What to expect from The Game Awards 2025
Blog Andrew Joseph 06 Dec , 2025 0
It's that time of year when the Game of the Year Awards showcase a slew of new video game trailers and gameplay showcases. While who wins Game of the Year will dominate some of the headlines on December 11, a lot of the excitement also comes from the secrets and surprises that are unleashed in the form of new game announcements.
So we're keeping an eye out for what's been confirmed to appear so far, what's been teased, and some pie-in-the-sky dream games that we know deep in our brains aren't going to happen, but our hearts tell us they are possible Just an opportunity. Don't worry, we won't be that far-fetched grand theft auto 6 Will be attending The Game Awards, also The Witcher 4which CD Projekt Red has confirmed it will not. But that's enough. Let's get straight to your topic able Looking forward to The Game Awards 2025.
What we know will be there
Rich. Inspiring. thickness. No, those are not words that are often used to describe me, but those words that were used in Geoff Keighley’s social media post last week about the mysterious demon-covered boulders that appeared in the Mojave Desert. Theories have been circulated as to what it might be teasing, but Most of the speculation has been debunked“Diablo”, “God of War” and “The Elder Scrolls 6” are said to have nothing to do with it. What do you think it is?
magnificent thickness pic.twitter.com/ly1duUcE1B
— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) November 29, 2025
we do know Resident Evil Requiem The latest work in this long-running horror series will be presented with a new look on the 11th. Arriving early next year, Rumors have been circulating Since it was first revealed that Resident Evil 4 boss Leon Kennedy would appear in Requiem. Is it time for Capcom to confirm his inclusion?
A new playable character will be revealed Invincible VSalthough. The fighting game based on the beloved manga and animated TV show has attracted a lot of attention since its release over the summer, so who do you think this character will be? We will also take a good look exodusis an upcoming sci-fi action role-playing game from Archetype Studios, formed by former BioWare developers. With the Mass Effect pedigree behind it, we're certainly looking forward to seeing more of this. We also know that developer Creative Assembly will be launching a new Total War game, as follows 25th anniversary of the series.
Finally, we know one of the musical acts on Thursday night will be from Evanence, who will be performing the song “Afterlife” from Netflix's adaptation of Devil May Cry. Would I have preferred them singing “Bring Me to Life” with Nathan Fielder, who dressed up as an airline pilot and sang backup? Yes, of course, but we can’t have everything in this world.
what could be there
Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33 It broke the record for most nominations at The Game Awards and looked set to be one of the big winners of the night. Will we see a release date announcement? An upcoming free update will add new dungeonsand other treats? Who knows, maybe even a cheeky little shade…
Another announcement we could see from one of the night's big nominees is a wider console release Hades 2. Currently only available on PC and Switch, could one of the best games of 2025 make its way to PS5 and Xbox?
Fallout Season 2 Set to air on Amazon Prime Video on December 17, we wouldn't be surprised to see Ella Purnell and Walton Goggins team up to give us a sneak peek, given Jeff's penchant for having stars from both the big and small screen take the stage at gaming awards shows.
When it comes to big screen stars, nothing is more cinematic than James Bond. 007 First sight of dawn is the upcoming action-adventure game from Hitman studio IO Interactive, and as you can read, it's progressing very well in my big preview. With it launching in March 2026, we're sure to get another hit on the Bond pipeline soon. Can you reveal a major piece of information, such as who the villain is, or Who is performing the theme of the game?attending a game awards ceremony? The stage seems set for the latter to perform live at the show.
Marvel 1943: Rise of HydraCaptain America and Black Panther's World War II adventure, helmed by Uncharted's Amy Hennig, will move out in early 2026. This delay likely means we'll have to wait a while before we can play Captain America and Black Panther's World War II adventure, but is now the time to reveal the full gameplay?
Speaking of Marvel, Insomniac’s Marvel's Wolverine It's expected to launch in late 2026, and while we've already had a few teasers of what it will look like in action, we'd certainly like to see more. As for other PlayStation exclusives, Housemarque's Sharos It looks like the hit sci-fi shooter Returnal will launch in March. Again, we'd like to see more. There is also a PlayStation Studios game, Interstellar: Prophet of Heresyit might be a while yet – if you think you'll be playing this game in 2026, keep dreaming – but given its big reveal at last year's Game Awards, it won't be long before we get a bigger look at Naughty Dog's next project.
