If you want to watch the full 2023 Summer Game Fest showcase, it’s archived on YouTube (with the Day of the Devs and Devolver Direct streams following it). For the abridged version of Geoff Keighley’s live videogame announcement show, we’ve collected what we think are the most notable trailers and moments below, including another look at Alan Wake 2, a surprise Star Trek grand strategy game, and an appearance by Nicolas Cage.
Lots more events are coming over the next few days, including the Xbox and Starfield showcases and the PC Gaming Show—here’s the full summer showcase calendar.
Alan Wake 2
Alan Wake 2 will be “Remedy’s first survival horror game,” according to Sam Lake, who showed up on the Summer Game Fest stage. It definitely looks a lot more like a “full-blooded horror game,” as Robin put it.
Baldur’s Gate 3
Finally, a look at the city of Baldur’s Gate itself. I’ll leave it to a very hyped Ted to discuss this trailer.
Mortal Kombat 1
Our first look at Mortal Kombat 1 gameplay—that is, from the new game called Mortal Kombat 1, not the first Mortal Kombat—and it looks like we’d expect it to: goofy and gruesome. Oh, and Scorpion and Sub-Zero are brothers now?
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
There were mixed opinions about this new Prince of Persia game on the PC Gamer team, but Ted’s excited to see Ubisoft perhaps returning to its old 2003 ways with this 2.5D throwback.
Lies of P
Pinocchiosouls refuses to break character, including in this new trailer in which Geppetto’s sci-fi puppet boy uses a parasol to block bullets and witnesses the breaching of a shark submarine, and walks sullenly through grim nightmare France in an impossibly white ruffled shirt looking for all the world like he was meant to be played by Timothée Chalamet.
We got to go hands on with a demo of the closest PC players are getting to Bloodborne and somehow it’s actually good. You can try a demo for yourself right now over on Steam. It launches officially on September 19.
Remnant 2
The Remnant 2 announcement trailer had some delightful-looking bosses in it, and things just escalate in this one—the last thing we glimpse is a giant purple alien dude that shoots energy beams out of its mouth (or I think that’s its mouth?). We also got a release date: July 25. I’m gonna play it, for sure.
Palworld
It’s hard not to be intrigued by a game that looks and sounds a lot like Pokémon but with piles of guns and the option to imprison, kill, and even eat the creatures you collect. We’ll finally get to try Palworld in January when it enters early access.
Sand Land
A gorgeous game from Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama—Wes has the details here.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
If you weren’t interested in this Warhammer 40,000 shooter before now, perhaps the announcement of three-player co-op will interest you? Fraser didn’t love the original Space Marine, but now says that “it’s hard not to get pumped as three burly blokes march through corpses and slaughter hordes of ferocious alien nasties while showing their love for the Emperor.”
The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria
After Gollum, we could use a great Lord of the Rings game, and this dwarven crafting and base-building game could be the one. (If not, Amazon’s working on a LotR MMO again, though who knows how that’ll go.)
Star Trek: Infinite
A TNG-era Star Trek grand strategy game wasn’t in any of our predictions this year, but we’re certainly not unhappy to see it. The game’s being published by the grand strategy lords at Paradox, and we’re cautiously optimistic about it.
Fae Farm
Heads up cozy farm simmers, Fae Farm is another particularly adorable farming adventure game. There’s quite a lot in this new trailer: combat, crops, animals, and four-player co-op.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
This was the final reveal of the show. It’s a nice trailer and all, but what we want to know is: When the hell is it coming to PC, Square Enix?
Street Fighter x Exoprimal
This wasn’t a big announcement or anything, but if a video of Mecha Ryu fighting a dinosaur exists, it feels like everyone should watch it at least once.
Nicolas Cage on how he’ll be “fused” with you
Early in the show, actor Nicolas Cage showed up to talk about his upcoming Dead by Daylight survivor, and whether or not you care that Nicolas Cage has a Dead by Daylight survivor it’s a charming little interview in which Cage explains why he chose to lend his likeness and voice to the game, and how he wants players to feel they’ve “fused” with him when they play his survivor.