Sometimes, we more or less know what to expect from video games. Sure, you never know for sure until you play them. But usually, if there’s a game you’re going to play, you’ll know it when you see it. Whether its long-standing murmurs leading into a not-so-surprise announcement, or a game that simply looks to be ticking all your boxes, it’s usually no secret which games speak to us.

Sometimes, however, video games can take us by surprise. Whether it’s a genuinely surprising announcement that comes out of seemingly nowhere, or a game that proves its experience to be far more memorable than its initial appearance, sometimes games can surprise us in the best ways.

 

Winner: Deltarune: Chapter 1

Hey, look at that! Undertale got a kind of/sort of sequel!

Okay, so calling Deltarune a sequel to Undertale (even a “kind of/sort of” one) is a little misleading. But Toby Fox’s sophomoric effort does feel like a rightful follow-up to his stunning debut game.

After teasing something big on Twitter in late October 2018, Toby Fox released Deltarune: Chapter 1 the very next day! And for free! Suffice to say, it was quite the surprise.

It’s true that Deltarune isn’t a finished game (that “Chapter 1” in the title isn’t just for show). And unfortunately, it sounds like the full game won’t be finished for quite some time, with Toby Fox suggesting he’ll need to get a team of people together in order to finish it in anything resembling a reasonable development schedule (as opposed to Undertale, which Mr. Fox created almost entirely). So who knows when, or if, we’ll see Deltarune in its entirety.

For now though, let’s just enjoy that Undertale has any kind of follow-up at all.

 

Past winner

2017: Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle