The 2025 Game Awards are upon us, promising many awards for Clair Obscur and an avalanche of gaming trailers. Every year, the 23-hour-long program devotes approximately 22 hours and 59 minutes to upcoming games. Often, legitimately cool-looking games are announced at the show, like Hades in 2018, Death Stranding 2 in 2022, and Exodus in 2023.
This year, the buzz has been through the roof. On Nov. 28, Game Awards host Geoff Keighley tweeted a vague string of text (“regal.inspiring.thickness.”) alongside a photo of a statue with demonic iconography. Of course, this led to a flurry of speculation. Fans spent days convincing themselves that the stunt could spell anything from a new God of War game to a Lords of the Fallen sequel to the long-missing Elder Scrolls 6. But thanks to a trademark leak, the statue has all but been confirmed as marketing for an entry in Larian Studios’ Divinity series of RPGs. (The statue is currently situated outside the Peacock Theater, where the Game Awards will be hosted and where we could stand in front of it making faces.)
Also in the cards: Amazon Games said it will show off details about its Tomb Raider reboot, and Sega teased an announcement pertaining to one of its gazillion franchises.
But that’s not enough to fill an entire day of “world premieres” (Keighley’s phrase). viraltrendingcontent has already spent the past month predicting who will win big at the Game Awards this year. Now, let’s predict some of our dream announcements at tonight’s show.
The return of Halo multiplayer
Earlier this year, Halo Studios announced Halo: Campaign Evolved, a full remake of Halo: Combat Evolved built from the ground up in Unreal 5. The catch? As the name implies, it only includes the campaign. The multiplayer component that has defined the series since day one (and has been languishing this past year) won’t be part of the re-release. But Halo Studios has said it has “multiple projects” in the works. Could Xbox round out the year with a one-two punch of Halo revivals, supplementing the already-revealed campaign nostalgia with a separate multiplayer game? Hopefully. We HCS sickos are parched. —Ari Notis
A Sonic game, but one of the good ones
While The Game Awards can be a little unpredictable, history can give you a good idea of what to expect. For instance, there’s a good chance we’ll see Sonic the Hedgehog at the show in some capacity, seeing as the blue blur has showed up before and Sega puts out his games with an almost annual frequency at this point. What’s harder to predict is if you’re going to get a proper mainline Sonic game or something… bizarre. This year, I’m hoping we see the former. It’s been a few years since we got Sonic Frontiers, so it feels like we’re due for a tease of Sonic’s next true adventure, even if it’s still two years away. Realistically, though, I’m preparing for Sega to announce that Elphaba is coming to Sonic Racing Crossworlds. Actually, you know what? That would be fine too. —Giovanni Colantonio
Whatever the hell Square Enix is hiding
It remains to be seen what Square Enix’s marquee title for 2026 will be. The company has already announced a couple of titles for early next year — Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade for Nintendo Switch 2 on Jan. 22 and Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined for Feb. 5. The painterly action RPG The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is also due out sometime in 2026. But let’s be honest, role-playing fans are really hankering for new details on the next chapters of major series, like Dragon Quest 12 and Kingdom Hearts 4. If either was to turn up at The Game Awards, we’d put our money on the latter, given the broader appeal of Kingdom Hearts outside Japan.
A first look at the yet-unsubtitled third installment of the Final Fantasy 7 remake trilogy also sits atop many a fan’s wish list, but feels more unlikely given the upcoming Switch 2 port next month. There’s also been a bit of speculation about a HD-2D remake of Chrono Trigger following some suspicious recent comments by co-creator Yuji Horii, and with the game’s 30th birthday year drawing to a close, the timing feels a bit more auspicious. —Jen Glennon
A sign of life for Blade (no, not that tortured one)
Two years ago, Deathloop developer Arkane took to the Game Awards stage to tease its next game: Blade. We didn’t learn much about the Marvel adaptation, but anything with director Dinga Bakaba attached to it sounded good. We’ve heard nothing about it since.
Usually I’d say “let them cook” and happily wait for some news when it’s ready, but I’m a bit more antsy for news this year. Xbox has closed down studios and canceled big games like Perfect Dark since Blade’s announcement. I don’t assume that any project is safe right now unless I’m seeing some active signs of life that tell me development is well under way. Even if it’s only a cinematic trailer or 15 seconds of gameplay, I just want some assurance that Arkane is indeed cooking back there. —GC
A game with as mumble-worthy a name as Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet
Rumors swirled in November that Naughty Dog’s mysterious new game Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet was “content complete” and ready for a 2026 release, with a primo Game Awards reveal waiting in the wings. Friend of viraltrendingcontent Jason Schreier shut that shit down right away. Other friend of viraltrendingcontent Jeff Grubb corroborated the major diss by saying, no, Intergalactic would not pop up at The Game Awards.
That’s too bad because (1) I am genuinely curious to see how Neil Drukmann’s vision of a 1980s-themed religious future translates to gameplay and (2) I have not stopped mumbling the name “Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet” since last year’s TGAs. In fact, I am predicting and praying for everyone to be wrong and for us to get a new tease of Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet if only to get another year’s worth of work out of Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet as a bit. If not, I can only hope for a title of equal acclaim to take on the Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet mantle of “dopey game titles we can’t help but love.” —Matt Patches
Something, anything, from Atlus that’ll occupy our time for 364 days next year
The makers of Persona and Metaphor: ReFantazio haven’t announced any games set to release in 2026 — not yet, anyway. Atlus served up a first look at the long-rumored Persona 4: Revival at Summer Game Fest back in June, but we don’t yet have a firm release date for that. According to parent company Sega’s most recent annual financial report, it’s widely believed that the remake will launch sometime between April 2026 and March 2027. So a new TGA trailer with a release date isn’t totally out of the question.
While fans have been starved for any news of a Persona 6, it seems unlikely that Atlus would be willing to overshadow the upcoming remake with a new installment in close succession. What may be more likely, however, is a Switch 2 port for Metaphor: ReFantazio, which claimed three trophies, including Best RPG, at the 2024 Game Awards. —JG
A Half-Life 3 reveal to end the aggressive rumor cycle and put us out of our misery
Valve will reveal Half-Life 3 at The Game Awards. Right? Please? Can we just do this?
The November announcement of the Steam Machine came with it a tirade of new reports that Half-Life 3 is real and coming soon — and frankly, I’m starting to believe it. None of Gabe Newell’s explanations over the years for why Valve never completed and shipped Half-Life 3, nor the reveal that the team has been throwing tons of effort and money at Deadlock, has slowed down the rumors that Half-Life 3 is well into development. Maybe Valve should just announce it to shut everyone up? Now seems like the moment. Manifest, manifest, manifest. —MP
