Polish extreme metallers Behemoth are usually headliners at music festivals — or at least they were when I last saw them live. So, it was rather unusual to see them kick off a show. Unsurprisingly though, it still worked — with the band’s Ben Sahar popping up on the Mortal Shell II trailer, the first of a nearly two-hour-long series of previews, announcements, guest appearances and Geoff Keighley.
Over the years, I’ve accrued a healthy sense of cynicism about these showcases, and learned not to take a lot of the teasers and reveals at face value. The end product has the odd knack of being something entirely different and then falling well short of what was promised. Plus, these events also tend to be little more than PR opportunities for friends of the organiser (read: Hideo Kojima) to pop up and drop a few pearls of wisdom. Lo and behold, there’s Kojima-san again. With yet another teaser. For a game that’s out in 20 days.
Far be it from me to tell Summer Game Fest what it should spend its time on, but it is for me to decide how to tell you, gentle readers, about it. So I shall espouse the Harsh Pareek model and discuss what made the needle move for me. Shall we begin?
There was a small pile of trailers that really got me hyped, and sitting proudly atop it was the extremely interesting Fractured Blooms. Described rather aptly by Keighley as Doki Doki Literature Club! meets Silent Hill, this looks like an absolute must-play. The combination of the art design, the gameplay and the kooky goings-on already make it seem like a winner in my book (despite all those claims a little earlier about how I’m cool and cynical now) and its launch can’t come soon enough.
Next up on my list was Infinitesimals. As a fan of the first Honey, I Shrunk the Kids film, A Bug’s Life and Antz, this also looks like an absolute must-play and I game I can’t wait to learn more about. The environments remind me vaguely of the three IPs mentioned above, and exploring them feels like a really good time.
From shooting up creepy-crawlies in the garden to bludgeoning the living daylights out of human enemies, the next up on my list is Acts of Blood by Indonesian solo game Fajrul FN of Eksil Team. A dead ringer for Sifu thought it may be, this game feels a lot broader in scope and packed with more gameplay mechanics than Sloclap’s 2022 classic. One to watch out for, for sure.
From a violent brawler to a coming-of-age narrative adventure, Mixtape by the Johnny Galvatron-helmed Beethoven & Dinosaur looks like a fun little ‘on the cusp of adulthood’ adventure. The studio’s previous title The Artful Escape was zany enough (and packed with good tunes) to make me look forward to this one too. How I hope and pray it doesn’t let me down like Lost Records: Bloom & Rage.
Returning swiftly to beating people up for a good cause, and we have Sans Strings Studio’s Felt That: Boxing. Puppets, an orphanage to be saved, and gameplay that resembles a modern-day version of the classic Punch-Out!!; what more can you ask for?
Then there was Stranger Than Heaven. Having averred in my review of Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii that it felt like the Yakuza/Like a Dragon franchise was creaking and seemingly bereft of fresh ideas, I was eagerly awaiting more details about Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s upcoming title that was then called Project Century. And I was not disappointed.
And the others…
Raw Power Games unveiled its Tom Hardy-narrated Chronicles: Medieval that pretty much looks like a Dynasty Warriors set in Medieval Europe. Meanwhile, Bandai Namco’s CodeVein II looks like a FromSoftware take on Devil May Cry. End of Abyss, with its top-down twin-stick shooter gameplay mildly piqued my curiosity, but not as much as Mouse, PI for Hire that truly looks the business and it’s coming this year. Game of Thrones: War for Westeros, a real-time strategy title, is due next year and without anything resembling gameplay footage, it’s difficult to make anything of it thus far.
Atomic Heart 2, on the other hand, looks absolutely fantastic. Cards on table, I didn’t play the first one, but always had an appreciation for its version of a retrofuturistic aesthetic — something the upcoming sequel doubles down on, and reportedly adds more RPG elements to. Of far less interest to me was The Cube: Atomic Universe, an MMORPG shooter set in the same universe. In fact, I tended to switch off every time a new colourful multiplayer shooter (and some Fortnite event) was showcased. So, apologies are due because I don’t recall any of them.
Onimusha: Way of the Sword looks like it entails parrying. Lots and lots of parrying. Killer Inn has all the makings of quite a neat team-based social deduction title that is as much Among Us as Deathloop. ARC Raiders has an October 30 release date. Dune Awakening looks quite ambitious. And with nothing against Chrono Oddyssey, this whole “wield the power of gods” schtick is getting quite worn-out and yawn-inducing now. MIO: Memories in Orbit, on the other hand, looks like a fresh Metroidvania (particularly in the art department) and it has a demo that’s out right now.
The Hazelight (studio behind Split Fiction, It Takes Two and A Way Out) impact was in full effect with co-op game Out of Words and the delightful Lego Voyagers being teased. The latter looks like one to keep an eye on with the way it melds Lego action with puzzle-solving and a tight co-op formula. Elsewhere, Deadpool VR voiced by Neil Patrick Harris was… whatever. We got a closer look at the MindsEye story, which was nice. Lego Party will be the closest thing to Mario Party non-Nintendo consoles will ever experience. A Wu-Tang game is on the horizon too, which is a fun way for the group (currently on its farewell tour) to try and stay relevant. And there was a glut odd Resident Evil-related news, culminating in a trailer for the just-announced Resident Evil 9: Requiem.
