The Game Awards is right around the corner and the gaming community is wondering if a new God of War title could be announced. While the awards ceremony is ongoing, there is no telling what major surprises various game developers have brought along for a global premiere. Here are 9 highly-anticipated games that could appear during this year’s The Game Awards.
9. Wonder Woman
After showing off an impressive teaser during The Game Awards 2021, the gaming community is eager to see what Monolith Productions has in store for the upcoming Wonder Woman game. No other details have been shared since the initial teaser trailer two years ago and many fans have been begging for an update.
Enough time has passed and the game developers could have cobbled something together to share during the upcoming event. Monolith Productions could show a brief gameplay trailer, cutscenes, or even a release date. The DC universe is moving towards a new direction under the leadership of James Gunn and this could have serious ramifications for the gaming side of DC.
8. Rise of the Rōnin DLC
Team Ninja is renowned for making great action games like the Nioh and Ninja Gaiden series. The game developers of Team Ninja partnered with Sony Interactive Entertainment to deliver another great game set during the Bakumatsu period through Rise of the Rōnin. While the game was a pleasant treat for the player base, some would like to see the developers exert more effort for post-launch content.
The game developers took advantage of the open-world sandbox structure and heavily emphasized the player’s freedom to select which side to join. Team Ninja could release a new story expansion to keep the player base engaged and introduce a flurry of new items for them to mess with for a few more hours.
7. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach earned a nomination under the most-anticipated category and for good reason. After the strong impression, the first game left on the gaming community a few months before the global pandemic. Players retreated into isolation and experienced Hideo Kojima’s masterpiece as he inadvertently predicted the future again, and understood what it meant to be a lonely porter in a broken world.
Kojima has shared a few clips here and there during certain events, however, the director never mentioned the exact release date. Fans speculated the game could be released sometime next year and the director could finally provide a solid answer and maybe a new gameplay trailer.
6. Black Myth: Wukong DLC/Xbox Release Date
The PlayStation and PC player bases have said nothing but good things about Black Myth: Wukong and the Xbox community could finally join the party. A few eyebrows were raised when the game launched without an Xbox port. Microsoft representatives suggested the game developers made a deal with other entities to keep the game off their platform, the anticipated port could be announced at the awards show.
Game Science struck gold with this game and received a few nominations including Game of the Year. Perhaps the developers could use the show to gain enough coverage to announce a new story expansion for the base game or a hint of their upcoming project.
5. Dune: Awakening
Funcom has been working on Dune: Awakening for quite some time and has heavily elaborated in-game mechanics such as building bases in various locations and class selections, and even showcased an impressive character creation menu. The developers can no longer ride on the massive sandworm of Denis Villeneuve’s films and it is time for them to let the world know when they can play this game.
The game is seen to be sharing assets from the live-action film. This could encourage fans to play this game while they wait for the next major installment. Perhaps Funcom could unveil a new trailer with the official release date at the end.
4. Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra
Amy Hennig is renowned for her contributions to the Uncharted franchise during the PlayStation 3 era. After leaving Naughty Dog, fans wondered what the legendary creator had been up to. Coincidentally, the superhero games are taking the world by storm. Skydance New Media collaborated with Hennig to spearhead this project and tell an original story featuring the First Avenger and the King of Wakanda in Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra.
The project was announced in 2022 and an impressively detailed trailer was shared earlier this year. The developers utilized Unreal Engine 5 to the absolute limit. The characters heavily resemble their real-life counterparts like Khary Payton as King Azzuri. Hopefully, new footage could be unveiled during the event and the developers could even throw in a release date to keep the fans at bay.
3. Ghost of Yotei
Ghost of Tsushima was the perfect swan song for the PlayStation 4 generation and fans were looking forward to how Sucker Punch Productions would bring this franchise forward in the current generation. After months of rumors and speculations, the developers gave the fans an unexpected but welcome surprise by revealing the Ghost of Yotei. A sequel to one of 2020’s biggest games is exciting enough but the kicker was the release window of 2025.
The first Ghost game benefitted from being featured in The Game Awards in 2019 where the Game Awards Orchestra played the main theme while the official trailer was unveiled. Perhaps Sony and Keighley could recreate that moment for this year’s event.
2. A New God of War Game
The ending of the Norse Saga meant a new beginning for Kratos, Atreus, and the surviving characters from the God of War franchise. Rumors of an original trilogy remake have been circulating the internet, especially after how the developers of Santa Monica Studio recreated assets from the Greek era in the Valhalla expansion. Christopher Judge stoked the flames with his recent TikTok livestream and fans misinterpreted his upcoming announcements.
Unfortunately, Christopher Judge cleared the air and stated that he is unaware of any God of War-related projects in active development. Perhaps Judge could be throwing the fans off for a massive surprise during The Game Awards or is being honest and is trying his best to measure expectations to avoid disappointment.
1. Marvel’s Wolverine
The success of the original Spider-Man games developed by Insomniac Games encouraged the developers to pursue greater heights and utilize other iconic Marvel characters. The gaming community erupted with joy after seeing the brief announcement trailer of Marvel’s Wolverine in 2021, and its radio silence since then. Unfortunately, the developers became the prime targets of hackers and a bunch of classified information has been leaked online, including unfinished gameplay footage.
Insomniac Games recently confirmed that they are not working on any major post-launch content for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 such as story expansions, and this could be a sign that the team is in full swing on this new project. The Game Awards is still a few weeks away, and fans are clinging to hope that new content and news will be shared for this highly anticipated project.
For more Thumb Wars Gaming coverage, check out the latest on Shuhei Yoshida’s retirement, and our explainer for the full God of War timeline.
Rouvin Josef Quirimit is a Content Writer, an avid gamer (on his PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch), and film enthusiast. He was fortunate to grow up with the Marvel Cinematic Universe and was enamored by the storytelling of a shared universe full of heart and spectacle. His love for movies led him to great single-player games and he intends to cover major franchises for years to come!
