Well, E3 is dead. Many of us hoped that this would not happen, but unfortunately it has. Geoff Keighley, the mastermind behind The Game Awards and Summer Games Fest, is dancing on his grave at what was once gaming’s most famous convention.
Since the latter appears to be the “new E3” in a sense, our expectations are pretty high for this year’s Keighley showcase. probably the largest flow from Keighley comes to us on 8th June, which is advertised as a “Live, Cross-Industry Showcase”. There are already some major debuts lined up for the Summer Games Fest showcase and beyond, but in addition to curating a list of what we’ll be seeing next week, we’ll also be throwing some ideas into the universe in the hopes that they’ll be something to look forward to at Summer Games Fest. Can give big surprises.
things we expect
Instead of going straight into the weirdest predictions, we’re starting with the main things we know we’ll see at Summer Games Fest 2023. Starfield is arguably the biggest title on that list. While it is its own kind of thing, it is still listed as part of the Summer Games Fest event, and thus features here. Last year saw little of anything significant from Starfield, and while some impressive ideas were thrown in, we want to see more. Too much. Extended gameplay would be nice, a look at the planets we’ll visit, the stories we’ll be a part of, and the characters we’ll meet along the way. There’s no real way to put into words how much Bethesda has promoted Starfield, and we’ll be playing it in September. After a rough year for Xbox so far, we really hope that the sci-fi adventure can show us something that gives us some hope.
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The next game we already know about is Mortal Kombat 1. Shortly after NetherRealm gave us the first trailer for this fighting game, we knew we’d get a gameplay reveal at Summer Games Fest. That’s another big deal, and there’s a fair bit of pressure on Mortal Kombat 1 to perform, especially after Street Fighter 6’s positive reception. While Mortal Kombat 11 was a huge hit, though, and gave us popular new mechanics like Fatal Blow and our character loadout to build upon, with a few more tweaks it feels like we need Mortal Kombat 1 to succeed.
In terms of playable titles, fans of the not-so-distant dystopian future will be happy to hear that Cyberpunk 2077: Phantasm is coming to Play Days at Liberty Summer Games Fest. Considering the expansion was revealed last December, and we haven’t seen much since then, being able to get our hands on it is quite the jump. Let’s hope we don’t get stuck with the same launch as the base game.
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P’s lie is also coming to the Summer Games Fest. For fans of this genre game like Souls it was interesting to ask what would happen if Pinocchio looked like Timothée Chalamet and went on a killing spree. There have been several gameplay previews on Lies of Pi and we’re looking forward to its release sometime in August of this year. At the very least we’d expect some kind of final release date for Lies of Pi, as well as a trailer that gives us an extra dose of hype for it.
Horror fans brace up because Alan Wake 2 will also be revealing gameplay at Summer Games Fest. There’s a lot going on with this sequel, but from the trailer we’ve got at the PlayStation Showcase, Remedy’s latest title is nothing short of promising. With a release also due this October, we can probably expect to get a pretty good look at what we’ll be playing later this year.
For something a little lighter than Alan Wake 2, we also know that Palworld’s presence has been confirmed. At first, you’ll be drawn to Palworld’s cute creatures, but you’ll soon see that the base here is Pokémon with guns. It will be interesting to watch Pulworld more to find out if this is just a gimmick that has turned into a game or if it has flesh on its bones.
It’s about covers we know will definitely be there, but in terms of things we definitely wouldn’t be surprised at, we also expect the following to appear in some way:
- assassin’s creed mirage
- immortals of avanum
- F 1 23
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Armored Corps VI
- Park Beyond
what do we expect to see
Yep, from what we know and what we can expect to see, Summer Games Fest is shaping up to be. But hey, why not speculate a little about what surprises might be headed our way? Considering that more than 40 companies are participating in the event, there will surely be more to come than what has already been announced.
For example, WB potentially has a lot to show. We can take another look at Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League in the hopes that it can redeem itself from the dismal performance that was its State of Play presentation earlier in the year. Plus, Monolith has a Wonder Woman game in development that we haven’t heard from in a while. We saw virtually nothing from it, so it’s not really an expectation, but it would be a real and exciting surprise to see what they’re cooking up at Monolith.
Gearbox has also been announced as a partner for this year’s Summer Games Fest. It wouldn’t have given us much of a theory if it weren’t for a recent tweet from the Borderlands account teasing something to come. Borderlands 3 came out in 2019, so maybe it’s time for another entry in the looter shooter franchise, or even that we might see more of a Borderlands movie, especially since Summer Games Fest is said to be a multimedia showcase.
Speaking of multimedia, Netflix is also coming. This may be to showcase their latest gaming plans, but we’re hoping to see more from The Witcher Season 3 and maybe a few more trailers to get us excited about what the streaming titan has to offer.
Another distant hope is that Sega will tell us more about its upcoming remake. We discovered Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio earlier this year, and they may not be gearing up for release any time soon, but it would be nice to see more from them. Sega also said it has a lot planned in terms of remasters and remakes this fiscal year, so maybe we’ll have more surprises on the 8th.
Since Dragon’s Dogma 2 got its big trailer, we’re not expecting anything huge about the RPG, but if Capcom wants to let loose, we can probably expect to see a lot more of the highly anticipated sequel. Can There’s no release date set for it yet, but maybe we’ll see another trailer with a release window or something similar.
If we’re really reaching out to the universe and begging for our wildest dreams to come true, we can expect something like the Dragon Age: Dreadwolf trailer to remind us that the game still deserves attention. Worth giving, or as confirmation of the Resident Evil 5 remake makes it very likely that Capcom will continue their successful pattern of remaking titles in their horror franchise. Plus, there have been more and more rumors of a new Metro game in the works, and with 4 years since Metro: Exodus, maybe it’s time to go back to a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
There’s also murmuring here among the editing crews for Red Dead Redemption 2 Remaster, Grand Theft Auto VI Reveal, and Hollow Knight: Silksong Shadow Drop. These are pipe dreams for sure, but when these shows come along that’s half the fun. We can speculate and make up our own imaginations about the best ads we can think of.
Those wild guesses aside, though, it looks like Summer Games Fest is already afoot. Of course, in addition to what’s to come at this showcase, we’ve got the Xbox Game Showcase and the Ubisoft Forward presentation at the top. Expect to see more of them in the coming days.