Digital Foundry: Game Awards 2025 Impressions & Tech Analysis

Game Awards 2025: A Mixed Bag of Announcements

The 244th episode of DF2Weekly features an in-depth dive into the recent Game Awards 2025 announcements. The team observes that while the sheer quantity of trailers was high, the quality—specifically the reliance on cinematic CG trailers over actual gameplay—remains a frustrating trend in modern gaming marketing.

Notable Highlights and Tech Deep-Dives

• Control Resonant: Remedy’s new title showcases a shift toward an action RPG direction while staying true to the Northlight engine's distinct visual flair and asset consistency.
• Tomb Raider Projects: The team discusses Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis (a reimaging of the 1996 classic) versus the more mysterious Catalyst, noting a preference for clarity in gameplay representation.
• Total War: Warhammer 40,000: Despite the excitement, the team is cautious about how a dense 40k RTS will perform on consoles and whether the interface can satisfy both PC and controller inputs.
• Exodus: A Mass Effect-style title that stands out for using real-time rendering, though the team notes specific concerns over the MetaHuman facial shading and character proportions.

"I really think these games should be 60 FPS. I have no idea why it’s not, look at Metroid Prime like, right?"

Technical Analysis & Industry Trends

The Legacy of Emulation

The panel explores the new Redo emulator on PlayStation 5, which allows the PS3 title Cloudberry Kingdom to run via high-level emulation. They discuss how this approach differs from RPCS3 on PC, as it focuses on specific outcome emulation rather than full system replication.

Skyrim on Nintendo Switch 2

While Skyrim Anniversary Edition offers improved volumetric lighting and SSR, the team highlights major issues, most notably a severe input lag that makes the experience difficult to enjoy. They stress that achieving 60 FPS is feasible for a 14-year-old title and should have been a priority.

FSR 4 and AMD Redstone

Discussions regarding AMD’s new Redstone suite highlight concerns about frame pacing. While the machine learning frame generation shows promise, current implementations are plagued by inconsistencies, particularly when compared to DLSS solutions.