Each year,The Game Awardsfeatures a slew of new game announcements as well as awards. These announcements come in quick succession and it’s easy to miss a few, but for gamers hungry for new content, these new reveals are an important part of the show. While game development has been complicated over the last two years given the global pandemic, theGame Awardshad plenty of surprise announcements for fans to get excited about.
As the industry deals with the ongoing pandemic, the games that have naturally been worst affected by slowdowns are large-scale open-world games. For the enormous subsection of gamers that are fans of the immersive and free play style open world games allow, there were a number of reveals and trailers at The Game Awards of interest. Previously announced open world games like theSaints Rowreboot,Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League,andTchiafeatures at the awards with new trailers. The brand new game reveals at the awards include a handful of open-world titles, as well as some games in which it’s unclear yet if it’s open world.
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Wonder Woman
Coming from the developers behindF.E.A.R.,Middle-earth: Shadow of MordorandShadow of Wargames, as well asGotham City Impostors,Monolith Productions revealed a newWonder Womangamein development. This is actually the first game that will focus solely on Diana Prince, although she’s appeared in a variety ofJustice League-related games. Not a huge amount is known about the game so far, with the reveal trailer only showing a glimpse of Wonder Woman’s costume.
Monolith’sWonder Womanwill be a singleplayer open-world adventure with an original narrative set in the DC Universe. The game will be using a version of the Nemesis System, made famous byMiddle-earth:Shadow of Mordor.This game was certainly one of the biggest surprises of the Game Awards, and Diana’s own mythological connections fit well with the popularity of Norse and Greek mythology-inspired games, such asGod of War. Wonder Woman fans will undoubtedly be excited for Diana’s first solo game adventure, and the open-world setting is an encouraging sign for the upcoming game.
Sonic Frontiers
Sonic is not a video game character typically associated with open-world games, but the speedy blue hedgehog will be making his first foray into the genre inthe upcomingSonic Frontiers.
As most reports of the game have noted,Sonic Frontiersseems like it will be similar toZelda: Breath of the Wildwith “open-zone” gameplay, a combination of open-world and Sonic’s traditional zone-based gameplay.Sonic Frontiersis being developed by Team Sonic with Morio Kishimoto directing. Set on the Starfall Islands, Sonic’s quest in this open world will be to stop ancient technology released by Doctor Eggman.Sonic Frontiersis set to release late next year, so fans may not have too long to wait.
Nightingale
Technically described as a shared-world game,Nightingalewill feature survival crafting gameplay in a fantasy world. The game already looks visually appealing, with a Victorian-inspired fantasy setting that players can experience solo, or in multiplayer. This is the debut game from Inflexion Games, which was set up by former BioWare developers. Players will assume control of a Realmwalker in this game as they search for humanity’s last bastion, the city of Nightingale.Nightingalelooks like it will be an immersive fantasy with Fae-inspired enemies in an open-world setting that players can explore alone or with friends.
Another of the Game Awards' biggest reveals, not a lot is known aboutSlitterhead.Slitterheadis being developed bySilent Hillcreator, Keiichiro Toyama, and considering how integralSilent Hill’sopen world was to the experience of that game, it’s likely this new game will feature the same. The cancellation ofSilent Hillshas infamously left fans of the series uncertain of the future, and this announcement from the series' original creator is very welcome news.Slitterheadis also set to feature music by Akira Yamaoka, who was integral in the effective musical ambiance ofSilent Hillgames, so fans are expecting this game to fill theSilent Hill-shaped hole left in their hearts.
As mentioned, there was also plenty of updates to previously announced open-world games at the Game Awards, including themuch anticipatedElden Ring;there are also potentially open-world games featured in the awards, though of the new announcements,Slitterheadseems the most likely to actually be open-world. For fans of this style of game though, the three new and confirmed open-world game announcements should be welcome news.
