We're in the final hours before Geoff Keighley serves up his annual helping of awards and trailers for our enjoyment. The Game Awards are upon us and the pre-show speculation is a-plenty: What's taking home the big prize? Which big series is making its grand return? Is Kojima gonna show up with a bizarre trailer? These are all questions that will eventually be answered by scrolling down and reading our live feed of The Game Awards as it happens.
The Game Awards are kicking off at 4:30 PM PT, beginning with a 30-minute preshow that will roll into the awards proper at 5 PM. That preshow usually involves its own slate of new game announcements, so we'll be covering that, too.
If you want to keep up with the show without watching the livestream, just keep this page open. (It's embedded above if you do decide to tune in.) I'm Morgan and I'll be your skipper tonight. Let's get started.
Everything that's confirmed
As Geoff Keighley is wont to do, The Game Awards social media channels have been teasing and confirming a number of appearances at tonight's show to drum up excitement.
- The future of Tomb Raider: Leaks indicate this could be a remake of the original Tomb Raider, a new Lara Croft adventure, or both
- A "terrifying new look" at Resident Evil Requiem: Leaked art suggests that Capcom is finally ready to tell us Leon Kennedy is in this game.
- Exodus: The third TGA appearance from the sci-fi RPG coming from ex-Bioware devs. This is the game that Matthew McConaughey introduced in 2023.
- The next game from Neon Giant, the studio that made that neat cyberpunk shooter The Ascent.
Good afternoon folks! Staff writer Morgan Park reporting for live blog duties. We'll be updating this feed throughout the night with the biggest announcements from the awards, surprises, and obligatory celebrity appearances.
Care to watch the show for yourself tonight? Here's how and where to watch The Game Awards live. Reminder: The preshow starts at 4:30 PM PT with a 30-minute preshow.
Statue mystery solved?
In case you missed the hullabaloo, Keighley tweeted out the coordinates of a mysterious statue placed in the California desert. Folks immediately got to work guessing what game it's alluding to: God of War? Nope. Diablo? Not according to Blizzard. Elden Ring? Possible.
Then, another trademark-related leak seemed to spoil the mystery. A new listing for "Divinity" has appeared alongside a symbol that's a dead ringer for the intimidating desert statue. So Larian's next game might be at the show?
The rumors and anticipated "surprises"
There's a fair bit of buzz around a potential Control sequel, Diablo 4 happenings, and that Assassin's Creed 4 remake that keeps leaking. Here's what we've got for now:
- Death Stranding 2: On The Beach PC — A recent ESRB rating suggests this is coming sooner than later. And it'd be a good excuse for Geoff's friend Hideo to make an appearance.
- Control: Resonant — A trademark filing has kicked off the buzz around the next chapter of Control.
- Diablo 4 expansion — Blizzard recently urged Diablo 4 players to watch The Game Awards in the same breath that it dodged questions about its next expansion, so do with that information what you will.
- Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag remake — The existence of a remake for the 2013 Assassin's Creed game has leaked so many times at this point, it just feels correct that it was always the plan to wait for the biggest stage of the year.
- Max Payne Remake — If Control 2 is a thing, maybe Remedy will have updates about the Max Payne remake it announced years ago? Don't worry, I forgot about it, too.
A quick reminder of the GOTY nominees
This year's GOTY ballot is a decent spread of big-budget and indies. The favorite by far is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which is neat, because very few of us even knew what that game was a year ago.
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Death Stranding 2: On The Beach
- Donkey Kong Bananza
- Hades 2
- Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
I suppose Silksong is the natural runner-up, though once the dust settled on its highly-anticipated release, it seems like most agreed it was essentially more and better Hollow Knight. Ditto for Death Stranding 2 and Hades—perhaps the nature of additive sequels play against award odds.
Personally, I'm pulling for Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, another sequel, but to a game that didn't really break into the mainstream back in 2017. It's sprawling RPG that feels like a modern Oblivion in a grounded historical setting, and I love it to bits.
Looks like Muppets are back on the menu...
