June usually marks the E3 season, an exciting time for all gaming fans. But this year is different; it is the first since the event’s cancellation. Nevertheless, the tradition of reveals continues with the June 2024 Summer Gaming Showcases seen in Summer Game Fest, which consists of big showcases like the PlayStation State of Play, Summer Game Fest Live, Xbox Games Showcase 2024, Ubisoft Forward 2024, and Nintendo Direct.
Though this year’s announcements focused more on games we already know, that does not make them any less exciting. And, there was still room for new stuff, too! Come with us to see the biggest reveals for summer gaming showcases.
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Astro Bot
This year, Sony had an uncharacteristically low-key summer showcase, opting for a PlayStation State of Play to highlight third-party games. While there weren’t any big guns — no doubt being saved for the rumoured PS5 Pro reveal — one first-party title appeared.
Team Asobi capped off the State of Play by unveiling the next game in the Astro Bot series, simply called… Astro Bot. Previous Astro Bot titles were more tech showpieces, illustrating the power of the console and its accessories. Still, this new title is a full-fledged game focused on the diminutive mascot Astro.
Astro Bot is a 3D platformer set in a space adventure. In this adventure, Astro traverses “more than 50 exciting and diverse worlds” to seek his scattered crew. The game has over 80 levels and many references to the PlayStation universe. Astro has new powers that offer unique play styles, like Barkster, the Bulldog Booster, who lets you air-dash and smash through enemies.
The game also comes out relatively soon; for PS5, it will be available on 6 September 2024!
Monster Hunter Wilds
Monster Hunter Wilds is the eagerly awaited next title in the Monster Hunter franchise, and it received a massive blowout during this period, appearing in not one but two showcases!
It first appeared in the PlayStation State of Play, where the game premiered its first gameplay trailer and showed off Windward Plains, a locale featuring harsh deserts, twisted rock formations, and swaying grasslands. Alongside the return of the iconic weapon types, the trailer also gave everyone a look into the new monsters and the dynamic environments of the world.
A week later, Monster Hunter Wilds was on stage at Geoff Keighley Summer Game Fest Live, this time giving viewers a first look at a new monster, the Balahara Leviathan. The monster has a few tricks up its sleeve, like creating pitfall traps that will require the hunter to adapt on the fly.
The game is due to be released in 2025 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series consoles, and PC, and gamers will be able to enjoy cross-play across the devices when it launches.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind
Following the success of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles beat ’em up games, the search is on for another IP, which can also be translated into a brawler, and we may have the next one.
Summer Game Fest Live premiered a new Power Rangers game called Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind, featuring the classic iteration of the Rangers. Power Rangers and beat ’em up — why didn’t we think of this marriage earlier? In the game, the Rangers battle against a robotic reincarnation of their long-time nemesis Rita Repulsa. Together with the original Rita, Robo-Rita alters the past in an attempt to stop the Rangers from forming.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind is nostalgia overload, featuring hand-drawn pixel art for that classic 90s look and fan-favourite enemies to tackle. But this isn’t your typical beat ’em up, with arcade-style shooting and driving sequences also included as part of the experience. Oh, and of course you get to pilot the Megazord and take down gigantic bosses too.
The game has yet to announce which consoles it will release for, but it will be available on PC via Steam and is slated to come out sometime in 2024.
Wanderstop
Here’s an interesting one. Remember The Stanley Parable? Well, creator Davey Wreden started a new studio called Ivy Road with Karla Zimonja (co-creator of Gone Home and Tacoma) and Daniel “C418” Rosenfeld (the music of Minecraft), and they introduced their first game, Wanderstop.
Described as a “narrative-centric cosy game about change and tea”, Wanderstop starts off unassuming in its reveal trailer. It follows Alta, a fallen fighter now working at a tea shop in a magical forest. Initially, it shows her off managing the shop and tending to customers, but as you would expect from the mind behind The Stanley Parable, the trailer later becomes more mysterious and tense at the end.
