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What Was Worth A Damn About Summer Game Fest 2025?

Yes, it’s once again time to check in on Geoff Keighley and his merry band of misfits, to see what of worth came from this year’s Summer Game Fest show. As with last week’s State of Play highlights , we’re just here to look at the interesting stuff - the games that caught my eye, either through a strong showing or a fascinating angle on their given material. How many of these titles will actually stick the landing remains to be seen, but for now here are my thoughts… Felt That: Boxing Developed by: Sans Strings Studio Doing what basically seems to be a straight “save the orphanage”/underdog boxer story, but where everyone is Basically a Muppet, is a great gag. Seems like it’s a mix of Punch-Out-like fights and an assortment of minigames themed after training montage moments, that’s some good stuff. Marvel Cosmic Invasion Developed by: Tribute Games The folks behind the excellent TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge making another pixel-art beat 'em up, this one a mash-up of Marvel Comics hero...
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What Was Worth A Damn About Summer Game Fest 2025?

Yes, it’s once again time to check in on Geoff Keighley and his merry band of misfits, to see what of worth came from this year’s Summer Game Fest show.

Promo image from game Lego Party, depicting a large crown wearing mech swinging an energy blade while standing atop a floating rock. Nearby is a LEGO person dressed in ninja attire hopping from one board game point to another. In the background, to the left of the mech, is a horned face shaped floating rock formation.

As with last week’s State of Play highlights, we’re just here to look at the interesting stuff - the games that caught my eye, either through a strong showing or a fascinating angle on their given material. How many of these titles will actually stick the landing remains to be seen, but for now here are my thoughts…

Promo image from game Felt That Boxing, depicting a small orange Muppet like character being punched by a red boxing glove, on the hand of a larger brown Muppet. They are both standing in what appears to be a boxing ring.

Felt That: Boxing

Developed by: Sans Strings Studio

Doing what basically seems to be a straight “save the orphanage”/underdog boxer story, but where everyone is Basically a Muppet, is a great gag. Seems like it’s a mix of Punch-Out-like fights and an assortment of minigames themed after training montage moments, that’s some good stuff.

Promo image from game Marvel Cosmic Invasion, depicting heroes She-Hulk and Rocket Raccoon preparing to attack the pterodactyl-like villain Sauron. All three are standing in some kind of ruined metallic structure, covered in overgrowth and with a hole in the backwall. Also in the room is the head of a giant Sentinel robot.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion

Developed by: Tribute Games

The folks behind the excellent TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge making another pixel-art beat 'em up, this one a mash-up of Marvel Comics heroes? Very cool. She-Hulk makes sense as an addition, and I’m never gonna knock a Rocket Raccoon appearance. This does have me wondering who else is due to show up, though.

Promo image for game Out of Words, depicting two young characters - a boy and a girl - being pulled from one another by giant rock hands. Also visible is a small stingray-like creature. The game's title in white text is in the lower middle of the image.

Out of Words

Developed by: Kong Orange, Wired Fly, and Morten Sondergaard

The look of the game is curious - there’s an clear arts-and-crafts and DIY influence, with a lot of what appears to be coloured string and sewn fabric. I definitely want to know if they figured out how to make the game engine tech “look” that way or if there’s a heavy handmade component to the visuals. It’s charming enough to make the co-op platformer intriguing to me, and I’m not usually the audience for this. The little cartoon stingray companion is adorable.

Promo image for game Mina the Hollower, depicting the mouse-like heroine Mina attacking a creature with a magic whip. She is in the middle of a dungeon with grey stone structures and purple sand-like floors.

Mina the Hollower

Developed by: Yacht Club Games

These are the folks behind the Shovel Knight titles, pivoting to what looks like an original-flavour Zelda-like dungeon crawl game with some Castlevania sprinkled overtop (that there’s a fine monster-slaying magical whip). This team knows their retro revivals, and what’s been shown is looking good so far.

Promo image for game Mixtape, depicting several people driving a convertible car along a shoreline at night, with the moon visible to the left of them. Fireworks are going off to the right of the car.

Mixtape

Developed by: Beethoven and Dinosaur

It appears a “last days of youth” story, with a heavy layer of The 80s As Half-Remembered Vibes and Pop-Music Cues, is our pitch here. Certainly not a bad premise, as a lot of worthwhile stories have used that tipping point between hope for the future and melancholy at what’s being left behind to great effect. That said, I’m kinda curious to know how deep the sense of authenticity to the time and place runs.

Promo image for game Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree, depicting a pair of characters keeping several brown quadrupedal creatures at bay. The character on the left is just standing with weapon at the ready, while the right-most character is mid-swing with their weapon creating an exaggerated orange-and-yellow blur as it swings. Surrounding them are several cherry blossom trees in full bloom.

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree

Developed by: Brownies Inc. 

So it’s clear they’ve been looking at Supergiant Games’ output beyond just the obvious Hades comparison, ‘cause that is some fine looking top-down action. There’s a heavier influence of Japanese animation and folklore to this, which gives it a distinct look from its peers. I really like Buff Koi Fish Warrior and Jacked Shiba Monk.

