Summer Game Fest: Opening Day
| Author: | Brian Powell Jr |
| Date: | June 7, 2024 10:13:59 pm EDT |
| Last Updated: | June 8, 2024 3:02:33 pm EDT |
| Read Time: | 4 min read |
| Tags: |
Summer Game Fest - Opening Day
The 2024 Summer Game Fest kicked off on June 7th at 2PM EST. The first part of the event included trailers for new games from both solo developers and bigger studios. Jason Blumhouse enters the gaming publishing space for horror games under the Blumhouse Games brand. For those interested, Blumhouse Games is working with developing the next sequal to Five Nights at Freddie’s
Notable Announcements
Some new DLC was announced for Palworld, but I still can’t get over how it looks like a Pokemon knock-off/asset flip. Alan Wake II is getting a physical Deluxe and Collector’s edition to much of the audience’s delight. Alan Wake II will also be getting a new DLC, titled Night Springs, that is releasing on June 8, 2024.
| Title | Release Date | |
|---|---|---|
| Lego Horizon Adventures | TBD | |
| No More Room in Hell 2 | TBD | |
| Harry Potter Quiditch Champions | 2024-09-03 | A fantasy sports game coming to console and PC |
| CuffBust | TBD | A goofy prison escape game |
| Star Wars Outlaws | TBD | Open world game about being a scoundral / thief |
| Neva | TBD | |
| Civilization VII | 2025 | |
| Black Myth: Wukong | 2024-08-20 | |
| Asgard’s Wrath II | TBD | Meta Quest VR Game |
| Once Human | 2024-07-09 | |
| Warhammer 40k Space Marine II | 2024-09-09 | |
| Metaphor Re Fantazio | 2024-10-11 | |
| Batman: Arkham Shadow | Fall 2024 | Meta Quest VR Game |
| Tears of Metal | TBD | |
| Dragonball Sparking Zero | 2024-10-11 | A new Dragonball fighting game with a story mode |
| Delta Force Hawk Ops | July 2024 (Alpha Test) | An FPS tactical shooter based off the Black Hawk Down IP |
| Fatal Fury Cities of the Wolves | TBD | A fighting game |
| Battle Crush | TBD | A brawler game where you fight to be the last one standing as the map shrinks |
| Mecha Break | TBD | |
| Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind | TBD | A retro brawler game featuring the original Power Rangers |
| Deer & Boy | TBD | An atmospheric game where you play as a boy with an orphaned deer |
| Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 | TBD | Developer felt the need to add a sex scene to the trailer |
| Slitterhead | 2024-11-08 | |
| Killer Bean | June 2024 (Early Access) | A comedic, roguelike shooter |
| Cairn | TBD | A QWAP-like climbing game |
| Wanderstop | TBD | |
| Unknown9 Awakening | Fall 2024 | |
| Monster Hunter Stories | 2024-06-14 | |
| Enotria The Last Song | TBD | A game where you fight people to take their masks, which appear to be fused to their face |
| The First Descendant | 2024-07-02 | New Sci-Fi Looter Shooter |
| Sonic X Shadow Generations | October 2024 | |
| Dune Awakening | TBD | Open-World Survival MMO set in the Dune universe |
| Battle Aces | TBD | New RTS game from David Kim, StarCraft 2 designer |
| New World Aeternum | 2024-10-15 | |
| Dark and Darker | TBD | |
| Kunitsu-Gami Path of the Goddess | 2024-07-19 | |
| Hyperlight Breaker | TBD | |
| Monster Hunter Wilds | TBD | |
| Phantom Blade 0 | TBD |
The developers of Among Us, Innersloth, announced they are launching a new program called Outersloth to help indie devs with funding. Innersloth mentioned that this is something that they wish they had at the time they were starting out. It was also announced that Among Us will be getting an animated TV show adaptation. Games currently utilizing the Outersloth program include:
- Mars First Logistics
- Battle Suite Aces
- Mossfield Archives
- One Btn Bosses
- Rogue Eclipse
- Project Dosa
Day of the Devs
Day of the Devs, an indie games showcase lead by Double Fine, showcased some interesting and, arguably, innovative upcoming games made by indie developers (both solo and small studios). A few of the games showcased that caught our attention are detailed below.
Petal Runner
From Nano Park, Petal Runner as a retro, slice-of-life game styled with Gameboy era graphics. The game has you exploring a city while investigating a HanaPet hype.
UFO 50
From Mossmouth comes UFO 50, a meta-game in which your playing a series of 50 video games created by a fictional game company. As you move through the library’s release dates, the games get more technologically advanced simulating advancements in the industry over time for the era. The developers mentioned all of the games are somewhat interconnected and you’ll see characters showing up in multiple games in a “cameo” sort of way. Some of the games will support multiplayer/co-op. UFO 50 is releasing on September 18, 2024, and was developed using GameMaker Studio 2.
Screenbound
Screenbound is an interesting mashup of a 3D world where the player navigates it using a 2D handheld game device like a Gameboy. The game features a few unique gameplay elements such as enemies only being visible in 2D and certain environment puzzles needing to be solved in 3D. There’s also an interesting level editor in which you build the game in 2D and it transforms it into a 3D environment.
While Waiting
While Waiting is a new game that available for wishlisting on Steam about going through mundane aspects of life. Developed by Optillusion, the game has a series of challenges for the player where they can either wait for the story to progress or can get off the mischief for various challenges. It’s a game I’ll be keeping an eye on as it looks like something funny to play through at least a time or two. A demo version of the game is currently available on Steam.
Devolver Direct
Devolver Direct was a strange 30 minute video where someone with an unhealthy obsession with Volvy talked about the impact it’s had on their life and hopes for the future. In between each live action segment was a game trailer. While watching this, I was wondering what Devolver was going to do in regards to the Unity engine debacle from 2023 where they announced careful consideration on using the Unity engine in future publishing projects