We're excited to welcome Miss Piggy from @TheMuppets as a presenter for #TheGameAwards on Thursday night. pic.twitter.com/KuKBVsVgOjDecember 9, 2025
30 minutes until (pre)showtime
The proper stage show is still an hour out, but the preshow starts soon. Over the years, the preshow have gotten pretty eventful. They tend to have a decent helping of new trailers and even awards, so it's worth watching.
The stage
PC Gamer's Evan Lahti and Tim Clark are on-site in Los Angeles for the show. And there's that stage.
Time for the 30 minute preshow that will lead directly into The Game Awards proper.
First up is The Free Shepherd, a game about an adorable sheep dog in a gorgeous landscape.
Decrepit is a first-person action RPG with soulslike combat, according to the developer. That one has a Steam page already.
Awards check-in
Welcome to the first awards check-in. They've already handed out two during this pre-show. Congrats to:
- Best Family Game: Donkey Kong Bananza
- Innovation in Accessibility: Doom: The Dark Ages
Pragmata demo drop
You remember Pragmata, right? Capcom's quirky third-person shooter where you have to solve little block puzzles to hack enemies? Well it's out in April, and Capcom just dropped a demo (though I'm not seeing it on the Steam page yet).
Clair Obscur bags its first trophy
The potential Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 sweep begins with Best Independent Game.
The TGAs also awarded a few other awards between trailers, included a bundle of esports accolades.
- Best esports game: Counter-Strike 2
- Best esport athlete: Chovy
- Best esports team: Team Vitality
- Best mobile game: Umamesume
- Best independent game: Clair Obscur: Edpedition 33
Before the preshow wraps up, don't miss the trailer for TankRat, a "brutal vehicular action game" that, frankly, looks sick as hell.
The proper show has started...with a musical number. These folks are singing in French which can only mean one thing: Clair Obscur.
There he is
The undeniable Jeffrey Wright (alongside his son Elijah) has taken the stage to present the award for Best Action Game. The award goes to Hades 2.
Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic announced(!!)
KOTOR 3??? Close enough, holy moly. "A brand new singleplayer RPG set in the Old Republic era," according to Keighley. Directed by Casey Hudson, former director of the Mass Effect series at BioWare.
More on Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic from the YouTube trailer description:
"Developed by Arcanaut Studios in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games, Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic is a single-player narrative-driven action RPG and spiritual successor to Knights of the Old Republic.
Led by Casey Hudson, Game director of the original Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic and the Mass Effect trilogy, the team of veteran game developers and storytellers at Arcanaut Studios is crafting an epic interactive saga across a galaxy on the brink of rebirth where every decision shapes your path towards light or darkness.
Fate is in your hands."
Larian's next RPG is called Divinity
As the statue foretold, the studio behind Baldur's Gate 3 is returning to the series it was founded on. It's Larian's "biggest game ever, even bigger than Baldur's Gate 3."
Here's the Divinity trailer in its unofficial, screen-captured form.
"To all of you who feel like life is stuck on hard mode, this one is for you."
Jennifer English accepts her award for Best Performance in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. English dedicated the award to her friends, family, girlfriend, and the neurodivergent community.
Frictional Games announces Ontos
From the makers of the Amnesia series and SOMA, Ontos is a third-person adventure game with a distinctly more colorful edge to its horrors. Coming in 2026, starring the voice talents of actor Stellan Skarsgård.
From the trailer description:
"What begins as a search for answers quickly spirals into something far stranger. As you delve deeper, guided by fragments of your father's past, you must confront disturbing revelations about the nature of reality- and your place in it. Your beliefs will be questioned, and you will be pushed far out of your comfort zone. Choose your path and face the consequences."
For the record, Geoff absolutely said "Fractional" Games, not Frictional.
Awards round-up, part deux
A bunch more awards got passed around, including Clair Obscur's second win in Jennifer English's Best Performance, and South of Midnights win for Games for Impact.
