Staff Picks, June 2025: Summer of Showcases

23. There were 23 game showcases on my radar in June. I feel like for a solid week, one of my desktop monitors was solely reserved for playing these livestreams. From the big ones like Summer Games Fest to indie-focused spectacles like The MIX, there’s quite a variety of games coming very soon.
To catch up on all the big announcements this month, we’re chatting with Alex, Armando (that’s me btw), and… oh… Matt! Ah! Again?! No, that’s another Matt… a NEW Matt! They’ll let us know what games they found most interesting from the showcases, along with the games that really put them in that summer mood. 

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You’re new here! Welcome! Who are ya??

Well, hello there! I’m Matt, an account executive who just joined Discord a few weeks ago to support our new advertising solutions for media and entertainment brands.

Did any games really catch your eye at the recent showcases? 

There were a lot more games that caught my attention this year than in the past. Hollow Knight: Silksong is easily at the top of my list for hype this year, but trying to manage expectations with how long the saga of announcement to release has been. 

The two games that caught my attention most were definitely Onimusha and Stranger Than Heaven.  I’ve never played the original Onimusha games, but I’m a huge fan of FromSoftware and all Souls-like experiences. I don’t know that this will be exactly that, but to me it looks like a cross between Sekiro and God of War, and does anything sound better than that?

Stranger Than Heaven just looks plain cool.  I love a good RPG, especially with realism elements, and am a big fan of original IP.  Truthfully, this trailer told me pretty much nothing about the game, which is all the more reason to be excited.  Capping it all off, Japan is one of my favorite places that I’ve ever been, and I love all things Japanese culture… blending Noir with a Japanese setting? Sign me up.

Which game do you think has the biggest “summer vibe”? 

Infinitesimals… what is more summer than playing as a tiny ant-like creature fighting other bug-like-robotic creatures??  As a kid growing up, I was such a huge fan of both A Bug’s Life and Antz movies because of the fun perspective and characters they drew out. This feels like it just takes that up a notch with 2026 graphics and immersion.

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Did any games really catch your eye at the recent showcases? 

Unlike last year’s stacked not-E3 season, there wasn’t much for me this year. The highlights for me were the kinda “weird” games…

• Suda51’s new title, Romeo is a Dead Man - always a fan of Suda51, and I’m glad this newest work seems like something I could recommend to my more mainstream friends as well (IYKYK about why I can’t with Suda51’s other stuff)
• Ratatan - I always love non-rhythm games that have rhythm elements to them. I’m interested in how the “Tension” gauge comes into play because there’s another series I love in a totally different genre with a “Tension” gauge, Guilty Gear.
• There Are No Ghosts at the Grand - Luigi’s Mansion? Though I’m a little scared at how much “musical” is actually a part of it. Like, is this going to be akin to the recent “trend” of sticking musical episodes in TV shows as filler content?
• And of course, the long-awaited Resident Evil 9. My friend confirming, “Oh yeah. That’s Leon’s voice.” when we were watching the showcase and guessing which game the last trailer was for was the hypest moment of Friday.

Not a game, but I’m also excited for Xbox’s handheld, the ROG Xbox Ally. I loved the ergonomic form factor of the Asus ROG Ally (asymmetrical joysticks are better on the hands), but had to return it and get a Steam Deck because the full Windows desktop UI instead of a bespoke handheld UI was killing me. The ROG Xbox Ally seems to have delivered on exactly what I want - an asymmetrical controller layout and a pared-down Windows UI for handhelds.

Which game do you think has the biggest “summer vibe”? 

Summer is a whole season, and one I still think of as three months of vacation from school. Therefore, my “summer vibes” game is actually a sequence of titles to play throughout each part of the summer to replicate a perfect summer of games:

Start off with a sad girl summer by playing the “Snow in Summer” prologue of Nier Replicant (spoilers: it’s not actually snow). Then, lighten the mood a little and feel like you’re teen on summer break in the 90s (or experience it for the first time if you’re not that old) by fighting the man, hanging at the mall, collecting not-Furbies, and trying to save a video rental store in The Big Con. Once you’re in the full chill swing, immerse yourself in the beaches of Wii Sports Resort or Seaside Kingdom in Super Mario Odyssey. Or, grab some friends and play Rock Band 2 in someone’s basement (Endless Setlist Challenge, because when else do you have time to play through 84 songs without breaks?) Finally, bid farewell to your summer vacation alongside Roxas in the prologue of Kingdom Hearts 2 and make way for your sad girl autumn.

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Did any games really catch your eye at the recent showcases? 

I feel like I’m still catching my breath after all these showcases. A few of the announcements and trailers that really stuck out to me were:

- Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls: I did not see this game coming, and a 4v4 tag team fighter is something I know my friends and I would enjoy. 

- Resident Evil Requiem: I mean that FAKE OUT during SGF…they got me. They really did. 

- Cairn: The rock climbing mechanics seem like the perfect blend of incredibly manual but also incredibly satisfying. I feel like playing this would give me a similar vibe to Pacific Drive. 

- Felt That: Boxing: I was cracking up during this whole trailer, and the fact that this was in-engine is impressive. 

- Wu-Tang: Rise of the Deceiver: We didn’t get much gameplay here, but the aesthetic combo of anime and afro-surrealism looks so cool. 

I also got a bit of hands-on time with Deadzone: Rogue and a Playdate device. Deadzone: Rogue felt like I was playing a mix of Doom and Returnal. The shooting just felt great. I only got to play solo, but I bet the co-op experience is awesome, too. 

The Playdate was surprisingly addicting. It gives snackable games in a tiny package and I was hooked.

Which game do you think has the biggest “summer vibe”? 

Honestly, Minecraft, and that’s purely just because of the cherished memories I have with the game. When I was in high school, nearly every summer my friends would come over to my house and we’d play Minecraft for hours. It got to a point where we’d have a set routine of playing in the morning, heading over to Steak n Shake or Denny’s for lunch just to give our eyes a break, then coming back and playing into the night. When I hear “Sweden” by C418, my brain goes back in time to these moments. 

Even now, I still get that random urge to play Minecraft furiously for two weeks a year. Maybe now’s a good time for that again.

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Did any games really catch your eye at the recent showcases? 

The game that was seared into my memory and the trailer I watched over and over was ILL. Putting a big warning label that you should not watch this if you’re squeamish on gore and overall body horror but man, this game looks both terrifying and really impressive from a game physics perspective. 

The other two announcements I was really excited about are that Obsidian announced a sequel to Grounded and Xbox’s new handheld device.

Grounded 2 - I loved the original. The “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” meets Survival Crafting in an overgrown backyard was so well done. Sadly, I couldn’t get a friend group to stick with it. I’m hoping we can make that happen this go around

The Xbox Ally was something I think we were all expecting, given the leaks, but the prospect of a Windows-based handheld that has an OS that can play all my games, not just Steam, is really compelling. Eager to hear more and how much it’ll cost.

Which game do you think has the biggest “summer vibe”? 

It’s probably a tie between Grounded 2 and Infinitesimals. Something about the themes of backyards brings me back to my younger summer days. I suppose you could say I was a shrunken version of my adult self back then, given my relative size. Everything seems bigger when you’re younger, but fortunately, the spiders were never that big.

Lots of love for Infinitesimals, Resident Evil Requiem, and the ROG Xbox Ally in the chat today! Did you get a chance to watch the showcases? If so, how did you make the time for them…please can you show me your time-bending ways??? I mean…which games were your favorites? Let us know which games you’re most excited for and the games that make you automatically think of summer over on our Twitter account. The name “Twitter”, not “X”, makes me think of summer. :)