Pardon our radio silence for the last couple of weeks, but we at NerdCrash were pretty busy reviewing all of the Summer Showcases, not to mention vacations and other writing projects. With that said, the pair of us are ready to deliver our thoughts on the multiple announcements and trailers of the games that will be releasing over the course of the next year.

Sony’s State of Play

Tristan – C

Sony kicked us off this year and I’ve got to say it was pretty much a mid-showcase. We got not one, but two Overwatch clones with Marvel Rivals and Concord, with the later opening the show. Now a ton of gamers are giving Concord crap for how it looked and calling it an Overwatch clone. Yeah, no shit guys, but that’s why I have a passing interest in the game. Look, Overwatch is now basically a dead game to me now as the balance of the game has pretty much collapsed. I don’t want a 200 health Tracer running around the map, nor do I like the idea of DPS characters applying Ana’s anti heal; kinda changes the momentum of the game don’t it. I for one definitely need a new game to fill the vast hole that Overwatch left, and I anticipate either of the games will fill it. Other than these two, horror fans got Silent Hill 2 remake, which looks like a Resident Evil copy. We also got a deeper dive into the game through the Silent Hill transmission and to be honest, from what I saw the game looks fine. I never played the original, so I don’t have the criticisms that past players are having with the title, but I can see their concern. We also got a new Monster Hunter game, Monster Hunter Wilds, and a new Dynasty Warriors game. I only ever played Monster Hunter World solo, which I can say sucked balls, but I plan on getting back in the saddle with the boys and I plan on dragging Nick along with me. As for Dynasty Warriors, never played a mainline game and only sampled spin-offs in the Zelda universe. From what I played, this is certainly a genre I’d like to experience more, so I might pick up this new game on sale. Outside of these games, nothing moved the needle for me. I did get pissed that Sony is wasting a Alien license game on VR and that Astro Boy thing just doesn’t appeal to me at all. Looked like just another tech demo.

Nick – The Astro Boy game looks like one of the most appealing titles in this whole show. Shame it’s locked onto the PS5, because that’s the fastest way to ensure that I’ll never play it. The pair of Overwatch clones are interesting. Concord is promising the weekly story updates that Overwatch desperately needed to maintain its momentum before it fell apart. Though I don’t love its character designs, I do hope it proves to be the game it promises to be. Marvel Rivals is probably going to be a decent replacement, and I’m happy to see so many fan favorite characters appearing for it (and not just being the MCU roster), but some of the mechanics (such as random characters having week to week stat changes) makes me concerned about its long term balance. Monster Hunter Wilds looks excellent; I haven’t played much of the series since the days of Tri and 4U, but it has been long enough that I can once again look forward to multiplayer hunting. There was also a cute little Lego Horizon Zero Dawn game revealed; it’s not for me, but it looks like it will be a memorable title for the kids out there. The showstopper for me is the Silent Hill 2 remake. While it still looks worse than the original (James’ dialogue sounds too natural and the combat looks better than I want in this style of game), this trailer fixed many of my problems with what we have previously seen of it. The game will most likely be a solid remake that unfortunately still pales in comparison to the original masterpiece, but a solid game is frankly what Silent Hill needs to reestablish itself at this time, so I have hopes that it will be what the franchise desperately needs to begin its comeback.

Summer Game Fest

Tristan – F

Wow, huge downgrade from last year. Safe to say Geoff was right to lower the expectations of viewers. When you post a poll on how well you did and everyone gave you a fail, you know the showcase was a flop. Bet it didn’t help that the Summer Game Fest charged $250,000 a minute to be featured! Of course, I bet Geoff gave some passes to those he owes favors to or knows personally. So, what were my highlights of this showcase? Metaphor: ReFantazio, a new IP developed by Atlus, Tears of Metal, a game about Scotland fighting draconic demons, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, a sequel to a cult hit and Monster Hunter Wilds (again). A tiny handful of games from a two-hour showcase, kind of sad. The showcase was overinflated with roguelites and soulslike game from developers trying to cash in on trends. Not to mention whatever the f*** Cuffbust was, that game made my eyeballs vomit. Then Geoff gave ten minutes combined to Valorant’s console port and a Clash of Clans spinoff game; guess we know where most of the show’s funding came from. Cringe, boring, and unsatisfying are the three words I describe the Summer Game Fest. You killed E3 for this farce? Chalk up another L for the industry. I will give points to Innersloth and Bloomhouse for funding small indie developers in the same way that dunkey is doing with BigMode. That is a trend in gaming I can get behind. However, the Summer Game Fest can be summed up with one game, a new Batman Arkhamverse game! The crowd gets excited! For VR! Instant disappointment.

