Summer Game Fest really hit the ground with a wet thud, but the world continues to turn and there are many more showcases to go over. Following the main show, the Day of the Devs featured a slate of indie-led games, Devolver Digital had their own usual nonsense showcase, and I/O showed off more of their games at their own show, which we cover here.
To say that Summer Game Fest made me cranky is probably an understatement, but at the very least Day of the Devs was a breath of fresh air. There are a few repeat games in this showcase, so in those cases I’ve excised them from this roundup to solely focus on stuff that was featured here, or was featured here with expanded information that went far beyond the Summer Game Fest show.
Snap and Grab
Developer: No Goblin
Release Date: 2026
Platforms: PS5, PC, Xbox X/S
Marcy: The very first thing shown at Day of the Devs was No Goblin’s Snap and Grab, which instantly charmed me and also made me feel like Things Were Going to be Okay, at least in the sense that there were probably games to look forward to. Ostensibly a heist game, Snap and Grab asks players to first take photographs that will later be facilitated as tools to help your group of thieves pull off thrilling robberies. There is a very 80s Neon Aesthetic at play in Snap and Grab and it certainly does a lot to add character and life to the game. I’m also very here for the Futch Detective lady and Femme lady protagonist tension.
Big Walk
Developer: House House
Release Date: 2026
Platform: Steam (Possibly more)
Marcy: The game I’ve seen the most people talk about after the showcase, Big Walk is the new game from Untitled Goose Game developer House House, which allows players to, well, go on a big walk with their friends. This co-operative multiplayer game utilizes proximity voice chat, gesturing, and proximity text chatting to help players communicate with one another as they explore the world around them and solve puzzles. The ‘danger’ of the game seems to stem mostly from getting separated and lost, rather than worrying about something horrific grabbing you. It looks like a lot of fun, so I’ve absolutely already wishlisted it.
Escape Academy 2
Developer: Coin Crew Games
Release Date: TBA
Platforms: PC
Marcy: the 2 probably gives it away, but this is a sequel to the very popular Escape Academy. In Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School, you’re tasked with attending your Escape Room classes, in which the classrooms and even wider campus world around you are giant escape rooms. The threat of actual death exists, making the game seem exceptionally silly while adding in stakes to your puzzles, and the narrative of uncovering school secrets seems like an easy lay-up for good puzzle solving fun. There’s no set release date on the game yet, but it looks very fun if you like puzzle games.
Dosa Divas
Developer: Outerloop Games
Release Date: 2026
Platforms: PC
Marcy: First shown earlier this year, Dosa Divas is a food themed turn-based RPG, where players take on the role of sisters Samara and Amani, along with their spirit-mech, to defeat a fast food empire. There’s a big theme of connection in this game as players are tasked with helping communities recover their traditions in the face of corporate cultural assimilation; the gameplay reminds me a bit of Mario & Luigi RPG games, with a focus on team-up and timing based attacks, and the food culture aesthetic is really charming. I’m very invested in seeing where this one goes, so hopefully we’ll get some more concrete info from Outerloop Games soon.
Possessor(s)
Developer: Heart Machine
Release Date: TBA
Platforms: Steam and PS5
Marcy: From the team behind Hyper Light Drifter comes Possessor(s), which was shown off today with a very cool and stylish animated trailer. Although the action seems focused on fast-paced side scrolling, there also seems to be a big emphasis on narrative that will hopefully get fully explored. There’s a demo out now if you’re interested in it; I’ll likely be checking it out myself.
Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault
Developer: Digital Sun Games
Release Date: 2025
Platforms: PS5, Steam, Xbox Series X/S
Marcy: A shopkeeping roguelike, Moonlighter 2 is the sequel to the first game by the same name. Players are tasked with running a shop that they have to stock themselves through adventuring and combat in order to gather your wares. The game looks charming and very much a big visual upgrade from the first game, but has much of the same spirit.
