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

 Video games  8 Responses »  Tagged with:
Jun 082023
 

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!

Not-E3 2023 Part 1: Guerrilla Collective Highlights

 Video games  10 Responses »  Tagged with:
Jun 072023
 

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

Guerrilla Collective 2023

Our first big showcase of Not-E3 2023 comes from the Guerrilla Collective, which in the past has shown a number of interesting indie games.

But you know, a lengthy, 2-hour showcase like this always results in me writing out paragraphs of listing the games that didn’t interest me as much, and a list of titles like that isn’t helpful for any of us. So instead, I’ll cover the highlights that stood out to me. You can check out the full showcase here.

The first game to catch my attention was Terra Memoria. It seems to be an exploration-based RPG, and it looks pretty nice.

The next game to catch my eye was Forgotlings, a sides-crolling action-adventure game that had me confused for a bit. You see, the art and animation reminded me a lot of Forgotton Anne, which I played and reviewed for MonsterVine back in 2018. “Forgotlings” was also a term from that game, so it seemed like they had to be connected, but I didn’t see anything like that.

Finally, though, I found the Forgotlings Kickstarter campaign and found that it is “a spiritual sequel to Forgotton Anne.” I enjoyed Forgotton Anne, so that’s one I’ll want to look into.

They showed an exploration game called Europa that I want to mention just because of how pretty it is, and then one called Light Odyssey… which I was a lot more interested in before I found out that it’s a boss rush game. So Light Odyssey probably isn’t for me, but it does look cool.

Remnant II also looks cool, although I haven’t played the first game, and I was delighted to see that World of Horror is coming out of Early Access this October 19! That’s one I’ve been interested in for quite a while, but I wanted to wait until Early Access ended before playing it.

Last year, Demonschool was announced, and I said I’d keep my eye on it. It’s a turn-based strategy RPG. Well, its new trailer this year definitely helped to win me over.

Then there’s the turn-based RPG SacriFire, which got a new trailer today as well and looks as cool as ever.

Moving on to a new announcement, Dark Deity II was announced today. Although I haven’t played the first game, its Fire Emblem style approach to strategy RPG combat has me interested enough to pay attention.

I was also surprised by how good the wrestling RPG WrestleQuest looks.

Grifford Academy is another turn-based RPG that looks worth keeping an eye on. This showcase had a pretty good selection of RPGs, which is great for someone like me.

Now we need to talk about Super Adventure Hand, a 3D platformer that was actually announced several months ago, but which I somehow missed until now. The trailer is utterly bizarre, since you play as a disembodied hand, but it actually looks like it could be a lot of fun.

On the heels of that weirdness came a balancing dose of cuteness, with Corgi’s Cozy Hike. It’s open world, so I’m not sure if I’d enjoy it, but it’s adorable!

(I’ll be surprised if this one doesn’t show up at the Wholesome Games showcase.)

Bye Sweet Carole also looks incredible (very Disney animation inspired), although the trailer told me nothing about the gameplay.

Lil’ Guardsman, in which you play a 12-year-old guard at the castle gate determining who to allow in or deny, looks like it could be entertaining.

I also can’t overlook Death Trick: Double Blind, a circus-set non-linear murder mystery. It might be a bit more non-linear than I prefer in my mystery games (plus it has limited actions, a feature I wasn’t crazy about in Aviary Attorney), but I’ll be sure to look into it more.

They showed a 2D action game called Nocturnal that just came out and looks pretty cool, and then the final game to catch my attention was Crypt Custodian, a metroidvania in which you play a cat who works as the afterlife’s janitor. Definitely an unusual premise, but I love how it looks.

These were the highlights for me from this year’s Guerrilla Collective showcase! What games stood out to you the most?

This is only the start of this year’s “Not-E3,” so check out the schedule and stay tuned for more showcases.

Not-E3 2023 Schedule, Predictions, and Pipe Dreams

 Video games  10 Responses »  Tagged with:
Jun 052023
 

Just like that, Not-E3 season is upon us once more. Even though the official E3 is cancelled, a whole host of upcoming showcases are scheduled for June 7-15.

So here’s what we’ve got lined up!

