It’s almost time for this year’s not-E3, Summer Game Fest. Geoff Keighley’s annual World Premierathon, and several ostensibly unrelated events orbit it, pile vast mountains of gaming news upon us. For a breakdown of everything going down in the next week, check out this handy dandy guide for when, where, and how to watch all the showcases. But today we’re here to talk about our hopes and dreams for the headliner.
Summer Game Fest is in its fourth year, and while not every company in the industry is participating, we know enough from his past shows to have a good idea of what to expect, and what to wish for. Here are some predictions (and hopes) for Summer Game Fest 2024.
BioWare already said it would be giving its long-awaited fantasy RPG Dragon Age: Dreadwolf a proper reveal this summer. Well, it’s summer now. Geoff has had BioWare reveals at his events almost exclusively over the past however many years: Dreadwolf itself was revealed in 2018 at The Game Awards; BioWare announced it was making a new Mass Effect at the same event in 2020. Dreadwolf is practically a shoo-in for this year’s Game Awards. But that’s a safe prediction. So instead, I’m going with a hope: I need my mage pariah boyfriend Dorian Pavus to show up in the trailer. It’s Pride Month. Show him to me. — Kenneth Shepard
I have no insider knowledge to base this on, but I can’t imagine FromSoftware decided to ship the first Armored Core in a decade without cooking up some expanded content. We’ve gotten plenty of balance patches and smaller updates adding new features and equipment, but there’s plenty of room to add some full-blown missions or an entirely new campaign. Armored Core IV was just so good and I’m ready for more.
It would also be in keeping with the series’ history to release a spin-off or direct sequel within the first two years of the previous game’s launch. Am I grasping at straws here? Yes. But hey, the Elden Ring Erdtree DLC took forever. Maybe that’s partly because some folks were still working on Armored Core. I know the game didn’t seem to sell as much as the studio hoped, but the only way to win over more fans is with more mech battles. It’s time to return to Rubicon. — Ethan Gach
Last year, Alan Wake 2 was everything to me. Sure, I play a lotta games in this line of work, but AW2 kept me in a trance that lasted long after its conclusion, including a line about loops and spirals that I keep repeating and inserting wherever I can. Naturally, I need more. Yes, other narrative and cryptic games have managed to keep me satisfied in the meantime, but I need more of Mr. Wake and Ms. Anderson, along with Remedy’s wonderful storytelling and game design.
We know Remedy has been working on something, based on their tweets, including a rebrand of their Twi—X account to “Poison Pill Entertainment,” which, you know, would be the opposite of a Remedy. We’ve seen creative director Sam Lake in mo-cap gear, so we know Remedy certainly has secrets to reveal. Hopefully, we’ll learn what they are soon… — Claire Jackson
If Paramount wasn’t going to put out the trailer for the third live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie in front of one of its own films, last month’s If, what better place to premiere Keanu Reeves as Shadow? Fans (including me) are going mad waiting for even a frame of footage from the upcoming film, and all signs point to a Summer Game Fest premiere. According to Geoff’s highlight trailer, Sega will be showing Sonic X Shadow Generations at the event, and even if the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 trailer would do fine as a shadow (no pun intended) drop on YouTube, what could it hurt to have a big stage to itself for a few minutes? — Kenneth Shepard
I might be a huge Yoko Taro stan who is constantly hoping the madman will announce a new game, but I really do think it could be in the cards for this Summer Game Fest. First off, Taro hasn’t released a major new game since NieR: Automata in 2017. While I am a fan of the now-defunct gacha games he has worked on, as well as the oft-forgotten Voice of Cards series, none of his post-Automata projects have been on the same level production-wise. Also, we know he has new projects in the works—in May NieR series producer Yosuke Sait revealed that he and Taro are working on a new game together, though they wouldn’t confirm if it was a NieR title. Just announce the dang thing already and give me something to live for! — Willa Rowe
But my one hope is that whatever Taro’s next project is, it isn’t NieR. At this point, we’ve experienced five incredible stories from Taro in the extended Drakengard and Nier universe (that’s Drakengard 1 and 3, as well as the original NieR, Automata, and Reincarnation). All these stories have been variations on the same themes, and worked incredibly well as pieces of a larger thematic quilt. But I truly feel like the story reached its conclusion with Reincarnation, which you all should have played. The thing that would excite me most is seeing Taro create something completely fresh that isn’t weighed down by fan expectations of what a NieR or Drakengard game has to be. – Willa Rowe
I don’t know if Hideo Kojima will appear on stage at Summer Game Fest. Death Stranding 2 is looming, OD exists, and he’s also working on a new espionage game called Physint. But even if the man is not there to show any of those games, I am confident his name will be said on stage at least once. I have no idea what the context will be, but I do not believe Geoff can stand on a stage and not mention his bff Jill. — Kenneth Shepard
Summer Game Fest 2023 was a two-hour show with no women. There was supposed to be one, Melanie Liburd, who played Saga Anderson in Alan Wake II, but she couldn’t make it due to scheduling conflicts. Surely this year will be better? Hopefully, the big game companies send more women to represent them and their games at the event, and Keighley doesn’t take no for an answer. — Ethan Gach
Ideally, this prediction doesn’t come true and Ethan’s hope wins out over my cynicism. But the video game industry is always listening and learning and then forgetting the lessons it was taught even a month or two prior. I believe we’ll see more women presenting games on stage at Summer Game Fest 2024, but I will be gobsmacked if the numbers aren’t still lopsided as fuck. — Kenneth Shepard
Geoff has no doubt upped security after he’s had not one, but two instances of someone getting on stage who should not have been there. This included the infamous “Bill Clinton Kid” from The Game Awards 2022 and another guy who said some shit about Grand Theft Auto VI at Gamescom 2023. But I still believe someone is going to try a third time, and I am waiting for Geoff’s guards to knock someone out. I fully believe that the need for the show to go exactly how it’s rehearsed will lead to someone getting cold-cocked on a livestream. The question is, which of Geoff’s shows will be the one where it finally happens? — Kenneth Shepard
