The Best Reveals from 2023’s Summer Gaming Events

Well, it’s official: E3 is dead.

Despite being one of the biggest gaming events on the planet (certainly the most-watched in the US), E3 struggled to find a new niche in the post-pandemic area. The main problem was simple: When publishers and developers realized they could host their own events and livestreams without paying the exorbitant E3 registration fees, it was impossible for E3 to put that genie back in its lamp.

So here we are. Without a centralized venue or preset schedule, game publishers have the freedom to steer their own ships. From tiny indie publishers with four games to the traditional powerhouses like Ubisoft and Capcom, the week of E3 is now a months-long string of showcases and events.

Summer Game Fest has tried a little too hard to manhandle the spotlight onto itself, even shoehorning other events under its banner. But right now, there’s no clear replacement for what E3 meant to fans, journalists, and indie devs. And even if something does fill that void, there probably will never be the same in-person experience or online buzz that E3 generated.

Anyways, the June gaming showcases have evolved and so has my coverage of them. I’m not going to write up detailed summaries of each event, but I did make a running list of games that caught my eye. And if I’ve got a list, then I may as well share it, right?

The Xbox Showcase + Starfield Direct was a 2-hour behemoth of an event. And as an Xbox-first gamer, I’ll dedicate a full post to that. This post will cover the top 11 things I saw outside of the Xbox show.

So, in no particular order, let’s get to it.

Marathon

Bungie’s next project is my most anticipated game right now, bar none…and I’m not sure I can give you a good reason why. I never played the original games (They were long before my time, even though I’m technically an “old” Halo gamer.) and I was surprised to see Bungie return to something that most of their current players haven’t even heard of.

Marathon is probably at least two years away from release, but we do know a few things about it. First of all, it’s an extraction shooter — something between a battle royale and the “public” spaces in Destiny, where solos or teams of three explore, fight, and ultimately try to survive and escape with loot. Progress you make will be persistent across the shared world, but dying means dropping any goodies you found on your run.

I’ve never played a game like this, but the reveal trailer grabbed my attention and hung on. It’s still holding me, in fact. When a single screen from the trailer led fans to investigate memos from fictional companies, a mysterious Twitter account, a secret website, and a ViDoc hidden in an unlisted YouTube stream, my interest really solidified. This is the kind of cool, complex, and cryptic experience Bungie’s known for, and the studio’s already leaning into that magic as it prepares for life after Destiny.

Summerhill

Speaking of mysteries, Summerhill looks like the kind of environmental exploration game that’s going to be chock-full of stuff to discover and get emotional about. I don’t know why. It’s just got that look to it, doesn’t it?

This story-driven puzzle game from the studio Land & Sea has great art, lovely music, and a cool visual perspective. Also, the trailer suggests you’ll be herding sheep while exploring an island and getting lost in folklore mysteries.

If that was a job listing, I’d be at the front of the application queue.

Nivalis

I called this game out last year as one of my favorite-looking games, and it’s still up there on that list. A new trailer showed off more of the beautiful cyberpunk city, and that’s just the start. There’s also home decorating, fishing and boating along the canals, running a restaurant, managing relationships, investigating a string of murders…

Everything looks and feels like a pixelated Cyberpunk 2077, but with lifestyle sim elements and mysteries to solve. And if you know anything about my gaming preferences, you’ll realize that this game’s pretty much being designed with my interests in mind.

Beastieball

Pokemon meets Pyre? A “volleyball RPG in which you coach a team” of Pokemon-type critters? Okay, Beastieball, you’ve got my attention.

This is a game where I am less interested in playing it right now, but more interested in seeing what exactly it is. I’ll download the free demo on Steam to check, because Kim enjoyed Ooblets and I’ve gotten back into Pokemon over the past 6 months. Beastieball may be an odd choice, but I think it could scratch a similar itch for both of us, particularly if it comes to the Nintendo Switch at some point.

Sword of the Sea

ABZU is still one of my favorite gaming experiences of all time, and I loved The Pathless too. So when I saw that Giant Squid Studios’ next game seemed to merge Pathless gameplay with the visual style of Journey, I was pretty much a guaranteed customer.

There’s not a lot to tease or discuss at this point, but I can make some assumptions. All of this studio’s work delivers zen experiences focus on immersion in and exploration of beautiful worlds. But the studio was founded by people who worked on Journey, and it’s cool to see them return to that same visual style while clearly pulling stuff from their newer games (like the “surfing” movement).

