【Risa Sakamoto Archives】

E3 may be Risa Sakamoto Archivesdead, but we'll always have ... a bunch of video game trailers in the summertime.

Geoff Keighley's annual Summer Game Fest kicked off on Friday with a lengthy keynote full of announcements and updates on hotly anticipated titles. Here are the biggest reveals you need to know about.

Summer Game Fest 2024: Biggest announcements

There were far more games featured at Summer Game Fest, but these were the 10 that stood out to us.

Lego Horizon Adventures

SGF got off to a bizarre start with Lego Horizon Adventures. You know Horizon, the series of open-world PlayStation-exclusive adventures about killing robot dinosaurs? Well, now it's made out of LEGO, intended to be played in two-player co-op, and no longer exclusive to PlayStation consoles.

This seems to be a very different game from its predecessors, but maybe that's a good thing. Lego Horizon Adventureslaunches later this year on PS5, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

Neva

Nevais an upcoming side-scrolling action-adventure game from the folks who made Gris, a beautiful puzzle game that came out in 2018. Nomada Studio's next effort looks to be a bit more complex as a game than Griswas with the addition of combat, but the hand-drawn visuals are as striking as ever. Neva is coming to every major gaming platform later this year.

Civilization VII

The words "Sid Meier's Civilization VII" speak for themselves. The legendary turn-based strategy series is back, and while the cinematic trailer didn't have much in the way of useful info about the game itself, that doesn't really matter. While the Civfranchise continues, all is right with the gaming world.

Civ VIIis coming out next year. Somewhat surprisingly, it's not PC-only to start, or at all. It's coming to PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch.

Blumhouse Games

Blumhouse Productions, the studio known for bankrolling well-liked horror movies like M3GAN, is getting into the games business. The folks from Blumhouse showed off a little sizzle reel of neat-looking mostly horror-based games, including one that looks like Stardew Valleyadded a scary monster that lurks around your farm. Creators such as Sam Barlow and Brandon Cronenberg were also name-dropped in the announcement.

If you like horror and games that don't have bloated budgets, this trailer is for you. Platform information for these games is TBD.

Slitterhead

Keiichiro Toyama is a distinguished video game creator who helped birth a few popular franchises, but most relevant to this announcement is the fact that he created Silent Hill. His new game is called Slitterheadand it got a fresh gameplay reveal at SGF this year. It looks like...a lot.

As far as we can tell, players can jump between the bodies of various human bystanders in dark city streets and alleyways while fighting and/or running from horrifying nightmare creatures. The combat looks a little clunky for our tastes, but many Silent Hillfans wouldn't have it any other way.

Slitterheadlaunches on Nov. 8 for PC, PS5, PS4, and Xbox Series consoles.

Cairn

Cairnis the latest work from one of the best-named development studios on all of gaming, The Game Bakers. The makers of two wildly different (but both very cool) indie games in Furiand Havenare back with something that looks, well, totally unlike what they've made before.

While Furiwas a sweaty action game and Havenwas a more peaceful outer space take on Romeo & Juliet, Cairnis a game about climbing up a mountain. A very dangerous-looking mountain, at that. It's launching on PC and consoles in 2025.

Wanderstop

Wanderstopis the newest game from creator Davey Wreden, best known for two metatextual narrative adventures called The Stanley Parableand The Beginner's Guide. His new game looks wildly different from those two, in that it appears to be about running a peaceful cartoon tea shop in a fantasy world and doing chores.

Of course, there will almost assuredly be some kind of wild twist that up-ends the whole thing. We can't wait to find out what it is when Wanderstoplaunches on PS5 and PC later this year.

Alan Wake II DLC

Alan Wake II was the best video game of 2023. There is DLC for it coming out this weekend, on June 8. It has three new playable characters, one of whom is Jesse Faden, star of Control, which was the best game of 2019. That's a lot of good things happening at once.

Skate

Electronic Arts announced a couple years ago that it was reviving its long-dormant series of skating simulations, Skate, in a free-to-play format. Very little news followed in the two years since, but now Skatefans have a new trailer — starring the always-fun-to-see Tim Robinson.

There was really only a tiny bit of gameplay shown, and the trailer is very clear about the fact that Skateis still a work in progress. But the good news is there will be console play tests this fall.

Phantom Blade Zero

Phantom Blade Zerowas first announced last year, but a new gameplay trailer at SGF made it clear that fans of high-octane action games should pay attention. In short, it looks like a game for people who want highly skill-based samurai combat with very violent finishing moves. It's coming to PS5 and PC at an indeterminate date.