Image: Square Enix
From Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth to Spider-Man 2, here are the biggest reveals from Summer Game Fest this week.
The Game Awards host Geoff Keighley returned to kick off another iteration of his annual E3 replacement event today: Summer Game Fest. An exciting live games showcase saw a ton of trailers, announcements and gameplay from upcoming games drop online, and we’ve recapped the biggest surprises for your reading pleasure below. From Spider-Man 2 to Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, here’s everything we saw at Summer Game Fest 2023:
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
A new Prince of Persia game that isn’t the Sands of Time remake? A surprise, but we’ll take it. This 2.5D platformer goes back to the roots of this franchise with classic action-platforming gameplay featuring fresh character designs for the Prince and a new story. Also, it's a sidescrolling Metroidvania now!
Mortal Kombat 1
We got our first real look at Mortal Kombat 1's gameplay, as well as new designs for characters like Johnny Cage and Raiden. The gameplay trailer shows off the game's Kameo fighters - like Goro, Sony Blade Kano and Sindel - as Liu Kang recruits familiar characters for what seems to be another Mortal Kombat tournament. Kenshi is also returning to the main roster at long last.
Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon popped up to explain what we saw in more detail, starting with an explanation that this is a franchise reboot following Liu Kang's rebirth as a fire god. Kameos are also available as a button-press summon, giving players access to various fighters from Mortal Kombat history as backup during a match. Some roster fighters will double as Kameo fighters, but others are nods towards older Mortal Kombat games.
Path of Exile 2
We got gameplay from the highly-anticipated sequel to Path of Exile, a beloved action-RPG in the vein of Diablo. This short snippet of gameplay sees the protagonist annihilating enemies before a massive creature shows up to make their day difficult. Visually, the sequel already looks like a huge step up from the first game, and it might give Diablo 4 a real run for its money.
The Witcher: Season 3 - Part 1
We got a trailer for Part 1 of Henry Cavill's final season as Geralt of Rivia in Netflix's live-action fantasy adaptation of the Witcher books. Geralt, Ciri, Yennefer and Jaskier team up to take on a new threat when Part 1 drops on June 29, 2023.
Sonic Superstars
Sonic is taking its new 3D visuals and applying them to the classic platforming gameplay fans love in this new game. Sonic Superstars looks like everything we wanted from a new 2D-ish Sonic game, with lots of high speed platforming and playable characters from Sonic's diverse cast of friends, including Knuckles and Amy.
Alan Wake 2
An endearingly nervous Sam Lake showed up to present gameplay for the sequel he's always wanted to make: Alan Wake 2. This survival-horror game features dual protagonists in its anguished titular writer, Alan Wake, and new FBI agent Saga Anderson, who enters Bright Falls pursuing a strange mystery. You can freely switch between either character in gameplay, or just play as one character almost all the way through the story.
The short gameplay snippet seen above starts off just like a Resident Evil game, with a police officer exploring a dark forest with a torchlight. It doesn't take long for Saga to run into a shadow enemy, making it clear that combat has been polished up for the sequel. Saga picks up a tattooed heart from a cooler to end the trailer, hinting that we need to look for physical clues to progress the story.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
We got a new trailer and co-op confirmation for this highly-anticipated third-person shooter. The campaign can be played with up to three-person as players take on hordes of monsters this winter.
John Carpenter's Toxic Commando
Everyone has been trying their level best to make a successor to Left4Dead, but you know who hasn't given it a shot yet? Renowned horror icon John Carpenter. This multiplayer game pits a squad of players against hordes of mutated ghouls in crisp-looking environments, and vehicles are included. It's always nice to have something on hand to run your enemies over with.
This is what Carpenter had to say about the game:
Look, I really like shooting zombies. They keep telling me that they’re called ’the infected.’ Please. They’re ghouls, dude. They blow up real good and there are a ton of them. People are going to love this game.
A quote for the ages.
Spider-Man 2
We got a surprising new look at Insomniac Games' sequel to Marvel's Spider-Man, which features multiple villains in Venom, Kraven and even more baddies who haven't been announced just yet. For this event, we got some art confirming Venom's in-game appearance - though Insomniac made it clear that Eddie Brock won't be in the suit for this entry. That will likely be Harry Osbourn, going off hints from the previous game.
We also got a release date: October 20, 2023.
Twisted Metal
Will Arnett voices Sweet Tooth in this live-action adaptation of PlayStation's demented driving game, starring Anthony Mackie as a milkman trying to make his way across the apocalypse in order to deliver a cryptic package. The series starts streaming on Peacock on July 27.
Immortals of Aveum
We got a new look at EA's upcoming magical first-person shooter with a long and very chaotic gameplay snippet. Darren Barnet of Netflix's Never Have I Ever fame stars as a man named Jak, who joins an elite order of battlemages to save a world on the edge of abyss.
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth
This gameplay trailer starts off pretty grim, taking place right after a crash on the Midgar expressway that sees Tifa, Aerith and Red XIII injured. We also see our first glimpse at Gaia, the world beyond Midgar as seen in the original game, including the famous Chocobo Farm and confirmation that we'll see Cloud's entire party follow him around in the open-world.
Red XIII is playable! Yuffie is joining the fray! Jenova is back! Sephiroth is inciting chaos once again! All this and more, when Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth launches in early 2024.
