4 great games I played at Summer Game Fest 2024

With Summer Game Fest over, it’s clip to instrumentality a look backmost astatine immoderate of the stand-out hits of the show. I don’t mean the astir breathtaking reveals, but the champion games I really got to play. The SGF abstraction was afloat of absorbing games, immoderate from high-profile studios and others from indie outfits. And determination were immoderate games that were amazingly amusive that I lone discovered by conscionable picking up a controller and playing.

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess

Though I’ve seen trailers for Capcom’s sumptuous-looking game, I was ne'er rather definite what it was about. I thought it was a generic hack-and-slash crippled dressed up successful the richness of Japanese mythology, but I was amazed and frankly delighted to observe it’s a operation defence game. Your occupation is to support a shrine maiden arsenic she works to purge corruption from the land. Gameplay is divided into 2 sections: time and night. In the daytime, you spell done a colony rescuing inhabitants from the corrupting infection. At night, you support the shrine maiden from demons arsenic she dilatory works her mode done the colony purging it of evil. 

I truly enjoyed Kunitsu-Gami’s caller twist connected the genre. The villagers you rescue go portion of your army, and you delegate them jobs to assistance successful the maiden’s defense. The woodcutter is simply a almighty melee attacker that works arsenic your archetypal enactment of offense, portion the monk uses their beatified powerfulness to frost demons successful place, making them casual targets. Once the combat is over, there’s a base-building constituent that has you upgrading and unlocking jobs and acquiring caller powers for your warrior. 

I’m truly gladsome I took a accidental to play Kunitsu-Gami. I emotion strategy-type games, particularly erstwhile they’re dressed successful specified a richly ornate creation style. I recovered myself staring astatine everyone’s clothing, looking astatine the details, and wondering what value each small portion had. It releases July 19th connected Xbox, PlayStation, and PC.

Star Wars Outlaws

I’m not a Star Wars idiosyncratic — but Star Wars Outlaws was capable to intrigue my Force-agnostic ass. My hands-on was divided into 3 chunks: ship-to-ship combat, stealth combat, and platforming. Since the children (i.e., me) yearn for Ace Combat (Thanks, Bandai Namco!), I decided to effort the vessel first. Before mounting off, I had to bash a small stealth conception to get to my vessel that progressive a mates of hacking mini-games. Usually, hacking mini-games are tedious and unspeakable (looking astatine you, Mass Effect), but I enjoyed some of them, particularly the information spike mini-game that involves turning a tumbler successful clip with rhythmic clicks. 

Once successful space, I had a large time. The controls were precise responsive, and I didn’t consciousness similar I had to combat to support my people successful beforehand of maine similar successful different aerial combat games. I besides enjoyed however the crippled doesn’t automatically reorient you if you crook the vessel upside down, due to the fact that it’s space, and determination is nary up oregon down. Toward the extremity of the demo, determination was a infinitesimal wherever I flew down from abstraction to the aboveground of a planet, and it each looked precise seamless, a existent “you tin spell anywhere” infinitesimal (even though I’m definite there’s immoderate crippled developer trickery involved).

For the stealth mission, I wasn’t precise stealthy, often blowing up an force alternatively of distracting them with Nix, my favored axolotl-looking thing. It turns retired Nix is precise utile arsenic a distraction and a retriever. You tin person it fetch the guns your enemies person dropped for erstwhile you request a spot of other firepower. Your main limb is simply a elemental blaster equipped with peculiar ammo; the default blaster mounting takes retired humanoid enemies, portion the plasma mounting is effectual connected droids. During 1 brushwood involving a shallow h2o feature, I thought it’d beryllium clever to sprout the h2o with plasma successful hopes of electrocuting the enemies lasting successful it. Unfortunately, the crippled didn’t enactment that way.

The platforming conception was the weakest spot due to the fact that it didn’t truly bash overmuch new. There’s a grappling hook to marque usage of, but different than that, my scoundrel Kay Vess simply runs, jumps, and climbs up agleam yellowish grates and ledges similar anyone else. Overall, I was erstwhile again pleasantly surprised. Star Wars Outlaws launches connected Xbox, PlayStation, and PC connected August 30th.

Arranger: A Role Puzzling Adventure

Arranger is simply a puzzle crippled well-suited for mobile, which mightiness explicate wherefore it was prominently featured successful the Netflix booth. You play arsenic a messy miss named Jemma who has a quirky mode of moving done the world. As you descent your digit up and down oregon broadside to side, the satellite moves with her, either horizontally oregon vertically, moving everything connected that axis on with her. You usage that unsocial question to lick puzzles oregon get astir impassable obstacles. To Jemma, a locked doorway means nothing: she tin warp to the different broadside erstwhile she reaches the extremity of a enactment oregon column.

One happening I admit astir games is however you are ever successful speech with the developers; I bask erstwhile I’m capable to perceive their dependable successful the mode they plan their games. There was a infinitesimal aboriginal connected erstwhile I couldn’t fig retired however to lick a unit sheet puzzle. Confused, I near the country lone to find 2 strategically-placed planters. I didn’t yet cognize you could bring objects from country to room, truthful upon seeing the planters, I had this precise evident (and audible) “Aha!” moment. The developers could person near a planter oregon different entity successful the country with maine to marque the puzzle easier, but I would person missed retired connected deepening my knowing of the game’s mechanics.

Arranger comes retired connected Switch, PlayStation, PC, and mobile via Netflix connected July 25th.

Astro Bot

Playing Astro Bot was joyful. I, of course, enjoyed each the games I’ve highlighted here, but Astro Bot was the 1 that had maine giggling and kicking my feet similar a 10-year-old fixed escaped rein of a candy store. A mascot platformer, successful the twelvemonth 2024… we mightiness beryllium back, y’all! Astro jumps, kicks disconnected walls, and tin hover successful the aerial evoking the feeling of Mario. But adjacent though the crippled is mechanically similar, Astro Bot feels uniquely charming. Astro squeaks, squeals, cheers, and waves — his enthusiasm and happiness are truthful infectious that it’s intolerable not to wounded your look grinning arsenic you play.

Strewn passim agleam and cheery levels are robots to rescue, immoderate representing characters from PlayStation’s past. I thoroughly loved panning the camera looking for places disconnected the beaten way and figuring retired the champion mode to get there. I was rewarded each clip with a collectible oregon a concealed bot successful request of rescue. The antithetic levels besides incorporate antithetic question abilities akin to the peculiar powerups you mightiness find successful Mario. One quality that inflates Astro similar a balloon, allowing him to interval to out-of-reach areas. Another involves a canine that acts similar a pitchy motor that rockets Astro done pugnacious solid oregon bounces him disconnected peculiar platforms.

Astro Bot, connected sheer charm alone, is my crippled of the show. It launches September 6th connected PS5.