Geoff Keighley’s ‘Summer Game Fest’ Proves How Hard It Is To Create A Show For Everyone

On Friday, Geoff Keighley‘s annual Summer Game Fest aired. As ever, it was two hours of game trailers from developers of all sizes and from all countries. This is Keighley’s sixth year doing the show, as he stepped in just as the previous gaming and electronics convention, E3, was on its way out.  How people viewed this year’s show depends on how they tend to view game showcases in general.

For viewers looking at the show as a way to get access to the biggest AAA games, the show was doubtlessly a disappointment. From the very beginning, Keighley has made a habit of spotlighting AA games and new developers from other countries, rather than simply aiming for nothing but AAA games. Viewers who went in looking for the entire showcase to be built around games that appeal to them would also have been disappointed, as Summer Game Fest offered everything from 16-bit beat ’em ups to horror to JRPGs. Some of the highlights included:

Bandai-Namco’s Code Vein is back again, returning for the first time since its debut appearance in 2019. This time, players take on the role of a Revenant Hunter traveling to the past with the help of a young girl named Lou. Given the original game moved over three millions copies, it’s not surprising Bandai-Namco chose to go with this series over Scarlet Nexus.

Mundfish’s Atomic Heart II is probably one of the biggest surprises of the event. It felt a little soon to get another, especially when this one looks so drastically different from the original. It’s said to continue the story, but it’s also on a larger scale, introducing aliens and enhanced sci-fi tech to create a new experience.

Dotemu and Tribute Games confirmed two more characters for Marvel Cosmic Invasion, as She-Hulk and Rocket Raccoon were added to the game’s roster. For those who missed the announcement, Marvel Cosmic Invasion sees some of the greatest Marvel superheroes battling against Annihilus and his Annihilation Wave to protect the Earth.

Keighley’s love of Muppets has finally generated an actual muppet game. Felt That: Boxing feels like an insane project for a number of reasons. Sans Strings Studio has created the most realistic-looking puppets I’ve ever seen — this game just looks like real life, minus the people. It’s also clearly trying for a heart-felt story while also keeping the jokes … and being about, y’know … muppets. Still, they seem to be trying to make a great, full-fledged game with a lengthy story mode, progression, and a training mode.

Embark Studios finally has a release date for their long-awaited looter-shooter turned PvPvE extraction title, Arc Raiders. Although people didn’t think much of this title when it was announced, the most recent beta seems to have turned opinion fairly positive. For my part, the game looks like a fun take on the extraction genre. It feels like third-person Escape from Tarkov, with just enough of the friction stripped out to reach a wider audience, but hopefully not so much that they’ll get bored playing it. Still, players will know one way or another on October 30th.

Developers Kong Orange, Wired Fly, and Morten Sondergaard announced Out of Words. It follows a pair of friends traveling the world and gradually falling in love with one another. That developers are still willing to do weird games like this even at this budget level is fantastic, to say nothing of the fact that Keighley was willing to feature them strongly.

It feels like it’s been forever, but Yacht Club Games is finally ready to release their next title. Mina the Hollower is another 8-bit pixel game, but it looks positively gorgeous. It feels like a classic Game Gear or Game Boy Color-style game in the best way, and if its anywhere close to as good as Shovel Knight, fans should be in for a great time.

Scott Pilgrim makes a comeback thanks to Tribute Games and Scott Pilgrim EX. With the founders of Tribute Games developing the original Scott Pilgrim games, the franchise couldn’t be in better hands. Even Bryan Lee O’Malley, Scott Pilgrim‘s creator, is involved, telling a brand-new story in that universe. This new version looks like a blast, and hopefully it can one-up on everything the original did right.

Epic Games Publishing is at it again, bringing another exclusive game to their Epic Games Store platform with Cubit Studios’ Infinitesimals. A third-person action game following a squadron of tiny aliens trapped on a planet after crashing, this was quietly one of the best games of the show. It’s a beautiful game with solid-looking combat and apparently a strong, cinematic story. If this game can live up to the hype, hopefully, it can be a reason to get PC gamers to use Epic Games Store, even if just for a bit.

Brass Lion Entertainment finally unveiled Wu-Tang: Rise of the Deceiver, a co-op action RPG which sees the player saving Shaolin and the Wu-Tang Clan. Viewers barely got anything from this other than a press release, as there’s not even a release date confirmed yet. It could be years before anyone hears from this again. That said, a Wu-Tang game is exciting, but this was one of the worst ways to reveal it.

Initially revealed at The Game Awards, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios offered another look at Project Century, now known as Stranger Than Heaven. There’s no information on this game yet, and not even a release date. The game’s jazzy soundtrack gives off the vibes of Cowboy Bebop on Earth, and there’s clearly a story they’re trying to tell through time given the game starts in the 1920s, only for this trailer to show the 1940s. While we’re currently in the dark, it seems likely viewers get another look at this game this year.

Keighley ended the show strong with Capcom finally confirming Resident Evil Requiem, the ninth installment in Capcom’s best-selling franchise. Hopefully players are ready to come back to Raccoon City, because this game is coming out February 27th.

This just scratched the surface of what Summer Game Fest had to offer this year. The show certainly dragged in multiple parts thanks to all the commercials (everyone’s seen enough Genshin Impact and Genshin clones), but as a whole, it offered something for everyone. Of course, in an era where people demand everything cater to them at all times, it’s not a surprise that a lot of people were down on it.