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Were the Game Awards rigged? Why is being French so awesome? And will Halflife fans ever omage? I mean, will Halflife fans ever quit their habit? No. What's up everybody? This is the ActMan here, and the Game Awards just wrapped up their longest presentation of all time. 3 hours and 45 minutes of pure non-stop gaming action and hype with some questionable trailers. Welcome to Highguard. Oh, this is ass. This is really ass. I love this time of year. In fact, in fact, I love this time of year so much I got to dress for the occasion.
The holidays are right around the corner and the Game Awards serve as a moment for us to stop, look back, and celebrate all the fantastic games that have come out in 2025. And boy, did we need a good show this year, because 2025 is a year I think we all might want to escape from. Even more exciting are the reveals and trailers, but also the anticipation and the hype. What's going to be shown? What are we going to see? There were rumors of a Cotor 3, a Half-Life 3. [snorts] Hold it right there. I know better than to get my hopes up for either one of those. Some franchises made a more than overdue triumphant return. And some fan bases fell for it again. So, today we're doing a rapid fire recap of the Game Awards.
all the best moments, the best games revealed, and we'll be diving into my personal favorites as I give you my thoughts on some of the more controversial aspects. All this and more coming up in this fantastic Game Awards video. But first, the holiday season is upon us, and you're no doubt looking to do some Christmas shopping. And I suggest you look no further than Holtzkarn, the sponsor of today's video. What's in the box? Just an elegant watch. Hold is a brand that specializes in watches and jewelry for both men and women. Whether you're looking to add a little bling to your outfit or want to get something nice for a special lady of yours, Holtzkarn is
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sniff out the cheap stuff. They have a wide variety of styles, so there's bound to be something you like. And the prices only get more affordable when you use code ACMAN at checkout for 15% off your entire order. So, check the link in the description, head on over to Holtzkarn and get yourself or a loved one something nice this Christmas. And thank you Holtzkarn for sponsoring this video. And now for something completely different. Overall, I thought this Game Awards was one of the best that I've seen. Man, they're building up so much. What the [__] What is he do? Unfortunately, the Game Awards was marred by really bad pacing and the end of it was punctuated
by a very disappointing showcase as a finale in the game Highguard. We'll talk more about this later on, trust me. But it just didn't seem fitting when you have Larian Studios revealing their next game, a former game of the year winner, and that is somehow not the last game shown. is [__] high guard. But overall from like an entertainment perspective, this presentation in this show was fantastic. We had a Miss Piggy romance subplot. Okay. And hello to you, my little Jeffy Poo. We also had Eanence. Okay. And if you were not entertained by that, something's wrong with you, [__] There's something wrong with you. But regardless, your assignment for today, lovely viewer, is to go down to the comments and I want
you to rate the Game Awards on a scale of 1 to 10. I'm very eager to read your takes and see if there's any recurring themes. Also, just FYI, the chat you see on screen during these clips is not mine. It was the Game Awards. So, if you think it's cancerous, it is not my responsibility. And the Game Award goes to Oh, she didn't even read the last one. Donkey Kong Bonanza. Where are my bananas? But the crowd yearned for Sonic Racing. This would not be the first time Sonic would be snubbed in the Game Awards. Audio Mech. The idea behind this game is it's a gold mine. You put any music you want into it and then you can fight your own music or fight alongside it. Think
about that. Any song you want. The meme potential is endless. If this game actually executes well on its concept, audio mech might do something unprecedented. Reinvent the ox cord. When I saw Escape from Duckov, I thought I cannot wait for the dunkey video on this game. Tank Rat looked pretty cool. You build tanks out of leftover scrap in the ruins of some dying civilization. Kind of reminded me of Nuts and Bolts. I hate to say it. Then they announced the winner of the best independent game which was Clare Obscur3.
This award began the reconstruction of the Magino line. And yes, I hope you are all prepared to learn some fun facts about French history today. My initial prediction was that Expedition 33 would win game of the year, but that Silk Song would get best indie game as a sort of runnerup prize. I was wrong, but out of all the new games announced that weren't part of an established franchise, Bradley the Badger is my number one. It's really hard to sell me on a cartoony character like this for a 3D platformer. The margin of error between charming and irritating is razor thin.
Okay, that went hard as [__] 10 out of 10. The tools they showed off reminded me of the wrench and nuts and bolts. I can't believe I'm making a second comparison to that game. Except in Bradley the Badger, this tool is actually used for cool platforming gimmicks. I love 3D platformers, but this one also had a twist. It takes place across different worlds inspired by other popular games. The second twist is that these games, these other worlds are stuck in development hell. It's it's such a unique idea, I can't help but be down with it. And look to all the Bloodborne fans out there. I know you guys might be huffing your last bits of hopeium.
You might be running out, but at least you have Badgerborn. Okay, Badgeorn. What the heck? You have Badgerborn. It's It's something. It's more than what the HalfLife fans got. They got nothing. The award for best adaptation went to The Last OF US SEASON 2. WHAT? Excuse me, chicken jockey. God damn it. Neil wins again. He won again. I'm not going to judge the winner. But what I will say is that I think it's total [__] that Sonic the Hedgehog 3 didn't even qualify to be nominated this year. It released after the 2024 Game Awards, but before 2025.
