Latest news with #SummerGameFest
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Out of Words features one of the cutest videogame characters I've ever seen, but there's a tinge of Kafkaesque darkness to it, too
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. After yapping about nothing but videogames for three days at Summer Game Fest, I tried my best to talk about anything else, but I just couldn't stop bringing up Out of Words. It's a sidescrolling tale of young love brought to life by a charming handicraft world and striking stop-motion animation. Being the type of person who's always experimenting with amateur arts and crafts and playing Jim Henson's Labyrinth on repeat must make me the perfect target for this, but the creations here benefit from a team of real artisans. When it launches, you'll be able to play Out of Words with a friend on the couch or connect with them online, regardless of platform. In my demo, I played with game director Johan Oettinger, while game design lead Jeff Sparks joined us for a chat. It's a strictly co-op adventure, and how its protagonists play will change throughout the journey to reflect the emotions and story connecting the kids, Karla and Kurt. An "Alice in Wonderland" moment happens almost immediately, dropping the friends into an unfamiliar and troubled world that hinders their ability to speak. It's also when you meet Aleph—the darling manta-like creature that's a manifestation of their friendship and feelings for each other. The Out of Words duo are cute as a button, but screenshot stills don't do Aleph justice. The bubbly blue baby purrs, coos, and squeaks while twirling about to lighten the mood. It makes perfect sense Aleph is born from good feelings between kind, gentle people. It's gotta be the cutest thing I've ever seen, and it's not just a me thing, either. Characters in later scenes seem drawn to its warmth in a way I suspect will have some special meaning for the big picture. When the demo skips ahead, it takes Kurt, Karla, and the painfully precious Aleph underneath the City of Nouns, aptly named Nounberg. To navigate the dangers of the catacombs, the friends toss Aleph back and forth, juggling its magic to avoid obstacles. The player holding Aleph floats along the ceiling, while the other runs along the ground like normal. Oettinger never dropped me, but I did let him go tumbling once or twice before finding our pace as a team. If you can learn to give up a little control and trust your partner, the mechanic turns into a comfortable dance. It's not difficult, but it's quite satisfying. "There's enough of a challenge to feel like you're overcoming, but we really want to keep it modest," Sparks said. "So that you can play it with your child, a non-gamer partner or parent. Someone who's a little less versed in videogames. We really want to make this as approachable as possible." Despite Kurt and Karla's predicament, the introduction to the catacombs feels surprisingly calm, almost meditative. Character puppets, blades of grass, and books—everything in the world of Vokabulantis is a real object that was made by hand and filled to the brim with tiny details. Set pieces are individually placed, while scenes are lit with actual studio lighting. The whole presentation felt like a diorama I could reach out and touch. It's no small feat, but Oettinger tells me he's been fabricating crafts like these for over twenty years as the founder of his animation studio, WiredFly. Immediately, the studio's approach makes me think of Ghibli, but not in the exclusively cute and cozy way popularly associated with the studio today. Out of Words is dark, beautiful, and comforting. I didn't see anything quite as terrifying as Princess Mononoke's headless Forest Spirit, but I did encounter strange creatures and unease more familiar in films like Spirited Away. Oettinger notes Hayao Miyazaki is among the artists who inspire him, along with Franz Kafka, Michael Ende, and David Bowie. There's a point when Kurt and Karla's own anxieties and miscommunication manifest, and the darker side of those influences emerge. Whatever happens triggers a new low in their friendship, and the two become an abomination of something called Primordial Clay. It's a divine substance that makes up much of the life in the strange world, and seems to sense how the duo feels. I was a little taken aback by how monstrous their insecurities take shape. Karla and Kurt are stuck together, the darling little Aleph sandwiched somewhere in the middle. Their movements no longer complement each other; instead, they move together as a messy, bumbling skull-like creature with two arms—one for each player to control. It destroys pieces of the city as it tears through