Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Not-E3 2024 Part 3: Wholesome Direct and Future Games Show

 Video games  4 Responses »  Tagged with:
Jun 082024
 

Table of Contents

Guerilla Collective
Summer Game Fest
Devolver Direct
Wholesome Direct
Future Games Show
Xbox Games Showcase
PC Gaming Show
Ubisoft Forward

Wholesome Direct

Our look at Not-E3 2024 continues today with the Wholesome Direct. Now they always go through a huge number of indie games, so once again, I’ll be pointing out some highlights and you can check out the full showcase to see the rest.

There were a lot that didn’t especially stand out to me this year (lots of building games), but I did find the montage of games for the miniature Playdate handheld console interesting.

And sometimes, even if you aren’t planning to play a game, you still have to give it a shout-out. That’s the case with Squeakross: Home Squeak Home, which is such a great title that I just have to mention it.

Ila: A Frosty Glide looks neat, and the blocky art style especially made it stand out to me.

Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge and Usagi Shima both are cute games that I believe we’ve discussed before, and Moonstone Island also looks great even though I don’t know if I’d enjoy it (open world).

It feels strange to end there, like I should be highlighting a lot more games, but those were the main ones that caught my attention this year.

Future Games Show

Now, there were a few smaller showcases in between (and ironically I saw several interesting games there that I’ll mention in the miscellaneous segment at the end of Not-E3), and then it was time for the Future Games Show. I’ll be covering highlights for this one as well, so check out the full showcase to see the rest.

I’ve gotten to see a few detective games to add to my list, including two from this showcase: Nobody Wants to Die and Detective Dotson. These two couldn’t be more different in terms of style, but I’ll be keeping my eye on them both.

Sword of the Necromancer: Resurrection seems interesting, and there was also a Souls-like action RPG called The Relic: First Guardian that looks cool.

We also got to see another detective game called The Operator, so I’ll add that to the list to keep in mind.

I was also very surprised to see Deliver Us Home, from the creators of Deliver Us the Moon and Deliver Us Mars. Now I enjoyed Deliver Us the Moon a lot, but I haven’t gotten around to Deliver Us Mars, but the main reason it startled me is because I thought I remembered that developer going under. It turns out that what I remembered was them laying off the entire studio, with the founders staying on to fund the third game via Kickstarter.

Which… seems a little odd to me. Is that just me?

Anyway, SacriFire got another trailer, and it looks so good. I really hope it lives up to how good its trailers are.

I was also intrigued by Eternal Strands, an impressive-looking action-adventure game, and The Casting of Frank Stone. (While I have no interest in Dead By Daylight, this being more of an Until Dawn style narrative game has my interest.)

That’s it for today, but we have another big showcase coming up tomorrow with the Xbox Game Show and then the PC Gaming Show as well after that. Stay tuned!

Not-E3 2024 Part 2: Summer Game Fest and Devolver Direct

 Video games  6 Responses »  Tagged with:
Jun 072024
 

Table of Contents

Guerilla Collective
Summer Game Fest
Devolver Direct
Wholesome Direct
Future Games Show
Xbox Games Showcase
PC Gaming Show
Ubisoft Forward

Summer Game Fest 2024

Okay, I was really looking forward to the Summer Game Fest showcase. Capcom had promised announcements, and the time felt ripe for a new Ace Attorney announcement. On top of that, this is typically a big showcase, where we could expect some big announcements.

But… there wasn’t a lot here for me. So instead of a game-by-game account, I’ll just go through my personal highlights, and you can check the full stream if you’re interested in seeing the rest.

So, the first game that stood out to me is Neva, an indie game from the team behind Gris. Like Gris, it looks beautiful.

Black Myth Wukong looks nice, and I was happy to see another trailer for Metaphor: ReFantazio, too.

Then, Blumhouse Games had a montage of a whole bunch of indie horror games – Crisol: Theater of Idols, Grave Seasons, Sleep Awake, Fear the Spotlight, The Simulation, and Project C. They all look like they have potential, so that was a nice little segment.

There was a cute-looking game about a deer and a boy, with the extremely straightforward title Deer & Boy, and we eventually got to see a new trailer for Slitterhead.

