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E3 as an institution may be out of the picture now, but its legacy was nonetheless carried on this year by Summer Game Fest. Even those companies that didn’t directly participate in the show had something to share last week, and it’s probably safe to say that most gamers have at least one big release to look forward to in the coming months. Here’s a quick round-up of some of the show’s biggest surprises and their possible implications for gaming’s future.
Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth- Story Details & Release Window
One game that was certain to draw attention no matter what Square Enix showed of it was Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. After the direction the story went in Final Fantasy VII Remake, fans have been left wondering how exactly things are going to play out, and last week we got another hint to mull over along with gameplay and a release window at last.
First, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is going to be coming in early 2024. While this is almost certainly disappointing for those hoping to see it out this year, they’ll hopefully be getting a better, more polished game in the end. Given the new gameplay teased inthe most recent trailer,one can say that time taken to shine up those cool new moves and team-up mechanics would be time well-spent. Then there’s the new story clues.
As those familiar with Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and the original game are aware, Cloud’s wasn’t exactly who he claimed to be (or even thought he was). He was just a lowly Shinra grunt who had the misfortune of getting mixed up with Hojo and the events surrounding Sephiroth’s madness. It’s hinted in this trailer, however, that that might not exactly be what’s going on here.
Another intriguing little crumb is Tifa’s status. It was always strange that the slash from Sephiroth in Nibelheim didn’t outright kill her in the original game, and now Sephiroth himself is insisting that that’s exactly what he did: he killed her. Now Sephiroth has every reason to lie and sow discord in Cloud’s party, but, still, how did she survive? If she didn’t who is the Tifa we’ve been traveling with thus far? It’s a long wait until 2024, but these questions should be enough to keep everyone busy until then.
Metaphor ReFantazio- World Premier
With interest in the Persona andShin Megami Tenseiseries growing ever since the release of Persona 5, it was probably just a matter of time before fans started to seemore games like it.Even so, it’s unlikely that anyone was expecting to see something like Metaphor ReFantazio this year. Persona 5’s director, character designer and composer are all back in their same roles for this one, which should already be a reason for fans to be psyched.
As is the nature of reveal trailers, there’s still not a whole lot that can be conclusively said about Metaphor: ReFantazio yet, but there are some things to be gleaned here. Most noticeably, it looks like director Katsura Hashino has allowed the art team to really cut loose. Everything from the characters to the pause menu is absolutely dripping with style, elegant flair and a real sense of grandeur. It’ll be a feast for the eyes at the very least, but it’s also looking like players will be getting an evolution of Persona 5’s combat system too.
Judging from the trailer, weapon attacks and the equivalent of presona abilities are still present, but there’s also an option called “synthesis” with the subtext “team up” attached to it. Will players get to cooperate with their party members a laChrono Triggeror the specials seen inPersona 5: Royal?Hopefully it’s something closer to the former; real teamwork is too much of a rarity in RPGs. The “retry” option should also raise smoe eyebrows, since its presence could imply a need for players to include the order and sequence of their moves in their strategies rather than mostly just planning around enemy weaknesses like in the Persona orSoul Hackers games.
Sonic Superstars- World Premier
Considering thatSonic’s most recentgame only released a few months ago, it was something of a surprise to see him back already with the reveal ofSonic Superstars.What’s even more surprising is that Sonic Team is, for the first time in a long time, not trying to find yet another way to reinvent 3D Sonic. Instead, it appears that fans are getting the long-awaited continuation of the 2D revivalSonic Mania startedback in 2017. If it at all felt like Sonic Team wasn’t listening to fan feedback before, it sure feels like it is now.