Jumplight Odyssey

Let me take you back in time to 2014. I’d been out of college for a bit, gotten a job at Barnes & Noble, and started dabbling in science fiction short stories. One of the games I was most excited about was called “The Mandate.” I followed its development on Kickstarter for years, reading every update and watching every video and bantering in the comments with other fans. The Mandate truly felt like the perfect SciFi game: a Firefly-like setting, warring European-like empires, Mass Effect-like crew relationships, XCOM-like combat, Battlestar-like ship warfare…

But the game was never released. In fact, it ended up becoming something of a scandal, scheming thousands of supporters out of millions of dollars. I’ve looked for a similar game ever since, and while FTL certainly fits that niche a little bit, there’s never been a truly comparable game even after a decade.

Jumplight Odyssey lacks the Romanov-inspired worldbuilding and the more “realistic” style of The Mandate. In fact, it’s got more than a little “anime” in its DNA. But I’m excited all the same, because any game that can fulfill some of what The Mandate promised will be a victory.

Also, a Youtuber referred to this game as “Battlestar Fantastica” and I love it.

Stray Gods

A “roleplaying musical game” that looks like The Wolf Among Us is something I would never have asked for. But the team behind Stray Gods is made up of devs I admire, and the acting talent is a legitimate all-star cast. I will absolutely play this game, and I’m pretty sure I’ll like it too. (And given that there’s a mystery to solve, I’ll probably do my best to avoid any information moving forward.)

This one seems like an example of a project that really only exists because all of the pieces and people came together at the right time. Something that unique feels special, and my guess is that the final product will live up to that billing.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

This isn’t a high point like the rest of this list, but can I just say that the new Prince of Persia reveal made me sad? As one of the most formative games of my childhood/teen years, I always wanted to see a return of the franchise. But getting a highly stylized 2.5D platformer that kind of looks like a mobile game was…not what I wanted.

I’m actually grateful that Splinter Cell wasn’t shown off, because if it got the same treatment I’d be mopey and distrustful of whatever else Ubisoft has coming. Speaking of which…

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora

I knew that Massive Entertainment’s next project was an Avatar game. But given the success of The Division franchise, I think everyone just assumed the studio’s next project would be some sort of open-world MMO game. Not unlike Anthem, in fact.

Nope.

Frontiers of Pandora is a first-person singleplayer action game, which is about as anti-Division as you can get. The world of Pandora is beautifully realized, and there were a few truly breathtaking moments in the gameplay reveal. Massive clearly had a license to explore beneath the surface of a setting that the Avatar films only begin to scratch.

I will say that something about the gameplay felt wonky to me. And the overall feel of it felt a bit like a SciFi Far Cry game — definitely the coolest Far Cry game, but still more of the overly used “Ubisoft open world formula” than I’d like. Still, I’m happy to wait and see more about this before passing any sort of judgment.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage

I don’t think it’s controversial to say that Assassin’s Creed has really divided its fanbase. You’ve got the newer players who enjoy the superhuman powers fantasy of Odyssey and Valhalla, spending hundreds of hours in a world packed full of collectibles and meaningless side quests. And then you have the older players who enjoyed the slower pace of scouting out a location, of enemies who are just as deadly as assassins, and of single cities rather than sprawling regions.

Mirage is undoubtedly a callback to the original Assassin’s Creed, and while I haven’t truly loved the franchise in over a decade, this game has me legitimately excited. The gameplay wasn’t new or flashy; if anything it looked slower paced. But being a legitimate assassin in one densely populated and meticulously designed city sounds so much more interesting than another sprawling Ubisoft open world game.

Star Wars Outlaws

The first thing we saw of this game was a cutscene trailer at the Xbox Showcase, followed by a deep dive at Ubisoft Forward. My interest gradually shifted from, “Okay that looks pretty cool” to “Wow this could revitalize Star Wars in gaming.”

Whether intentional or not, Outlaws pays homage to Star Wars 1313 and Project Ragtag, two games EA canceled after years of work, E3 showings, and fan anticipation. But more importantly, Outlaws looks like another good singleplayer Star Wars game (in addition to Respawn’s Jedi Fallen Order series). When was the last time we had multiple good Star Wars games? 2005?

It’s also worth noting that this is another project from Massive Entertainment. I find it interesting that the studio that built The Division has been working on singleplayer games — not live service games — set in two of the most valuable IPs in Hollywood. This feels emblematic of a new era for Star Wars video games, and I’m all for it.

And that’s it from me, but you can check out my follow-up article highlighting my 10ish favorite things from the Xbox showcase!