Geoff Keighley has done it again. The semblance of soul left in the wake of E3’s demise has awakened itself in the Summer Games Fest – ushering in a myriad of new trailers during last night’s event. Not all the games shown off were good and even stranger, not all of them were even games. Seriously, could Henry Cavill look less interested in The Witcher’s season three trailer?
Even though PlayStation’s recent Showcase hogged plenty of the limelight, the Summer Games Fest attracted a larger-than-expected crowd, making it difficult to keep up. That’s why we’re doing it for you; stringing together the biggest and the best of the trailers on offer.
Sonic Superstars: Sonic is back, baby
Sonic Superstars is Sega’s best decision since Sonic the Hedgehog 2, moving away from the 3D nightmares that have plagued the blue hedgehog for ages now. Sonic Superstars is a 2D side-scroller like Sonic games of old, refreshed with a 3D ‘feel’, reminiscent of the Link’s Awakening remaster that Nintendo brought out a few years ago. That should be plenty to stem the flow of complaints from Sonic Frontier’s eleven players.
The trailer promised a blend of old and new, bringing with it new powers that’ll let Sonic run on walls, clone himself, or turn into an 8-bit squid (don’t ask). There’s even a four-player co-op mode in the mix, though if it’s anything like the atrocity that was Sonic Mania’s co-op, we’ll be giving it a miss. When we’ll have the chance to give it a go, Sega didn’t say; though we know to expect it sometime in 2023. It’ll hit Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and PC when that day comes.
Lies of P(inocchio)
Lies of P is, no joke, a Soulsborne look-alike set in the world of Pinocchio. And it looks brilliant. How could it not with the trailer demonstrating a complete lack of regard for the FromSoft games it’s clearly drawing inspiration from? Unfortunately, the trailer was more of a look at the ethereal steam-punk-filled world that Neowiz is building, not giving us much in the way of a story.
Fortunately, the demo that was released alongside the trailer reveal should remedy that. Players take control of P, a puppet fighting through the world of Krat to find Geppetto and finally become human. The demo limits itself to the game’s first two chapters, three boss fights, and a chance for players to try out the weapon-assemble feature and wander through some of the game’s explorable areas.
The trailer gave us news of a (minor) delay, with Lies of P coming on 19 September, rather than the late August release Neowiz had originally aimed for. Both the game and demo are releasing for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, and PC, though you’ll only have until 27 June before the demo self-destructs and locks you out.
Sand Land – Get your Dragon Balls out of our face
From the mind of Akira Toriyama – the creator of Dragon Ball – comes Sand Land, a new game based on the manga of the same. It’s, uh, a sandy land, with Unreal Engine 5 to back it up and keep the art style and the open world interesting. For those unaware of the one-shot manga, it follows the tale of Beelzebub – yeah, the son of Lucifer and all that – in a world suffering an extreme water shortage.
Other than that… news is scarce. Bandai Namco hasn’t yet announced any release windows, with the promise of more news to follow soon.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown – Why has Ubisoft done this to us?
When we heard tell of a Prince of Persia leak minutes ahead of the Summer Games Fest’s kick-off, we immediately resigned ourselves to watch it, keen for something in Ubisoft’s franchise that didn’t have Jake Gyllenhaal’s face plastered all over it. What we got – Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown – made us wish we hadn’t spoken so soon.
Not that The Lost Crown looks bad or anything. It’s just not the long-rumoured remaster of The Sands of Time that we were hoping for. The Lost Crown marks the return to the series’ 2D platformer roots, with “time powers” that are ours to manipulate, and a “mythological Persian world” filled with different biomes that have their own “identity, wonders, and dangers.” It’s also got a slightly Metroidvania feel that we can’t pretend doesn’t give us some hope.
We’re open to giving The Lost Crown a chance, in the hopes that the extra sales might tempt Ubisoft into finally bringing back the beloved 3D games. It’s releasing on 18 January 2024 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
Spider-Man 2 gets a release date and a few deluxe skins
While PlayStation’s recent Showcase event was the place to be for Spider-Man 2 gameplay, the Summer Games Fest is where Insomniac finally gave us a release date for the PlayStation exclusive. Mark your calendars for 20 October and prepare those wallets, for we also caught some news of the game’s numerous editions.
Mortal Kombat 1 – The gore the merrier
Unfortunately, we aren’t able to include the trailer above, meaning you’ll have to watch this one on YouTube directly. Why? Because it’s a Mortal Kombat game, the 29th in the series, and is overflowing with violence, gore, and beheadings. A perfect combo, in other words, for the reboot of the Mortal Kombat mainline series.
If you’re after a CGI story trailer, the Summer Games Fest reveal isn’t for you (that’ll be the first reveal trailer). This was almost pure gameplay. Just… give it a watch. Like, now.
Baby Steps is the walking simulator we didn’t know we needed
No, really. Baby Steps is a walking simulator. That doesn’t sound so cool, right? We’ve seen Norman Reedus doing exactly that a few times already. Baby Steps is different, though. It’s coming from the creators of Getting Over It! and Ape Out, bringing with it the same uncanny valley mechanics we saw in those games. Here, you play as Nate, a depressed layabout that loves One Piece, and must master his own legs as he traverses up a magical mountain he is suddenly teleported to.
As you’ve probably guessed, it’s the players who’ll have to master Nate’s legs, keeping him upright and always moving onwards. The trailer gave us a glimpse of the landscapes we’ll get to see, and what sort of comedy that’ll ensue throughout. It’ll release sometime in 2024 for the PS5 and PC. Sorry, Xbox.
If you’re keen to see the entire show for the stuff we missed (or just didn’t care about), you can do so here.