Promo image for game Acts of Blood, depicting the protagonist kicking an enemy in the chest. They appear to be in some kind of industrial warehouse. Also visible to the left and in the middle of the screen are the bodies of other enemies.

Acts of Blood

Developed by: Eksil Team

This looks like a pretty stark, “grounded” urban brawler… but set in Indonesia and made BY an Indonesian team? Seems solid.

Promo image for game Scott Pilgrim EX, depicting lead characters Scott Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers running down a crowded beach, featuring an ice cream truck with a large rooftop ornament that is a strawberry ice cream cone, a large red wooden structure behind the truck, various lifeguards at their watch tower, a couple of beach balls, and a blue and white striped towel.

Scott Pilgrim EX

Developed by: Tribute Games

The original creator is onboard with this, the dev team’s track record I’ve already established previously, it looks delightfully in keeping with the source material’s take on pixel-art AND it doesn’t look like Ubisoft’s stink will be anywhere near this. I’ll be keeping tabs on this one.

Promo image for game Lego Party, depicting four Lego characters attempting to ride unicycles along an orange running track. Each of the four characters is wearing a different coloured outfit - from left to right, a red conductor costume, a blue unicorn onesie, a yellow cat outfit, and a green archer outfit.

Lego Party

Developed by: SMG Studio

Mario Party, but everything’s made of Lego? Sure, looks cute.

Promo image for game Blighted, depicting the skeletal-looking protagonist fighting off a red floating eyeball. Nearby are two lumpy black-coloured creatures, one of which has an eyeball similar to the red creature. To the right is a shining blue light, atop a rectangular mass of brain matter.

Blighted

Developed by: DrinkBox Studios

Fungal or organic growths coming off of things (or bodies) is personally unsettling, so already the game’s visual hook is doing its job. Apart from that? Seems like a solidly built top-down action title.

Promo image for game Infinitesimals, depicting a walking mech with thin legs approaching a larger mech with sturdier legs. Surrounding them are blades of grass that are scaled to look like large trees.

Infinitesimals

Developed by: Cubit Studios

So the premise seems to be that some alien (or at least non-human) civilization is fighting a pitched battle with some robotic faction… but all of them are miniature-sized, with blades of grass, flowers and other flora looking like towering skyscrapers? Not dissimilar to that Grounded game, though here presented more as straight-faced military-sci-fi. Certainly not an oversaturated niche, I’ll give it that.

Promo image for game Wu Tang Rise of the Deceiver, depicting a character with dark hair and a red jacket swinging their sword at a large beast with twin horns on its skull-like face. The sweep of the blade creates a blue trail of energy.

Wu-Tang: Rise of the Deceiver

Developed by: Brass Lion Entertainment

I’m not even that familiar with the Wu-Tang Clan, and I’m very onboard for this. Hack-and-slash action with some really interesting animation work, seemingly backed up by strong hip-hop tracks.

Promo image for Into The Unwell, depicting a 3D cartoon duck swinging a blunt weapon at a cartoon sentient hotdog, while a sad looking cartoon cat looks on. Other sentient food creatures can be seen fleeing or recoiling from the action. In the background are various structures semi-obscured by fog and sinking into a black water-like substance.

Into The Unwell

Developed by: She Was Such A Good Horse

It’s always fun to see the ol’ rubber hose approach to animation show up in something, the way they seem to have translated it into 3D is quite impressive, and tying the notion of being stuck in one’s own personal purgatory (alcoholism) to the game’s roguelike nature (aka a MECHANICAL purgatory) is clever.

Screenshot from video for game Stranger Than Heaven, depicting a man with a white fedora and trenchcoat standing on the streets of Japan as a crowd seems to form around him. Just ahead of the man is another man in the middle of lobbing a Molotov cocktail.

Stranger Than Heaven

Developed by: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio

It looks and feels just a touch more grounded and dangerous than RGG’s usual output, though still with a bold sense of style. The setting being mid-40s Japan brings with it REAL interesting possibilities (and, yeah, also a lot of cultural baggage). Appears to be some moral choice system in place?

Promo image for game Resident Evil Requiem, showing protagonist Grace Ashcroft turned away from her desk to address someone offscreen. Grace has blond hair, glasses, and is wearing a black pantsuit with an FBI identification page on her jacket. Her desk has a computer monitor, and is cluttered with various books and documents.

Resident Evil Requiem

Developed by: Capcom

The fucking nerve, to leap from the bloated feeling Village to this and declare “Yes, we ARE going harder on the fanservice and navel-gazing”. I almost have to respect their commitment to courting disaster.

If nothing else, Grace Ashcroft is, on paper, an interesting deviation from series norms (not quite a blank slate like Ethan Winters, not special forces or a hypercompetent ex-cop like Most Everyone Else, clearly capable enough to end up as FBI but in a research/desk job versus regular field work). Setting aside that it’s bonkers a fucking Outbreak character is (maybe?) central to the story here, the personal trauma angle is also an interesting setup that, if handled carefully, might make for compelling character work (a Resident Evil protagonist growing and changing in interesting ways over the course of the story? What a concept.)

-FIN-

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