The Game Awards 2024 took place Thursday night, and it was very entertaining. Host Geoff Keighley invited several high-profile game developers and publishers to announce their new games there. In turn, plenty of stunning announcement trailers aired during the event, from the purely cinematic to ones that used those pretty cinematics to draw people in before showing off gameplay. If you didn’t tune into The Game Awards 2024 live, but are wondering which trailers from it you should check out, we recommend watching the seven following trailers from the event, listed in order of appearance during the show.
Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound
From Shadow Labyrinth to Rematch, The Game Awards 2024’s Opening Act was full of surprise announcements. None shocked me more (or had a better trailer) than the game that kicked the night off. That would be Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, a 2D platformer revival of an iconic Koei Tecmo series. As the first trailer of the night, it had great pacing. It slowly teases the lauded studios involved in the project before cutting to a beautiful cinematic reminiscent of Ninja Gaiden, with that connection finally being confirmed once you see Ryu Hayabusa. Not long after that, we get a brief look at some gameplay, which I always appreciate in a reveal trailer, before the title and release date are confirmed. Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound started The Game Awards 2024 on a high note, and the show kept up the momentum from there.
The Witcher IV
Once we finally arrived at the main show, CD Projekt Red came out swinging with the first trailer for The Witcher IV. The trailer, which was animated by Platige Image, looks absolutely stunning. It also feels like a short film in its own right, something that wouldn’t have felt out of place in Secret Level. It tells a complete story of its own about Ciri attempting to save a young woman set to be sacrificed by her village. The reveal of Ciri as the protagonist was one of the night’s more cheer-worthy moments, and I’m still thinking about its chilling ending. Because of the rocky launch of Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt Red still needs to show gameplay to win back my trust. Still, this trailer made me intrigued about what it’s working on next.
Fumito Ueda’s new game
The most mysterious trailer of the night was for a new, still untitled game from Fumito Ueda, the legendary game developer behind groundbreaking games like Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. He’s been chipping away at this new game since The Last Guardian was released in 2016, so it’s gratifying to finally get a look at it. Not that it’s all too easy to understand what’s going on as we see someone climb up a large colossus as an ominous countdown booms in the background. If the whole game can keep up this teaser’s intrigue and enthralling feel, we may have another all-timer on our hands.
Project Century
While the reveal that Sega and RGG Studio are making a new Virtua Fighter game was exciting, I found the following trailer even more fascinating. Project Century’s reveal starts out by establishing a vibe for its 1915 Japan setting that we haven’t really seen from this studio before, with some classical music and establishing shots of people going about their day in a city. Then, we see a player character start to get into some fistfights, but they have a slower, more brutal pacing than those in the Like a Dragon games. That feeling is affirmed as the trailer goes on, and we see the player use weapons to stab and kill other people. By not even revealing an official title or release window, it left me chomping at the bit to learn more about this game than any other trailer that aired at The Game Awards 2024.
Onimusha: Way of the Sword
I love it when game trailers at showcases leave me guessing as to which bigger franchise they are connected to. In the past, I’ve mistaken games like Kunitisu-Gami: Path of the Goddess for a new Onimusha, so it was satisfying to slowly piece together that this trailer was for a new Onimusha before Capcom outright confirmed it. While you don’t have the blessing of experiencing this trailer like that, the gorgeous cinematics and visceral gameplay the trailer contains still make it well worth watching. The confirmation of an Okami sequel later on in the show was equally as exciting, but the fact that Onimusha: Way of the Sword’s reveal trailer has more meat on its bones makes it the video I’m recommending you watch.
Stage Fright
It’s always cute when game trailers get meta, and the reveal trailer for Stage Fright does just that. This is a new co-op game from Overcooked’s developers, but the trailer’s main goal is to introduce us to the characters we’ll be playing as. We see them watching and commenting on what’s supposed to be the start of the reveal trailer, only for monsters to interrupt them and the trailer that’s playing. The kids eventually get sucked into a spooky-looking world, and we get an idea of how players will have to work together in split-screen co-op gameplay. Watching the reveal trailer for Stage Fright will put a smile on your face, and I appreciated how it was designed to feel interactive with the stage on which The Game Awards 2024 took place.
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet
I’d be remiss not to mention Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, the lengthy cinematic trailer that closed out the show. It does a great job of introducing viewers to its pulpy sci-fi world (which Sony apparently still exists in) and protagonist Jordan A. Mun before even confirming that Naughty Dog is working on the game. Once the reality that this was Naughty Dog’s new game set in, I instantly wanted to go back and rewatch it to spot every Easter egg and small detail hinting at the adventure’s broader narrative. It was a fantastic trailer for The Game Awards 2024 to end on, and it paired well with the fact that another Sony game won Game of the Year.
