Last year saw the likes of Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, Far Cry: New Dawn and Mortal Kombat 11. This year? Expect another ten reveals throughout the night when the Game Awards kick off at the ungodliest of hours for anyone who lives on the wrong side of the GMT border.

As we wind back the clock and have a look at what 2019 had to offer gamers, it feels only fitting to start the first of our annual time travel trips to shine a light on the best new experiences that popped up throughout the year. In an industry where sequels dominate and current games are positioned to stretch as much longevity out of a property as is humanly possible, it’s new ideas that are seen as risky business.

The men behind Arkane Studios and some of their greatest hits are back, this time as a small studio with big plans.

It’s going to be another tight race to the top as 2019 was another stellar year for new game releases. The 2019 nominees have been announced for the Game Awards, with Death Stranding unsurprisingly grabbing nominations in eight of the categories.

Video games may be a visual medium, but without any audio they’d just be a collection of good-looking shells that were hollow inside. Music creates an atmosphere, it tells a story and pushes players in the right direction when a game needs to pick up the pace. They’re the subliminal prods that keep the momentum going, but there are times when a game’s soundtrack can stay with you long after the end credits have rolled. Here’s a look, at the video game soundtracks that defined 2018.

While the upcoming third season of Netflix's retro-tastic breakout sci-fi drama is still shrouded in much mystery, we now know one thing about it: We can play it in a classic 16-bit co-op game.

We saw the glory of a war god reborn, we felt the joy of navigating through New York City while spinning webs and we faced stories of a personal nature on a scale that may have been more indie in design but was truly epic in scope. How do you even begin to sum up 2018? How do you condense a year’s worth of gaming into any single rewards category? Well the Game Awards 2018 certainly did just that, with results that probably weren’t surprising.

Rage 2! Possibly the best vehicle for Andrew W.K’s music since Jackass convinced me that self-inflicted bodily harm was a great way to have fun. In a night that seemed very very focused on the apocalypse, Rage 2’s take on life after the fall of society may just be the silliest and colourful exploration of a world gone mad.