Gaming’s biggest night has come and gone, leaving with it a collection of discourse and a pile of new trailers for us to watch and re-watch over the holidays. The Game Awards 2022 continued on with the ceremony’s storied tradition of handing out the occasional award in between “world premiere” trailers, game announcements, and awkward on-stage convos between Geoff Keighley and a game developer.
This year, we were indeed eating. After what’s felt like a bit of a drought in terms of releases and announcements, the future is looking fairly bright. We got a chance to see a more Diablo IV, Street Fighter 6, some DLC, and were even surprised with the announcement of a set of two big sequels: Hades II and Death Stranding 2.
Here’s everything we saw at The Game Awards 2022. I mean, besides Al Pacino.
Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania DLC
Dead Cells is getting some DLC, and not just any DLC, but Castlevania-themed DLC. You’ll work through Dracula’s Castle all the way up to his Throne Room. If you’re a fan of either thing, this will be something to check out, and if you’re a fan of both, you are eating well. It’s out next year.
Hellboy Web of Wyrd
Hellboy Web of Wyrd will put you right in a 3D version of the iconic Hellboy comic world. That may be Lance Reddick doing his voice, too.
Read More: We’re Getting A New Hellboy Game, Based On The Comics
Vampire Survivors goes mobile, free
Surprise! It’s coming to mobile for free.
Horizon: Call of the Mountain
A better look at the PSVR2 Horizon game, which will give you a bow and other goodies while you fight machines in crazy 3D environments.
Post Trauma
Post Trauma was giving us serious Silent Hill vibes, so keep an eye on this if you’re into horror games.
Viewfinder
A puzzler that lets you reshape the world around you with an instant camera. It plays with perspective and gives some mind-bending Portal vibes for sure.
Atomic Heart
Atomic Heart, which is like Fallout but if you made it Russian, gave us some new footage to chew on at The Game Awards. It’s out early next year, so you won’t have to wait much longer for it.
Scars Above
Scars Above is a challenging-looking sci-fi action adventure shooter coming out early next year, and we saw some more of it before The Game Awards officially kicked off.
Relic Hunters Legend
It’s an online looter-shooter action RPG that’s bright and colorful with slightly grating characters. You know the sort.
Among Us gets new Hide and Seek mode
A new Among Us mode! Will Benoit Blanc play this one? Maybe, but not well, as we learned in Glass Onion.
After Us
A world-premiere trailer for After Us, which looks like a platformer with an environmentalist story, debuted early on in the night.
Replaced
We got another look at Replaced, a sci-fi platformer with a retro-futuristic vibe. There’s pixel art, combat, and platforming. It looks cool. Beautiful even.
Street Fighter 6
We got a good look at the new Street Fighter 6 and its 2v2 mode, as well as a confirmed June release date. Looks like those character leaks were right on the money.
Read More: Street Fighter 6 Drops In June With Cool 2v2 Mode
Hades II
Holy. Fucking. Shit. Supergiant Games’ first sequel is Hades II, which is giving us Zagreus’ sister, Melinoe, and an entirely new story, new weapons, and new villains. Oh lord. Or, oh Hades.
Read More: Oh Snap, They’re Making A Hades Sequel
Judas
Ken Levine, the man behind BioShock, is giving us a very BioShock-y new game in the form of Judas. There’s the BioShock hands, the weird BioShock enemies hopped up on a weird drug, and machinery. This looks good. I love Lady Gaga.
Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon
Maybe Bayonetta can be gay in this one.
Destiny 2: Lightfall
I love Destiny 2 and I love cyberpunk-y stuff, so it was great to get our first solid look at the upcoming Lightfall DLC. New weapons, new armor, and a whole new world is waiting for us next year, and I’m fully prepared to get sucked back into Destiny again. Are you?
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
The upcoming Rocksteady game’s trailer turned surprisingly sweet, as it featured Kevin Conroy, who recently passed away. He will be the voice of Batman in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which is nice to know, even it’s it a little weird to see it presented like this.
Read More: Kevin Conroy’s Last Batman Performance Is For An Upcoming Video Game
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
Cal Kestis is back! He’s got a beard! He’s being chased by Jedi hunters! Cameron Monaghan showed up!
Read More: Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Gameplay Shows Cal Is Back And More Badass Than Ever
Earthblade
The creators of Celeste are making a new game and, of course, it looks beautiful. And platform-y! Earthblade isn’t coming until 2024.
Dune: Awakening
We got a good look at Dune: Awakening, the upcoming survival MMO, and the adorable Muad’Dib mice of Arrakis.
Death Stranding 2
Well, we didn’t know this was coming, but boy did it get a reveal. A full trailer full of Hollywood elite, and after, Hideo Kojima walked on stage. Death Stranding 2 is coming, and it looks like there will be some freaky shit along with it.
Read More: Death Stranding 2 Stars An Older Sam Bridges And...Octopus Babies?
Tekken 8
Tekken 8 is coming, fighting game fans, and it’s bringing back some old favorites like Paul, Law, and Jack-8. Idk who these people are, but if you’re a Tekken fan, you’re probably psyched.
