What's Geoff teasing for the Game Awards?

The show host goes to X to show off an image that has us all asking questions

Geoff Keighley’s cryptic message posted on November 28th has some big talk swirling around it. I consider myself a good pinch-and-zoom kind of person, so I have some of my own ideas as well. I thought it would fun to break down all the potential games or IP’s this might refer to. We’ll see how all these guesses hold up on the 11th.

First up, here is the post in full on Geoff’s X account:

Let’s talk about that text first: “regal.inspiring.thickness”. Almost sounds like a accidental AI image generation prompt, but back to that in a sec. Here’s a larger version of the actual image:

Let’s do some theory crafting.

Diablo 4 Expansion? (Most popular take the best I can tell.)

• The demonic/hellish aesthetic matches Diablo’s vibe.

• There’s artwork that looks almost identical to Diablo hellgate designs.

• Diablo dev reportedly said “watch TGA”.

• Paladin class has been leaked as the next class addition.

• BUT: Some think it’s too elaborate a tease for just an expansion/DLC.

The Elder Scrolls VI (my personal pick)

• The “regal” caption could reference the scroll being “thick”. (A stretch.)

• Desert location matches Hammerfell. (rumored TES6 setting.)

• The armor design looks Elder Scrolls-ish, possibly elven.

• Crocodile creature might be a Daedroth from previous games.

• “Yucca MESA road” reference. (Black Mesa/Half-Life trolling aside.)

That armor looks a LOT like something you see in the Elder Scrolls games.

God of War Related

• The creatures look “very God of War-ish”.

• Animals are “Loki-coded”.

• Breastplate style matches Kratos armor.

• Jokes about “God of War Florida/Australia” due to the crocodile.

Half-Life 3 (Hopium)

• Location near “Black Mesa” near Joshua Tree.

• Keighley’s “THREE more weeks” tweet.

• “Mesa” in the street name. (Yucca Mesa Road.)

• Portal-style Fortnite tweet.

• General consensus: Keighley is trolling Half-Life fans.

Other Theories I’ve Seen Today:

• Tomb Raider reboot/sequel.

• Cory Barlog’s next game. (Santa Monica.)

• Doom: The Dark Ages DLC.

• Elden Ring DLC 2.

• Lords of the Fallen sequel.

• .hack remake. (wishful thinking.)

• Fat Princess remake. (joke.)

• Random MMO/gacha game.

• U2 playing at Game Awards. (Joshua Tree reference.)

Most people, myself included, are skeptical it’ll be anything exciting because “it’s Geoff,” with his track record of overhyping minor announcements.

In our Discord, Beau described it as, “Also only 5% animals but mostly tormented souls”, and I think it might be the only thing we know for sure about that image. :)

What do YOU think it might be? Smoke or something real? Love to read your comments.

— Scott