alleyways and shops, desperate to catch a frightened clay citizen who may have more answers about how to help them find their words again. The rhythm of controlling their embodied ugliness came slower, but I found my groove with time. That's intentional, too. Sparks explained the transition demonstrates "just how dramatic the gameplay changes are between sequences." Out of Words is a coming-of-age story, but the complexities of communication are a lifelong challenge, even in old age. My first trailer impression misread the game, and I assumed the only communication happening would take place through actions, but I was wrong. There's plenty of direct language involved, and it brings the same artistry from the art style to the names of places and people thanks to poet Morten Søndergaard. My only disappointment came when the demo ended—I miss Karla, Kurt, and Aleph already. There's so much craftsmanship in the words, in the interactions, and in the placement of trinkets; it's a real showcase of specialist talent. While my demo experience wasn't very long, only some 40 or so minutes, I can't help but walk away feeling like Out of Words could be one of those games that endears me to the medium all over again.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Resident Evil Requiem headlines the next Capcom Spotlight livestream
Summer Game Fest might be in the rear-view mirror, but the gaming showcases are still coming. Capcom has announced that its next Spotlight livestream will take place on June 26. Planned to last around 40 minutes, the showcase will focus on upcoming titles Pragmata and Resident Evil Requiem, which was announced during Summer Game Fest proper earlier this month. As well as news, the event will include developer interviews. Capcom is also promoting Monster Hunter Wilds and Street Fighter 6 as featured games, so expect new information on updates or fresh content for those existing titles in the showcase. We already know that the Title 2 Update for Monster Hunter Wilds is due at the end of the month, which will add new monsters and a new seasonal event. The last Capcom Spotlight took place in February, where Capcom announced the remaster of Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny. We wouldn't expect any new game announcements this time, but it could happen. More exciting is the possibility of new footage of Resident Evil Requiem, which was arguably the biggest announcement of SGF 2025. We know we'll be playing as a new character, named Grace Ashcroft, and that you'll be able to choose between a first and third-person perspective throughout the game. Engadget's Mat Smith got to play Pragmata at SGF, where he called it a 'satisfying sci-fi shooter' and came away impressed by the elegance of its dual-protagonist gameplay. Capcom first announced the game way back in 2020, so it's a long time coming. The next Capcom Spotlight livestream will kick off on June 26 at 6pm ET.
Engadget
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Engadget
Resident Evil Requiem headlines the next Capcom Spotlight livestream
Summer Game Fest might be in the rear-view mirror, but the gaming showcases are still coming. Capcom has announced that its next Spotlight livestream will take place on June 26. Planned to last around 40 minutes, the showcase will focus on upcoming titles Pragmata and Resident Evil Requiem , which was announced during Summer Game Fest proper earlier this month. As well as news, the event will include developer interviews. Capcom is also promoting Monster Hunter Wilds and Street Fighter 6 as featured games, so expect new information on updates or fresh content for those existing titles in the showcase. We already know that the Title 2 Update for Monster Hunter Wilds is due at the end of the month, which will add new monsters and a new seasonal event. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. The last Capcom Spotlight took place in February, where Capcom announced the remaster of Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny . We wouldn't expect any new game announcements this time, but it could happen. More exciting is the possibility of new footage of Resident Evil Requiem , which was arguably the biggest announcement of SGF 2025. We know we'll be playing as a new character, named Grace Ashcroft, and that you'll be able to choose between a first and third-person perspective throughout the game. Engadget's Mat Smith got to play Pragmata at SGF, where he called it a 'satisfying sci-fi shooter' and came away impressed by the elegance of its dual-protagonist gameplay. Capcom first announced the game way back in 2020, so it's a long time coming. The next Capcom Spotlight livestream will kick off on June 26 at 6pm ET.