- Best Adaptation: The Last of Us: Season 2
- Best Action game: Hades 2
- Best Performance: Jennifer English
- Games for Impact: South of Midnight
- Best mobile game: Umamusume: Pretty Derby
Leon Kennedy returns in Resident Evil 9: Requiem
There's our boy. As folks guessed, Leon is one of the main characters of RE9. He'll have his own action-focused campaign, while Grace Ashcroft's story was described as "survival horror." If the gameplay demo from Summer Game Fest is any indication, that means less combat, more running away terrified.
Exodus gets a big trailer
The sci-fi RPG from ex-BioWare devs returned to The Game Awards with a much bigger look this time. Coming in early 2027, the trailer focused on cinematic storytelling designed to make Mass Effect fans vibrate with excitement.
From the trailer description:
"You are Jun Aslan. Once a lowly salvager, now humanity’s last hope against the Celestials.
You were never meant to live and die scraping through wreckage. The gift inside you makes you the only one who can rise to face what’s coming. Step forward, seize your destiny, and lead an interstellar crew across a vast galaxy alive with wonder and danger. To save your homeworld, you must confront the Celestials—humanity’s evolution 40,000 years in the future—and steal their technology that could give your world a fighting chance.
EXODUS™ is a sci-fi action-adventure RPG from Wizards of the Coast and Archetype Entertainment, a studio founded by award-winning RPG veterans behind Mass Effect, Baldur’s Gate, and STAR WARS: Knights of the Old Republic. Face humanity’s evolution 40,000 years in the future, explore extraordinary worlds, and confront time itself to shape the fate of generations."
And there's Control 2
Actually it's called Control: Resonant, and apparently it's a big departure from the first game. Remedy's Control sequel is a melee-focused action RPG starring Jesse Faden's brother, Dylan.
Gang of Dragon, starring Ma Dong-seok
The new game from Nagoshi Studio, the outfit founded by Yakuza series director Toshihiro Nagoshi, is called Gang of Dragon. It stars Korean actor Ma Dong-seok as a beefy brawler, and I want it now.
A lot of men appeared
The entire cast of the Street Fighter movie (coming in 2026) showed up to present the Best Ongoing Game award, but not without throwing shade at the Mortal Kombat movie by pointing out that cast did not bother to show up.
Anyways, No Man's Sky took home the award!
While we're at it, here's the trailer for that Street Fighter movie they played before all those buff people took the stage.
Another award blast!
Geoff capped off the last chunk of reveals by shoving another few award presentation together. Then Felicia Day took the stage to present the Game Changer award on behalf of Girls Make Games.
- Game Changer: Girls Make Games
- Best Ongoing Game: No Man's Sky
- Best Audio Design: Battlefield 6
- Content Creator of the Year: MoistCr1tikal
- Most Anticipated Game: Grand Theft Auto 6 (shocker)
Crystal Dynamics announces two new Tomb Raider games
Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis is a full remake of the original Tomb Raider coming in 2026. Tomb Raider: Catalyst is a new Lara Croft adventure coming in 2027. Lara's original design returns, now with Max Payne bullet time?
Clair Obscur can not, will not be stopped
The debut game from Sandfall Interactive bagged two more awards in another Geoff Award blast, bringing its total so far to four, and there's much more to come. Hey, at least Silksong got its flowers with Best Action Adventure.
- Best Action Adventure Game: Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Best Art Direction: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Best Sim/Strategy game: Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles
- Best Debut Indie Game: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Oh hi there, new Diablo 4 expansion
Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred brings the Paladin class to the action RPG on April 26, 2026. And we got a classically gorgeous Blizzard cinematic to mark the occasion.
Lenny Kravitz is here
Right there on stage! He's playing a villain in 007: First Light, in keeping with IO Interactive's streak of celebrity appearances in its games. Expect more from us on First Light in the coming days.
Kravitz also did the honor of presenting the award for Best Score and Music, which of course, went to Lorien Testard and Alice Duport-Percier for their work on Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
Werner Herzog says Warframe rules
"Wake up, Tenno" are not words that I expected to come from acclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog, who appeared in a Warframe trailer (but not in person) at The Game Awards just now.
