk Falls.

Baldur's Gate 3 Story Trailer

Baldur's Gate 3 New Trailer Shows Off 1.0 Release Window

Next, Larian Studios gave a big update on their CRPG, Baldur’s Gate 3. The latest trailer shows off new content for the game, including the titular city and other D&D mainstays like driders and mimics. The trailer also saw the debut of iconic adventurer Minsc (Boo is MIA) and a release date of August 2023.

Digital Extremes, the studio behind Warframe, then took the stage with the world premiere of their next title. It is an online hack and slasher featuring a high-fantasy aesthetic, bright and vibrant colors, and dungeons full of loot and deadly monsters. The game is called Wayfinder and it is coming to PlayStation and PC next week.

 

Fire Emblem Engage shows off DLC

A new trailer for Fire Emblem Engage debuted shortly after, which laid out new content for an upcoming Expansion Pass. The pass will contain characters and content from across the Fire Emblem franchise.

Jenova Checn of thatgamecompany also briefly took the stage to promote a special live event in the studio’s newest game Sky: Children of Light. The event is an in-game concert, performed by Chen herself. It is set to go live shortly after the show’s conclusion.

 

Diablo IV Cinematic Shows Off Hell and Chaos

After a few promo spots, the show continued with a musical performance and a new trailer for Activision-Blizzard’s dungeon crawler RPG, Diablo IV. The trailer was prerendered, showing the infernal hordes of hell about to clash against angelic hordes. It is set to release June 6, 2023.

Activision Blizzard has been heavily criticized over allegations of toxic workplace culture and sexual harassment. These criticisms have come from several U.S. state treasurers, the heads of both PlayStation and Xbox, and a group of activist shareholders, among many others. The company is also embroiled in lawsuits, unionization disputes with staff, and conflicts with government agencies.

Horizon: Forbidden West DLC takes us to LA

Following that several rapid-fire awards were given out, including Most Anticipated Game. From there, another world premiere trailer dropped. It is a new Horizon experience by Guerilla Games. It shows hero Aloy riding on a robotic bird as she descends into….Hollywood. Yes, it is new Forbidden West Content called Burning Shores. It is set to release April 17 2023.

From there, the leads of the upcoming HBO adaptation of The Last of Us took the stage to give the award for Best Action Game. The winner went to Platinum Games’ Bayonetta 3.

 

Blue Protocol Trailer Released From Bandai Namco and Amazon Games

Three new world premieres came out afterwards. First Blue Protocol by Namco Bandai and Amazon Games. The trailer opens with the game’s director talking about the title, which will be an action MMO coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series consoles next year. It then transitions into gameplay, featuring an anime take on a post-apocalyptic world with fantastical architecture, swords and sorcery, and the power of friendship.

 

Remnant II surprises fans

The second announcement is a darker affair. Showing off people in armor fighting demons in dark dungeons with firearms and chainsaws. Yep, Remnant 2 has been confirmed.

Transformers Reactive Cinematic Trailer Footage

Transformers Reactive ALSO surprises fans

Finally, Splash Damage studios showed off their newest project. The trailer shows off a sci-fi alien invasion narrative, with a plucky human resistance reprogramming a robot. In fact…it’s an Autobot. The game is called Transformers Reanimate.

Next, Sega announced a console edition of their war game series, Company of Heroes 3. The trailer was minimal, showing live-action footage of brothers in arms facing harsh odds. It is slated for a 2023 release date.

Another trailer then came showing a brutal dark fantasy world with large mammoths and deadly titan-sized monsters. Again, the trailer was mostly spectacle, but heavy on dark icelandic atmosphere. The game is called Behemoth and it is being designed for VR.

 

New Super Mario Bros Movie Trailer Highlights Toad

Keegan Michael Key then took the stage to debut a new clip from the Super Mario Bros. Movie. The clip shows off Mario traveling through the Mushroom Kingdom, interacting with various staples of the platformer series, coin blocks, warp pipes etc, in a comedic slapstick style.