The Verge
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Verge
Summer Game Fest's best games were small and personal
Summer Game Fest 2025 was definitely a weird one, but even with everything going on outside, the games on display were still immaculate. My favorites, the ones that I live for, are small, unique, and made for pure love of expression. Being able to see that love so clearly on display, expressed through such painstaking and often thankless work, and also being able to show them to our audience who might not otherwise encounter them, is the defining privilege of my job. That's what I love about Summer Game Fest, weirdness and all, and hopefully when these games come out, you'll check 'em out too. Escape Academy 2 - TBD I loved the first Escape Academy and vibrated through my chair seeing that Coin Crew Games had returned to Summer Game Fest with a bigger, more expansive sequel. Instead of selecting levels, now you can explore an open world, solving puzzles as you discover them in a college campus setup. I love this new direction: the open-world exploration better melds the quirky / cute storytelling of Escape Academy with the actual act of solving puzzles. In the short demo I was introduced to a cat who lived in my dorm room and wanted a snack. As I explored the campus, I found the cafeteria was closed but the special of the day was fish and milk. I solved the puzzle to open the cafeteria and was rewarded with my feline dorm-mate following me around campus for the rest of the demo and hopefully the full game. There's no release date yet, but whenever it's out, I'm enrolling. Petal Runner - TBD Speaking of pet companions, Petal Runner is a somber exploration of the tension between the joy of owning a pet and the inevitable devastation that comes with that, only disguised as a lighthearted pixelated Pokémon -like minigame-a-palooza. You, as a newly minted motorcycle courier, are tasked with helping people with their living Tamagotchis known as HanaPets. Install them, feed them, and bring them items while along the way you explore your relationship with your own first-generation HanaPet, who might not be around for much longer. I did not expect to sit down and play this game, which had all the hallmarks of a quote-unquote 'wholesome game,' and be emotionally devastated. It ruined me... 10/10, can't wait to play. When I tell you I sat the hell up seeing Relooted 's trailer. Here's a game, stuffed full of African folks, talking about stealing back their cultural artifacts??? Hell, and I cannot stress this enough, yes. Relooted really captures the feeling of pulling off your own Ocean's Eleven -style heist. You have a team of experts with their own specialties, and before your heist, you have to position them strategically so that the right person is in the right place to hack locked doors and help you reach unreachable places for a smooth escape. While some of the Black members of the game's African developer team couldn't secure the visas they needed to attend SGF, Ben Myres, the creative director who I was able to speak to, said that each item you're stealing is a real-life artifact currently being withheld from its country of origin. Each gets its own encyclopedia-like entry giving you its history, where it is now, and where it actually belongs. Nathan Drake, Lara Croft, Indiana Jones are all weaksauce compared to these heroes. Directive 8020 - October 2nd, 2025 I enjoyed Supermassive Games' spooky narrative choice adventures in The Quarry and its Dark Pictures Anthology. So I was really glad I had the chance to see what the team is doing next with Directive 8020. This time, instead of haunted schools or cabins in the woods, we're going to space with Lashana Lynch — a favorite actress of mine for whom I will show up no matter what. The neat thing about Directive 8020 is its replay system. At critical decision-making moments, you have the option to replay events without having to replay the game. Shoot a guy you shouldn't have shot? You can immediately go back and see what happens when you don't. You'll also have the option to disable that, so the choices you make stick. I had the option to unshoot someone, but I chose to live with my mistake, and all these days later, I still think about that. Heart Machine, maker of Hyper Light Drifte r and its sequel, Hyper Light Breaker, are back with another game guaranteed to mess with your emotions. Possessor(s) is a Metroidvan— excuse me, search action game. I had a spirited and convivial conversation with one of the developers on the merits of using 'Metroidvania' versus 'search action' as a descriptor and I gotta say, I've been convinced. Not enough to remove 'Metroidvania' from my vocabulary, but definitely enough to think more about how I use these terms when I write about games. In Possessor(s) you play as a young woman escaping a city under attack. She is grievously wounded and enters a pact with a demon to heal her wounds and grant her powers so she can escape from the city. Speaking to the developer, he told me the game was about toxic relationships and what they can do to a person. The demon you make your pact with is not nice; he is not the hero. And yet, the developers at Heart Machine decided to make him smokin' hot, which they know will obscure the very necessary message they're trying to relay… which, I'm thinking, is probably the point. Out of Words is my game of the show. Developed by Kong Orange and published by Epic Games, Out of Words is a stop-motion co-op adventure game akin to Split Fiction with a much, much better story. This is the kind of game that reminds me that video games are more than just vehicles for making money or simple entertainment; they are works of art, expressions of a developer's heart and mind. It's about two teenagers who, after a moment of miscommunication, have their mouths removed, forcing them to communicate and navigate a fantastical world without words. Everything in the game is made by hand and with love so evident it was incredibly moving. When I asked the game's director, Johan Oettinger, why he and the team spent so much time — he told me they'd been working on this game for a decade — and money to make something that could potentially get drowned out by bigger, flashier releases, he looked me in the face, serious as a cemetery, and said, 'Because it has been my dream to make something like this since I was a child.' As a games journalist I live for the moments when I can see a developer's fingerprints in a game, their personal quirks and the idiosyncrasies of their lives reflected in their art, and that was all over Out of Words. The developer told me how each blade of grass was made from paper, and how the blue clay they used to make the quirky clay men that populate the world comes from a specific place in Denmark where they harvested it by hand. It was so beautiful I spent most of the 20-minute demo in tears.
