Today’s Summer Game Fest presentation saw the stage appearance of Atlus art director Katsura Hashino and artistic designer Shigenori Soejima, who came to offer some early gameplay glimpses of Metaphor: ReFantazio. The role-playing game is the new franchise and story from the same creative team responsible for the recent Persona games, including Persona 5.
The main focus of their presentation was on Archetypes, the game’s approach to classes. The characters of the game transform into various Archetypes, and within the storyline, these Archetypes represent the manifestion of will to face one’s fears.
Archetypes include the likes of Ninja, Merchant, Warrior, Destroyer, Gunner, Assassin, or Knight. In total, there are more than 40 distinct Archetypes.
The subsequent trailer showed off how some of these Archetypes function in gameplay.
If you’re excited to see the Persona team’s talents translate over into a true fantasy backdrop, Metaphor: ReFantazio is on the way to PlayStation consoles, Xbox consoles, and PC, on October 11.
Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, the next game in the Budokai Tenkaichi series, officially has a release date. The game will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on October 11. A premium collector's edition of the game will also be available and will include a giant Goku versus Broly statue. You can check out the new trailer below.
For more on the game, including details about Fusion Fighters, head here.
Street Fighter 6’s next DLC fighters were revealed during Summer Game Fest. Series villain M. Bison and Elena are on the way and are joined by special guests in the form of The King of Fighters' Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui.
An animated trailer shows off the Fatal Fury guest characters – a first for Street Fighter – while in-game cinematic reveals a rather disheveled M.Bison who looks as maniacal as ever. These four will kick off a new Year of add-on fighters now that Akuma has wrapped up the Year 1 offerings. They'll arrive in the following order:
M. Bison - Summer 2024
Terry - Autumn 2024
Mai - Winter 2025
Elena - Spring 2025
Street Fighter 6 is available now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. You can read our review here.
Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama founded Bokeh Game Studio back in 2020 to work on a new horror game that we later learned is called Slitterhead. After a teaser trailer and a behind-the-scenes look at the game's development, we finally have our first look at gameplay. Plus, the studio announced Slitterhead launches on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, and PC on November 8.
Revealed in a new trailer during the 2024 Summer Game Fest showcase, Slitterhead's debut gameplay trailer starts in a Chinese city, with a police detective searching through a trashed ally. He finds what appears to be a mangled body in a trash can before the trailer shows more of the neon-lit Chinese metropolis, with shots of (presumably) our playable protagonist jumping from high above to the ground below while using some spectral power that allows them to possess bodies of pedestrians. We also get a look at Slitterhead's monstrous creatures and third-person survival action gameplay, which features both guns and melee combat.
Check it out for yourself in the Slitterhead gameplay trailer below:
As you can see, Slitterhead is looking quite action-packed, especially compared to Toyama's Silent Hill efforts. However, the lineage is clear.
Slitterhead has largely remained a mystery since its reveal. We know in 2021, Toyama said he was working on a choice-driven game, and we assume that's Slitterhead. Toyama also told IGN Japan his next project (presumably Slitterhead) would be released in 2023. Obviously, that didn't happen, but now we know it's releasing this November. Outside of that, a behind-the-scenes video diary showed a few clips of Slitterhead, including training room-esque encounters, a neon-lit Chinese city, and even a dog that appears to be playable.
Slitterhead hits PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, and PC on November 8.
What do you think about this first look at Slitterhead's gameplay? Let us know in the comments below!
Summer Game Fest 2024 gave us the first look at the new Power Rangers game, and it’s looking like a blast from the past.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind comes to us via studio Digital Eclipse, and the project appears to be a sidescrolling brawler beat-‘em-up at its heart, with multiple players working together to beat up baddies as they move right across the screen, echoing other favorites of the genre like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or X-Men. But the game also appears to feature other vehicle sequences, including what looks like first-person Zord punching sequences.
The game features online and offline co-op for up to five players.
If you’re looking to pull on your preferred colored ranger suit, you can watch for release on PC and consoles later in 2024.
We learned Kingdom Come: Deliverance II would be coming soon earlier this year, but Summer Game Fest offered us our first substantial look at the game and its story. It will follow a pair of chaotic brothers as the cause shenanigans in the medieval era. The trailer showed a surprising amount of comedy.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is coming to PC, Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5, but developer Warhorse Studios has not offered a release date yet.
The Game Bakers, the developers behind 2020's Haven, have revealed Cairn, a climbing game all about exploring (and surviving on) a mountain. Revealed during today's Summer Game Fest 2024 showcase, Cairn appears to be about a woman attempting to climb a very high (and difficult) mountain, only to die several times in the process.
However, if the reveal trailer is any indication, dying isn't the end of her climb – just a part of the process. Though not confirmed, this premise seems to point toward Cairn being a roguelite, or at least a game where dying is part of the process. Rockclimbing treachery aside, the game looks beautiful.
