All the major announcements worth watching from Summer Game Fest 2024
All the major announcements from Summer Game Fest 2024
Summer Game Fest kicked off on Friday with a two-hour showcase in which host and gaming impresario Geoff Keighley came out swinging haymaker punches on behalf of embattled video games developers for publishers and developers large and small.
“This has been a tumultuous and difficult year with company layoffs and studio closures that have disappointed all of us.” Keighley said in his opening statement.
Then, introducing a title card for what the audience could expect over the next two hours, he showed a list of the top 10 selling games on Steam so far. Two, he said could be considered the kind of big budget, big marketing console-style games. The other eight come from independent, mid-size, or even solo development teams.
“I look at this list and I get inspired that new ideas, new teams, and new creators, can and will break through,” Keighley said. “It’s a reminder to big companies that they have to treat their developers right, because today, there are many paths to sustainability and success, and that’s what makes this industry so, so great,” Keighley added.
And with that said, let’s take a look at the big announcement and reveals over the two-hour long showcase of Summer Game Fest 2024.
Lego Horizon Adventures
Yep, Lego’s next crossover is with Sony’s award-winning Horizon IP. Or maybe Sony’s post-apocalyptic canon, whose most recent release was 2022’s Horizon: Forbidden West, is crossing over with the latter. Either way, it looks like a lighthearted take on the otherwise very serious (and critically acclaimed) adventure series for PlayStation. It launches on PlayStation 5 this holiday season.
No More Room in Hell 2
A hardcore multiplayer survival shooter, No More Room in Hell 2 is the sequel to a 2011 Source engine mod launching, appropriately enough, by Halloween for PC on Steam and the Epic Games Store. There’s permadeath and a whole lot of swear words.
Harry Potter Quidditch Champions
If Quidditch was a real sport, a player taking its pitch on a broomstick during the sport’s debut in the 2001 film Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone would likely be a retired champion today. Finally it gets triple-A treatment with Quidditch Champions. Notably absent from 2023’s Hogwarts Legacy (the Hogwarts headmaster announces the Quidditch season has been canceled for safety reasons) Quidditch returns t’s the first Harry Potter title solely dedicated to the sport since 2003’s Quidditch World Cup. The game launches Sept 3 on PlayStation 4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and Windows PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store.
Cuffbust
Cuffbust is a prison-break roguelite that — well, see for yourself and then ask the inevitable question, “What did I just watch.” You have cartoon characters babbling simlish as they hatch a plot to blow up toilets and bust out of the joint. Count me in. It’s all the work of a single developer, Gavin Eisenbeigz. Players can cooperate or subvert one another’s plans.
Star Wars Outlaws
In advance of a fuller reveal at Ubisoft Forward on Monday, Summer Game Fest presented a narrative teaser showing Star Wars Outlaws, the open-world space pirate adventure announced last year. Star Wars Outlaws pulls at the oldest and most romantic thread in the sprawling space adventure’s continuity, and it premiers Aug 30. Tune in Monday, June 10 for a fuller reveal.
Civilization VII
Leaked earlier on Friday, Summer Game Fest confirmed the next installment of the revered strategy title is coming August 2025, Sid Meier himself followed a debut trailer with a message to the longtime fans of the 30-year-old strategy title.
Batman: Arkham Shadow
This Meta Quest VR game takes players into Gotham City to confront a new menace: The Rat King. Jim Gordon looks ready to violate some suspects’ rights to due process to stop the danger; Batman, as always, is willing to go even further is his vigilante escapades. Batman: Arkham Shadow launches this fall exclusively for Meta Quest headsets.
Tears of Metal
Billed as a roguelike co-op, hack-n-slash, Tears of Metal calls upon the finest traditions of Scotland, which start with going out with your tribe to beat ass galore with a very large sword. In Scotland’s defense, that’s a good tradition to have. Tears of Metal does not yet have a release date.
Dragon Ball Sparking Zero
If Tears of Metal didn’t go enough over the top for you, there’s always Dragon Ball Z’s next fighting game. Break the heavens in the ultimate Dragon Ball showdown with Dragon Ball Sparking Zero, launching Oct. 11 for PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.
Blumhouse’s horror games
Blumhouse, the horror movie studio behind crowd-pleasers like Get out, M3gan, and Five Nights at Freddys, is trying its hand at video games with a slate of titles launching over the next tk: Crisol Theater of Idols, Grave Seasons, Sleep Awake, Fear the Spotlight, The Simulation, and Project C. Release dates and platforms have not been announced.
Alan Wake II’s Night Springs expansion
Featuring three fan-favorite playable characters, Remedy Entertainment is delivering the first expansion content for the 2023 horror/mystery adventure on Saturday, June 8. Alan Wake II is available on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.
Skate
Once again, fans of Electronic Arts’ skateboarding franchise, which last launched in 2010 and whose reboot was announced 2021, got an ironic, eff-the-man live-action trailer, some “pre-pre-alpha footage” and no launch date, but a promise of console testing coming sometime this fall.
Slitterhead
First announced in 2021, Slitterhead is a horror adventure from the creator of Silent Hill, Keiichiro Toyama, who founded Bokeh, an independent game studio in 2020. It launches Nov. 8 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox Series X.
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