Making sense of Summer Games Fest
An indie deluge and the game formerly known as Dragon Age: Dreadwolf!
After days of press releases getting gatling-gunned into my eyeballs, my inbox finally slowed to a manageable clip as Summer Games Fest subsided this week. My plans to personally attend this year fell under the axe of the network’s budget crunch, so I’ll do my best to highlight the best SGF reporting I can spy from my lookout in Arlington, Virginia.
Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is dead; long live Dragon Age: The Veilguard. I admired the series’ first game, Origins, but it didn’t capture me like Baldurs Gate 2 and Neverwinter Nights did. I played and quickly dropped DA2, but ended up quite fond of 2014’s Inquisition despite its mediocre combat and quest design. The Fortnite-esque bombast of The Veilguard’s trailer doesn’t inspire me (though it does recall the hokey Marilyn Manson trailer for Origins back in the day). I hope Bioware can recover its former glory, but I’m skeptical EA will give them the chance.
Remedy Entertainment surprised us by dropping DLC of my beloved Alan Wake 2.
UFO50, the indie game anthology so long-awaited I thought it was a myth, is purportedly coming out this September!
Metaphor: ReFantazio looks to (mostly) be the fantasy Persona it’s sold itself as — which has me simultaneously excited and wary. Persona 5 was too long by half and I doubt Metaphor will endeavor to be less bloated.
This is one of the noisiest screenshots I’ve ever seen, Atlus! Polygon’s Maddy Myers says Star Wars Outlaws “aims to be the Han Solo simulator we’ve always wanted.” I hope it doesn’t misfire like many other Star Wars projects that didn’t focus on Force users.
PC Gamer reports: One day after trumpeting its big Summer Game Fest reveals, Sumo Group is laying off 15% of its workers and closing Timbre Games
Microsoft had a good showcase, headlined by a Doom prequel set during Medieval times.
IGN purports that Microsoft gaming emperor Phil Spencer has “practically confirmed” an Xbox Handheld. Should it work like the Steam Deck, I’d feel obliged to add it to my embarrassingly wide arsenal of mobile gaming platforms.
That’s not to mention a new Life is Strange game, an October Diablo IV expansion, and the suddenly imminent launch of Flock, which I mistakenly believed to be by the makers of breakout indie Untitled Goose Game (that’d be the upcoming Big Walk, which admittedly shared some visual similarities).
Here & Now Mastromarino Productions
Summer TV picks: 'Presumed Innocent,' 'The Boys,' 'House of the Dragon'
U.S. and G7 countries agree to fund Ukraine's defense through seized Russian assets
Southern Baptist Church votes against removing women leaders (My colleague Karyn Miller-Medzon deserves 90% of the credit for this one, but I booked the guest and thought I’d include it here)
Highway into Jackson Hole collapses leaving working families stranded (also huge kudos to Ashley Locke and Catherine Welch for finding and booking this guest!)
Arizona border sheriff says Biden's immigration ban hurts asylum seekers, fails to address crime