Summer Games Fest 2023 Wish List -.

Well, E3 is dead. Many of us hoped it wouldn’t be, but alas, it is. Dancing on the grave of what was once gaming’s most famous convention is Geoff Keighley, the mastermind behind The Game Awards and Summer Games Fest.

Since the latter seems to be, in a sense, the “new E3,” we set our expectations pretty high for Keighley’s showcase this year. Perhaps Keighley’s own biggest stream is coming to us on June 8, which is being touted as a “live, cross-industry showcase.” There are already some great debuts coming up at the Summer Games Fest showcase and beyond, but in addition to compiling a list of what we’ll see next week, we’re also going to throw a few ideas out into the universe in hopes that they can make for some great surprises at Summer Games Fest.

Things we expect

Instead of going straight into the crazy predictions, we kick off with the main things we know we’ll see at Summer Games Fest 2023. Perhaps the biggest title on that list is Starfield. Although it’s kind of its own thing, it’s still listed as part of the Summer Games Fest event, and so it can be seen here. Last year was the last time we saw anything substantial from Starfield, and while there were some impressive ideas thrown around then, we want to see more. A lot more. Expanded gameplay would be nice, with a look at the planets we will visit, stories we will be a part of and characters we will meet along the way. There is no real way to put into words how much Bethesda has hyped Starfield, and in September we will play it. After the year Xbox has had so far, we really hope the sci-fi adventure can show us something that will give us a little hope.

The next game we already know about is Mortal Kombat 1. Shortly after NetherRealm gave us the first trailer for this fighting game, we knew we would get a gameplay reveal at Summer Games Fest. This is another biggie, and especially after the positive reception of Street Fighter 6, there is a lot of pressure on Mortal Kombat 1 to deliver. Given that Mortal Kombat 11 was such a huge hit, and it gave us new popular mechanics like Fatal Blows and our own character loadouts to build, more of the same with some extra flair sounds like all we need for Mortal Kombat 1 to succeed.

In terms of playable titles, fans of the not-so-distant dystopian future will be happy to know that Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty is coming to Summer Games Fest Play Days. Considering that the expansion was revealed last December and we haven’t seen much since then, it’s quite a leap to get our hands on it. Here’s hoping we’re not stuck with a launch similar to that of the base game.

Lies of P is also coming to Summer Games Fest. The soulslike game that asks what if Pinocchio looked like Timothée Chalamet and went on a murder spree is an interesting one for fans of the genre. There have been multiple looks at gameplay from Lies of P and we expect the release in August of this year. At the very least, we would expect some sort of definitive release date for Lies of P, in addition to a trailer that gives us an extra dose of hype.

Horror fans best buckle up, because Alan Wake 2 is also going to reveal gameplay at Summer Games Fest. There’s a lot riding on this sequel, but from the trailer we got during the PlayStation Showcase, Remedy’s latest title looks promising to say the least. Since it also comes out in October, we can probably expect a pretty substantial look at what we’ll be playing later this year.

For something lighter than Alan Wake 2, we also know that Palworld has been confirmed to make its appearance. At first you’ll be drawn to Palworld’s cute creatures, but soon you’ll see that the premise here is Pokémon with guns. It will be interesting to see more of Palworld to find out if it is just a gimmick turned into a game or if there is some meat on the bones.

That’s about what we’re sure will be there, but in terms of things we certainly wouldn’t be surprised to see, we also largely expect the following to appear in some capacity:

• Assassin’s Creed Mirage
• Immortals of Avenum
• F1 23
• Baldur’s Gate 3
• Armored core VI
• Beyond parking

What we hope to see

Already, from what we know and what we can expect, Summer Games Fest looks stacked. But hey, why not theorize a little about what surprises may come our way? Given that more than 40 companies are partnering with the event, there are bound to be some talking points beyond what has already been announced.

WB, for example, has a lot to show off. We might get another look at Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, hoping it can redeem itself from the awful display that was the State of Play presentation earlier this year. There’s also that Wonder Woman game in development at Monolith that we haven’t heard from in a while. We have seen virtually nothing of that, so this is not really an expectation, but it would be a real and exciting surprise to see what they are cooking about at Monolith.

Gearbox has also been announced as a partner for this year’s Summer Games Fest. This wouldn’t leave us theorizing much if it weren’t for a recent tweet from the Borderlands account teasing something coming soon. Borderlands 3 came out in 2019, so maybe it’s time for a new entry in the looter shooter franchise, or even we could see more on the Borderlands movie, especially since Summer Games Fest is reportedly a multimedia showcase.

Speaking of multimedia, Netflix is also making an appearance. This could be to show off its latest gaming plans, but we also hope to see some more of The Witcher Season 3 and perhaps a few other trailers to get us hyped up for what the streaming titan has to offer.

Another distant hope is that Sega will show us some more of its upcoming remakes. We found out about Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio earlier this year, and while they may not be ready to release anytime soon, it would be good to see more of them. Sega also said it has a lot planned for this fiscal year in terms of remasters and remakes, so maybe we’ll get some other surprises on the 8th.

Since Dragon’s Dogma 2 got its big trailer, don’t expect anything big on the RPG, but if Capcom wants to go all out, maybe we can hope to see a lot more of the long-awaited sequel. No release date has been set for it yet, but maybe we can see another trailer with a release window or something.

If we are really contacting the universe and asking for our wildest dreams to come true, we can also hope for something like a Dragon Age: Dreadwolf trailer, to remind us that the game is still worth caring about, or a confirmation of a Resident Evil 5 Remake, as it is very likely that Capcom will continue its successful pattern of remaking titles in its horror franchise. In addition, there are increasing rumors of a new Metro game in the works, and now that it has been 4 years since Metro: Exodus it may be time to return to a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

There are even mutterings among the editors here about a Red Dead Redemption 2 remaster, Grand Theft Auto VI reveal and a shadow drop of Hollow Knight: Silksong. These are definitely pipe dreams, but that’s half the fun when these shows come around. We get to speculate and create our own fantasy of the best announcements we can think of.

Those wild guesses aside, however, it seems that Summer Games Fest is already stacked. Of course, on top of the stuff coming in this showcase, we’ll get an Xbox Games Showcase and an Ubisoft Forward Presentation up top. Expect to see more about it in the coming days.