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What Was Worth A Damn About Summer Game Fest 2026?

Yeah, it’s Keighley o’clock again. I won’t do the whole spiel about Geoff Keighley or the games presentations associated with him - they’re vapid, bloated productions run by gaming PR’s favourite host, but you know that already (OR you know that now). Other folks have better, more entertaining material poking fun at the whole farce of the thing, whereas my aim is simply to find the potential gems amid the middling fare. This year’s Summer Game Fest was definitely among the more underwhelming and anemic in my experience, but I still managed to find some noteworthy titles, my reactions to which I have presented below. Have a look and see if anything strikes your fancy. Star Wars: Zero Company Developed by Bit Company and Respawn Entertainment Published by Electronic Arts Releasing August 27, 2026 for Windows PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. The initial reveal for this game gave a strong impression that the central idea for this game was “What if XCOM, but with Star Wars stuff?” What they sh...
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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 Sony's June 2025 State of Play?

It's been a minute, hasn't it? Like clockwork, Sony showed up in this, the season of What Was Once E3 Time, to offer up a selection of trailers and teases of forthcoming video games. And like clockwork, I am here to pick through their offerings to find that which is worth monitoring in the coming months. This will not be an overview of the whole presentation (it was fine, mostly trailers with a bit of developer and producer commentary to bridge the spaces between, nothing outside the box), nor will it be an excuse to bash certain games, individuals or studios. We're just taking a look at the titles that stood out as compelling, interesting or both - and yes , I am pulling from my Bluesky notes here, because I can . Romeo is a Deadman Developed by: Grasshopper Manufacture Looks like a hack-and-slash game (of that "character action" variety) pulling from a few different directions - multiple animation styles employed, a mix of body-horror and sci-fi to the overall ...
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The Post-E3 Games Showcase Era, Summer 2024 Highlights: Part II

In the ashes of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, amid the bloat and pretense of the games industry, always must there be a presentation... always must there be game trailers... and always must there be those who commentate. So it is that we find ourselves in the aftermath of this year's collected summer showcases, a cavalcade of announcements and information to parse in its wake. For my part, I set forth to note the games that stood out among the pack. Today, we go over the high points of the Future Games Show , the Xbox Games Showcase , the PC Gaming Show and, yes , even the Ubisoft Forward . Heaven help us all... Future Games Show The High Point: Duck Detective: The Secret Salami The premise of “riffing on the hardboiled detective story with talking cartoon animals” would be a fine selling point for a game in itself. The choice to also lean into a sticker book aesthetic, complete with characters hobbling around as barely moving objects in a scene? Now that's a fun time ...
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The Post-E3 Games Showcase Era, Summer 2024 Highlights: Part I

In the ashes of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, amid the bloat and pretense of the games industry, always must there be a presentation... always must there be game trailers... and always must there be those who commentate. So it is we find ourselves in the aftermath of this year's collected summer showcases, a cavalcade of announcements and information to parse in its wake. For my part, I set forth to once again note the games (and, occasionally, people or moments) that stood out - for good or ill. Today, we tackle that which was displayed at Sony's State of Play, the OTK Games Expo, and the Summer Game Fest... Sony State of Play The High Point: Astro Bot Is it nakedly playing off of lingering nostalgia for various Sony properties, current and forgotten? Yes.  Is it unmistakably taking cues from other more successful platformer series? Absolutely. Nevertheless, the team at Sony seem to have nailed the charm when it comes to their robot mascot, which is half the battle for cr...
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Contradiction: A Review

Once, in a bygone era called the 1990s, full-motion video was the latest fad sweeping the games industry. Wing Commander, Night Trap, Command & Conquer, The 7th Guest – many a studio saw potential in recordings of live actors performing scenes as a foundation for their games. Alas, between the relentless advance of technology and the inherent cost in building a game around FMV sequences, the practice would fall out of favour by decade's end.  Still, from time to time, games emerge that tap into that peculiar moment of history to interesting effect. So it is that we have Contradiction: Spot the Liar! , a crowdfunded murder mystery game wrapped in the FMV aesthetic. Though peculiar in some of its creative choices, the passion for the craft and the novelty of its main conceit do manage to shine through. Developed & Published by: Baggy Cat Ltd. Released for PC Set in a village in the UK, Contradiction follows the efforts of one Detective Jenks as he attempts to uncover the cir...
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The Obligatory (Not) E3 2023 Round-Up, Part 2: Sifting through the Slop

Alright, it's been a while but we're back again to cover the PC Gaming Show, the Xbox Showcase and the Ubisoft Forward. After this, that's it, that's all, we're done here. PC Gaming Show The Most Questionable Stuff 3. Road to Vostok (???) Choosing to look down on a game for overt familiarity from the word ‘go’, even if all it has done at this point is have its existence announced to the world, is not inherently an act to be proud of. Much of gaming iterates and builds upon what came before, much of the medium as it stands (for good or ill) exists because someone looked at a past work and were inspired to develop their own take on the material. How many excellent games would cease to be if people decided that “it’s just a clone of X” was a valid argument in itself? I establish this now to make it clear that I do not roll my eyes at Road to Vostok for taking the form of a sparsely-populated shooter set in a post-apocalyptic wilderness area… but rather because it loo...
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