Nick – Honestly I’m not going to pretend Summer Game Fest was worth the time to watch. Metaphor looks promising with the in-depth job system they showed off, making it possible Atlas will finally have a mainline title that isn’t Persona. Or maybe it will go the way of SMT and become incredibly niche on release again. We’ll see. The Arkham VR game is disappointing because I still don’t feel like VR is worth the investment, and I would have liked a proper new Arkham title. The barrage of roguelites and Dark Souls clones is painful for me, because I feel like most players really only require 2-3 roguelite games before they never need to buy another, given their endless replayability. Bloomhouse’s small game studio was a nice surprise given how much the industry needs good indie outlets. That little showcase was worthwhile, with some interesting looking horror games and One Button Bossfights catching my eye. Still, the overall segment was such that most players are probably going to find 0-2 games from it that actually interest them. Relative to the length of the total show, there was almost nothing worth seeing here.

Xbox/Bethesda/Activision Showcase

Tristan – A

A home run. In all the other showcases this year, I could pick out one, two, maybe three titles where I’m totally invested and want to play. Xbox gave me 11 games I have an interest in playing. The new Call of Duty which they gave Starfield treatment actually looks competent and not a hot mess that was the Modern Warfare 3 remake. Avowed looks like a fun time, Doom the Dark Ages is f***ing hype, Perfect Dark looks like the immersive sim that fans wanted Redfall to be, Fable still cooking, Expedition 33 shocked me how cool it looks, Gears is back, Atomfall is an interesting take on Fallout but British, and the Indiana Jones game looks better than the movies that Disney shat out. And of course, my most anticipated game of the year Stalker 2 looks amazing, creepy and fun. Oh, and a Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater remake that is an easy entry point into the franchise for a n00b like me. Of course I rolled my eyes at all the Fallout 76 DLC, Starfield DLC, and everything that Blizzard touches, but that is quickly pushed to the side by these great games. Xbox and Phil Spencer were under a microscope after closing Tango Softworks for no good reason, and the other three studios and they delivered. Now I’m not all gung-ho in support of Xbox Games Studios, hell no they are still on the hot seat, but these games to deliver. They just have 11 chances to either wow me or they get an article of how bad they fumble the ball.

Nick – I’m feeling much more conservative about this showcase. The new Doom game looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun, and I love the chainsaw shield, but I can’t help but wonder if we’ll risk losing the feel of the series with the new medieval setting. Expedition 33 was the absolute highlight, with a fascinating concept, great visuals, and what appears to be proper action commands in a non-Nintendo, non-indie RPG. I wishlisted that one instantly because it looks that good. The Perfect Dark remake is promising; the game deserves it by now. I do fear that the trailer made it look way too much like a Mirror’s Edge clone, however, with the cinematic takedowns looking very out of place relative to the original game. The Snake Eater remake is looking good, but it also strikes me as superfluous, given that the original (the best looking game on the PS2, in my opinion) holds up remarkably well, already has multiple remakes, and is still readily available on Steam. Otherwise, the show was a barrage of generic looking shooters and DLCs for games I don’t care about. I would personally give this one a C, given that Expedition 33 and Doom are the only things really carrying it. Oh, and there’s a new Indiana Jones game. I’m honestly not sure what place he has in gaming anymore, with Tomb Raider and uncharted filling the niche expertly already, and the recent film kind of tanking the franchise’s reputation.

Ubisoft Forward

Tristan – D

I came for a comedy and got exactly what I was looking for. Ubisoft never fails to embarrass themselves with overpriced pieces of garbage and trying to claim that it is the pinnacle of gaming, quadruple A! They did open with the only promising title they have and that is Star Wars Outlaws. Now from what I saw, my expectations went from bad to cautious optimism. The ship combat looks better than Starfield’s and I like the idea of building reputations with all the gangs and cartels of the galaxy. There were, of course problems, with character models and frame drops, so there are signs of the typical Ubisoft tomfoolery. Everything after Star Wars though is a failure. Advertisements for Xdefiant and Skull and Bones to beg players to play their live service games. A half assed showing of Prince of Persia with a candle introducing the remake to Sands of Time. Ubisoft barely put any effort into the Crew’s next game. And of course, Assassin’s Creed, this time they are copying and pasting the franchise to Japan. Do yourself a favor and just play Ghosts of Tsushima instead. Stop trying to push your crappy launcher Ubisoft, I’ll wait patiently for Star Wars Outlaws to come to Steam to play it.