So what? There's just a dead zone in the calendar now. Who's running this show? Is it Jeff Keley or Garlic Jr.? Never mind the fact that I think this was Jim Car's best performance. I [__] love Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and it at least deserved a nomination. This movie earned $500 million. I'll go to bed for you Sonic fans. I will. After the best adaptation award, the Game Awards orchestra performed a piece from Expedition 33, foreshadowing how the game would conquer the Game Awards, much in the same way that Napoleon would conquer most of Europe. At this point, Jeff started glazing expedition 33 harder than Louis V 16th's neck glazed the blade of a guillotine back in 1793 during the French Revolution. He started
hyping up this next game and I thought, "All right, what disappointment am I going to see next?" Ladies and gentlemen, I was not disappointed. It couldn't be. It's not going to be Star Wars. Wait. That looks like Star Wars. What? Fate of the Republic. The prophecies were true. Boom. REPUBLIC IS A brand new single player action role playing game. LET'S [__] GO ERA. Of course, a Casey was of course the director on Star Wars Nights of the Old Republic and the Mass Effect.
LET'S [__] GO. OH MY GOD, we are so [__] back. Oh my god. Holy [__] And Miss Piggy followup. I have so [snorts] much to say about Star Wars Fate of the Old Republic. I have to make another video about it because if I start yapping now, I'm not going to stop. But I will say this, a sequel to Cotor 2, which released in 2004, and it's a singleplayer RPG, not an MMO. I genuinely never thought I'd see the day. Cotor 2 is one of the best written games of all time. Same with the first one, and the fact that they're trying to remake and continue this series is admirable. The Cotor remake, as I've heard, is not off the table. It's not in purgatory. Time will tell, of course, but this felt like a moment uh that we were owed 20 years ago. They
also had a Battlefield Friends ad, and a true man does not speak ill of Battlefield Friends. I saw some haters and I could not believe my eyes. But they also had John Carpenters's Toxic Commando. Another [__] zombie game. Angry Joe in shambles right now. Now, this game didn't look like anything spectacular. It wasn't bad, but it has John Carpenters's name attached to it, so you've got my attention. But moving on to the main event. In late November, Jeff posted a picture of uh some kind of statue. This was all leading up to the announcement of Laren's next game, which at first looked to be live leak footage of the Salem Witch Trials. I don't know how they uncovered that, but they did.
It's so gruesome and visceral. I can't show you the footage of the trailer without age restricting the video and demonetizing it. That's how you know they got balls. And this trailer was absolutely phenomenal. I didn't actually think Laren would be making a new Divinity game. For those that don't know, before Balders's Gate 3, they were known for Divinity: Original Sin. The second game is one of the greatest RPGs you'll ever play. Original Sin 2. I prefer that game over Boulders Gate 3. I'll be honest. I'm not a BG3 hater. I just prefer the combat in Original Sin 2. If I'm not careful, I'm going to start a new playthrough, man. That game's like 150 hours. You guys have to
stop me. But this is what was so bizarre about the Game Awards and its pacing. You had a new Code Tour and a new Divinity game. Like, these are the two biggest standouts of the Game Awards. And yet they were only separated by the span of seven minutes. The Game Awards was awesome. The pacing was off. After that, fellas, I couldn't even focus on the trailer for Resident Evil Reququum because once Leon Kennedy showed up, I well, I've never questioned my sexuality in such a short amount of time. I'll be the first to admit it. I When Leon showed up, I was gay. Oh my god. Is that Oh. Oh, he's hot. Oh, no. He's hot. Is that Was that my boy?
I'm gay. I'm I'm so gay. Then Laura Croft showed up and I went back to being straight and all was well in the universe. On the real, Leon returning not just in a remake, but in a brand new game is really cool to see because you're not restricted to those old original games that you have to remake as character. you can take it in a brand new direction that hopefully steers clear of Resident Evil 6. Then Jeff was like, "All right, homies. The next game you're about to see is the craziest [__] you've ever seen. It's been 10 years in the making. It's a project that has been 10 years in the making." And it looks like this. Now, I don't want to hate on a puzzle game just for being a puzzle game, but Jeff, you got
to try to temper people's expectations. You can't be building this much hype up for a game that looks like this. You know what I mean? I almost forgot about Xbox at this point, but their only real appearance was some bizarre commercial that like showed some guy going through the Xbox vaults. What? What is that? Halo 2026. It almost just felt like a reminder that Xbox wanted to tell people, "Hey guys, we're we still make video games. Don't forget about us." But they didn't have anything to actually show people. Maybe they have their own showcase. I guess we'll see. But faith in the Xbox brand is at an all-time low and I don't expect anything good to come from them to be honest. I hope I'm proven wrong, but um
I hope I'm proven wrong. Most anticipated game, huh? I wonder what's going to win that. The game award goes to Clare Obscure Expedition 33. Laura Croft showed up. She looked sexy as hell. I went back to being straight and they announced not just one but two Tomb Raider games. Hollow Knight did end up winning best action adventure game, which is some consolation prize, I suppose. And the game award goes to Clareup. The sweep continues. 33. The sweep continues. But of course, Expedition 33 won best art direction, much like how the Lou won best art direction after the Mona Lisa was installed in the museum back in 1797.