Check it out for yourself in the Cairn reveal trailer below:
"Reach a summit never climbed before in this survival-climber game," the game's description reads. "Climb anywhere and plan your route carefully, managing pitons and resources to survive the unforgiving Mount Kami. Discover what Aava is willing to sacrifice to achieve the ascent of a lifetime."
Cairn is due out on consoles and PC sometime next year.
Are you going to check out Cairn next year?Let us know in the comments below!
The First Descendant, the highly anticipated free-to-play shooter, has a release date. The game will be available on July 2 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC via Steam. The Summer Game Fest trailer announcing the release date showcased lots of gameplay and used the secret weapon of any quality trailer: an M83 song.
For a whole lot more, head here to watch our interview/documentary for the game based on our trip to South Korea to see and play the game, and talk with the team behind it.
Sonic x Shadow Generations, a remaster of the original 2011 Generations game with improved visuals and an added Shadow campaign, launches this October. More specifically, a new gameplay trailer Sega released during today's Summer Game Fest 2024 showcase confirms it's launching on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC on October 25, for $49.99.
In the new trailer, we get a look at some of the Generations gameplay as well as some of the new Shadow the Hedgehog gameplay, which is brand new as part of this release. Not only can you play as Shadow, but Sega has created new levels to play through as the hedgehog.
Check it out for yourself in the Sonic x Shadow Generations release date trailer below:
Sega revealed Sonic x Shadow Generations during a January PlayStation State of Play earlier this year, revealing it's a remaster of Generations with 60 frames-per-second performance, a playable Shadow the Hedgehog (with new levels, too) alongside Sonic, and more. It looks great, and we can't wait to replay one of the Blue Blur's best games. Fortunately, we don't have to wait too long because Sonic x Shadow Generations hits PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and PC on October 25.
For more, read Game Informer's Sonic Generations review, and then read Game Informer's reviews of Sonic Superstars and Sonic Frontiers. After that, check out this story about how Keanu Reeves is reportedly voicing Shadow in the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 movie.
Are you going to play Sonic x Shadow Generations this October? Let us know in the comments below!
Uncapped Games, founded in 2021, has debuted its first title: Battle Aces, an action real-time strategy game for PC. Revealed during today's 2024 Summer Game Fest showcase, Uncapped says it designed Battle Aces with RTS newcomers in mind in an attempt to make the somewhat difficult genre more approachable for wider audiences.
Set in the far-flung future – the 26th Century, to be exact – humanity fights amongst planets in a struggle for resources, weaponry, and more. Players will take on the role of Battle Aces, or mercenary commanders, in charge of high-tech drones to fight "explosive, large-scale battles in the front lines of war."
Check out the action in the Battle Aces reveal trailer for yourself below:
"Battle Aces immediately sets itself apart from traditional RTS games by allowing players to choose their army composition and customize their play style through Unit Decks," a press release reads. "With over 50 units to choose from at launch and more than 40 to be made available to play in the upcoming closed beta test, Battle Aces offers an immense variety of potential in-game matchups and near-limitless strategic potential that begins before a match even starts."
Uncapped points out features like automated resource gathering, instant unit-spawning, and preset expansions as ways it aims to keep players focused on the fun of controlling and strategizing massive armies in combat, "even as they manage the moment-to-moment strategic decision-making of when to expand new bases, and when to tech for more powerful units." The team says its U.I. allows players to quickly switch between unit production and army control seamlessly, and it hopes "the combination of design and U.I. elements makes it easier than ever to build and reinforce armies and keep attention on managing intense battles."
Speaking of battles, Battle Aces features 1v1 and 2v2 matches, and each match is limited to just 10 minutes.
Here are some Battle Aces screenshots:
"The promise of RTS has always centered on building and commanding a massive army, and controlling how it moves and fights across the map as you match strategic wits against an opponent," Uncapped senior game director David Kim writes in a press release. "In Battle Aces, our aim is for players of all skill levels and experience with RTS to experience that promise in every match. In fact, what we've seen in our testing so far is that players new to RTS or less familiar with the genre have been able to learn Battle Aces and grow in skill more quickly than any RTS our team has ever worked on before."
Are you interested in checking out Battle Aces? Let us know in the comments below!
Durring Summer Game Fest, a new Harry Potter game was revealed, but it's not related to Hogwarts Legacy. The game focuses on the in-universe sport Quidditch and is called Harry Potter Quidditch Champions. The game has a light, cartoony style (especially compared to Hogwarts Legacy). This isn't the first Quidditch-focused game. Harry Potter Quidditch World Cup released in 2003.
For more on Harry Potter video game, you can rad our review of Hogwarts Legacy here.