Join The Club
I have been to every Summer Game Fest: Play Days event ever held, which makes this year five. The three-day event has grown a lot over the years, but its footprint is still quite small compared to its predecessor, E3.
Greetings from my desk, a place I have not seen much in the month of June. I just got back from Summer Game Fest's in-person event, Play Days, in Los Angeles. I saw and played a boatload of cool games that I'm eager to talk about.
If you'll allow me to step behind the curtain for a moment, the days immediately after Summer Game Fest (like the E3 days of old) are something of a whirlwind. Most developers do press the kindness of setting publishing embargoes until after the show itself so we're not incentivized to stay up all night writing and rush the process, which is great, but in doing so, you always end up with approximately one billion embargoes attached to the same day. This year, that day is June 10.
While I do plan to cover many of these games in more detail in the coming days, I thought rounding them up would be a fun way to review everything I saw and stay timely. And while we're at it, let's rank 'em.
Note: I've called out when showings were hands-on or hands-off, which is obviously a big factor in how exciting the appointment was. It's more fun and convincing to play games than have developers describe them.
18. Nekome: Nazi Hunter
Hands-on | Early 2027 | Steam
Why? It was rough
As much as I like the premise of Nekome: Nazi Hunter—you play as a Romani man hunting down Nazis to avenge the murder of his family—the pre-alpha build I played was undeniably rough. It's a stealth action game where sneaky stabbing is allowed, but open combat is encouraged. There's a Batman-like counter system to group fights that's nice to see, and the brutal executions are appropriate for the targets, but the pace of the combat was slow and overly simple. Every attack, counter, and dodge had these windup and followthrough sequences that went on for so long that it was more like queueing up a series of canned animations than embodying a character in a brawl. But this one still has a year in the tank, so that may change!
17. Minecraft Dungeons 2
Hands-on | Sept 2026 | Steam
Why? Neat, but boring
The all-ages Minecraft Diablo spinoff is making significant improvements over the 2020 original—like jumping, a quick inventory, and much deeper buildcrafting—but my four-player demo wasn't exciting. We basically followed a golden line around, mashing the A button at whatever zombies, witches, or spider jockeys stood in our way. We didn't really have the time or context to appreciate our loot or learn our builds, so perhaps the real experience will make all the difference.
16. Crimson Moon
Hands-on | Sept 2026 | Steam
Why? Unremarkable soulslike combat
Crimson Moon has a grimdark fantasy sheen that gives off a very generic first impression. It's essentially a roguelike soulslike—two genres that I'm a tad exhausted by at the moment. But this early version played pretty well, offered a decent challenge, and the full game will support two-player co-op. That last bit strikes me as the killer feature. If the stars align, Crimson Moon could be what I wished Elden Ring: Nightrein was.
15. Grave Seasons
Hands-on | 2026 | Steam
Why? An awkward demo
I believe Grave Seasons could be great, but this wasn't a stellar demo. Instead of showing off what a typical day of this Stardew-like life sim is like, I played 20 minutes from the opening day that consisted of introducing myself to the townsfolk, watering a few seeds, and using a crowbar a few times. I took this appointment because Grave Seasons' twist—one of the townsfolk is a murderer—is irresistible, but I wasn't afforded enough time for that intrigue to take hold.
14. Resident Evil: Veronica
Hands-off | 2027 | Steam
Why? Just a Q&A
Veronica was part of a Capcom theater presentation that also included a live Onimusha demo. Frankly, the RE segment felt tacked on. Capcom didn't have anything more to share about Veronica than the reveal trailer that aired at SGF, but they did fly out producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi for a brief Q&A. Several of the room's questions were deflected by 'we're not talking about that yet'. Someone asked if the studio will reassess the controversial depiction of the Alfred Ashford character, to which Hirabayashi responded with a vague intention to explore characters in a deeper way than the original game.
13. Join Us
Hands-on | March 2027 | Steam
Why? Dumb fun
At an Xbox showcase that was mostly big-budget glam and polished indies, Join Us was a welcome dose of intentional jank. You play as a devoted follower of a creepy cult leader tasked with building up a new branch of the cult in an unfamiliar town. It's both a management sim and a third-person shooter—the meat of my demo was fending off a raid from a local gang, then jumping into a truck and driving over to their turf to mess them up. Also, you can name your cult and choose to adopt ancient roman naming conventions for members. It's clearly made for a silly night of four-player co-op.
12. Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2
Hands-on | Release TBA | Steam
Why? Decent co-op shooting
Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 is doing a Left 4 Dead-style co-op shooter the right way, but I'm not wowed by its fundamentals. Guns feel and sound kinda weak, the cover system is awkward, and I often wished I could push into first-person to add to the tension of Xenomorph ambushes. Still, it's a decent co-op shooter, and an accessible one by my estimation. The sequel is going big on progression and loadout options, which is always nice for a genre that asks you to replay missions over and over.
11. Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game
Hands-on | July 2026 | Steam
Why? Well made, but clearly not for me
I was both eager and entirely underqualified to play Avatar Legends at the PM Studios booth. Fighting games are foreign to these hands, but I was impressed with how faithfully Gameplay Group has maintained the Nickelodeon show's look in this fast-paced brawler. You can feel the love that went into designing movesets around their lore-accurate fighting styles and personalities, like Aang's mid-ranged airbending backed up by extreme mobility. I'd love to watch some pros play this.
