WhileThe Game Awardsis primarily focused on doling out awards to the top games in any given year, the event has also become known for its surprise announcements and reveals. Similar to E3, The Game Awards features a number of major “world premieres” where game developers announce their upcoming games, or showcase brand new trailers for some of their previously-announced projects.
The Game Awards 2020featured a number of big and surprising announcements. This included the next DLC fighter forSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate, some of the new crossover content coming toFortnite, some brand new gameplay reveals, and some surprising trailers.
RELATED:New Mass Effect Game Gets First Teaser Trailer
Here are all the big announcements from The Game Awards 2020.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
The Game Awards 2020 set the tone right off the bat with the massive announcement thatSephiroth fromFinal Fantasy 7will be joining the roster of playable characters. Sephiroth joins Cloud Strife as the secondFinal Fantasy 7character for theSuper Smash Bros. Ultimateroster, with his reveal trailer showing the villain going toe to toe with iconic Nintendo characters and showcasing his impressive abilities. Better yet,Super Smash Bros. Ultimatefans don’t have to wait long to try Sephiroth out for themselves, as the character is going to be added to the game at some point later this month.
The Initiative
Years ago, Microsoft put together a dream team of developers to make what was called an “AAAA” game. Rumors have swirled about what that game was for years, and now it’s finally been confirmed. Microsoft’s dream team studio, The Initiative, is working on abrand newPerfect Darkgame, set in a futuristic world ravaged by ecological disasters. The cinematic trailer confirmed the game’s title and the return of protagonist Joanna Dark, but fans will have to wait longer for a more substantial look at what the newPerfect Darkhas to offer.
Back 4 Blood
While there wasn’t any gameplay shown forPerfect Dark,Back 4 Blooddid get its gameplay reveal at The Game Awards 2020. The spiritual successor to theLeft 4 Deadfranchise,Back 4 Bloodlooks like the natural next step for the series. The gameplay shown was pre-alpha, but it’s already looking very impressive from both a visual and gameplay standpoint. Needless to say, fans ofLeft 4 Deadshould have a lot to look forward to whenBack 4 Bloodlaunches July 19, 2025 for current- and next-gen consoles, as well as PC.
The Callisto Protocol
Dead Spacecreator Glen Schofield’s Striking Distance Studios unveiled one of the most promising-looking games at The Game Awards 2020 in the form ofThe Callisto Protocol. Clearly meant to be aspiritual successor to the belovedDead Spacefranchise,The Callisto Protocolis set in the year 2320 on Jupiter’s moon Callisto. The game is a single-player, third-person survival-horror game, and will apparently feature some rather grotesque monsters that players encounter. Schofield said that his goal is to make the scariest game ever made for PC and consoles, and horror fans will find out if he and his team succeed when the game launches in 2022.
Dragon Age 4
BioWare promised that it would beshowingDragon Age 4at The Game Awards 2020, and it delivered on that promise. While noDragon Age 4gameplay was seen at the big show, fans were treated to another cinematic trailer, which concluded with the confirmation that Solas will be featured in the new game.
Crimson Desert
The Game Awards 2020 had many cinematic trailers, but it also included some gameplay presentations as well. One of the most memorable of these wasCrimson Desert’s gameplay, which looked like a medieval fantasy take onThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, with breathtakingly realistic graphics, dragons, and more.Crimson Desert’s impressive gameplay trailer left the internet buzzing, and it will definitely be interesting to see more of the game next year.
RELATED:Crimson Desert Trailer Shows Breathtaking Landscapes
Call of Duty: Warzone’s Rebirth Island
Originally,Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold WarandCall of Duty:WarzoneSeason 1was meant to launch on December 10, coinciding with The Game Awards. However, Activision ended up pushing the Season 1 start date back to December 16 for unexplained reasons. Regardless, it seems as thoughCall of Dutyfans have a ton of new content to look forward to come Season 1’s start, including plenty of content forBlack Ops Cold Waras well as theWarzonebattle royale.
Arguably the most exciting changes are coming toCall of Duty: Warzonewith Season 1 on December 16. TheCall of Duty: WarzoneGulag is getting a makeover, plus players will have a new map to battle it out on in the form of Rebirth Island. Rebirth Island will provide close quarters gameplay that should be a stark contrast with the standard Verdansk battle royale map, and fans will be able to explore it for themselves come next week.
Ark 2 With Vin Diesel
One of the more confusing moments of The Game Awards 2020 was whenArk 2was announced, with the game apparently featuring film actor Vin Diesel in a starring role. TheArk 2Vin Diesel announcementwas plenty unexpected, but what was arguably even more unexpected was theArkanimated series announcement. TheArkanimated series is due for release in 2022, and it is coming with an absolutely all-star voice cast, including Elliot Page, Gerard Butler, Michelle Yeoh, and many more.
Evil Dead
For quite some time now, Bruce Campbell has been rumored to be reprising his role as Ash fromEvil DeadinMortal Kombat 11. That has never come to pass, but that doesn’t mean fans won’t get to play as Ash in a video game. TheEvil Deadvideo gamelooks to be a 4-player co-op game of some sort where players fight off hordes of the undead, with Ash serving as one of the playable characters.
Returnal
Housemarque is best-known for its smaller scale bullet hell games, but that will change withReturnal.Returnallooks to be the largest-scale project that Housemarque has tackled to date, combining sci-fi, horror, and action game elements to create something totally unique. The Game Awards viewers weren’t just treated to aReturnalgameplay trailer, though, they also learned its release date. As it so happens,Returnalis launching sooner than expected, with the game launching June 12, 2025 as a PlayStation 5 exclusive.
Fortnite
Many of the bigFortniteannouncements were leaked ahead of time, but not all of them. At The Game Awards 2020, it was confirmed that the previously-leakedHalocontent would indeed be coming to theFortnitebattle royale, includingMaster Chief as a playable character and the Blood Gulch mapfor Creative Mode. Beyond that, players were also treated to aRed vs. Blueskit highlighting theHalocontent coming toFortnitethat even featured a cameo from Ninja.
TheFortnitesurprises didn’t end there, though. It was also confirmed that the game would be crossing over with AMC’sThe Walking DeadTV series by making Daryl Dixon and Michonne playable characters. It seemsFortniteis crossing over with just about everything, and Epic Games teased that Season 5 is only getting started.
Mass Effect
There were plenty of rumored games for The Game Awards 2020, but it’s safe to say no one expected to see anything from the newMass Effect. While most assumedDragon Age 4would be BioWare’s sole contribution to The Game Awards, the critically-acclaimed studio surprised everyone with the first look at thenewMass Effectgame. Based on the trailer, it looks as though Liara T’Soni will play a central role in the game’s plot, and could very well even be the player character, if some fan theories are to be believed. However, that’s just speculation at this time, andMass Effectfans likely have a long wait ahead of them before they’ll get to learn more concrete details.
