Not-E3 2020 Part 2: The Escapist Indie Showcase and IGN’s Highlights

Table of Contents

Indie Live Expo 2020
The Escapist Indie Showcase
PlayStation 5 Showcase
Guerrilla Collective
PC Gaming
Future Games Show
EA
New Game+ Expo
MonsterVine Hot Games Summer Showcase
Nacon Connect
Limited Run Games
Devolver Direct
Ubisoft
Nintendo
Microsoft

The Escapist Indie Showcase 2020

Our second big not-E3 event was today, with a showcase of indie games hosted by The Escapist and GOG. It was originally scheduled for later in the day, but was moved earlier (most likely to avoid conflicting with the PS5 showcase).

They showed a lot of games. It was two hours of almost non-stop trailers, with only a few breaks to talk about specific games in more detail. Not all of them were new game announcements, of course, but there were plenty of those in there as well.

So instead of going through all ~70 games shown one by one, I’ll talk about the ones that stood out to me the most. You can check out the full showcase here.

The first that really caught my attention was Black Book, an RPG with card-based battles. Apparently it was announced several months ago, but I missed it then. It looks pretty cool.

A first-person exploration game called Paradise Lost (no relation to the novel) looks like it could be interesting, too.

Several games followed that could be worth looking into, an action game called There is No Light, a word-based game I’d heard of before called Lost Words: Beyond the Page, and a first-person puzzle game called Relicta are a few that stood out to me next.

Strangely, one of the games shown is heavily-focused on a streaming experience, an action game called Gone Viral that has viewers vote on things to happen in the game.

Now, I wouldn’t have guessed that the next game to really stand out to me would be a War of the Worlds tie-in, but Grey Skies: A War of the Worlds Story looks pretty cool… although it’s described as a stealth-based thriller, so I’m not sure if I’d enjoy it if it has a big emphasis on stealth.

The noir adventure game Chicken Police also showed up, and every time I see that game, I’m puzzled by just how many animal-based mystery games there are.

A new trailer was also shown for Raji: An Ancient Epic, which we talked about back in 2017, and it looks like it’s coming along nicely.

Near the end, they showed a tactical RPG called The Way of Wrath and then an open world called The SoulKeeper: Chronicles, both of which had cool trailers. Since I’m not much of an open world fan, I’m not sure I’d enjoy SoulKeeper, but I’ll definitely keep my eye on The Way of Wrath.

IGN’s Highlights

Meanwhile, IGN has had the first two days of its Summer of Gaming celebration, with some new announcements and gameplay showcases.

The first day included the announcement of a rhythm first-person shooter (yes, really) called Metal: Hellsinger, Alex Kidd in Miracle World Dx, and Demon Turf, none of which particularly interest me. Demon Turf is a 3D platformer, but it looks a little slow and awkward to me.

They also showed off English gameplay of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, although with no audio except for the commentary and looped gameplay clips.

Mortal Shell got a gameplay reveal too, and its presentation is just about the Soulsiest Souls-like look a game can get.

On the second day, one of the games that surprisingly caught my attention is Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time. I have no familiarity with Samurai Jack whatsoever, but the game looks fun.

Star Renegades and The Iron Oath both look like they have potential as well.

The newly-announced cyberpunk shooter Foreclosed didn’t get my attention with its trailer, but once they started showing more of the gameplay, I was more interested.

Overall, the second day was better than the first, despite the first day featuring Yakuza. Next up, we’ll be talking about the PlayStation 5 showcase, which is about to begin!

What were your favorite announcements from the Escapist Indie Showcase and IGN’s first two days?

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