It is a trailer that certainly intrigues us, and luckily, we don’t have to wait long to unlock the mystery. The studio has announced that it will come sometime in 2024 for PlayStation 5 and PC through Steam. Here’s hoping it hits its expected launch period and doesn’t get delayed like The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe.
DOOM: The Dark Ages
We’ve been waiting for the next addition to the DOOM series, and our wait has been rewarded with a juicy look at DOOM: The Dark Ages.
Instead of a sequel, the game is a prequel to DOOM (2016) and DOOM Eternal, telling the origin story of how the DOOM Slayer began his rampage. We see the DOOM Slayer decked out in medieval gear before he sets in this new world.
The series has always been about over-the-top weapons, and there will be new ones to experience in this game. The trailer showed off Shield Saw, a shield decorated with spikes that can be thrown to slice enemies in half before boomeranging back to your hand. There’s also a weapon that chews bones and converts the remains into shrapnel bullets that eviscerate crowds. And the end of the video featured the DOOM Slayer jumping into a mech and flying a dragon — another crazy experience we can’t wait to play.
Bethesda Softworks may be under Microsoft, but DOOM: The Dark Ages will be made available to everyone; it will be released for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series consoles, and PC. In the meantime, we shall patiently wait again for its release, where it is expected to come out in 2025.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
When we think of Turn-based RPGs, we usually think of anime-inspired visuals and aesthetics. So colour us surprised to see how developer Sandfall Interactive showed off their interpretation of the genre!
Called Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the game is set in a bleak world inspired by Belle Époque France in which someone called the Paintress paints a cursed number every year — anyone with the same age as that number turns to smoke and fades away. The player leads Expedition 33, a team on a quest to destroy the Paintress before she ticks down to their number.
The game features strikingly beautiful graphics against a fantasy backdrop, which made the reveal of the turn-based gameplay all of the more shocking. But while it features traditional turn-based elements, the combat also employs real-time actions like dodging, parrying, and countering.
Not much else has been revealed about the game, but Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is expected to launch sometime in 2025 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series consoles, and PC.
Perfect Dark
Welcome back Joanna Dark. It has been a long time coming, not just for the franchise, but for this new game as well. So to see Perfect Dark appear at the Xbox Games Showcase was a pleasant surprise.
And we got quite the in-depth look too. Developers The Initiative showed off not just a new look at the reboot, but also a first look at the gameplay. Here, the game displayed a strong focus on gadgetry and traversal as Joanna Dark infiltrated a hideout.
The game is still in development for Xbox Series consoles and PC, but while we still don’t know when the Perfect Dark reboot will be released, there is more to get excited about as we wait.
Mixtape
We’ve gone on a long run of action-heavy games here in this list, so how about something that is all about the vibes? Enter Mixtape, unveiled at the Xbox Games Showcase by publisher Annapurna Interactive Beethoven & Dinosaur, developers of the BAFTA award-winning game The Artful Escape.
Mixtape follows the journey of three high school friends who are on one more adventure together. The game is experienced through a variety of narrative vignettes, each exploring pivotal moments that have shaped them. Classic coming-of-age movies inspire these vignettes and feature unique gameplay sequences that emulate the youth experience.
And the nostalgia is heightened with the game’s soundtrack, which features music from DEVO, Roxy Music, Lush, The Smashing Pumpkins, Iggy Pop, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, and many more.
Set to launch in 2025, Mixtape will be available for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series consoles, and PC.
Gears of War: E-Day
We expected Gears of War to make an appearance at Xbox Games Showcase 2024, but what we didn’t anticipate was that the series’ newest entry is actually a prequel instead of a sequel.
The premiere trailer featured a young Marcus Fenix tussling with a Locust in an abandoned building. After surviving the encounter, he is joined by another returning character, Dom Santiago, before the video reveals a city besieged by the Locust Horde.
