Last week the spiritual successor to Spike TV’s Video Game Awards, now simply known as The Game Awards, surprised us with trailers for some highly anticipated games. Let’s take a look.
Mass Effect: Andromeda
This is far-and-away John’s most anticipated game of 2017. After a small teaser trailer for N7 Day (November 7) we were treated to over 5 minutes of new gameplay.
We see that planetary exploration will return, in addition to quest hubs similar to the Citadel. Combat also looks familiar with the same hybrid mechanics that were perfected in Mass Effect 3. Finally, in a nod to needing to be self-sufficient in a new galaxy, you’ll now be able to craft armor and weapons.
All told it looks to be shaping up to be another solid entry into the franchise.
Prey
I enjoyed playing Prey when it was released in 2006. It was an interesting and unique game that mixed an FPS with puzzle elements, wrapped in a delightfully twisted setting. Unfortunately, Prey 2 was lost in development hell and, despite a promising trailer a few years ago featuring a bounty hunter, a sequel never materialized.
Until now. Maybe? It appears that nu-Prey simply shares a name with it’s predecessor, with Arkane Studios labeling it as a “reimagining.” The trailer shows off some of the rather unique weapons, as well as the powers the player can use, but we’re still in the dark about the story and how, if at all, it ties into the 2006 game.
I’ll be keeping an eye on this one but I can’t help but feel a little disappointed that the game we saw a few years back seems to have been scrapped in favor of a more generic look and feel.
Halo Wars 2
Halo Wars was an attempt by Ensemble Studio, best known for their Age of Empires games, to bring their RTS expertise to consoles and, for the most part, it worked. Fast-forward and we’ve got Halo Wars 2 being developed by 343 Industries and another RTS powerhouse, Creative Assembly of Total War fame.
The trailer formally introduces us to Atriox, a Brute who’s apparently so strong he threatened the Covenant and is now threatening the UNSC with destruction. There’s no gameplay but if the beta is anything to go off of, it’s probably a game that’s best to pass on.
Death Stranding
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the biggest fan of Hideo Kojima games. Don’t get me wrong, he’s an amazing developer and his games are widely considered some of the best ever made. But I’ve felt like they’re almost pretentious and too weird and convoluted for their own good.
Death Stranding, at the very least, seems to be continuing that tradition of weirdness. The Death Stranding teaser trailer was nearly incomprehensible, basically a naked Norman Reedus surrounded by dead sea life and the full trailer cranks it up to 11. Guillermo Del Toro carrying a fetus in a jar, zombie WW2 soldiers, and Mads Mikkelsen crying black goo controlling soldiers with glowing tentacles.
To make things even weirder, apparently the two Death Stranding trailers are synced somehow, so make of that what you will.
All the rest
Plenty of other games were shown off, led by a new look at the Nintendo Switch’s big title, Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Telltale Games continues to expand its list of licensed episodic games, this time with Guardians of the Galaxy, and Bulletstorm returns with a remastered version called “Full Clip,” to name a few.
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