Summer Game Fest 2024 Reveals Civilization VII, Alan Wake 2 DLC, Blumhouse Horror Slate, and More
Games News Summer Game Fest
While E3 is very dead, the start of summer still means there’s a gauntlet of gaming press conferences on the horizon, and Summer Games Fest, arguably the biggest of the bunch, just gave us around two hours of trailers and announcements. While the widespread devastation of the AAA games industry and the fracturing of E3 into a dozen smaller events means that the conference wasn’t nearly as dense as the showings we saw back in the glory days, there were still quite a few cool announcements, including a new Civilization game, Blumhouse’s horror games slate, Alan Wake 2 DLC, and a wave of smaller titles. Let’s run down the biggest announcements and reveals.
LEGO Horizon Adventures Announced
In a surprising move, LEGO Horizon Adventures was announced, which will reimagine Sony’s Horizon series through the lens of everyone’s favorite construction toys. Both its gameplay and tongue-in-cheek tone seemed in line with previous LEGO action platformers, and the trailer showed co-op battles against robot dinosaurs. Perhaps the most notable element is that despite being based on a PlayStation first-party series coming to PS5, the game will be released simultaneously on the Nintendo Switch and PC as well.
Neva Gets First Gameplay Trailer
We got a first look at gameplay for the highly anticipated Neva, the next game from Nomada Studio, who crafted the beautiful Gris. Like their past work, their new game looks gorgeous, showcasing fantastical and colorful backdrops as the protagonist travels with their wolf companion. While we only saw a little bit of its swordplay, it’s a 2D platformer where you roll and slash to combat shadowy beings.
Sid Meier’s Civilization VII Announced
After a more than eight-year gap since its last entry, we finally have confirmation that Civilization VII is on the way. While the trailer was more of a teaser than anything else, Sid Meier himself appeared to let us know that the new game is being developed by Firaxis and will be released simultaneously on PC and consoles when it comes out in 2025. We’ll apparently get more gameplay details soon.
Street Fighter 6 Season 2 Characters Revealed
Capcom announced the next batch of characters for the second year of Street Fighter 6, and they weren’t what anyone was expecting. For starters, Terry Bogard and Mai from the Fatal Fury series will be included, a surprising move considering cross-overs are almost non-existent in mainline Street Fighter entries. On top of this, it was revealed that M. Bison, who was killed in the last game, will also somehow be returning. The most “normal” reveal of the bunch is that Elena is coming back, but even she hasn’t appeared since she broke Street Fighter IV’s balance. It’s an interesting crop of characters, but it still has me asking an evergreen question: where the hell is Makoto?!
Blumhouse Reveals Slate of Horror Games
About a year ago, Blumhouse Productions, the horror-oriented film studio behind Paranormal Activity, Insidious, and more, announced it was getting into videogames. Today, they showed off their eclectic slate of scare-tinged titles, which frankly, look rad as hell. There was Fear the Spotlight, a low-poly survival horror game, Crisole Theater of Idols, a Bioshock-esque FPS, The Simulation, which is about the scariest topic of all, making games, Grave Seasons, the first horror-based farming game I’ve ever seen, Sleep Awake, a surreal first-person experience, and Project C, a new game from Sam Barlow’s Half Mermaid (Immortality) and director Brandon Cronenberg.
Slitterhead, New Game from Ex-Silent Hill and Gravity Rush Devs, Gets Gameplay Trailer
After its announcement three years ago at the 2021 Summer Game Fest, we finally have the first gameplay of Bokeh Studio’s freshman debut, Slitterhead. The studio was founded by ex-Silent Hill, Siren, and Gravity Well developers, including series creator Keiichiro Toyama. While their new game had an unsettling look that fit the studio’s pedigree, to be honest, the combat looked somewhat clunky. Of course, it’s impossible to know how things will feel until playing it ourselves, but this will be something to keep an eye on going forward.
Wanderstop Announced, a Life Sim from Stanley Parable Developer
We got the first announcement on what Galactic Café, the developer behind Stanley Parable and The Beginner’s Guide, is working on next, and it’s a bit of a surprise, at least on the surface. Wanderstop appears to be a life sim where you play as a former fighter turned tea shop employee who has lingering trauma from their time on the battlefield. How much the game will stick to its original premise remains to be seen, but this one seems like a unique take on the space.
Alan Wake 2: Night Springs DLC Coming Out Tomorrow
While rumors about the upcoming Alan Wake 2 DLC have been circulating for a bit, we finally got confirmation that Night Springs is on the way, and most surprisingly, it’s out tomorrow. The add-on for last year’s best game will feature three what-if scenarios following Rose, Tim Breaker, and Jesse Faden from Control. It was also announced that Alan Wake 2 will finally be receiving a physical release.
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess Gets Release Date
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is a previously announced action game from Capcom set in a fantasy rendition of feudal Japan. Its gameplay trailers show off hack-and-slash gameplay combined with strategic elements, and much like the company’s other big-budget titles, it will be using the RE Engine. The game is set for a July 19 release date.
Tim Robinson Was Here, and the New Skate Game is Still Alive
One of the most confusing sequences of the show was when the comedian Tim Robinson appeared in a skit about a callous company called M Corp. It was eventually clarified that this evil corporation ties into the new Skate, which feels like it’s been in development for an eternity. There was no specific release date provided, just a reassurance that it hasn’t been canceled and that there will be console playtesting this fall.
Phantom Blade Zero Trailer Shows Off Lightening Fast Gameplay
Phantom Blade Zero almost looked too good to be true when it received its first trailer last year, which showcased blindingly fast action. However, following its first major gameplay trailer, its swordplay seems like it could be the real deal. Between the cadence of combat and UI elements, this world of maximalist martial arts looks heavily inspired by FromSoftware’s work, specifically Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Apparently, the game will be playable on the show floor, so we may find out soon enough if it’s as sick to play as it looks.
And, of course, that wasn’t all. We also saw more gameplay of heavily anticipated titles like Metaphor: ReFantazio, the new RPG from the Persona developers, a new trailer for Monster Hunter Wilds that showed off mounted combat, and a story cinematic from Dune Awakening that reveals it follows an alternate history from the books where Paul Atreides is never born. Hyper Light Breaker was shown, and its neon aesthetic and open-world exploration look as slick as ever. The Meta Quest 3 exclusive Batman Arkham Shadow got a cinematic that showed Gotham in a state of unrest (classic Gotham). We also got the reveal of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: Reta’s Rewind, a beat ’em up with pixel art that looks like a fun throwback.
Beyond those, there were a slew of games from smaller teams or solo devs, like Killer Bean, an over-the-top action game featuring bullet time, Dear and Boy, a moody narrative game where you raise an orphaned deer, Cairn, which is about mountain climbing, and Tears of Metal where you play as Scots fighting against military occupation. The showcase may not have been nearly as action-packed as E3, but it made clear that even if the C-suite executives that run the biggest game companies are resolved to slash and burn their own studios, people will keep making interesting games regardless.
You can check out the full conference here: