We saw plenty of game trailers during Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest showcase. Summer Game Fest is now a live presentation plus an E3-style weekend event where games media and fans can get a hands-on experience with some new and upcoming releases.
Right before the last E3 got canceled, it was a goal for my buddy and I to make our way out to LA to cover E3 — sadly, that didn’t happen. Summer Game Fest is now the new BIG SUMMER GAMING EVENT with Day of the Devs, IGN Live, Xbox’s Showcase, and everything other showcase and event happening. I’m hoping to attend in the next couple of years.
There were plenty of announcements during Summer Game Fest, but I have chosen my Top Five new announcements — at least, new to me. I didn’t include games that I already knew about, or any DLC/updates to current games.
Here are my Top Five favorite new game announcements from Friday’s Summer Game Fest with Geoff Keighley.
1 • Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind
A few years ago, my girlfriend and I started playing beat ‘em ups. We started with River City Girls (I & II), Streets of Rage 4, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Video Game, and others. The one that really took me back to that classic beat ‘em up style was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge.
As a kid, the turtles were my favorite thing. In fact, they are still up there. I remember hearing a friend explain the Power Rangers to me on the playground before school one day. I watched the show the next morning before school, and they became my new obsession.
The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind trailer features that same TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge DNA, plus the added bonus of fun mini-games and genre-bending levels. I’m very excited to see how the Rangers combine their powers to become the Megazord in this game.
I cannot wait to play this game later this year.
2 • LEGO Horizon Adventures
For the past couple of weeks we’ve heard rumors of some sort of Horizon X LEGO project in the works. We have seen Aloy as part of a LEGO set in the past.
LEGO video games have always been a fun time and we’ve seen many big properties get the LEGO video game treatment. Mostly with movies, comics, and shows — Marvel, DC, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, and many more.
LEGO Horizon Adventures may be the first time an already popular video game series gets the LEGO treatment. A future-primal world filled with robot dinosaurs seems like a great setting for a LEGO adventure. This is also a good way to get young gamers familiar with a more mature world they may encounter later on in their gaming journey, Horizon.
LEGO Horizon Adventure is coming to PlayStation, Nintendo Switch and PC later this year.
3 • Harry Potter Quidditch Champions
Ever since seeing a game of Quidditch in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone I have dreamed of seeing this translated into a video game. This looks like it could be a fun time with friends (online and in-person). Plus, I am looking forward to learning proper Quidditch rules and strategy.
The game trailer has me excited to finally learn what it feels like to play virtual Quidditch. Harry Potter Quidditch Champions is being developed by Unbroken Studios. I have always thought it would be interesting to see how EA or 2K Sports would approach creating a game based on a fantasy/fictional sport. These two studios have been at the top of sports sims for a few decades now (Basketball, Football, Soccer).
I’m happy that in just a few short months (September 3rd) I will be playing Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions on PlayStation Plus — it is also coming to PC, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch.
4 • The First Descendent
The trailer for The First Descendant is like an insane action movie trailer, paired with the beautiful music of M83. I want to visit this world, and see what this story is all about.
This is a game that I have been hearing about for some time, in marketing emails, but I haven’t really paid attention to it. After seeing this trailer you have my attention, The First Descendant.
We don’t have to wait too long to see what The First Descendant is coming to PC and consoles in less than a month, on July 2. My one concern is that it is also coming to last-gen consoles, PS4 and Xbox One.
At this point in the current generation, does releasing a game on last-gen consoles hold it back? We’ll find out very soon.
5 • CAIRN
The interview with the game developers (The Game Bakers) for CAIRN is what piqued my interest in this game. Audrey’s quick story of her father climbing K2 and half of his team not returning, and turning that personal story into a game is very interesting.
Mountain climbing and climbing in general has also been a great mechanic in video games for some time. Since climbing is the main aspect of this game I’m sure it will be more intuitive than something like Uncharted or Horizon, where climbing is important, but not the main focus.
Sometimes, bringing out the game developers and telling a personal story before a trailer is enough to grab my attention. CAIRN is set to release some time in 2025.
Other Announcements
Two big announcements that weren’t really specific game announcements or trailers were that Blumhouse is now taking their approach to horror from movies to games with Blumhouse Games Studio. Blumhouse has branched out to all genres of movies, tv, documentaries. I continuously see the Blumhouse logo on projects I didn’t expect. It’s going to be interesting to see the wide variety between games coming out of Blumhouse Games.
Innersloth also announced their new indie game fund, Outersloth. I’m a big fan of the team at Innersloth, even though I have barely played their big title, Among Us. This is another example of that team doing some great work. They are now helping other small indie teams create their own games.
When it comes to games I already knew about, we saw more Star Wars: Outlaws, which was also featured in today’s Ubisoft Forward event. Killer Bean was something new and creative. We learned more about DUNE: Awakening and the story behind the game. EA Skate gave us a silly Tim Robinson sketch just to tell us “We’re still working on the game.” Sam Lake came on stage to announce new Twilight Zone-themed content for Alan Wake II, Night Springs. And, we learned some more about the upcoming Phantom Blade Zero.
Overall this was a good presentation, and definitely kicked off Summer Game Fest in a good way. If you missed the presentation you can watch it in its entirety right here:
VIDEO GAME BOOK CLUB 