Between the biggest game trailer reveal of, like, maybe the last half decade, The Game Awards and South Africa’s signature annual gaming expo rolling around, it’s been a week for gaming news dominating the pop culture headlines. It’s not all that’s happened, though, so let’s get you caught up now.

Gaming

First up, here’s your reminder that it’s rAge weekend. South Africa’s Really Awesome Gaming Expo is taking place Friday to Sunday at Gallagher Convention Centre in Johannesburg. Casual and competitive gaming tournaments, South Africa’s biggest LAN, a massive multiplayer VR arena, robotics, parkour, geek and tech shopping, cosplay, and the return of NAG Magazine in a collectible print format – it’s all happening. Get your tickets here.

The Game Awards 2023 took place in Los Angeles last night (that’s very early morning in South Africa), and many of us are still digesting the show. You can watch the entire three-hour ceremony here, but in short, it was high fantasy RPG Baldur’s Gate 3 that took home the coveted Game of the Year award. Along with GOTY, Baldur’s Gate racked up a further 5 awards, including Best RPG, Best Multiplayer and Best Performance (for Neil Newbon as rogue Astarion).

Remedy’s brain-exploding Alan Wake 2 picked up three wins in the categories of Best Game Direction, Best Narrative, and Best Art Direction. Meanwhile, Street Fighter 6 was named best Fighting Game, Forza Motorsport came first in Best Sports/Racing, and Sea of Stars and Cocoon were the standout indies.

Of course, The Game Awards isn’t just about handing out shiny trophies. It doubles as a high-profile gaming showcase. You can see everything announced during the show here, and boy, is it a lot, including surprise free DLC, confirmation of Hideo Kojima’s next game, and a surprise instant shadow drop of Baldur’s Gate 3 for Xbox Series consoles. From the glut of news, we’ve singled out the following three game trailers and announcements.

There’s still no locked down 2024 release date, but we got a fresh look at Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, Ninja Theory’s continuation of the story of Senua, a Pictish warrior who lives with psychosis and pursues vengeance against the Vikings who brought horror to her homeland. The new trailer spotlights the gameplay of Senua’s Saga, which will release on Xbox Series consoles and PC.

Out in late 2024, Lost Records: Bloom and Rage is the latest narrative adventure from Life is Strange, Tell Me Why and Jusant developers Dont Nod. In this supernatural-touched tale, a group of close high school friends break contact after something happens in the woods during the summer of 1995. Twenty-seven years later, fate reunites them to confront the long-buried past. Lost Records: Bloom and Rage is coming to PC, Xbox Series consoles, and PS5.

Finally, Bethesda and Arkane Lyon (the makers of Dishonored and DEATHLOOP) are taking a stab at a dark superhero adventure. Described as “a mature, single-player, third-person game set in the heart of Paris,” Marvel’s Blade centred on Eric Brooks, a half-man, half-vampire who is committed to ridding the world of the blood-thirsty undead. Marvel’s Blade joins the likes of Black Panther, and that other Black Panther co-op game (with Captain America), as Marvel games in very early development.

Wholesome Snack, a Game Awards affiliated showcase from Wholesome Games, happened this week. You can watch the 30-minute presentation in its entirety here, but in terms of cosy indie games that stood out for us, check out:

Our absolute standout from Wholesome Snack, though, is Momento. Introduced as a game for fans of Unpacking and A Little to the Left, both of which we loved, Momento sees the player journey through an unseen character’s life by decorating rooms. The items you choose to keep and display will determine the path that said life follows. There’s no release date for Momento yet, but its definitely one to keep an eye on.

Over at sister streaming event Day of the Devs The Game Awards Edition 2023, there were 20 game announcements, which you can read about here, and then wishlist the games here. Among the spotlighted titles was mother-daughter road trip adventure Open Roads, from The Open Roads Team and Annapurna Interactive.

Announced back in 2019, Open Roads is now finally set for release on 22 February 2024 after enduring a bumpy development that saw the project start life at acclaimed indie studio Fullbright before the creative team distanced (and rebranded) themselves away from Fullbright’s reportedly toxic founder Steve Gaynor.

Coming with some serious star power, Open Roads features vocal performances by Keri Russell and Kaitlyn Dever. The game is set to launch on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam.

If all of this wasn’t enough, LEGO and Fortnite have joined forces for a whole new video game experience, and the long-awaited Grand Theft Auto VI trailer pretty much broke the Internet – think 127 million views in three days. Then again, it’s been ten years since the last game in Rockstar’s open world crime-centred action adventure saga. Featuring the first playable female criminal in the mainline game series, and taking players back to Vice City in its universe’s parody of Miami, Florida, GTA VI will release at some point in 2025 for Playstation 5 and Xbox series X/S.

Series

Last week fans got a first look at, and in-depth read about, Prime Video’s Fallout, an adaptation of the Bethesda video game series. Since then, the first trailer has dropped, revealing that this ensemble sci-fi drama, set centuries after a Nuclear Apocalypse features the same mix of violence and pitch black satire as its source material.

Fallout premieres on Prime Video on 12 April 2024.

It’s also been a busy week overall in terms of trailer reveals for returning fan-favourite shows.

  • Max’s Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon swoops in with its 8-episode Season 2, starting in the US Summer of 2024
  • Video game adaptation Halo is back on Paramount+ with its second season as of 8 February.
  • Finally, there’s Prime Video’s dark superhero series The Boys, which returns with its high-stakes Season 4 at some point in 2024.

Film

We’re sticking to just two movie news stories this week.

The first is the official trailer for the next film in the MonsterVerse saga, titled Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Following the events of Godzilla vs. Kong, the titanic enemies are forced to join forces when a new threat emerges from beneath our world.

Not that the humans really matter in these films, but Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire stars a returning Rebecca Hall and Brian Tyree Henry, with Dan Stevens and Fala Chen. The film opens in cinemas next year on 12 April.

The Brothers Sun slipped under our radar until now… but not anymore. Kicking off 2024 – coming to Netflix on 4 January – is this action comedy.

Living in Los Angeles, sheltered son Bruce (Sam Song Li) has a rude awakening when he discovers that his family leads the most powerful triad in Taiwan — a crime organisation now being targeted by an ambitious rival. Justin Chien plays Bruce’s older brother Charles, and Michelle Yeoh is matriarch Eileen, both of whom hid the truth from Bruce for years.