The Electronic Entertainment Expo – better known as E3 – has been the de facto video game trade event since 1995, but Covid-19 changed that.
E3 has been a “no-show” until now, giving the online-only Summer Game Fest a spot in the limelight.
The major reveals began a bit before Summer Game Fest with the PlayStation Showcase at the end of May, where Konami teased a Metal Gear Solid 3 remake and a remaster collection for the first trilogy.
Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater, as the remake has been titled, comes after the series’ original director Hideo Kojima’s messy separation from the company.
According to Konami, the remake will feature the game’s original voice actor, marking the return of fan favourite David Hayter as protagonist Naked Snake.
Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol 1, on the other hand, features remasters of Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, despite the latter receiving a remake.
This marks the company’s first return to the franchise since Metal Gear Survive in 2018.
Snake Eater will be released on PS5, Xbox Series, and PC at an unannounced date and price, while the remastered collection will be coming to PS5, Xbox Series, PC, and Switch on Oct 23.
The digital pre-order for the collection is currently available on the PS5 for RM242.
Sony’s showcase also featured Insomniac’s highly anticipated Spider-Man 2, with a gameplay reveal that pits Peter Parker in a symbiote suit and Miles Morales against Kraven the Hunter’s army.
The 12-minute gameplay segment showed Parker’s symbiote-enhanced combat powers and a gliding movement system.
Spider-Man 2 will be launching on Oct 20 exclusively on the PS5, with pre-orders available for RM299.
Another title shown in Sony’s presentation was Assassin’s Creed: Mirage from Ubisoft, which the company says would be a “return to roots” for the franchise that would revisit core parts of earlier titles: parkour, stealth, and assassinations.
The game is set in Baghdad, 20 years prior to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, with the map closer in size to that of Paris in Assassin’s Creed Unity and Revelation’s Constantinople.
It will be releasing on Oct 12, with pre-orders available for RM169 on PC, Xbox Series, and PS5.
Alongside it was horror thriller Alan Wake 2, first announced back in 2021, and it finally received a release date of Oct 17.
The title will see the return of the eponymous Alan Wake and the introduction of a new enigmatic character, FBI agent Saga Anderson, giving players two choices of protagonists as the game’s central theme is duality.
It will debut on PC, Xbox Series, and PS5 on Oct 17, with pre-orders starting at RM170.
The same showcase saw Bungie dig up Marathon, a franchise that has not seen a new release since its third entry in 1996.
Marathon will be a PvPvE (player vs player vs environment) extraction shooter in the same vein as Escape From Tarkov, Hunt: Showdown, and The Cycle: Frontier, a far cry from its origins as a single-player first-person shooter (FPS).
Marathon has not been given a release date, with Bungie saying that there is still a long way before it comes out on the PC and PS5.
Other reveals include a Destiny 2 expansion titled The Final Shape, The Talos Principle 2, and Dragon’s Dogma 2, all of which don’t have a launch date as of now.
The Sony presentation also went into titles for the PlayStation VR2, with a first-person virtual reality (VR) mode for the remake of Resident Evil 4, Five Nights At Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2, Arizona Sunshine 2, Synapse, and Crossfire: Sierra Squad.
Among the announcements was the reveal of a device that looks like a PS5 DualSense controller chopped in half with an 8in screen slapped in the middle.
The device, codenamed Project Q, is intended for streaming games from a PS5 over WiFi using the company’s Remote Play system.
Project Q will see a release later this year.
Tantalising trailers
Moving on to the actual Summer Game Fest, gamers were given a taste of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the second instalment in what has become a remake trilogy.
The trailer showed the addition of both Yuffie and Red XIII as playable members of the party, along with a glimpse into the familiar but different storyline of the remake.
Square Enix has not locked in a hard release date, but the company has confirmed that it will be launching sometime early next year on PS5.
Alongside it was also Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis, a single-player mobile game releasing on iOS and Android later this year, telling stories from different chapters within the world of Final Fantasy VII.
The showcase also included gameplay for Mortal Kombat 1, simultaneously a reboot and a sequel to the eleventh entry, due for release on Sept 19, featuring a reimagined universe and timeline, according to series co-creator Ed Boon.
Alongside the tweaked setting is the addition of one-button assists and air combos.
Coupled with the recent launch of Street Fighter 6 and the upcoming network test for Tekken 8 later this month, fighting game fans have a lot to look forward to.
Mortal Kombat 1 will be available on PS5, Xbox Series, Switch, and PC.
