The 12 best games we played at Summer Game Fest 2025

The annual Summer season Sport Fest is extra than simply livestreams of trailers and bulletins; it’s additionally an in-person expertise the place many sport builders are exhibiting off their playable video games for the primary time.

epicgamejourney was on the bottom for the 2025 SGF expertise and we performed a whole lot of demos whereas we had been there. Sometimes these are 20-, 30-, or 40-minute experiences, in order that they’re not all the time indicative of what the ultimate product can be. Nonetheless, right here’s an inventory of 12 sport demos we performed that made us probably the most excited for the potential that lies forward.

“Massive man, little lady” has turn into a well-worn subgenre of video video games, so I didn’t count on a lot from Capcom’s Pragmata, and but the 20 minutes I had with the sport had been a few of the most enjoyable I had on the total present. Our large man is Hugh, a waylaid astronaut who finally ends up stranded and wounded on an area station overrun by evil robots. He’s rescued by one of many few non-evil ones, Diana, who additionally has been designed to appear like somewhat lady. The 2 crew as much as get by the house station collectively, however Diana isn’t any light-weight; it seems her hacking expertise are what’s really wanted to save lots of the day, and Hugh’s third-person capturing talents are solely helpful as soon as Diana has surprised an oncoming robotic first. Hacking as Diana means fixing enjoyable block puzzles at the same time as a hulking, threatning robotic is steadily approaching; none of them ever go so quick that Hugh and Diana can’t dodge out of the way in which, thereby giving the little lady time to do her factor in order that her accompanying large man can shoot the bots to bits. Someway, as an alternative of being irritating, it simply works, and after 20 minutes, I very a lot needed extra. —Maddy Myers

Tentative launch date: 2026 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Sequence X|S, and PC by way of Steam

Shinobi: Artwork of Vengeance

Sega’s ninja hero Joe Musashi returns in Artwork of Vengeance, a blinding ode to the Genesis side-scroller period. The essential gameplay stays in keeping with the historical past of the collection: you’re operating, you’re hacking, you’re slashing, you’re leaping up platforms to knock enemies off their guard. As Joe plows by sword-wielding brutes and lightning sorceresses to grasp who burnt his village to the bottom, he picks up a number of new strikes, together with elemental magic and a rage-fueled assault of mass destruction — and it’s all deeply satisfying due to studio Lizardcube’s precision controls and a lush artwork type. Between splashy backgrounds and the hard-lined illustrations of the characters, the 2 levels of Shinobi: Artwork of Vengeance I performed had been as a lot a pleasure to stare at when Joe was standing nonetheless because it was to string collectively combos whereas he was whupping ass. OK, the whupping ass half is fairly enjoyable, too. —Matt Patches

Launch date: Aug. 29, 2025 on PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox Sequence S|X, Nintendo Change, and PC

The crew that crafted fairly probably the best model of Tetris ever made, Tetris Impact, is again with a follow-up to considered one of my different favourite puzzle video games. Lumines Come up makes use of the identical basic construction as the unique PSP-launching Lumines, however tosses in fashionable, trippy visuals like big chameleons that beat their heads alongside to the music, or psychadelically enhanced astronauts. There’s additionally a brand new “Burst” mode that means that you can activate a superpowered, screen-clearing skill when you’ve generated sufficient vitality. There aren’t too many puzzle video games which have ever held a candle to Tetris for me, however Lumines has all the time scratched that itch for me, so seeing what quantities to a full sequel to the unique, slightly than only a remaster, had me totally vibing. —Russ Frushtick

Tentative launch date: Fall 2025 on PlayStation 5 with optionally available PS VR2 assist and PC by way of Steam with optionally available PC VR assist

For these of you who, like me, surprise why there aren’t extra video games set in demon-infested post-apocalyptic futurescapes, excellent news, the oldsters at Coronary heart Machine (Hyper Mild Drifter) agree. After an invasion by otherworldly forces leaves Luca with two crushed legs, a sly demon, Rehm, arrives simply earlier than demise to strike a deal: he’ll heal her if she’ll let him possess an area in her corporeal self. With the snap of a finger, Luca is reborn with demon powers, and able to battle her means by the wreckage of the world she knew. Imbuing Metroidvania play with Coronary heart Machine’s signature aptitude for graphic type, Possessor(s) actually grabbed me with its voice and story; Rehm is a jerk who nonetheless is aware of a factor or two in regards to the conspiracy on the coronary heart of this catastrophe, and he banters with Luca by Hades-esque dialogue cutaways. In Possessor(s)’ opening half-hour, the cleverness bleeds proper into the gameplay, from the demon enemies who possess and switch on a regular basis equipment into snarling foes, and the discovered weaponry you depend on to outlive. Excellent news: kitchen knives do properly in opposition to hell beasts. —MP

Tentative launch date: 2025, with a demo out now.

