The Game Awards 2020

Canadian gaming icon Geoff Keighley hosted the 2020 edition of The Game Awards, the video game industry’s annual year-end celebration. It was live streamed across more than 45 global video platforms. Even though 2020 has been a challenging year, The Game Awards adapted quite nicely. It took a digital multi-city approach with live award presentations, musical performances, and world premiere game announcements.

Let’s take a look at some of the top highlights from last night’s event.

A new and re-imagined Perfect Dark game announced

A new entry in the beloved Perfect Dark franchise has been rumoured for a while now. At The Game Awards last night, those rumours were confirmed! The Initiative announced and gave us a brief glimpse at their first project, Perfect Dark.

Not a lot of details are known about the game. However, what we do know, this re-imagined Perfect Dark game is classified as an Eco Sci-Fi. An ecological disaster has occurred that affected the world on a global scale. As a result, corporations came in and developed new technology to help remedy the problem but all is not as it seems. According to the developers, it’s a hopeful world on the surface but once you scratch past it there are a lot of things to be thought about and changed.

Left 4 Dead spiritual successor Back 4 Blood announced and demoed

Turtlerock, developers of Left 4 Dead, previously announced they were working on a new game. And, last night, we finally got to see a gameplay demo of Back 4 Blood. The game is designed from the ground-up as an original title that features everything you loved about Left 4 Dead and includes new features.

As it stands, Back 4 Blood is scheduled to release on June 22, 2021 for Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

Microsoft Flight Simulator is coming to Xbox Series X|S Summer 2021

One of the most impressive PC games in recent memory, Microsoft Flight Simulator, is coming to Xbox Series X|S in Summer 2021. With the same level of depth as the PC version, Microsoft Flight Simulator is one of the most authentic flying simulations around. It features genuine real-time air traffic, dynamic weather and more. Click here to read Dave’s review of Microsoft Flight Simulator on PC.

Master Chief comes to Fortnite

Last week Kratos made his debut in Fortnite and this week it’s Master Chief’s turn. He’s available starting today and also comes with the UNSC Pelican Glider, a miniature Pelican carrier, a mini Warthog emote and displays a holographic Elite skull with a trophy of the Chief’s exploits: The Battle Legend Back Bling.

And, you’ll get a Gravity Hammer Pickaxe. Starting December 11 at 10 am ET, you can go into the world of Master Chief in Creative mode and experience a recreation of this classic map. Finally, if you complete a match on Xbox X|S, you’ll unlock Master Chief in a matte black style.

Other announcements and news

While there might not have been any news as big as the Xbox Series X reveal last year, there was plenty of other news. Sephiroth is the latest to be added to the line up of fighters in Super Smash Bros Ultimate. A new studio with members from the team behind Dead Space debuted a new game called The Callisto Protocol that looks amazing and is scheduled to launch in 2022.

BioWare gave us a very brief look at the next Mass Effect game with an official teaser trailer. Finally, Hazelight Studios announced a release date of March 26, 2021 for its genre-bending platform adventure game, It Takes Two.

The Last of Us Part II wins game of the year

Unsurprisingly, The Last of Us Part II took home the GOTY award along with 7 other awards. Quite arguably the best game of the PS4 era, the game’s story is a rollercoaster ride of emotions. Every character has their own unique personalities and traits. That means, there are times you will love them and other times you’ll down right despise them. And, every single aspect of this game has an immaculate attention to detail that I have never seen before in a video game.

It’s not to say that the other contenders in the category such as Doom Eternal, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Ghost of Tsushima, Hades and Animal Crossing: New Horizons aren’t fantastic games in their own rights. Final Fantasy VII Remake won best role playing game. And, DONTNOD’s narrative based adventure, Tell Me Why, won in the Games for Impact category.

Nintendo didn’t go home empty handed as Animal Crossing: New Horizons won Best Family Game. And, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 won Best Sports/Racing game.

Wrapping up The Game Awards 2020

While The Game Awards 2020 didn’t have any bombshell announcements like last year’s Xbox Series X, there is plenty to be excited about. Let me know in the comments section below what your favourite announcement was from this year’s show. Do you agree with the panel’s choice for Game of the Year?

Look for the Best Buy Blog Gaming Team’s 2020 Game of the Year Choices soon, right here on the blog.

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