Animal from the Muppets then shared the stage with Geoff and, after some banter, gave out the award for Best Score and Music. God of War Ragnarok won amongst strong peers like Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and Metal: Hellsinger.

 

Dontnod presents Banishers

Dontnod Studios and Focus Home Entertainment then showed off their own world premiere. Their newest title is a dark fantasy action RPG, showing a pair of adventurers in an inn, intercut with them fighting and banishing ghosts and undead with magic and swords. The name of the game is, fittingly, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden.

Following that is a new trailer for Sabre Interactive’s Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2. The trailer shows off more gameplay, including Captain Titus tearing through Tyranids with swords and guns. It also has a vague release window of 2023.

 

Meet Your Maker promises dungeon crafting fun

In the same dark sci-fi style, another trailer debuted, showing off a robot creating elaborate prisons full of dangerous traps and monsters. That is until a mysterious robed figure with a sword shows up to get at him. This kicks off a montage of the figure trying to get through the gauntlet, a computer monitor keeping a tally of their attempts. The game is called Meet Your Maker and it is set to release on April 4th, 2023.

Another Games Workshop title got some love with a quick prerendered trailer of Blood Bowl 3. The trailer showed off some light gameplay, but mostly featured a cockney ork getting vocal with his underwhelming team.

Crash Bandicoot mascot drops into the Game Awards 2023

Crash Team Rumble brings team combat to Crash

The show then continued when the old Sony mascot Crash Bandicoot…crashed the show in order to make a new announcement. A trailer shortly followed, depicting a competitive Crash Bandicoot experience with characters like Coco, Dr. Cortex, and Uka Uka. The game is called Crash Team Rumble and will be coming out 2023.

 

The awards continued with the winner of Innovation in Accessibility announced. Once more, God of War: Ragnarok wins this award among other nominees The Quarry and As Dusk Falls.

Next came a trailer from Hexworks. The Lords of the Fallen, not to be confused with Lords of the Fallen, showed off dark fantasy vistas, soft-spoken female VO, and eldritch horror imagery such as twisted bodies and the bones of ancient gods. No release date was given.
 

Crime Boss Rockay City shows off a stellar cast

Next came a trailer for a new crime action game called Crime Boss Rockay City. The trailer is mostly cinematics featuring famous actors and celebrities like Michael Rooker and martial artist Chuck Norris. The game is set to come out March 2023.

 

After another long stretch of awards given in quick succession, Reggie Fils Aime entered the spotlight in order to announce the winner of the Best Game Direction Award. Among nominees such as Immortality and Horizon Forbidden West, the winner was the open-world Soulslike Elden Ring.

 

Next was a Bandai Namco world premiere. The trailer starts off ominously with the world being devastated by some fiery cataclysm, followed shortly by the phrases “feed the fire” and “let the last cinders burn.” What follows… are robots in pitched combat in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Yes, it is a trailer for the return of From Software’s mecha series with Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon. It is set to release in 2023.

The producer of Final Fantasy XVI, Naoki Yoshida then took the stage to show off a new trailer for the venerable series’ latest installment. The trailer shows off more of Final Fantasy XVI’s combat, which is closer to a Devil May Cry hack and slasher. It also depicts several sumons such as Ifrit and Odin, as well as a darker aesthetic and explicit signs of blood. This is notable since Final Fantasy XVI is the first mainline entry with an M for Mature rating. Final Fantasy XVI is set to release June 22, 2023.

Finally, Josef Fares took the stage in order to give out the final award of the night: Game of the Year. The big prize ultimately went to From Software’s dark fantasy soulslike Elden Ring, winning against strong competition from God of War Ragnarok. During the acceptance speech, director Hidetaka Miyazaki stated that he and his team have “several more things” they want to do in Elden Ring. This might allude to the game’s new Colosseum update, but it might just tease at new content to come for the title.

Have a tip, or want to point out something we missed? Leave a Comment or e-mail us at tips@techraptor.net


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| Staff Writer

Ever since he was small, Tyler Chancey has had a deep, abiding love for video games and a tendency to think and overanalyze everything he enjoyed. This… More about Tyler