Please, Watch the Artwork
Developer: Thomas Waterzooi
Release Date: TBA
Platforms: PC
Marcy: The latest in a series by Thomas Waterzooi, Please Watch the Artwork asks for players to keep an eye on paintings and point out any anomalies they may find in them. The ‘spot the difference’ genre of games exploded in popularity in the last year or so, and Waterzooi’s other games are similar, but all of them have a very nice twist: they feature famous paintings, and they don’t rely on jumpscares to unsettle and surprise players. There are clowns, if you don’t like those, but otherwise Please, Watch the Artwork seems to be focused on a more relaxing ‘spot the difference’ than not. No release date yet, but it looks very fun.
Neverway
Developer: Coldblood Inc
Release Date: TBA
Platforms: PC
Marcy: Inspired by the Fear and Hunger games and featuring art by the pixel-artist of Celeste, Neverway combines “life-sim” RPG mechanics with eldritch horror. It looks great and the music sounds fantastic, so the pedigree is certainly working in its favor for me. There’s not a lot of concrete details yet, but the trailer and steam page provide a decent idea of what to expect on the surface, so I’m certainly looking forward to this one. Funny how properly describing your horror game and it’s pedigree does a lot of work to make it interesting…
Relooted
Developer: Nyamakop
Release Date: TBA
Platforms: Steam, Epic, Xbox Series X/S
Marcy: Probably one of the coolest games in the showcase, Relooted by Nyamakop pulls heavily from the African roots of its developers and the legacy of colonialism and cultural theft and destruction. In Relooted, players are tasked with leading a team whose goal is to identify, steal, and escape with over 70 African artifacts. The developers are quick to note that the places they are kept are fake, but the fact that these artifacts are not, and are kept by Western museums and collections and out of the hands of where they belong. Relooted allows players to live out the fantasy of purposefully reclaiming those artifacts to their rightful places. It all looks very cool and stylish to boot.
Ratatan
Developer: Ratata Arts
Release Date: 2025
Platforms: PS4/5, PC, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Marcy: Developed by the team behind legendary PSP game Patapon, Ratatan is yet another rhythm action game by the team at Ratata Arts. This game is far more colorful than Patapon was, but more specifically seems primed to bring a different style of rhythm action to players, including levelling up and 4 player co-op. There’s a demo out now if you’d like to give it a try, and the game is slated to release later this year, but no firm date.
Thick As Thieves
Developer: Megabit
Release Date: TBA
Platforms: PS5, PC, Xbox Series X/S
Marcy: Described as “PvPvE Multiplayer Stealth”, Thick as Thieves has a somewhat charming style that feels like a less gritty Dishonored mixed with some neon noir trappings. Multiplayer games like this that feature combinations of PVP and PVE can be hard to gauge from trailers, because a lot of their fun (or problems) comes down to how other players actively interact with one another and what impact the world around them has. I will say that of the Games as a Service titles shown during the Summer Game Fest, Thick as Thieves certainly seemed to have some of the most charm and compelling ideas, and was not at least trying to redo Among Us for the Nth time.
Pocket Boss
Developer: Langfilm
Release Date: TBA
Platforms: PC
Marcy: My wife screamed “does this game have dark mode? I’m going blind!” and I kind of have to agree that while the concept of Weird Fucked Up Data Charts as Gameplay Vector is fun, the game IS kind of blindingly white and hard to look at. I am hoping it will have accessibility options. Otherwise, it just seems like a somewhat silly puzzle game.
Consume Me
Developer: Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thompson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, and Ken “coda” Snyder
Release Date: TBA
Platforms: PC
Marcy: A life simulation RPG where players are tasked with helping Jenny navigate through her daily life, from her last year of high-school to her diet and exercise schedule, to picking up extra money through dog-walking or cleaning for her mom. The game has exceptional visual charm and style, and the presentation for the game had me rolling, so I’m hoping the game will be half as charming as Jenny was (considering the game is heavily based around her life, there’s a good chance). There’s a demo out now on Steam if you’re curious.