On the Xbox front, are we finally getting a good look at something? fable Gameplay? or maybe see Gears of War: E-Day In action? besides Forza Horizon 6 We've only seen the tiniest teaser of what's on the way next year. We knew it was set in Japan, so we were interested to see how beautifully Playground Games depicted Tokyo. Plus, let's face it, driving games can never resist going all out at an event like this and putting their cover cars center stage.
It's also not going to be a Geoff Keighley show with Hideo Kojima sprinkled in. The creators of Metal Gear Solid are picking up some awards thanks to Death Stranding 2: On the Beachbut might we also get to see what happens next for him? Xbox Horror Exclusive Outer diameter: knock Continues to be ridiculed because it brings back disturbing memories of PT, so we can see more of it. besides Fresinthis PlayStation spy action exclusive. At the moment, it seems that this may be far away, but Hideo Kojima has not revealed the possibility further.
Another legendary developer, Ken Levine, continues to work on judah. It's been over 12 years since his last game release (2013's BioShock Infinite), so who knows if now is the time to finally give us a release date for the game. I'm very excited about it, but I'm not going to let myself get carried away until I know when I can actually play it. The things I can already play with a little bit are Phantom Blade Zeroa punishing sword action game from Chinese developer S-Game. It was originally scheduled to be launched in 2025, but will the release date finally be announced on the 11th?
Finally, now. FromSoftware's Switch 2 Exclusive, Twilight BloodIt's been pretty quiet since its debut at a Nintendo Direct in April. Slated to launch in 2026 – and with Keighley having made several Miyazaki-related revelations at The Game Awards in the past – perhaps it's time to take a closer look at what the co-op action RPG is all about.
Everything we dream of will be there
Well, at least we don't have to close our eyes and cross our fingers to hope Hollow Knight: Silk Song Release date no longer available. But will Team Cherry release DLC for one of the best games of 2025? Even I wouldn't sincerely suggest this.
One of the best games this year is Great Vajra Bananzait is an important release window for Nintendo's 3D platform games. This may come as a surprise to some who thought Mario would nail this spot. Could we see a new 3D Mario game at The Game Awards? Admittedly, this is a long shot, but with the new super mario galaxy movie It would be nice to have a new game to go alongside it on the way next spring.
More likely, look at what Cory Barlog is doing at Sony Santa Monica. One from Mars There have been rumors about a director outside of that universe for quite some time now, and it feels like we might be getting closer to finding out what it is. The Game Awards' model is for past Game of the Year winners to come back and showcase their next projects. So that gives us a little bit of hope.
Along those lines, the two most recent grand prize winners are Elden Ring and Baldur's Gate 3. As mentioned earlier, FromSoftware, the creators of the former, will likely bring Twilight Blood to the table, but what about a new single-player action RPG? Bloodborne 2, anyone? I almost feel bad for mentioning it. As for Baldur's Gate 3, developer Larian is definitely working on the next game now, although considering that Baldur's Gate 3 did take many, many years to make, we wouldn't expect to be able to play it anytime soon. But can we see what's coming? Do you think this will be Baldur's Gate 4 or something completely different?
BioWare, the original developer of Baldur's Gate, has its sights on the stars as EA Studios returns to the beloved sci-fi RPG series with Mass Effect. Will we know where the story goes next? Or maybe we even dare to dream some mass effect 5 Gameplay? This might be a bit too far, but I do like to dream.
Speaking of dreams, I can't help but mention half life 3. There have been rumors in recent weeks that The long-awaited FPS sequel may be in developmentan announcement will be made soon. Will it actually show up at the Game Awards? Geoff Keighley does have a long history with Valve, but these days it operates more like Rockstar, with little need for outside help to deliver its massive marketing campaigns. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see Gordon Freeman on that big screen, but I won't believe it until I do.
What would your dream gaming award reveal? Let us know in the comments below. My game is, as always, Burnout's full reboot from the original Criterion team, but I might have to admit that I don't live in 2005 anymore.
Simon Cardy is a senior editor at IGN, who can be found mostly lurking around open-world games, obsessing over Korean movies, or despairing about the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky: @cardy.bsky.social.