Clair Obscur finally loses an award
Since we last checked in, Clair Obscur won another two awards: Best Music and Score and Best RPG. That's six! But amazingly, it also lost one award: Players Voice, a 100% community-voted award, went to Wuthering Waves, a Chinese RPG.
- Best Music and Score: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Best Sports/Racing Game: Mario Kart World
- Best Community Support: Baldur's Gate 3
- Best VR/AR Game: The Midnight Walk
- Best RPG: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Player's Voice: Wuthering Waves!
Well the Clair Obscur award drought didn't last long. As presented by Rockstar founder Dan Houser, the French RPG just took home Best Narrative as well. I hope they have a very sturdy display case at Sandfall.
Time for an Evanescence music break. I didn't hear Geoff say what song they're playing, but it's from the Devil may Cry Netflix series, if that helps. What's important is it's not Bring Me To Life.
While Evanescence rocks out, I missed the reveal of Neon Giant's new game No Law, a cyberpunk FPS from the makers of The Ascent.
From the Steam page:
"In NO LAW you get to take on the role of Grey Harker, a seasoned veteran of both the battlefield and the city of Port Desire. After receiving near-fatal injuries on his last deployment, Harker decides to finally turn his back on the military life and instead set his sights on a life of peace, once and for all. However, while he no longer goes looking for trouble, one fateful day, trouble finds its way to his front door."
Arc Raiders takes Best Multiplayer
Arc Raiders was an underdog coming into The Game Awards because it came out so recently, but its Best Multiplayer win reflects its monumental launch. This one was presented by Milla Jovovich, who also happens to be Agent 47's next elusive target in Hitman (lol).
Total War: Warhammer 40,000 is real
And Stranger Things actor David Harbour is all up in it. I won't pretend to know why this is a huge deal for Total War fans, but I'm guessing it's the same reason Darktide is cooler than Vermintide: grimdark future guns.
Harbour took to the stage to announce is involvement in the project, which was inspired by his love of tabletop games. "I've painted many miniatures."
And so is Ace Combat 8 and Star Wars: Galatic Racers
More back-to-back reveals: Ace Combat 8 and Star Wars: Galactic Racer. The former is a known quantity that I know many of you will be losing your minds over—I need to give the series a real try—but Galactic Racer is something unexpected. A Star Wars racing game with speeders, but seemingly not pod racers.
"No Force. No prophecy. Just skill, strategy, and the will to rise."
Phantom Blade Zero has a release date
In a glitzy new trailer, we learned the Chinese action game Phantom Blade Zero is coming out September 9, 2026. Looks fantastic, though I'm a little burnt out on action games that look like this.
That said, Wes really liked what he played when he flew across the world to play Phantom Blade Zero back in July.
"Obviously it's not the first game to ever pull from Chinese martial arts and Chinese history, but I don't think a game has ever come close to letting you fight with that operatic flourish you see in great films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
Surprise Mega Man!
Mega Man: Dual Override is a new 2D, mainline Mega Man game coming in 2027. Snazzy! Though I have to admit, I didn't realize Mega Man ever went away.
Titanfall and Apex Legends alums reveal Highguard, a free-to-play fantasy FPS
Developed by ex-Respawn devs at Wildlight Entertainment, Highguard is an FPS that combines techno-fantasy stylings. Assault rifles and horses on the same screen? Sure, let's give that a shot.
More surprising is that Highguard is deep into development, and coming out in just seven weeks.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 completes its Game Awards sweep with Game of the Year
With a whopping 10 total awards, Sandfall came and dominated. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is The Game Awards GOTY, and it's well-deserved.
And that's a wrap on The Game Awards 2025. I think we hit just about everything worth hitting here, so I hope this was a helpful read-along. As someone who has often enjoyed following these shows through words instead of livestreams, I had a lot of fun!
Have a good night folks, and expect more The Game Awards stuff from PC Gamer in the coming hours and days (like a proper recap on the whole shebang).