10. Gears of War: E-Day
Hands-off | Oct 2026 | Steam
Why? Looks fun, but not much new learned
If you watched the Gears of War direct that followed the Xbox Showcase, you know as much about E-Day as the rest of us. It looks fun, but it also isn't showing much evolution from the last few Gears. Not a huge complaint, but since I like but don't love the series in the first place, E-Day isn't knocking my socks off. A few members of The Coalition leadership also answered questions from the room: They weren't ready to say much about non-campaign modes, but they did say that all PvP modes will be 4v4, and that legacy movement techniques like wall bouncing will be somewhat stifled.
9. Bad Magpie
Hands-on | Release TBA | Steam
Why? Cute, fun, gorgeous
It's Untitled Goose Game, but instead of a goose you're a magpie who chooses chaos at every avenue. Wander around pleasant human domains and peck, grab, or chirp at the world to solve clever puzzles. There was a great gag in the demo where you ruin a soccer match between a bunch of mice by deflating their ball, and when you leave and come back, a memorial for the ball has been set up at the murder site.
8. The Wolf Among Us 2
Hands-off | 2027 | Steam
Why? An intriguing new story
One of my favorite demos of the weekend was two Telltale devs playing an early scene from The Wolf Among Us 2 alongside me. They had control of the sticks, but I was allowed to make most decisions. The demo was focused on establishing Biby's next big case—a fable serial killer who's targeting humans—and showing off Telltale's evolved toolset. The studio has moved to Unreal 5 and fully mocapped actors, the benefits of which were immediately noticeable. Cutscenes were slick and devoid of the stiffness that used to plague its games, and I like the new behind-the-back camera. This could be great.
7. Spyro: A Realm Beyond
Hands-off | Release TBA | Steam
Why? Toys For Bob is in its element
This appointment didn't show anything new from Spyro: A Realm Beyond, but I nonetheless left excited for the game and Toys For Bob itself. Studio head Paul Yan spoke about how important it was for Toys For Bob to buy back its independence from Activision—an unprecedented move for the megapublisher. Yan lamented the years it was forced to become a Call of Duty support studio instead of making the games it actually wanted to and affirmed that the team is very excited to be back in the world of Spyro. Considering how great the Spyro remakes were, I agree that the purple dragon's in great hands.
The studio did expand on one thing from the Realm Beyond: That glimpse of Spyro's flying in the new trailer is a new flight system. By creating flame sources on the ground, Spyro can pick up lift and stay in the air indefinitely.
6. Blood Message
Hands-on | Release TBA | Official site
Why? NetEase is doing prestige action quite well
Blood Message caught me off guard. I had assumed I was talking into another Chinese take on a soulslike, but what I played was more like a grounded God of War. You play as a nameless messenger during the late Tang dynasty tasked with delivering an important letter to a general. The mixture of stealth and animation-heavy combat evoked Naughty Dog/Sony Santa Monica—gritty, cinematic, simple but effective. NetEase is throwing a lot of money at this thing, and it's both impressive and fun.
5. Stupid Never Dies
Hands-on | 2026 | Steam
Why? Ludicrous fun
The debut game from ex-Capcom producers at GPTrack50 (including several of the minds behind Devil May Cry and Dragon's Dogma) is, unsurprisingly, goofy and fun. Stupid Never Dies is a lot to take in at first, but I've been charmed by both the protagonist—a zombie named Davy who's in love with a corpse—and its shapeshifting combat. Davy himself packs a puny punch, but by biting enemies, he absorbs their powers Kirby-style and transforms into monsters with unique movesets. The combat is immediately fun, and I'm also intrigued by its story-focused roguelite format. It's a run-based game, but similar to Hades, you're meant to progress at a steady pace until you defeat a final boss.
4. [REDACTED]
Hands-on | [REDACTED] | [REDACTED]
Why? [REDACTED]
Well, this is awkward: This is the one game I saw whose embargo is not quite up yet. If you'd like to know what goes here, come back tomorrow!
3. Fable
Hands-off | Feb 2027 | Steam
Why? A promising social sandbox
Fable was the standout hands-off demo of the show. Playground Games walked us through a demonstration of the game's social sandbox systems that exist outside of its main quests. Over a half hour, the devs made friends with a homeless man, fell in love, became a business owner, gave the homeless guy a job, wooed his crush, and bought a home. In a Q&A, the devs told us that it's possible to own every home and business in the world of Fable. Yes, that also means you can evict and fire everyone and make the entire city homeless.
The social dynamics of Fable run much deeper than the original trilogy. That said, I was a little put off by how mechanical it was. The results made for a fun story to recount, but the actual interactions that got us there were mostly menu buttons and checklists, not natural conversations. Still, I'm convinced the simulation will be a fun toy to play with in the same way as Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's clockwork world, especially if it's backed up by worthwhile quests.
2. Onimusha: Way of the Sword
Hands-on | Sept 2027 | Steam
Why? Fantastic combat
The demo playable at Summer Game Fest was different from the one on Steam. What I played was a longer look at a quest that's still somewhat early in the story. You already know this if you've tried it, but this combat just feels tremendous. The swordplay has echoes of Sekiro and Ghost of Tsushima, but Capcom is distinguishing itself with the best sword clashes ever put in a game. I adore the way Musashi absorbs the impact of incoming blows with his katana and redirects the momentum away from his body.
My only gripe is that the majority of the demo was quite easy—a complaint that many have with the public demo as well. My ego was checked by a boss fight with a many-armed asshole who crushed me with an entire house. This just became my most-anticipated game of 2026.
1. N+ Infinity Times Two
Hands-on | Release TBA | Steam
Why? Sublime party platforming
As I said before, N+ Infinity Times Two has the makings of a perfect game. The makers of some of the best platformers on PC are making a multiplayer-focused spinoff, and my demo with three strangers was the highlight of the weekend. Race was fun, but Tag was truly genius.