Sonic Superstars is, even with this very first trailer, already looking like the whole package. Sonic has an appealing updated design; the 2.5D aesthetics pioneered inSonic Generationsand Sonic 4 seem to have been perfected; the blue blur has new, out-of-the-box powers to play around with, his three main friends: Tails, Knuckles and Amy are playable from the start; the new stages look bright, colorful and filled with new gimmicks and hazards,andco-op is fully supported (and not in that awful split-screen fashion from the original games). It’s everything a 2D Sonic fan could ever want, and it’s releasing for everything this fall. Wow.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden- Gameplay
When Dontnod first announced Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden a few months ago, it looked like not that much more than an adventure game with an interesting, otherworldly premise. Now that there’s some gameplay to chew on, it’s clear that there’s much more to the project than that. Certainly there’s an adventure backbone not too dissimilar fromthe recent God of War games,but that’s apparently not the be all end all here.
Judging from the trailer,in Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden players' adventures in this harsh, beautifully-rendered world will involve more than hunting down shades and ghosts for coin. Investigations in the spirit realm and channeling supernatural power as the ghostly Antea Duarte, wielding raw strength and tools of the trade as Red mac Raith and making very difficult decisions as both appears to be woven throughout this tale. It all appears to be very smoothly integrated too.
This is the team that brought gamers Vampyr back in 2018: a game that,while decent,wasn’t able to live up to its potential. That game’s biggest weakness was almost certainly its combat, which often felt stiff and unwieldy and often pit the good doctor Reid against enemies that felt either laughably weak or teeth-grindingly overpowered. It was a functional system, but it nonetheless detracted from the Vampyr’s excellent atmosphere and story.
If this trailer turns out to be an accurate representation of Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden’s combat, then it might be safe to say that the team took the lessons from Vampyr to heart. Combat here is looking smooth and fluid, and even traversal seems to have gotten an upgrade. The return of major choices is great to see, and it’s going to be interesting to see if and how Dontnod and Focus Entertainment have advanced that feature too. Dontnod has been onsomething of a rollthese past few years, so there’s no reason to think that it won’t continue.
Clockwork Revolution- World Premier
Rare as it is to see it done well, time-travel and manipulation is always an exciting thing to see in a new project. It’s a feature that always feels ripe for a major advancement, and InXile Entertainment’s Clockwork Revolution is looking like the project to take the feature to the next level. Between the trailer and the Steam page, it’s looking like players will be able to use time at both the macro and micro level and enjoy differing consequences for each.
At the macro, it’s sounding like players will get to travel back to specific points in the clockwork city of Avalon’s past and make real changes to its future. TheSteam pagedescribes the consequences following the Butterfly Effect in terms of scale and impact, but that could mean either two things. One is that all of the changes are static and will simply change the world to suit the needs of the plot. It’s a nice idea, but not very groundbreaking.
The other possibility is that players will actually have some agency when it comes to what changes and how. Now that would be something to see! A world that’s directly affected by player action hasn’t really been done in any broadly noticeable way before, so it would really be quite something of Clockwork Revolution could pull it off.
The possibilities for combat and utility time manipulation are rather exciting too. In the trailer, we saw our rebel collapse a bridge to deal with some of her enemies and then immediately rewind it so that her way forward would be clear. Again, if this is a static set-piece, then it’s nothing gamers haven’t seen before. Such events are still fun, but not exactly a reason to get excited for a game. If players can wield such abilities dynamically though, then InXile Entertainment will have managed something incredible indeed.
Time as a true, usable power able to affect more than certain object types and enemies would absolutely be a blast to play around with. Even if neither of these more exciting possibilities come to be though, Clockwork Revolution’s setting, weapons and story look pretty entertaining in their own right, so this is likely one to look forward to regardless.
While not as bombastic and industry-shaking as some of its predecessor shows have been, Summer Game Fest 2023 still managed to give a lot to chew on in the coming months. Going beyond this list, almost everyone got something to look forward to. Old-school action fans gotPrince of Persia: The Lost Crown,explorers got a bit more hope for Starfield, Remedy fans gotmore Alan Wake II details,and on it goes. Indie enthusiasts too have projects such asThe Talos Principle 2andWizard With a Gunnow closer than ever. Truly, things in the industry may not be perfect, but it’s still a great time to be a gamer.
