Once part of E3, the PC Gaming Show has more recently leapt into the loving arms of Saint Geoff, making its appearance on Sunday nightâs section of the Summer Game Fest. The two-hour show offered us footage from dozens and dozens of games, but also rather unfortunately thought it might be a good idea to perform a very unfunny skit for its entire 120-minute run. To save you from the feature-length cringe, weâve picked out the most interesting games from the stream.
Nivalis
Nivalis looks astonishing. From Ion Lands, who previously brought us 2020âs excellent open world sci-fi Cloudpunk, this is a game thatâs part life sim, part immersive sim, finding you running a noodle bar while avoiding a serial killer, and even looking for love. Itâs hugely ambitious, but the studio has form, and there are many reasons to be excited about this one. Itâs due out in 2024.
Pax Dei
MMOs are very definitely long out of fashion, but Pax Dei looks like a fresh take on the genre. Well, that or itâs been so long since Ultima Online that the idea of a social, sandbox MMO feels fresh all over again. Itâs set in a medieval era, in a world where ghosts exist, and magic is real, but so much of the game is about creating your own stories and relationship with other players.
Path of Exile 2
Weâre enormously looking forward to Path of Exile 2, given just how superb the first game continues to be some ten years after its release. But this trailer ainât it. Iâm including it because it was sadly indicative of how poor so many of the trailers were in the grueling two hours of the stream, which either showed cartoons instead of in-game footage, or, like this, picked the worst possible section to feature. PoE2 will be filled with many different areas, so how about you donât pick 30 seconds of a beige character running across a beige, bland series of tiles, to fight a beige monster. Just bizarre
Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector
2022âs Citizen Sleeper proved an enormously compelling RPG, driven by the principles of table-top gaming, with a well-written narrative set within âthe ruins of interplanetary capitalism.â So itâs fantastic to know a sequel is already happening, with loads of footage revealed today.
Dread Pilots
Klei, they of hits like Griftlands and Donât Starve, revealed their next game during the show. Itâs Dread Pilots, a space survival game about exploring a pocket universe called the Dread.
The art isnât particular inspiring in the trailer (apart from the great cartoons), and it doesnât do a great job of explaining what itâs about, butâŠwell, Klei make amazing games, and thereâs every reason to hope this will live up to their stellar reputation.
Altered Alma
Yet another trailer filled with excellent cartoons that have nothing to do with the actual game, but when you do see the footage, it shines. Itâs a Metroidvania with a bunch of RPG ideas woven in, and then some dating sim for good measure.
The Invincible
Based on the novel by sci-fi author StanisĆaw Lem, in The Invincible you play as astrobiologist Yasna, exploring a planet called Regis III. However, the world is a hostile one, and youâre soon looking for lost crewmates in what looks like a cerebral and unique first-person adventure.
Chimera
Chimera is the sophomore project from Green Hell developers Creepy Jar. And given how astonishingly well their previous survival game did, thereâs every reason to pay close attention to their next. This time out youâre on a mysterious planet in an open-world base-building sim, and yeah, weâre as confused as you are. Apparently youâll be able to build âcomplex industrial systems,â as well as play alongside four other friends.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owSlF71uy-s
Fortuneâs Run
A character called Dying Son, who sings in a mournful voice, is enough to bring me in. That this turns out to be a 2.5D FPS, with a demo out right now, seals the deal. This looks gloriously scrappy, and promises âimmersive sim elements.â
Breathedge 2
Breathedge was a weird game. Not just for all the sometimes strained ways in which it was trying to be weird, with its somewhat awkward sense of humor, but also for the way what begins as a superb space survival game changes tack halfway through to become something else entirely. Hopefully theyâll have learned from the negative critical reaction to that decision, and focus on what the first game did really well: being Subnautica in space.
Kotaku is covering everything Summer Game Fest, from the main show on Thursday to other events happening throughout the next week. Whether youâre into larger-than-life triple-A games or intimate, offbeat indies, you can keep up with all things SGF here