Digital Trends
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
Marvel Cosmic Invasion has some surprising Marvel vs. Capcom DNA
How do you make a retro beat-em-up feel new? That's a question that the team at Dotemu has had to ask itself a lot in the past five years. The studio has found tremendous success ushering in a new age of throwback brawlers, from Streets of Rage 4 to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge. Its efforts are only doubling, as it is currently juggling three 2D projects between multiple development studios. Each one has to find a way to do something a little new in a genre that doesn't feel like it can flex too much more. And yet, Marvel Cosmic Invasion still finds a way. At this year's Summer Game Fest, I tried the latest project from Streets of Rage 4 developer Tribute Games. While it's another classic brawler filled with nostalgic pixel art and a wide roster of superheroes, it infuses that tried and true formula with just enough fighting game DNA to keep it distinct. The most important moment of my demo came when I was asked to choose not just one, but two characters. I had access to a handful of Cosmic Invasion's final roster, but I decided to go with Venom and Wolverine. That choice was the first sign that the project is doing things a little differently as I initially didn't know why I had to pick a duo rather than one hero. Recommended Videos That became clear the moment I started playing and Cosmic Invasion's one big trick revealed itself. It pays homage to the likes of Marvel vs. Capcom as much as any arcade beat-em-up thanks to its tag system. At any point, I can hold down a button to swap between my two characters. Naturally, that means I have more options when knocking goons out. In one run, I played with a Storm/Captain America combo. While I could use Storm to take enemies out at close range, I could switch to Cap and toss his shield across the screen to thwack far off enemies and block projectiles. There's some synergy potential there that makes good use of the game's large roster. That's not all. By simply pressing the tag button rather than holding it, I can call in my second hero to deliver a quick attack. If I'm playing well, I can do that while I'm juggling an enemy to extend my combo even more. It's a seamless system that calls Mortal Kombat 1 and its Kameos to mind. It will feel natural to fighting game players and I can say that with certainty. Hours before trying Cosmic Invasion, I went hands-on with Invincible Vs, which features a nearly identical tag system. I got the hang of calling on a friend to extend my damage by the end of my session. As soon as I picked up Cosmic Invasion, I was able to transfer that skill instantly. The developers on hand seemed a little shocked by how fast I picked it up, but the muscle memory had been built up hours before. That little trick helps create more dynamic action that naturally slots into Dotemu's typically fine-tuned brawler formula. During my demo, my co-op partner and I were able to juggle our enemies for comically long amounts of time. He'd keep punching them up into the air with Cap while I used Venom's wrecking ball move to smack them back and forth in midair and called on Wolverine to add insult to injury. It was a delight, even if that level of trolling isn't becoming of a superhero (okay, Venom absolutely would do that, though). With a planned runtime similar to that of Shredder's Revenge, Marvel Cosmic Invasion should keep things tight as a one or two sitting game that encourages players to experiment with new combos each time. I'm ready to see how much more chaos I can inflict with a full team of friends controlling eight heroes at once. Marvel Cosmic Invasion launches this fall for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