OFF
Developer: Mortis Ghost, Fangamer
Release Date: Aug 15, 2025
Platforms: Steam, Switch
Marcy: Chances are you either gasped when you saw the name OFF or have no idea what this game is, and both reactions are fair. OFF is an RPG from Mortis Ghost, a two person team that first debuted in 2003. OFF has been considered one of the most influential RPGs of all time in those 20 years, with Undertale and Deltarune’s Toby Fox directly citing OFF as one of his inspirations next to Moon and the Mother series. OFF is wickedly weird and stylish and if you’ve never played it but like any of the games it inspired, you should consider giving it a chance when it arrives in this remastered edition in August.
Tire Boy
Developer: Corey Martin, Andy Chmilenko, Thomas Tobin, Ian Wang, Adam Myhill, and Gerald Orban
Release Date: TBA
Platforms: PC
Marcy: A very silly and fun looking open world action-adventure game, Tire Boy asks players to assume the role of, well, a Tire Boy. In so doing you’ll explore a vast and weird landscape to discover who you are and where you came from, and in the process just seem to have a pretty great and weird time exploring the world as a walking, humanoid tire person. It very much gives me Breath of the Wild but Silly vibes, which I can kind of dig, even as a noted BotW Disliker.
TOEM 2
Developer: Something We Made
Release Date: 2026
Platforms: PC
Marcy: Another sequel, TOEM 2 is the sequel to TOEM, and players once again resume playing as the Photographer exploring the world around them using their camera to solve most of their problems and puzzles. The aesthetics are certainly a big selling point here, as is the photo gimmick; there’s no firm release date yet, so what else this game has in store will remain to be seen.
Unbeatable
Developer: D-Cell Games
Release Date: 2025
Platforms: PS5, PC, Xbox X/S
Marcy: There wasn’t much news about Unbeatable, and instead this showcase ended on a performance of the song Worn Out Tapes with a few updates on the game itself. It was a pretty nice way to have the show end, at least, and the song slaps. We will hopefully start to see some news on when Unbeatable actually comes out soon, I hope.
Ball x Pit
Developer: Kenny sun
Release Date: TBA
Platforms: Switch, Steam, Xbox Series X/S
Marcy: Devolver Digital is known for their very weird and often silly showcases, which often feature some bizarre and slightly unsettling narrative interspersed with game trailers. This year, they had one singular game to show off: Ball x Pit, a “roguelite survival base-building brick breaking game”. Think of it as Arkanoid but with Roguelite elements, and you pretty much have the gist of the game. I have to admit the showcase was fun, and the game looks good, but I have to admit I felt a little annoyed blocking off an hour of my day for Devolver to go ‘haha actually this is only 10 minutes long and we were late 5. Bye!” Anyway, there’s a demo out on Steam, but no firm release date.
IOI Showcase
Marcy: The last showcase of the day was a somewhat impromptu and less formal event from IO Interactive, in which they provided updates about their three main current titles: Hitman, Mindsense, and 007: First Light. There frankly wasn’t anything shown in this showcase that hadn’t been shown elsewhere, just in slightly expanded form and with panels with developers. There was no gameplay shown for 007: First Light, which is mostly the reason I tuned in, so if that was what you were looking for, I saved you some time.
Wrap-Up
Marcy: After what was such a frankly souring experience with the main Summer Game Fest show, I found myself relieved and in a far better mood after the Day of the Devs stream (the pizza I ordered showing up also helped). There were far more interesting and diverse games with a vibrant sense of joy, whimsy, and fun at their core, as well as games that seemed like they had a core narrative or something they wanted to convey to the player instead of just just mainstreamed content slop.
The Devolver and IOI showings were fairly mediocre, frankly; Ball x Pit looked fun but didn’t feel like it needed an entire hour (which then was only 15 minutes) dedicated to it, and IOI’s showcase was basically just the same trailers they, by this time, had already shown off twice.
Hopefully though this upswing in momentum can continue into the weekend as Wholesome Direct, Women Led Games, and more are up on Saturday. I’ll be back with more coverage on those and recapping those events, with a focus on games we haven’t yet seen, or details about games we did see but learned far more about in these other showcases.
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