Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Not-E3 2025 Part 5: Future Games Show

 Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with:
Jun 072025
 

Table of Contents

State of Play
Summer Game Fest
Ball x Pit: The Kenny Sun Story
IO Interactive Showcase
Wholesome Direct
Future Games Show
Xbox Games Showcase
PC Gaming Show

Future Games Show

Our next showcase was the Future Games Show this evening. Once again, I’ll be covering the games that stood out as highlights to me, so check out the full showcase if you’re interested in seeing more.

They started with The Expanse: Osiris Reborn, and while I don’t know anything at all about The Expanse, this game looks interesting enough that I’ll keep an eye on it in the future. Right after that was the action-adventure game Echoes of the End, which I’ll also want to keep an eye on.

But the first game to really catch my eye was Whispers in the Fog. It looks like it has the potential to be a very atmospheric horror game.

Another game shown later on, Sleep Awake, also looks like it has a lot of potential. You know, it seems to me that at a lot of these smaller showcases, it ends up being horror games that stand out to me the most. I’m not quite sure why. Of all my favorite game genres, is horror the one with the widest appeal and more likely to show up at these events?

While not a horror game, the next game to catch my attention did so because it looked like it had cosmic horror themes. Not only that, but it reminded me strangely of Call of the Sea. Not so strangely, as it turns out, because Call of the Elder Gods is a sequel to Call of the Sea!

(I never played Call of the Sea, but I watched someone play it, and it stuck with me.)

SacriFire got a new trailer, and it looks just as cool as it did before. There was also a new, creepy trailer for Directive 8020.

That’s right, I’m back to talking about horror games already, and speaking of horror, Ground Zero looks like a delightful throwback to classic survival horror games, so I’m really curious about that one.

The psychological horror game Luto also looks like it has potential. See what I mean about my highlights from this showcase being mostly horror?

But for something that isn’t horror, Agatha Christie – Death on the Nile looks interesting. It seems to be an adaptation of the story with new characters and other changed elements. The same developers did a Murder on the Orient Express game, so I’d like to check that out sometime.

Okay, back to horror. The horror game Crisol: Theater of Idols looks pretty promising, and I’m also intrigued by the final game that closed out the showcase, another horror game called Ritual Tides.

These were the highlights for me from the Future Games Show, so be sure to let me know what games you enjoyed seeing! Tomorrow we’ve still got a couple showcases left, so stay tuned!

Not-E3 2025 Part 4: Wholesome Direct

 Video games  No Responses »  Tagged with:
Jun 072025
 

Table of Contents

State of Play
Summer Game Fest
Ball x Pit: The Kenny Sun Story
IO Interactive Showcase
Wholesome Direct
Future Games Show
Xbox Games Showcase
PC Gaming Show

Wholesome Direct

Today’s showcases kicked off with the Wholesome Direct, always a good source of cute games and other interesting indie game ideas. They always show a ton of them, so this year I’m going to focus on the personal highlights for me. Check out the full showcase if you want to see the rest.

Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar was featured early on, and not only was it a surprise to see a somewhat big-name game there, it also looks really cute and interesting to me. I haven’t really gotten into the Story of Seasons series, but I really like how this one looks.

I’ve also never played Luma Island, but it’s getting a new pirate-themed update that looks interesting.

The next game that really stood out to me was Ambroise Niflette & the Gleaned Bell, a miniature detective game inspired by stop-motion animation. It currently has a Kickstarter campaign, so I’ll definitely check that out.

Squeakross: Home Squeak Home looks like a cute combination of puzzles and home decoration, and I was surprised by the announcement of Monument Valley III. I played a little bit of the first Monument Valley, but never much more. Still, it’s a series I’d like to try again someday.

Then there was Big Hops, a 3D platformer starring a little frog. It also is currently on Kickstarter, so I’ll take a look at that one too.

Little Kitty, Big City is getting new content, and I have to admit that Tales of the Shire is starting to look nice even though I was skeptical about it when it was announced. The “cozy horror” game Haunted Paws also looks like it could be fun.

Another big surprise came in the form of Milano’s Odd Job Collection. Besides it being another title from Marvelous, what makes this so surprising? It’s actually an unlocalized game from 1999, now being brought to modern platforms and translated for the first time!

The foraging adventure game Out and About looks interesting, especially since it teaches you about real plants, and Muri: Wildwoods seems like it could be fun, too.

Overall, there were some nice games and unexpected surprises in this year’s Wholesome Direct. Which games stood out to you the most?

Not-E3 2025 Part 3: Ball x Pit and the IO Interactive Showcase

 Video games  4 Responses »
Jun 062025
 

Table of Contents

State of Play
Summer Game Fest
Ball x Pit: The Kenny Sun Story
IO Interactive Showcase
Wholesome Direct
Future Games Show
Xbox Games Showcase
PC Gaming Show

Ball x Pit: The Kenny Sun Story

Devolver Digital had a showcase dedicated to a single game this year, and it’s not quite my sort of game since it’s a survival roguelite. But the showcase still has a dose of the usual Devolver weirdness, if not quite as extreme, so it’s worth checking out.

IO Interactive Showcase

I also decided to tune into the IO Interactive showcase, even though I’ve never played any of their games, mainly because I’m curious about 007 First Light (even though I keep accidentally calling it “Last Light”). Unfortunately, they didn’t show much more beyond what was already revealed the other day, so the showcase didn’t have much for me.

We’ve still got more showcases coming up over the weekend, so here’s hoping there are some nice surprises!

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