Grab your baguettes. We're not done yet. because they also won best debut indie game, much like how the French previously won best debuted statue with the Statue of Liberty back in 1886. They announced a Diablo I expansion where Meisto moved around like a smiling friends character. I was hoping it would be a new Diablo game, but uh well, you all know my thoughts on that. So, you love to see support for Marvel rivals. Deadpool is coming. That's a huge highlight. I might hop on for a few matches, not going to lie. Next, they announced the winner for best score of music, which of course went to Paul Verlain for his 1869 poem Claire DeLoon,
which would be adapted in 1905 into the famous piano song. If you are tired of the French history, please let me know in the comments. Some other games were revealed and they brought out Dan Howser, the brainchild of the Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto series to announce winner of best narrative. And if you've been following along, you know that this award went to Alex Duma for his incredible novel, The Three Musketeers. They announced a game called No Law because there's no laws when you're drinking claws. Then Evan Essence came out and that was awesome. Arc Raiders won best multiplayer, stunning Battlefield 6, and it just goes to show that I need to try that game out. But
they weren't done yet. Something I did not expect was a Warhammer 40k Total War crossover. They even had an RTS game shown off in the Game Awards. They covered all their bases. I don't care what the haters say about the Game Awards. Man, I'm looking forward to this and many other games. I've always been a Starcraft, Warcraft, and Age of Empires guy, but I'm going to try out Warhammer 40k Total War when it comes out. Although, I do think it should have been called Total Warhammer 40k. One of the big shocks was a brand new Star Wars pod racing game, which I have not seen the likes of since the [__] Nintendo 64, man. A new pod racer by one beautiful dream.
What in the [__] Yeah, I wasn't expecting that. Wow. This is where the fun begins. Star Wars Galactic Racer. Say Boba. Oh my god. All right. Nobody asked for it, but I'm here for it. You know what I mean? Unbelievably, God Howard appeared to announce the winner of best game direction. And you better believe it went to Jonah Varc for the way she directed the coronation of Charles II during the Hundred Years War. Shout out Jonah Varc, man. At this point, it was pretty wild to witness how many awards Expedition 33 was winning. As the Game Awards neared their end, there was something still missing. We
had yet to see a free man make his appearance, but it looked like for just a moment it was happening. The vault was being unlocked, the return of a legend, some character kept in cryostasis. I'm getting my hope is Wait, wait a second. Hold on. No, no, they wouldn't. There's no, it's Mega Man. Okay. You thought it was Gordon Freeman? It's Mega Man. [__] Get baited. Oh god, I got baited. I thought I Oh. Oh, they had me thinking unlocking him out of the vault. Oh, I had hope for just the tiniest of moments. Still, I'm cool with this though. I am not a big enough Half-Life fan to be crushed by this. And I am also happy for the Mega Man fans. At least some man came out of there, right? And
here we thought Gabe Newell was going to descend from the ceiling on one of those wires dressed as an angel to announce the next Half-Life game as a textbased adventure. We were fools. I could not have been more wrong. And finally, we come to High Guard, a game which initially I was like, hey, it's not that bad. But upon looking at it again, it does it doesn't look as bad as Concord, but it could turn out to be a Concord 2. I mean, they were talking about the Respawn developers coming together, working on this project in secrecy. Jeff built this up way too hard. This game should have been announced earlier in a Game Awards and uh I think it would have gotten a bit
more positive reception had it not been the last game revealed. While I was watching it, I struggled to find things to say about it. It just looked like an amalgamation of every other hero firsterson shooter I'd seen before. And I think I don't want Highguard to fail. I just don't know how exactly you salvage a game that's identity is so blah. And last but not least, they finally announced the winner for game of the year. And if you've been paying attention, it should be no surprise who it went to. After winning eight awards that they were nominated for, Sandfall Interactive with their first published video game managed to take home not just eight awards but the biggest of them all. Game of the Year, Expedition 33,
from what I have played, which is about 5 hours, um it was phenomenal. This was a hell of a game awards ceremony and I was thoroughly entertained from start to finish. I loved pretty much every part of it. But that's also me talking as a content creator and a gamer who can appreciate other games that I might not play but that other people really enjoy. Allah Ace Combat. But I've I've yapped long enough. It's time to wrap this video up. And so I just want to say as we celebrate the game awards, I too want to celebrate this channel. And hitting 2 million subscribers was a great milestone. If you enjoy the content here, please feel free to subscribe. It means the world to me. Like the video if you enjoyed it and
leave a comment about your thoughts on the Game Awards down below. I'm very eager to read them. Hope you enjoyed the video and all right everyone, that's all I got for today. This is the awards man signing out. Peace.