Now, I’d somewhat lost interest in Slitterhead when I learned it was going to be an action game instead of a horror game, but I have to admit it looks pretty cool.

Wanderstop, Unknown 9: Awakening, and Enotria: The Last Song all look like they have potential, but there wasn’t anything that really caught my attention until Sam Lake took the stage to announce the upcoming Alan Wake 2 expansion and a physical edition! Yes, Alan Wake 2 is finally getting a physical Deluxe and Collector’s Edition, so I’ll definitely be looking into that.

Capcom showed some new trailer for Kunitsu-Gami, which I’m interested in, and Monster Hunter Wilds, which I’m not.

The final game of the show was Phantom Blade Zero, and although I was suffering from crushing disappointment over the lack of Ace Attorney, I have to admit this game looks pretty cool.

And that was that. Oh, there were a lot more announcements; it was a 2-hour showcase, after all. But as far as games that interested me, it was fairly light.

Summer Game Fest proper was followed by the Day of the Devs indie game showcase, which I didn’t include separately on the schedule. They showed some interesting games, although nothing that stood out to me too much.

Devolver Direct

Soon it was time for the Devolver Direct, and if nothing else, you can always count on Devolver’s shows to be bizarre.

When the starting time came, the first 10 minutes or so were spent on music, during which time I kept checking to make sure I had the right link. A countdown to the show started after that, so I’m still not sure if that was intentional or not.

Instead of a satirical showcase, this year’s show was set in the context of Volvy’s birthday party. I don’t have the words to explain it, so I’ll just include it here for you to watch.

Anyway, through the context of that bizarre storyline, they showed off co-op for Cult of the Lamb, a weird-looking game called The Crush House, a new roguelike called Tenjutsu, DLC for the Talos Principle II, the utterly bizarre Anger Foot, and an intriguing title called Possessors.

It was a short show, but it was weird and entertaining. Overall, I had a lot more fun watching it than Summer Game Fest.

We’ve got more showcases to look forward to over the weekend, so stay tuned!

Not-E3 2024 Part 1: Guerrilla Collective Highlights

 Video games  7 Responses »  Tagged with:
Jun 062024
 

Table of Contents

Guerilla Collective
Summer Game Fest
Devolver Direct
Wholesome Direct
Future Games Show
Xbox Games Showcase
PC Gaming Show
Ubisoft Forward

Guerilla Collective Highlights

First up in our Not-E3 sequence of showcases is the Guerrilla Collective live stream. Like last year, I’ll be focused on the games that stood out to me the most, so be sure to check out the full showcase if you’d like to see the rest.

I didn’t have to wait long to see a game that got my attention. A Yooka-Laylee remaster would have been pretty low on my list of predictions, but Yooka-Replaylee was announced. I still haven’t played my copy of Yooka-Laylee, so I can’t help but wonder if existing copies will have an upgrade path or if it’s an entirely new purchase only.

Neon Blood, a cyberpunk 2.5D turn-based RPG also seems like something I should keep an eye on.

There also was another 3D platformer called Project Tides announced that looks… interesting? I don’t really understand what I saw in that trailer, but it’s intriguing at least.

The boss rush action game Light Odyssey also looks cool.

Soon it was time for a horror segment, with a look at Clock Tower: Rewind, a new trailer for Post Trauma (which we discussed a couple years ago when it was shown at the Game Awards), a new Five Nights at Freddy’s Game called Into the Pit, and a trailer for Hollowbody, which looks fantastic and is one I definitely want to keep an eye on.

Tactical RPG Demonschool continues to look intriguing, and Urban Myth Dissolution Center looks like a game for me.

An action platformer called Double Shake and a cute-looking platformer RPG called The Secret of Crystal Mountain also caught my attention, and so did a classic JRPG style game called Beloved Rapture.

New trailers were shown for Sky Oceans and Escape From Ever After, both of which we discussed yesterday. I’m also curious about Aethermancer, Slime Heroes, and Grifford Academy.

Overall, while there were several games that didn’t appeal to me as much, there were still a lot of gems in this first showcase of “Not-E3.” Stay tuned for tomorrow, when we’ve got the much-anticipated Summer Game Fest show!

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