Capcom's lineup at Summer Game Fest was a mix of bold and boring
Capcom had an interesting showing at Summer Game Fest with three titles that will carry the developer into 2026 and beyond: Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Resident Evil Requiem, and Pragmata. I got hands-on previews with both Requiem and Pragmata, and a hands-off presentation for Onimusha. Across the three games, I saw a mix of fresh ideas with Onimusha, some stale ones with Requiem, and some weird but interesting choices with Pragmata.
Of the three games, Pragmata represented the biggest tension between what I liked about it and what I didn't. In the game, you play as Hugh, an astronaut stranded on the moon who is aided by a small, child-like robot named Diana. To be frank, I'm utterly exhausted by the trope of a big, gruff dude protecting a small, innocent child. Enough! It's 2025, we have plenty of dad games at home, Capcom, there has to be a more interesting way to do this.
That said, I was impressed by Pragmata 's combat. What I thought was a straightforward shooter was still mostly that but with a complexity that dramatically changes the calculus of how you fight. Enemies in Pragmata are shielded and take little damage from Hugh's weapons. To fight effectively, you must use Diana's hacking skills, represented via a minigame that's basically a stripped-down version of the hacking minigame from Bioshock.
What's most interesting about this is that it all must be done mid-combat. Time doesn't stop as you're building a circuit to the end goal in order to stun your enemy. It meant I had to juggle hacking effectively with dodging enemy attacks in a way that felt fresh and exciting for what I thought would be a simple action shooter. I just wish they had applied that innovation to some of the game's narrative elements.
For Onimusha, Capcom revived a long-dormant series in a big way, first with a remaster of Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny and now with this new entry, the first in almost 20 years. During the hands-off presentation, all I could think was, 'This is Capcom's take on a soulslike.' Some of that is in the aesthetics. The world is dark, overrun by grotesque-looking demons who brutally cut down fleeing peasants before turning their swords on Musashi, the protagonist. In other ways, it's the combat. Enemies have stagger bars you deplete through deflecting and parrying attacks. In boss fights, as you slowly wear down your enemy, you can choose which part of the boss to damage to produce a certain effect. I did not get to play Onimusha myself, but I'm intrigued to see if any more soulslike elements are embedded within the game.
Finally, Requiem stole the Summer Game Fest show as Geoff Keighley closed the keynote event with a surprise reveal of the game and its February 2026 release date, after previously teasing that we wouldn't see it for a while. Later during Play Days, Summer Game Fest's in-person media event, I was treated to a short gameplay presentation and demo that offered a brief glimpse into the harrowing experience of Grace Ashcroft as she tries to escape an abandoned hospital.
During the gameplay presentation, Capcom emphasized that Grace would have to rely on her wits to survive rather than any kind of training as a soldier or law enforcement like the Leons, Adas, or the Chrises of that T-virus infected world. I liked that approach and how it was reflected in both the presentation and the demo. Since Grace had no weapons to protect herself, I had to find clues in the environment that would help me survive. That meant paying attention to my surroundings and reading everything I could find, landing on the one tip that got me through my time with the demo.
On the other hand, my brief look at Requiem felt like Capcom was tapping into old routines instead of doing something truly innovative for the ninth mainline entry in the Resident Evil series. Yes, the big monster lady was scary, and that delicious tension was heightened by the fact that I had no guns to shoot my way out in case my wits failed me. But there are only so many times I can be chased through hallways by a slowly plodding monster before it gets to be old hat. I've seen that not just in other Resident Evil games but in horror games in general, and I'm bored by it.
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You can take the Everdark Sovereigns on in solo mode (if you're a masochist), but you'll need to remain online and connected to the Elden Ring Nightreign servers to access this new content. How can you beat these hard mode bosses? If you want to beat an Everdark Sovereign, you'll have to "get good." There are no two ways about it: These bosses are much harder than their base game counterparts. They start in their second phase, have new third phases and special moves that hit like a truck. With that being said, there are still ways you can even the odds after mastering the basics of Elden Ring Nightreign. Many of the skills that you should learn to challenge base game bosses still apply to Everdark Sovereign expeditions. It's more important than ever to set up a cohesive relic build that synergizes with your class's play style. Buying chalices from the Jar Bazaar and farming Murk to buy up some more relics will help you create the right build for your favorite Nightfarer. During your expeditions, you'll obviously want to pick up weapons and shields that provide you with passive stats that pair well with your Nightfarer, as well as your general play style with the character. You should also be running the most optimized rune-earning route possible to get as close to level 15 as you can by the time you enter the third night. Most importantly, you'll want to pick up weapons that have status effects that the bosses are weak to. If the enhanced version of Adel is anything to go by, Everdark Sovereigns will move quickly and have short windows of vulnerability. Pick up a weapon that exploits their weakness to break down their poise and extend the amount of time you can whack at the boss. High damage per second is a virtue. The quicker you can knock out a boss, the less time it has to defeat you and your friends. A war of attrition is an easy way to lose an expedition in Nightreign, so plan ahead before you ever face down the new Nightlord aspect. Bandai Namco/Screenshot by CNET What do you get for beating an Everdark Sovereign? In addition to the normal expedition rewards, you'll have a chance to earn new boss relics and a special currency called Sovereign Sigils. The boss relics are incredibly powerful alterations to popular play styles. The first Everdark Sovereign, the Gaping Jaw, drops the Dark Night of the Baron relic. This relic improves the damage of critical hits twice over and makes you generate runes upon landing one of those crushing blows. It seems as though Everdark Sovereign relics will be a powerful new way for Nightreign's min-maxers to advance their build in a game where you don't pick how your stats change past the character select screen. Beating your first Everdark Sovereign unlocks a new merchant in the Roundtable Hold. The Collector Signboard is located on the beachy area just outside of the Jar Bazaar. It can be found in the southwest corner of the hub. This is where you'll spend the currency you earn from beating the new bosses. Spending Sovereign Sigils is a great way to grow your power between runs. They're also the keys to unlocking quality-of-life features that many players have been clamoring for. Sovereign Sigils can be spent to unlock a suite of new chalices that unlock more relic rites for your Nightfarers, as well as an improved version of the Scenic Flatstone that guarantees you purple-rarity relics. Nightfarer garb can also be purchased with Sovereign Sigils, but it's the same wardrobe of skins purchasable with Murk, the other currency you earn from expeditions. This currency can also be spent to choose specific Shifting Earth events for your next run, restore the Roundtable Hold to its appearance from before the defeat of the final Nightlord and change the appearance of the relic earned at the end of the Guardian's remembrance questline. Beating one of the Everdark Sovereigns for the first time will reward you with 25 Sovereign Sigils, while subsequent runs will earn you just 5 of the coveted new currency. The most expensive items in the shop -- the skins that are worth 35,000 Murk -- cost 20 Sovereign Sigils, so the earn rate of this currency is fairly generous so long as you can consistently beat these bosses.
