Not-E3 2023 Part 2: Summer Game Fest Showcase and Devolver Digital

Table of Contents

Not-E3 2023 Schedule
Guerrilla Collective 2023
Summer Game Fest 2023 Showcase
Devolver Direct: The Return of Volvy
Wholesome Direct 2023
Future Games Show
Xbox Game Showcase
PC Gaming Show
Ubisoft Forward
Capcom Showcase
Grasshopper Direct
RGG Summit

Today began with the surprise leak of the store page for Like a Dragon Gaiden, as well as another hint that we might see a Final Fantasy VII Rebirth trailer today. So with the Summer Game Fest 2023 Showcase kicking off today’s activities, let’s take a look!

Once again, I’ll focus on highlights so we don’t have whole paragraphs of me just listing games.

Summer Game Fest 2023 Showcase

It began with a surprise: a new Prince of Persia game. The Sands of Time remake has been in limbo for a while now, with preorders being refunded, but apparently they decided to make a new 2.5D action platformer in the meantime. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown had a good trailer (although the music seemed out of place), so I’m interested. I’ve never played a Prince of Persia game before, so maybe I should give it a try.

The next game to catch my attention was a new Sonic game, Sonic Superstars, which looks pretty good even though I’m not a Sonic fan.

Then there’s Honkai: Star Rail, which I’d probably be interested in if it wasn’t a gacha game.

Lies of P, however, looks as cool as ever. It will be out on September 19 and has a demo available now.

They also announced Sand Land, a new game from Bandai Namco and Akira Toriyama. The trailer didn’t reveal a whole lot, but it definitely looks interesting enough to keep an eye on. It seems it’s based on a manga of the same name.

An Annapurna Interactive Showcase was announced for June 29, so that will be something to tune in for.

Then, after several other games, it was finally the moment I was waiting for, Alan Wake II! I’m still disappointed in the digital-only release, but I’m curious about how they’ll handle the two protagonists. They said today that it will be roughly a 50/50 split between playing as Alan and playing as the new character Saga, and that you can choose when to switch between them.

It was nice to get another look at Balder’s Gate III, as well as Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis. That one still has my attention despite being a mobile game.

And then it was time for Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name! Like the leaks this morning said, it will be out on November 9, and it looks so cool. Can I catch up on the series in time to play Gaiden when it comes out? I don’t know, but either way, I’m excited for this game.

After that, there were a lot of games I didn’t care much for, including some I missed entirely because I was too hyped for Like a Dragon. But that’s okay, because the showcase ended with…

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth!

It was highly expected, due to the Rebirth tweets that appeared to be leading up to today, and I was thrilled when the trailer began. It’s been confirmed for early 2024, and it looks incredible. I’m sure I’ll go over this trailer a thousand times to pick out specific details, but for now, enjoy!

What a great way to end the showcase!

Our next major showcase of the day was Devolver’s show, so let’s see what brand of insanity they had for us today…

Devolver Digital: The Return of Volvy

Devolver began their show by going over the history of their mascot, Volvy. Now, Volvy never existed before this showcase, but they constructed an entire history of its role in the gaming industry to review before unveiling its new form… an AI that can instantly generate games based on prompts.

Yes, today’s show was largely focused on AI (and Volvy!), and the full show deserves to be seen.

In between bouts of insanity, the showcase showed off Wizard With a Gun, The Talos Principle II, Baby Steps, and Human Fall Flat 2.

Meanwhile, in between these two showcases there were a few additional announcements, including a remaster of Shadows of the Damned.

Now, you might logically assume that’s that the Grasshopper Manufacture countdown was for, since the countdown was set to end tomorrow, but they recently updated the website to end on June 14 instead. This trailer ends with the announcement of a Grasshopper Direct on June 14 (or 15, depending on your time zone), so it looks like we have another showcase to add to the list!