It's official: Frogs won the summer game showcases

(Image credit: Frog Vibes)

Did you hop-pen to notice anything strange about today's Not-E3 showcases? A feeling that the lily pad might be a little bit crowded as of late? It's frogs, dear readers. They're everywhere right now, and I can't seem to put a webbed finger on why they seem more commonplace than even sci-fi horror games.

We noticed frogs show up a few times during the Guerrilla Collective showcase, but it was the Wholesome Games Direct that really opened the pondgates to a flood of frogspawn. Frogun, a game where your gun is a frog, showed up at both. Olliefrog: Toad Skater is a no brainer, but did you spot a frog show up in hellish glass underworld shredder Skate Story?

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Witch and Frog — (Image credit: Cubenary)

Here Comes Niko sported a froggie friend, A Frog's Tale is a frog's tale, and Chris has made the argument that even if Schim isn't about a frog, the shadowy soul-creature hops and plops across shadowy ponds just like one. That's not to mention River Tails, Paradise Marsh, Kitori Academy, Cult of the Lamb, Fox and Frog Travelers, and good grief I really could keep going.

So what's the deal? Well maybe there's the fact that frogs are mechanically very neat. They can hop great heights, are capable on both land and water, and as Frogun proved, those sticky extendable tongues have endless potential for smart, interesting interactions. But it's probably just that frogs really are just quite cute wee beans, all big eyes and bright colours and soft smiling faces.

Whatever the case, it's been settled. Frogs, not haunted space stations or a weird abundance of stardewlikes, won this year's Summer Games Fest.

It's just a shame Frog Detective 3 hasn't yet made an appearance—I'm sure the second-best detective in town could get to the bottom of the case of the famous frogs.

20 years ago, Nat played Jet Set Radio Future for the first time, and she's not stopped thinking about games since. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, she comes from three years of freelance reporting at Rock Paper Shotgun, Waypoint, VG247 and more. Embedded in the European indie scene and a part-time game developer herself, Nat is always looking for a new curiosity to scream about—whether it's the next best indie darling, or simply someone modding a Scotmid into Black Mesa. She also unofficially appears in Apex Legends under the pseudonym Horizon.