The Game Awards 2023: Releases, teases and all else

While releasing for Xbox series S and X, Baldur’s Gate 3 was crowned as a game of the year

Ava Brooks - Dec 08, 2023

An undated image of The Games Award logo. — Facebook/@Hassnain Rizvi

Embrace or regret, what just walked us gaming maniacs past is The Game Awards for the ongoing year 2023, hosted by Geoff Keighley, with a myriad of game announcements splashing through its eye-watering glimpse.

Among the most notable happenings, Baldur’s Gate 3 was crowned as a game of the year — alongside the announcement of its availability for Xbox.

Moreover, the revellers also witnessed some free DLC for God of War, a new Monster Hunter game, the surprise launches of BG3 on Xbox and The Finals, an ambitious project from No Man’s Sky studio Hello Games, and a flood of other games’ trailers, and not to neglect, with Hideo Kojima showing off his mysterious Xbox game called OD.

So that was just the skimming of some prominent and outstanding stuff that took place there. Now let us give you a quick walkthrough of what else we came across during this extravaganza event.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is available for Xbox

Besides winning the Game of the Year for 2023, Baldur’s Gate 3 has been made available to purchase on Xbox Series X and S, for $69.99.

During the event, Larian Studios announced that it would be bringing Baldur’s Gate 3 to Microsoft’s consoles, though without split-screen co-op on the Xbox Series S. This comes just before the release of the PS5 version.

Final Fantasy XVI launched its DLC: Echoes of the Fallen

We already knew that Square Enix was up to DLC for Final Fantasy XVI. But during the Game Awards, we learned it was working on not one but two DLC chapters with one of them available.

The first DLC, Echoes of the Fallen, is a new story chapter that takes place before the final battle. It features the whole gang working together to investigate messed-up crystals.

In the DLC, Clive will also be able to wield the iconic buster sword weapon from Final Fantasy VII as well as earn a chiptune version of the FFXVI song “Away”.

Capcom slated Monster Hunter Wilds for 2025

At The Game Awards, to make things a little wilder, Capcom revealed the latest entry in the franchise: Monster Hunter Wilds.

Slated for the PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X / S, the game isn’t expected to launch before 2025. There’s at least a very beautiful trailer to watch full of lots of mounts to ride and monsters to hunt. More about Wilds will come in the summer of 2024.

Alan Wake II’s New Game Plus mode to release on December 11

Kyle Rowley, the director of Alan Wake II, snuck in the mention of the new mode at the end of Sam Lake’s acceptance speech for the Best Game Direction award. How vowed for something unique this time.

The Finals launched by Embark Studios

Gustav Tilleby, creative director of The Finals, described a new shooter from former Battlefield developers, a surprise release during The Game Awards. Tilleby with his team at Embark Studios spent nearly five years developing server-side destruction to create something truly unique. The entire environment is destructible, making The Finals feel like a first-person shooter like no other.

Dead Cells revealed their new game in 3D

Motion Twin surprised the gaming community with Dead Cells, a 2D game that came out on all platforms in 2018. Now, at The Game Awards, they revealed their new game, Windblown, set to be available on Steam for PC by early 2024. In this game, you become a Leaper fighting for your home while exploring new and risky open worlds.

The upcoming DLC of God of War Ragnarok is to be a roguelike

Chris Judge, the person behind Kratos' voice, announced the Performer of the Year, but he's also returning in God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla. It's a free DLC for the popular game that won awards last year. The new content will introduce roguelike gameplay to the series while keeping the familiar God of War style. Excitingly, it's set to be released next week on December 12, 2023, and will be available on both PS4 and PS5.

Sega announces five games at one

Sega revealed five games at once. Though it's not clear if these are brand-new games or remakes of the existing ones, what’s known is that the new games are coming for Shinobi, Crazy Taxi, Streets of Rage, Golden Axe, and Jet Set Radio.

Single-player Dead by Daylight is coming in 2024

Known for creating games like Until Dawn and The Quarry, Supermassive Games is teaming up with Behaviour Interactive, the creators of Dead by Daylight, to work on a new game called The Casting of Frank Stone — a solo adventure set in the Dead by Daylight world. The game is expected to come out in 2024.