As indicated by the game’s title, Gears of War: E-Day is set to take place during Emergence Day, which Gears fans would know as the planet-wide assault that started the Locust War. Unfortunately, not much else is known about the game — including the release date — but it is a good bet that the classic Gears gameplay will once again be at the fore.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Fans of the Assassin’s Creed series have long wished for a game set in Japan, and that dream finally came to fruition as Ubisoft showcased the first gameplay for the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
The gameplay walkthrough showed the intricacies of both Yasuke and Naoe, the game’s two protagonists. Yasuke is decidedly more direct; his gameplay revolves around him fighting with the Kanabo and Katana. The Kanabo is all about raw power, smashing enemies to finish them off. Meanwhile, the Katana provides decisive strikes.
Naoe employs stealth in her gameplay section. The environment provides many ways to hide from enemies, including destroying lamps to obscure her and hanging on ceilings using her grappling hook. You can also choose the character you want to play before tackling missions,
It is an exciting new venture for the Assassin’s Creed franchise, and I can’t wait to experience it when it arrives on 15 November 2024 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series consoles, PC, and Mac.
Mario & Luigi: Brothership
It’s been some time since we’ve seen some Mario and Luigi adventures, but that is set to change as a new Mario and Luigi game was announced during the recent Nintendo Direct.
Mario & Luigi: Brothership sees the two brothers hop on an island adventure. Setting sail on Shipshape Island (part ship, part island), the duo navigates the vast world of Concordia, which features islands with lush tropical rainforests and bustling cities.
Along the way, the brothers will encounter familiar faces from the Mushroom Kingdom like Peach and Bowser, while occasionally battling against hostile inhabitants through dynamic turn-based combat.
And the Nintendo Switch game will be out pretty soon! Fans can join the adventure when Mario & Luigi: Brothership arrives on 7 November 2024.
The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy
Sorry Danganronpa fans, there wasn’t a new game announced for the series, but there is something else you might be interested in. Coming from Too Kyo Games and Kazutaka Kodaka, the creator of the Danganronpa franchise, is a new game called The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy.
The game centres on Takumi Sumino, an average teenager thrust into despair when freakish monsters attack his town. However, a strange creature, Sirei, suddenly appears and offers Takumi the power to protect those he holds dear. Next thing he knows, he has been transported to Last Defense Academy, where he and 14 other students have been drafted into the Special Defense Unit.
For the next 100 days, he is tasked with defending the school against grotesque invaders. These turn into strategy RPG sections, where you utilise each student’s unique Specialist Skills and your wits to turn the tide. Outside of battle, Takumi is free to roam the school and bond with teammates, just like in Danganronpa.
If you’re interested in getting into another mad world crafted by Kazutaka Kodaka, you’ll be happy to know that the game will launch in early 2025. It will be available on the Nintendo Switch as well as PC.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
Talk about a comeback and a half! Metroid Prime 4 has been long in development, to the point where some people have thought of it as a myth, but Nintendo was on hand to dispel that myth and re-reveal the game for excited fans to close their June Nintendo Direct.
Now called Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, the game sees the return of Samus Aran on a new dangerous mission. The trailer features the familiar first-person shooter gameplay of the Prime series and teases the appearance of her latest adversary, the bounty hunter Sylux.
It is a thrilling return, especially considering the game had to restart its development back in 2019 due to unsatisfactory standards by Bandai Namco Studios, who were the ones previously developing it. Now with Retro Studios back at the helm, we can rest assured that fans will get a high-quality experience when it comes out for Nintendo Switch sometime in 2025.
What was your favourite trailer or announcement?
Whew, there you have it. And there were still lots more games that were showcased during this summer period too! Admittedly, this year didn’t reach the highs of previous E3 events, but the spirit is certainly still around. Here’s to hoping we see bigger and better trailers next year!
Have a favourite showcase or announcement from the June 2024 Summer Gaming Showcases? Let us know through our socials on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok!
Cover visuals courtesy of PlayStation, Xbox, Ubisoft, and Nintendo.