Not-E3 2023 Schedule

June 7
Guerrilla Collective 2023 – 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET

June 8
Summer Game Fest 2023 Showcase – June 8 at 12 PM PT / 3 PM ET
Devolver Direct: The Return of Volvy – June 8 at 3 PM PT / 6 PM ET

June 10
Wholesome Direct 2023 – 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET
Future Games Show – 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET

June 11
Xbox Game Showcase – 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET
PC Gaming Show – 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET

June 12
Ubisoft Forward – 10:00 AM PT / 1:00 PM ET
Capcom Showcase – 3 PM PT / 6 PM ET

June 14
Grasshopper Direct – 9 PM PT / 12 AM ET

June 15
RGG Summit – 8 PM PT / 11 PM ET

There are some additional indie game showcases as well, but I’ve decided to save those for potential miscellaneous highlights at the end, along with any notable highlights from Xbox’s extended show on June 13. Like last year, some of the usual E3 names are missing from this list. Sony had a State of Play just a couple weeks ago, so they probably won’t have another showcase this soon. I’d love to see a Nintendo Direct, though.

If any new showcases are announced for this time period, I’ll update the schedule.

Updated to add Capcom and Grasshopper.

Not-E3 2023 Predictions

Some games are already confirmed, such as a gameplay debut for Alan Wake 2 at Summer Game Fest, so I’ll be looking forward to that (even though I’m disappointed in the game being digital-only). Surprisingly, it also feels like a safe guess that Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will be shown. I wouldn’t normally expect Rebirth news until after the release of Final Fantasy XVI, but the official Twitter account has been tweeting one short answer about the game each day, starting on June 2. If they do this for a total of 7 days, it will end right ahead of Summer Game Fest, which has led to widespread speculation that a trailer will be shown there. I also wonder if Death Stranding 2 will appear.

Elden Ring’s DLC also seems possible. All we really know about it is its title, Shadow of the Erdtree. Elden Ring has been out for over a year now, so it feels like the DLC should be shown soon.

In a less likely prediction, I wonder if a new Tales game could be announced. While Tales of Arise only came out in 2021, the gap between it and Tales of Berseria was unusually long for the series. I just hope they don’t have any more mobile games planned, since they seem to send them out to die.

Meanwhile, we already discussed hopes and predictions for RGG’s showcase.

Not-E3 2023 Pipe Dreams

And finally, let’s go over some pipe dreams – things that probably won’t happen, but which I’d love to see.

It’s funny how my list of pipe dreams has slowly come true. In 2015, I made my original list of video game pipe dreams: Ace Attorney Investigations 2 localization, a sequel to The World Ends With You, Bayonetta 3 or a Bayonetta spin-off, and a Tales of Symphonia prequel. Since then, we’ve gotten a sequel to TWEWY, Bayonetta 3, and a Bayonetta spin-off.

In 2016, I updated my list with The Great Ace Attorney localization, Xenosaga HD, Knights of the Old Republic III, a new Professor Layton game, and a true Paper Mario. Since then, we’ve gotten localizations for The Great Ace Attorney and its sequel, a new Professor Layton game (with another on its way), and… well, all right, I’m not sure if I should count Paper Mario: The Origami King.

I no longer feel such a need for Knights of the Old Republic III, though. With the KotOR remake itself in uncertain position, I increasingly feel like a KotOR III would just end up disappointing me. So let’s just consider that one crossed off the list.

In 2017, I added World of Final Fantasy 2 to the list.

Then in 2018, I added two more pipe dreams: Mother 3 localization and a Persona 3 remake. (That last one has been rumored over and over again by this point.)

Finally, in 2021, I updated the list once again to add the the untranslated Tales games, Fatal Frame IV, Crossbell, and the untranslated Yakuza games. Since then, we’ve gotten Fatal Frame IV, Crossbell, and Like a Dragon Ishin.

So as it stands now, my gaming announcement pipe dreams look like:

  • Ace Attorney Investigations 2 localization
  • Tales of Symphonia prequel
  • Xenosaga HD
  • A classic-style Paper Mario
  • World of Final Fantasy 2
  • Mother 3 localization
  • Persona 3 remake
  • Untranslated Tales games
  • Like a Dragon Kenzan and Kurohyo

That’s a surprisingly small list, considering at one point it seemed like it would only ever get longer. Are these games likely to be announced? Definitely not. Will I hope for them anyway? Absolutely. Capcom is on the list of participants for Summer Game Fest, and while there’s basically no chance of Ace Attorney appearing, I’ll hang onto that hope anyway.

What do you expect or hope to be announced at this year’s June showcases? Do you think any companies like Nintendo will announce a showcase for that time frame after all?

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