Written by: Bryce Jackson

Game of the Year: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Best RPG: Persona 5

Best Score: Nier Automata

Best Action Adventure: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Most Anticipated Game: The Last of Us Part II

Best Art Direction: Cuphead

(Horizon Zero Dawn won no awards. Boo)

Trailers, Announcements, and Notable Moments

World War Z

The book that inspired the movie is now being turned into a game. There wasn’t much detail given but it seems that it may be from directly after the first outbreak rather than the globetrotting sets the movie had. However, this is the announcement trailer so we have plenty of time to see what angle they’re going to play and when we can expect a future release date. (We have to assume it’ll be after the release of Days Gone and The Last of Us Part II.)

Soul Calibur VI

Soul Calibur is back with its newest entry since 2012. We got a quick glimpse at gameplay with classic characters but got no release date. So yay!

Bayonetta 1 and 2 Switch Port. Bayonetta 3 Announced

Nintendo took time out of taking all the awards to announce that they are making remastered versions of Bayonetta 1 and 2 in what seems to be a combo release. They also announced that they are working on Bayonetta 3 for an exclusive Switch release. No projected release date was given, but the Switch game catalog is starting to fill out with some solid titles.

Death Stranding

Hideo Kojima made an appearance with director Guillermo del Toro and dropped off the longest video game trailer ever and yet, we dont know wtf is going on or what the game is about. There’s Norman Reedus. and Aliens. And a bro-fetus. Video Kojima is building hype for his game only by confusing who is interesting but also turns off who is too confused to care about the game. No release date was give so who knows when we get some actual answers.

A Way Out creator “rant”

The highlight of the night (other than the awards), Josef Fares gave an energetic rant about single player games, his experience at the Game Awards vs the Oscars and a perceived rant against EA even though his game is being published by EA. 

A Way Out is expected March 23rd, 2018 and will feature a unique trial tactic. Given that its a game where 2 characters are being controlled throughout the game, if Friend A has the game and Friend B does not, friend B can still play with A for a limited time

Player Unknown’s: Battlegrounds

The biggest Early Access game of the year and most streamed game of 2017 finally got a release date of December 20th, 2017 and got a new playable area that will be released at launch that calls for different tactics than the island that players have had time to gameplay for all this time.

Metro: Exodus

First seen at E3 2017, Metro: Exodus dropped a new trailer with exposition and clues to what the game is about. You play as a person searching for survivors and/or scavenging a metropolitan area that is heavily irradiated and infested with mutant creatures. Assuming that the other train was being controlled by other humans, you’ll have to survive attacks from multiple enemy types.