E3 may be dead but Keigh3 is here to stay. As the Summer Game Fest showcases come to an end, we decided to sift through the dozens upon dozens of games announced and revealed across all the presentations (Xbox Games Showcase, Ubisoft Forward, etc.) to pick our favorites. These are games that are, for reasons we’ll briefly explain, at the top of our team’s most anticipated list going out of the event. But since these are the top of the top, for us, they will simply be listed in alphabetical order.
Alan Wake II
Remedy Entertainment is known for making great action games with compelling narratives and surreal visuals so the fact that Alan Wake II is the studio’s first true survival-horror game is an extremely exciting prospect. Alan Wake II features two playable protagonists from a third-person perspective and is carrying over the original’s trademark flashlight-based combat with some intriguing additions. Alan Wake II is releasing on October 17, 2023, a perfect choice to get in the Halloween spirit!
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
To say that Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is Far Cry in space may be a bit reductive, but as long-time fans of the series, it’s hard not to be excited by that. Taking the open-world first-person shooter gameplay that Ubisoft has iterated on for over a decade and setting it against the vibrant backdrop of James Cameron’s money-minting films is a promising idea. And the first look we got during Ubisoft Forward on June 12 seems to deliver on a lot of that promise. But we’ll have to wait until December 7, when the game releases for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, to decide for ourselves.
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
Cyberpunk 2077 may have had an infamously rough launch but since then CD Projekt Red has been hard at work updating the game. Now they’re pushing the game even further with a paid DLC that opens up the game to a new part of the map with completely reworked systems. Everything from the perks to enemy AI has been changed from the main game and we cannot wait to return to that world when Phantom Liberty releases on September 26. Oh, and if all that isn’t enough to convince you: Idris Elba.
Helskate
Shown off during the Day of the Devs presentation, Helskate by developer Phantom Coast is like Hades meets ‘Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. It’s an action rogue-like game with skateboarding traversal that looks like it was pulled straight out of a skateboard deck graphic. The game mixes a variety of basic and special attacks with skateboarding trick combos in what’s described as being pick-up and play in nature. Wishlist the game on Steam to keep an eye on this one, it looks like it’s going to be tubular!
Nivalis
If you didn’t watch the PC Games Showcase, you might have missed this one. Nivalis is the first-person open-world cyberpunk game from ION LANDS, the developer of Cloudpunk. The game is a life sim, letting you play as a small business owner in the neon-drenched city of Nivalis. Grow your business and try not to run into the serial killer running around. Nivalis is slated for a 2024 release on PC.
PAYDAY 3
PAYDAY 2 from Overkill Software has received countless updates and DLC over the 10 years since its original release, but it’s time to start a new job with PAYDAY 3. PAYDAY 3 is a heist-focused co-op first-person shooter game about getting the biggest score. The trailer showcases a bank job going sour and shows off a number of new gadgets, weapons, movement animations, and more all to a foot-stomping soundtrack. Get your crew together, mask up, and get paid when PAYDAY 3 releases on September 21st, 2023.
Starfield
Bethesda Game Studios highly anticipated space-faring RPG adventure 25 years in the making is finally soon to be upon us. After a fancy trailer and a 45-minute deep dive into many of the game’s systems, Starfield stole the show during the Xbox Games Showcase. Impressive visuals, inspiring music, space dogfights, and an expansive galaxy to explore full of exotic creatures and people to meet make Starfield a game not to miss. The game launches right around the corner on September 6th, 2023.
Star Wars Outlaws
Coming from just about every studio under Ubisoft’s umbrella as well as Lucasfilm Games, Star Wars Outlaws is an open-world third-person shooter with all the hallmarks of being a scoundrel in the Star Wars universe. There are blasters, alien creatures, speeder-bikes, tie fighters, hives of scum and villainy, just about everything you could need and want. The gameplay seems similar to the Tom Clancy’s The Division games, as it’s built using the same Snowdrop engine, with little bits of Red Dead Redemption covered in the Star Wars coat of paint. Star Wars fans and open-world fans should be eating well when Star Wars Outlaws releases in 2024.
And there it is. A list of our favorite games that were either announced or previewed during the Summer Game Fest. There were, of course, a ton of awesome games, and if there was one that you thought should be included on this list, be sure to let us know. Now that the dust has settled a bit on the showcases, which one was your favorite? Xbox Games Showcase? Ubisoft Forward? Leave a comment. And if you want to watch us talk about all these games too, check out the latest episode of our podcast below.