Another first-look at gameplay demoed during the Summer Game Fest was for Armored Core VI: Fires Of Rubicon, the first new entry in the franchise since 2013.
The footage showed that FromSoftware elected to maintain classic elements of the franchise, such as the high customisability of the mechs, while melding them with Souls-like gameplay, including the lock-on system during combat.
This makes sense, as the company is coming off last year’s hit, Elden Ring, and wants to create a familiar environment for new fans.
Armored Core VI: Fires Of Rubicon launches Aug 25 and is available for pre-order with prices starting at RM199.
The official trailer for CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 DLC, Phantom Liberty, was unveiled during the Xbox Games Showcase, with the developer describing it as a “spy-thriller adventure”.
Phantom Liberty will add a new area called Dogtown, a new story, a skill tree, weapons, and vehicles. And, of course, we’ll see the return of Keanu Reeves as Johnny Silverhand when it releases on Sept 26.
Those looking to get their sci-fi fix will be glad to know that Star Wars Outlaws will be the series’ very first venture into the space (pun intended) of open-world games.
The gameplay showed protagonist Kay Vess as she engages in Han Solo-esque gunfights, pilots a ship in dogfights against TIE fighters, and interacts with the galactic underworld against the familiar backdrop of the Star Wars universe between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi.
Star Wars Outlaws is slated for sometime in 2024 for the PS5, Xbox Series and PC.
As far as sci-fi is concerned, the major highlight has to be Bethesda’s Starfield, which got its own standalone 45-minute gameplay presentation.
The deep dive spotlighted in-depth character creation, ship upgrades and modifications, exploration, base building, crew customisation and combat, among other things.
However, according to Starfield director Todd Howard, while the game’s world is vast with over 1,000 planets, only about 10% will be home to alien life. This has attracted some flak online.
The game will be available on Sept 6 for PC and Xbox Series, with pre-orders currently open at RM239, though it will also be available to PC Game Pass subscribers for free on day one.
Summer Game Fest also marked the first appearance of a new Prince Of Persia game in over a decade.
Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown brings the franchise back to its action-platforming roots in 2.5D with a world inspired by Persian mythology.
It will be released on Jan 18 next year for the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series, Xbox One, Switch, and PC.
And that’s not the only blast from the past, with Sonic Superstars (launching later this year) and Super Mario Brothers Wonder (Oct 30) also adopting retro-style platformer gameplay.
Fans of the original Super Mario RPG will be happy to hear that Nintendo will be releasing a remake on Nov 17 this year as well.
Other notable reveals include gameplay for Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name (Nov 9), Payday 3 (Sept 21), Forza Motorsport (Oct 10), Persona 5 Tactics (Nov 16), Lies Of P (Sept 19), and Cities Skylines 2 (Oct 24).
Intriguing indies
There were also a slew of titles that stood out on the indie front, starting off with Helskate.
Helskate has the feel of Hi-Fi Rush’s combat and the movement system of a classic Tony Hawk title from back in the day, with a rogue-lite twist thrown in for good measure.
Players cruise on a skateboard while pulling off tricks, slaying monsters, and upgrading gear, all the while chaining flashy combos as they go. Helskate will be coming to Steam Early Access in 2024.
In addition to Helskate, another standout entry was Hyper Light Breaker, the newest entry to the Hyper Light series that takes the style and rogue-lite gameplay of the original and translates them to a procedurally generated 3D world. It also features co-op.
Hyper Light Breaker is expected to launch on Steam Early Access in Fall 2023.
Meanwhile, Lil’ Guardsman is a point-and-click title very reminiscent of 2014’s Papers, Please, in which players are in the shoes of a 12-year-old child who also serves as the kingdom’s gatekeeper.
Like in Papers, Please, players are in charge of letting people into the city and deciding whether or not they should be locked up if they look suspicious.
But unlike Papers, Please, it adds a comedic and colourful tone to the pencil-pushing and illegal smuggling.
Lil’ Guardsman will be coming to PS5, PS4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, Switch and PC sometime this year.
Another title expected this year is Wizard With A Gun, a co-op sandbox survival video game with a papercraft art style set across a number of magical biomes.
On the other hand, Snufkin: Melody Of Moominvalley is an adventure game set in the world of the Moomins, based on a Finnish children’s novel, and is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2024.
Other noteworthy indies include Human Fall Flat 2 (no release date), Baby Steps (2024), World Of Horror (Oct 19), Cocoon (2023), and The Plucky Squire (2023).
Already a subscriber? Log in
Get 20% OFF The Star Digital Access
Cancel anytime. Ad-free. Unlimited access with perks.
