Summer Games Fest Recap
Let the game showcases begin! Last week, PlayStation kicked off the early June showcase season with a State of Play and Geoff Keighley continued with Summer Games Fest. There were a lot of announcements about indies, Lego Horizon, Civilization VII, Palworld and more, so here were some of the biggest:
The Indie Scene Got Major Shout Outs
Keighley finally acknowledged the litany of layoffs and closed studios to start the show. From there, he pivoted towards how important smaller games have been this year. To back this up, he showed the top ten bestselling games (by units) on Steam. Eight were from smaller developers, featuring Helldivers 2, Hades 2, and more. Yet that was far from the only big spot for smaller games.
Innersloth, the Among Us developers, announced a new initiative to fund indie developers called Outersloth. Blumhouse Games also announced six horror-esque games coming to multiple platforms. We could talk all day about these smaller games, but for now, this was a very good way to frame this showcase.
Summer Games Fest Premiered Lego Horizon Adventures and Civilization VII
Like many Lego games, this is a top down action game that follows Aloy roaming the world and beating up Machines for parts.
Fans of the original games will see many familiar sights. Aloy fights everything from Watchers to Tallnecks, explores Cauldrons, and climb around.
A Lego Horizon game was leaked earlier this week, so seeing it lead off the show wasn’t a surprise. Seeing the Switch as a launch platform was. PlayStation normally launches their games on their console first and then other platforms later. To see Lego Horizon hit Nintendo, soon before their next console is expected to drop, that was unexpected.
Horizon was far from Keighley’s only major reveal, though. To anyone who frequents Civ-related subreddits, congratulate UrsaRyan, for now he can see the light. 2K Games leaked the title earlier in the day, but Firaxis finally announced the next Civilization game. The popular strategy game last released Civilization VI back in 2016 and its follow-up is slated for 2025. We even saw the man himself, Sid Meier, give a special thank you to fans.
We won’t see the full gameplay until August, most likely at Gamescom’s Opening Night Live.
Alan Wake 2 DLC Launches Imminently
Anyone who watched the Game Awards last year shouldn’t be surprised to see the game here.
Remedy Entertainment teased something earlier this week on social media. They changed their Twitter/X handle to Poison Pill Entertainment, and now revealed the imminent DLC, Frosty Springs. It follows “what-if” scenarios from Alan Wake’s universe, including Jesse Faden, the main character from Control.
We won’t wait long at all, the DLC goes live at midnight.
Keighley Added News for Palworld, The Finals, and more in Summer Games Fest
As Keighley mentioned ahead of time, we got many updates for existing games. Some in Early Access, like Palworld, heavily detailed their next update, due out June 27th. Valorant is coming to console with a limited beta starting next Friday (June 14th). The Finals Season 3 starts soon and brings a new arena, Kyoto, and weapons tied to the new grounds.
Many other games got notable updates like Honkai Starrail, Party Animals, and Street Fighter 6 announced new DLC characters. Long-term support is necessary for many of these games. Palworld is still in Early Access so that needs to keep building to its full release.
Summer Game Fest had many other announcements throughout this two-hour show. Quidditch is back, Power Rangers are back, and Koalas are making a jailbreak. For more information throughout this busy time, check back here at Lordsofgaming.net.