Nick – Not much to add here. Star Wars Outlaws looks decent, though I really hope they make the character’s walk speed a bit faster, because it looked just slow enough to be annoying. The Assassin’s Creed game is shedding some of the franchise’s long-standing mechanics, such as Social Stealth, which makes the game a hard sell at this point, though I admittedly haven’t cared about a new Assassin’s Creed in a while. Really, I’m not sure what else there is to talk about here.

Nintendo Direct

Tristan – C

Just when I thought that the Showcases were over, Nintendo comes in like John Cena, are you sure about that? Coming into this showcase, everyone thought this is the day the next Nintendo console would be announced; not quite yet it would seem. That will be revealed most likely in 2025. So what did we get in this Direct? Well, if you like ports, remakes and games from the past then you are in luck because they make up roughly 75% of the whole show. Dragon Quest 3 remake, NES Championships remake, the original Perfect Dark and Turok, and Donkey Kong Country Returns HD. There are also a bunch of 3^rd party licensed games. Heading into this I was expecting the reveal for the next Fire Emblem game or perhaps a revival of one of their dead franchises. None of these showed up sadly. What we did get is the traditional Mario game reveal that happens every Direct, this time its Mario and Luigi Brothership. We also got a new Mario party with Mario Party Jamboree, which at least looked interesting. We got a Zelda game where you play as Zelda, so neat, I guess. But the show stealer is the gameplay reveal for Metroid Prime 4. As someone who is slowly getting involved with more Nintendo games, the Prime franchise is definitely on my radar. Just got to play the previous titles first then I’ll pick it up. Look, I get it the Switch is on its way out and Nintendo is saving all its punches for next year, but maybe tease us for what’s to come at least.

Nick – So my cohost is presumably drunk because this was yet another instance of Nintendo dogwalking the industry by sheer virtue of having the most games worth talking about and supporting existing software well. Or maybe he just really wanted that new Fire Emblem and nothing else. Mario & Luigi Brothership is a huge reveal, given that Alphadream went bankrupt a few years back; the series is making a triumphant looking return after nine years of no new titles. We have a couple of good-looking third-party games alongside it, such as MIO, the Space Jam game, Metal Slug tower defense, a Hobbit themed farming simulator, and somehow Sony’s Lego Horizon Zero Dawn game. Seriously, how the hell did Nintendo get the rights to Sony’s newest critical darling? Nintendo also revealed a host of ports and revivals, namely Stray, the original Perfect Dark, and the Marvel vs Capcom Collection, which is causing an uproar unlike any other in the fighting game community, since there’s finally a legal way to play Marvel vs Capcom 2 again. On top of all that, the Ace Attorney Investigations games are coming, one of which was never previously available in the English-speaking world. I’m kind of insulted by the Funko Pop game, but will admit to being impressed with the collection of licenses they showed off for it. We also got hard proof that the Dragon Quest 3 remake is still happening, with a release date; it even came with reveals of a package remake for the first two games, which are among the most important yet horrifically dated titles in the industry’s history. Those are games that need remakes. The usual Nintendo suspects also showed up with a truly fantastic looking Mario Party (featuring an abnormal number of boards, playable villains, and a couple of brand new online modes), and a new Zelda game (actually starring Zelda for once in her life, and featuring what looks to be a really great and variable puzzle mechanic that is going to make it stand out next to the rest of the series). We also saw yet another remake of Donkey Kong Country Returns, which tells me the DK series might actually be dead at this point, since the series has now had nothing but remakes for a full decade. But you know what series isn’t dead? Metroid Prime. The fourth game is coming next year, and not only does it look good, but Sylux’s appearance means we are finally following up on a 15-year-old promise (much like Metroid Dread did). Between Dread and Prime 4, Metroid is finally back in full force, and that makes me so happy.