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At the close of E3 2021 came a short award ceremony to wrap up the event as a whole.
The Official E3 2021 Awards Show took place on June 15th. Editors from IGN, GameSpot and more came together to decide the winners of this celebration of the video games announced at the event.
It was presented by a trio of the most cringeworthy presenters you have never heard of. There were in-jokes they presumed we were a part of. No social distancing. Awkward touching. Topped off with teleprompter readings! If anybody were watching it for the presentation, they would have been soured to no end.
However, we did not tune in for the presenters, we tuned in to see who and what won the awards!
Ubisoft’s Most Anticipated Game – Mario & Rabbids: Sparks of Hope
Mario & Rabbids aims to bring the two respective franchises together in a tactical platforming adventure to save the galaxy from certain doom! The game will be a Nintendo Switch exclusive and is due for release sometime in 2022.
Gearbox’s Most Anticipated Game – Tiny Tina’s Wonderland
Tiny Tina’s Wonderland is the first spin-off for the highly beloved Borderlands series. It is a role-playing game set in a fantastical world created by the unpredictable and loveable character Tina. You create your own class and go looting in a high fantasy-themed game with all the madness we come to expect from Borderlands.
Xbox & Bethesda’s Most Anticipated Game – Halo Infinite
With almost no surprise to anybody, Halo Infinite is taking the fanbase on an adrenaline-fuelled hype train. A game that needs no introduction, as gamers across the globe know of the Master Chief and his respective franchise.
Square Enix’s Most Anticipated Game – Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
Square Enix blew us away with the reveal of this new IP so this was to be expected. With an amazing looking trailer and extended gameplay footage, we got way more than usual with the announcement of a new game. Graphical fidelity, true to its (G)roots and gameplay that looks fun and engaging, this was a sure-fire winner for this award.
PC Gaming Showcase’s Most Anticipated Game – Songs of Conquest
Songs of Conquest looks to be an interesting game that merges kingdom-building, kingdom management, army building, turn-based RPG gaming and expansion into enemy terrain. This style of game has a wide audience, especially on PC, so this is a worthy winner for this award for sure.
Future Game Show’s Most Anticipated Game – Immortality
Immortality has a remarkably interesting collaboration of writers. It is a game from the people that brought us Her Story and Silent Hill Shattered Memories with writers from shows such as Queen’s Gambit and Mr Robot. There is no gameplay reveal to comment on. It seems to be a creepy game that features an interesting story.
Intellivision’s Most Anticipated Game – Asteroids
I mean, a company whose sole purpose is to ‘own the retro’, Asteroids is always going to be a contender for this E3 award. If you need me to tell you what Asteroids is, then you are either not a true gamer, or young enough to get IDed when purchasing your age-restricted games.
Capcom’s Most Anticipated Game – The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
The definitive edition of the original 2 games in one jam-packed bundle. For those who love this series, they LOVE this series. The games take place across Victorian England and Japan in a two-game spanning mystery. Will you warp the courtroom to your will?
Indie Games’ Most Anticipated Game – Falling Frontier
Falling Frontier is a sci-fi real-time strategy game where your aim is to dominate a massive procedurally generated star system. With the ability to design ships, construct relay stations, use asteroid belts to your advantage and where intel and logistics play a decisive factor in your gameplay, Falling Frontier looks like an interesting game.
Freedom Games’ Most Anticipated Game – Airborne Kingdom
Airborne Kingdom is a sky city builder. Need I say more? You construct your kingdom in the clouds, then sail it around the vastly open world in an attempt to restore serenity to the surface. Build relations with ground cities, collect artefacts, lost technologies and resources, grow your sky-topia and enjoy the serene views from up high!
Nintendo’s Most Anticipated Game –
I do not even need to mention its name. I do not even own a Nintendo Switch and I could have predicted this to be the winner. The first game in the series was massively acclaimed. It helped to redefine open-world exploration and progression, which spawned creativity in a number of new franchises. The second game has been on the minds of everyone for years. Of course, a reveal would have secured it the award.
The game is, of course, Breath of the Wild 2.
Yooreka Studio’s Most Anticipated Game – Loopmancer
Quite possibly the most stunning looking 3D platformer game I have ever seen, Loopmancer has realistic graphics set in a cyberpunk universe. You play as a detective who has been brought back to life to fight in this futuristic eastern dystopia.
Best Presentation – Xbox & Bethesda
Sony needs to really buckle up and accept the fact that Xbox’s Game Pass is a monumental driving force behind Microsoft. With a massive number of new releases revealed and showcased, with the majority of them being available on initial release on Game Pass, it was absolutely always going to be Xbox & Bethesda that took home this crown.
Most Anticipated Game Overall – Forza Horizon 5
It baffled me as to why they did not do this award after the list of other most anticipated games. And it also baffles me how a game won that was not the most anticipated amongst all the individual showcases. But there you go; the new Forza game is the winner of the most anticipated game overall. Somehow.
E3 Awards Wrap-Up
The E3 Awards were voted on by ‘the panel’. I have no idea who this panel is and could not tell you either way as to how many the panel consisted of or their overall bias. But these awards are more of a way to wrap up the show as a whole.
E3 as a whole definitely still feels the aftermath of Sony’s departure from the events. There was still a whole slew of interesting and exciting games that were revealed and shown during the last few days. I am very excited to get my hands on a ton of these games. I am feeling the ever-growing pressure to purchase more consoles. RIP my credit rating.