It's almost E3 time, which means gaming announcements are dropping soon! Like clockwork, the rumors are flying, and the hype train is at full speed, which makes the need to temper expectations all the more vital. Deep Silver is doing just that following the announcement that its parent company, Koch Media, has a few reveals in store for Summer Game Fest with Geoff Keighley.
The company took to Twitter to put a more realistic lens on what Koch Media will have to show off, confirming that there will be no Dead Island, Saints Row, Metro, or TimeSplitters news. Which is great because there have been rumors regarding each title in the past few weeks:
Our parent company @KochMedia_HQ is making an announcement as part of #SummerGamesFest on June 11th. To give you a head’s up, you won’t see Dead Island, Saints Row, Metro or TimeSplitters there (or at any other E3 2021 event). We’ll let you know when we have news to share.
— Deep Silver (@deepsilver) June 4, 2021
The Koch Media event is poised to go live on June 11 at 12 p.m. Pacific. What they'll have to share is anyone's guess, but at least we know what to rule out before the festivities kick-off.
Regarding Summer Game Fest, the upcoming showcase will feature musical talent, world premieres, and more. "The idea is that we will have a big kick-off show this year," Keighley previously mentioned. "Everything last year was so spread apart by nature of the pandemic. And the feedback from everyone is that they want these games shows altogether. So, now we are going to just do a big full-on show for Summer Games Fest that leads into the big publisher events. Which is hopefully more of what people wanted, where things are more condensed and combined together. So people have a date and a time to show up for news. That's what we are going for."
While the upcoming showcase is exciting, Keighley did his own expectations management. He added to his initial announcement that gamers should "manage their expectations" more regarding any event, not just Summer Games Fest. With so many large events on the horizon with E3, The Game Awards, Gamescom, and more, Summer Games Fest is meant to be in addition to those showcases, not in place of.
Since we're tempering E3 expectations early, don't expect to hear anything from Konami or an update on Hollow Knight: Silksong either.
Are you a Marvel fan and tabletop RPG aficionado that would love to experience your favorite comic universe by slinging dice with friends around a table? The Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game could be just for you. The newly-announced board game will allow players to step into the boots of Marvel’s greatest champions, or to create their own heroes, to battle the biggest and baddest villains in comics.
While the game itself won’t be on shelves until 2023, the official rulebook, dubbed the Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game: Playtest Rulebook, will be sold first beginning March 2022. The book is written and co-designed by Matt Forbeck, author of The Marvel Encyclopedia and Dungeons & Dragons: Endless Quest, and will introduce players to the game’s D616 System (named after Earth-616, naturally). The press release doesn’t explain what the system is exactly, only describing it as a "natural evolution" to existing tabletop rules that will be “simple and easy-to-learn” for newcomers to the genre.
Since this is comics we’re talking about, the rulebook is packed with colorful illustrations by various comic artists. It features profiles on heroes such as Spider-Man, Thor, Captain America, Black Panther, Ms. Marvel, Captain Marvel, Wolverine, Storm, and many others.
Marvel hopes that releasing the rulebook this early will allow fans to offer feedback on the game before its full release the following year. The company plans to reveal more information about the Playtest Rulebook this fall.
In the meantime, if you’re a Dungeons & Dragons fan seeking new tabletop experiences, here are our recommendations for the best fantasy and sci-fi tabletop RPGs to play. For Witcher fans, you can now help kickstart an upcoming board game based on that series as well.
So tabletop/Marvel fans, what’s your take on the Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game? Let us know in the comments!