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The Game Awards 2023 biggest World Premieres

Variable staff

While the 10th iteration of the Game Awards ostensibly meant to honor the achievements of the video game industry over the past year, a big part of why people watched was for the World Premieres of games at the show.

For a long time now, The Game Awards has been one of the biggest stages for studios to reveal their latest games. In many regards, the December show has all but taken the place of the old E3 press conferences. As such, many gamers look forward to the show for the World Premieres, as the show calls them, of new games that they should be looking forward to.

Of course, not everyone is able to catch the awards, especially those who have to be at work during the show. For those, we’ve taken the time to list all of what we think are The Game Awards 2023’s biggest World Premieres.

World of Goo 2

This one was technically announced at the pre-show, but it’s still a big announcement considering how popular the original Wii game was and how it’s taken forever for a sequel. World of Goo 2 looks to bring more of the original’s liquid-based physics puzzles, giving players more challenges to overcome in 2024.

Exodus

The Game Awards’ first World Premiere from the main show — introduced by Matthew McConaughey, who’s himself starring in the game — Exodus to recapture some of the vibe of space opera RPGs like Mass Effect. The game is being developed by Archetype Entertainment, composed of former developers from studios such as Bioware, 343 Industries and Naughty Dog, so we know the team behind this has the chops to pull the game’s seemingly lofty vision off.

God of War: Ragnarok: Valhalla

The much-awaited DLC expansion for God of War: Ragnarok, Valhalla is a rogue-lite take on the new God of War formula. More importantly, it’s a free update that’s coming out soon, on December 12, 2023.

Kemuri

Ikumi Nakamura, one of the creative minds behind Ghostwire: Tokyo, took to the stage to give the very first look at the first game from her new studio, Unseen. Kemuri looks to be a stylish new action game set in Tokyo. Not much else is known due to the game’s early state — it doesn’t even have a publisher at this point.

Classic Sega games return

Sega looks to be bringing back a lot of their classic franchises. In a “Power Surge” trailer, the company showcased what look to be new installments of classic franchises Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Shinobi and Golden Axe. In addition, the end of the trailer teases the possibility of more returning franchises, Virtua Fighter anyone.

Visions of Mana

Square Enix brought a gift for fans of the classic Mana series to The Game Awards as one of the World Premieres. Visions of Mana looks to bring this classic JRPG setting to the modern age, while still retaining its classic charm

Hideo Kojima’s OD

The long-awaited Xbox exclusive game from Hideo Kojima finally made its debut at The Game Awards. Called OD, the new game stars filmmaker Jordan Peele and, well that’s all we know since the mysterious trailer doesn’t really reveal much. We’ll have to wait a bit more to see what Kojima has drummed up for this one.

Jurassic Park: Survival

Jurassic Park is finally getting a new game that isn’t a park builder. Jurassic Park: Survival is a first-person romp following what looks to be a group of survivors trapped in the ruins of the old park, bringing many familiar dinosaurs and locales that should be recognizable to fans of the original movie.

Dragon Ball: Sparking ZERO

Technically, Bandai Namco already revealed that this game was in development earlier this year. This is the first time we’re actually seeing the game, however, so we’re counting it. Dragon Ball: Sparking ZERO looks to do more of what previous games in the series have done. Interestingly enough, this time it’s dropping the “Budokai Tenkaichi” name for its Japanese title “Sparking.” Whether this change will go over well with fans who grew up with the former remains to be seen.

The First Berserker: Khazan

Nexon is bringing the world of its Dungeon Fighter Online free-to-play MMO to a new audience with The First Berserker: Khazan. The game looks to explore the backstory of the Berserker class from Dungeon Fighter Online, building a new third-person action game with some unique animé-esque visuals.

Marvel’s Blade

At The Game Awards, Dishonored developer Arkane Lyon, brought the Daywalker himself for one of the show’s World Premieres. Based on the well-known vampire-hunting comic book series, Marvel’s Blade brings with it stylish comic book-styled visuals for a third-person action game that brings the Daywalker to Paris. No word if it’s related to the upcoming MCU film, though knowing Marvel’s recent games, it will likely stand on its own.

Light no Fire

Hello Games, creators of No Man’s Sky, brought their new game to The Game Awards 2023 for one of the show’s world premieres. Light no Fire promises to bring the freedom of the team’s previous spacefaring adventure to a new fantasy setting, with Hello’s Sean Murray promising to give players an entire world to explore.

Final Fantasy XVI: Echoes of the Fallen and the Rising Tide

One of this past year’s biggest, and most controversial, RPGs chose The Game Awards 2023 to reveal not just one, but two world premieres. Final Fantasy XVI: Echoes of the Fallen launches today, December 8, 2023, and allows players to go on more adventures with Clive and company before the game’s final, world-changing quest. Meanwhile, the second DLC expansion, Final Fantasy XVI: The Rising Tide will follow in the spring of 2024.

Monster Hunter Wilds

After much speculation, Capcom finally revealed that the first sixth-generation Monster Hunter game, Monster Hunter: Wilds, would be coming in 2025. Nothing else was revealed about the game, though fans will likely be disappointed that the game is missing out the series’ 20th anniversary next year.

In addition to the reveal, producer Ryozo Tsujimoto also went on stage to give a message to the series’ fans.

Of course, these weren’t all the games that were shown at The Game Awards 2023, just some of what we thought were the best of its world premieres. Follow Variable for more games from the show.

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Variable staff

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