Memories of the 2019 Game Awards

It isn’t like they were that long ago, I suppose. I checked — December 12th. Only a few days really. Which frankly blows my mind. Time has clearly entered some sort of unstable warp state as we enter ever closer proximity to the end-of-year. Because I would’ve sworn it was a week or two ago if asked without the benefit of access to the internet.

But even that aside, it would be at least a little difficult for me to have ‘memories’ of the event per se — because… Well, I didn’t watch it in any shape or form. Clearly in the space between the 2018 and the 2019 Game Awards, I’d completely forgotten the fact it is used as a vehicle for game announcements and trailer drops.

I’m going by ‘memory’ in a sense similar to what Bhagpuss did recently with looking at upcoming MMOs. Rather than digging into the details and ‘researching’ what’s coming — just going by what stuck in mind. I did earlier take a look at all the announcements, but other than the new Xbox, here are the ones that stuck and are of the most interest to me.

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II

My threshold for spoilers is pretty high — but still I almost decided not to watch this one, given I haven’t finished Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice yet.

I’m glad I did though. It piqued my interest something fierce to see how we get from where I am in Senua’s story to here. So much so that upon seeing this trailer, I had no choice but to immediately go and set Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice to installing and downloading again. (I’d taken it off alongside everything else I uninstalled for the November Challenge.)

With the madness of the Birthday season behind me (My wife and my son have birthdays only two days apart), I’m very likely to dive back into this one. Soon.

Final Fantasy VII Remake

I don’t think I’m completely sold on Cloud’s english voice actor yet — but oh my word hearing that scorpion bot boss music again…

Final Fantasy VII was my first Final Fantasy. I played it for a while without the benefit of a memory card. There was no saving games on the Playstation 1 without one. So I couldn’t tell you how many times my brother and I ran through that early Midgar reactor section. We weren’t allowed to just leave the Playstation on to hold our progress either. So we just had to try get through it quickly. Hah. The first time we successfully blew the reactor and got out was incredible.

But it wasn’t until later when we bought a memory card, that we managed to leave Midgar altogether. Ahhh memories… :)

Everything I’ve seen so far has led me to extreme optimism that this will hit the perfect notes between respecting the old and remaking into something new.

Warframe: Empyrean Update Trailer

Perhaps not the best of trailers in its own right — but the update it represents is incredible. … In concept. And I hope in reality. With the aforementioned Birthday season, I still don’t have first hand experience yet!

But soon! (Maybe tonight!) I will!

This first release essentially requires a party to crew your ship. There are no AI or command modules available yet, although they are coming as optional upgrades in a further release.

I’m glad I managed to finish building my Railjack, now it’s just a matter of jumping in to see how it all comes together. No doubt I’ll have more to say on this soon.

The Wolf Among Us 2

When Telltale shutdown (before it subsequent resurrection), the series of theirs I was most sad about never seeing a follow-up to was without a doubt The Wolf Among Us.

I had no attachment or familiarity with the source material — and yet it was turned into one of the most compelling stories in the Telltale line-up. I can forgive the lack of ‘real’ gameplay. I can look over the fact that there isn’t even really too much offered over control of your ultimate destiny if the story is at least told well.

No-one decries books for having a single linear plot, after all. … Well, maybe that’s not true upon reflection. Pick a Path books are a thing, after all.

But I digress — The Wolf Among Us was a fantastically told tale. And it looks like, like Telltale itself, it gets to live again.

Any Others?

The above are the ones that stick out the most, but yeah — I recall a few others. Godfall — announced for PS5, but also PC thankfully — could wind up being interesting. It’s just too early for me to tell. It’s being billed as a looter-slasher. So… Go on. You have my attention.

Wait, that’s it? Noooooo.

Aesthetically it actually reminds me a lot of Warframe actually.

There was also a trailer for Humankind. I didn’t at all like the trailer itself — but the developers (Amplitude) are also responsible for the ‘Endless’ series of games — Endless Space (1 and 2), Endless Legend and Endless Dungeon. I love all of them. So seeing what Amplitude does with their take on Civilisation will be interesting indeed.

Oh. Right. Also some Awards of some kind happened right? Sekiro won overall Game of the Year. … Not sure about that. In fact, it might’ve been this round of awards where I finally realised that it isn’t just marketing awards that focus first and foremost on keeping sponsors and people who buy tickets to the event interested moreso than awarding any actual merit.

Awards will be shared around to keep everyone as happy as possible, and keen to invest in their respective ways next time around.

*sigh*

It’s like learning Santa isn’t real.