Immortals of Aevum
Ascendant Studios is comprised of people who worked on Call of Duty and Dead Space, and it shows. Immortals of Aevum is a first-person magic-based shooters that has super fast combat and, ya know, magic. It certainly looks different, but will it catch on?
Nightingale
People got pretty amped when Nightingale debuted at Summer Game Fest earlier in the year and now we’re getting a better look at it. As our own Sisi Jiang asked in the summer, this trailer is giving us a better answer to the question: “What if you could shoot fairies with a gun?”
Baldur’s Gate III
Larian Studios gave us an official release window for Baldur’s Gate III: August 2023. Still pretty far out.
Wayfinder
Wayfinder is an upcoming online, free-to-play action-RPG from Airship Syndicate. It was revealed at The Game Awards, and it looks like you can pick from a cast of characters and customize them to adventure with friends.
Diablo IV
Guys, Halsey showed up. I forgot everything else after that.
Read More: Diablo IV Release Date Announced At The Game Awards
Fire Emblem Engage
New characters, new maps, new accessories, and more Fire Emblem in general.
Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores
LA is a volcanic archipelago, and no, that’s not an exaggeration. The upcoming DLC for Horizon Forbidden West debuted at The Game Awards. Get ready to use all of Aloy’s tools and abilities to get through this new challenge.
Read More: Horizon Forbidden West Gets Massive Los Angeles DLC In April
Blue Protocol
The action-MMO Blue Protocol is coming out next year, and we got a trailer for it. It’s a coproduction between Bandai Namco and Amazon Games, and has a surprisingly classic anime look to its characters. Charming.
Read More: It’s An Anime Post-Apocalyptic MMO, And It Looks Gorgeous
Transformers Reactivate
Transformers: Reactivate is a brand-new new 1-4 player online action game, and no one will judge you if you thought that this was a trailer for a new Titanfall game for a split second.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie, First Full Scene
We got another look at the upcoming Super Mario Bros. movie and no, Chris Pratt’s Mario voice isn’t getting any easier for this Italian to stomach. Lots of fun game-related jokes though, as you’d hope.
Read More: Super Mario Bros. Movie Clip Finally Unleashes Chris Pratt’s Italian Accent
Remnant 2
A Remnant: From The Ashes sequel was announced, showing off some more third-person cooperative shooting and looting in creepy, deadly worlds.
Behemoth
It’s a Meta Quest VR game that lets you be a Viking! The Northman is quaking.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
This is giving Game of Thrones vibes, not just because of the Northern English accents but because none of us at Kotaku could see a god damn thing.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
“Strategically placed space marine trailer to save me from death.” —Kotaku’s Luke Plunkett, two hours into The Game Awards
Meet Your Maker
“Get ready to build and raid the most brutal Outposts in the wasteland,” says Meet Your Maker’s official Twitter account. Lots of personality on display. Looks fun.
Crash Team Rumble
Crash Bandicoot descended from the sky to debut Crash Team Rumble, a 4v4 fight for fruit.
The Lords of the Fallen
Dark fantasy action-RPG The Lords of the Fallen dropped a new trailer, and it was very dark and very RPG-y.
Crime Boss: Rockay City
This is the most ‘90s game I’ve ever seen. De-aged Michael Madsen, Danny Glover, and Kim Basinger star in a game that seems determined to wash the taste of Saints Row out of your mouth. Shout-out to Vanilla Ice!
Read More: Bizarre New GTA Online-Looking Game Is Full Of ‘90s Stars
Call of Duty’s getting a Raid mode
The first-ever Call of Duty raid mode is coming, so get ready to team up with your friends when the Season 1 Reloaded update drops.
Read More: Call Of Duty Gets Its First Raid, Which Makes Sense
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty DLC
Two words: Idris Elba.
Read More: Cyberpunk 2077's First Big DLC Stars Idris Elba
Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
We thought we were getting Elden Ring DLC and instead FromSoftware hit us with the Uno reverse. Instead we got an Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon trailer, and people are very excited about it. It’s wild to look back at the first few Armored Core games on the original PlayStation, and compare ‘em to this. Wow.
Read More: Armored Core VI Announced, Which Isn’t A Souls Game
Final Fantasy XVI
Yoshi-P showed up to The Game Awards for the first time and brought the trailer for Final Fantasy XVI with him. I’m still really curious about that hate crimes rating, but you can’t deny that this is definitely one of the bigger trailers of the night, and a good send-off for The Game Awards 2022.
Read More: New Final Fantasy XVI Trailer Reveals Massive Kaiju Summon Fights
So that was it, and it was a lot. The Game Awards didn’t skimp on the trailers this year, and that’s even with God of War’s Christopher Judge giving a very, very long speech and that random kid sneaking onto the stage during the Elden Ring game of the year award.
What were you most excited about? It’s Hades II for me. And did you win a Steam Deck? You know, like Milf Hunter did? Lmao.