This yr’s award for Most Psychedelic Expertise That Had Me Screaming “OH MY GOD WHAT THE” Each Few Minutes goes to Artwork Is Rifle. Thai developer Arman Pakan describes Artwork Is Rifle as an “open-world, FPS puzzle sport with rhythmic bullets,” however that doesn’t completely seize the disorienting (in a great way) high quality of the play, which I entered with zero rationalization, zero hand-holding, and nil clue of what I used to be doing. Once I first hit the bottom, I used to be utilizing a colored-ball launcher to vary the colours of various black-and-white objects, and finally, I found out an accurate order that may open the doorways to a different part of the hovering platform. Every puzzle required a brand new mind-set in regards to the “gun,” its “ammo,” and the way projectiles would act within the crazy physics of the world. Ultimately, I acquired caught — and jumped off a platform into a completely totally different a part of the world. Was I taking part in Artwork Is Rifle the best means? I do not know, and was completely happy to be so misplaced in such a vivid dreamscape. —MP

I’m in all probability going to consult with Shadow Labyrinth as “grimdark Pac-Man” even after it will get launched, as a result of that’s what it’s, even when its forgettable title doesn’t make that clear. And but we should not overlook Bandai Namco’s upcoming twist on one of many oldest and best-known IPs on the planet. Impressed by the mega-twisted Secret Degree episode “Circle,” itself a grimdark tackle Pac-Man, Shadow Labyrinth is a Metroidvania starring a cloaked, sword-wielding determine who explores 2D side-scrolling ranges alongside a small floating yellow sphere. Shadow Labyrinth has some typical modern Metroidvania mechanics — a double bounce, a grappling hook, an air sprint — however the very best half is its tackle morph ball mode. You inhabit Pac-Man — or, uh, sorry, he’s known as “Puck” on this sport — and roll throughout particular partitions and surfaces to eat up tiny dots. I acquired 20 minutes with this sport and liked each single considered one of them; I now can’t await the total launch of this weird but very welcome addition to Pac-Man lore. —MM

Launch date: July 18, 2025 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Sequence X|S, Nintendo Change, and Nintendo Change 2

Grounded 2 was not the one micro-sized journey sport on show at this yr’s Summer season Sport Fest. Gamers who take pleasure in operating round as a tiny man want to take a look at Infinitesimals, which the oldsters at Cubit Studios have been toiling over in some form and kind for over a decade, starting as a pet challenge for veteran sport designer James McWilliams. At first look, the sport seems to be a bit like A Bug’s Life with weapons, however in motion it’s nearer to the best Avatar expertise that we didn’t fairly get in Frontiers of Pandora. Gamers strap in because the chief of an alien army squad that crash-lands on Earth — however he’s solely the dimensions of an insect, forcing him to each outrun curious ants and a robotic inhabitants that presently resides within the overgrowth. Constructed on high of third-person army shooter techniques is a lot of different intriguing mechanics that open up the play, from quite a lot of weapon modifiers to a stealth path that finds you hacking intricately constructed electrical energy techniques. Infinitesimals feels deceptively complicated and huge for a pitch so simple as “Honey I Shrunk the Children with aliens and weapons.” —MP

Tentative launch date: 2026 for PC on Epic Video games Retailer, PlayStation 5, Xbox Sequence X|S

Today, there are about as many retro-inspired side-scrollers as there ever had been precise of-the-era side-scrollers within the Nineties. Nonetheless, there are individuals on the market making awe-inspiring new entries — and Zenovia Interactive’s Neon Inferno seemed like considered one of them. Impressed by franchises like Contra and Steel Slug, with a 32-bit cyberpunk artwork path that fully overdelivers, Neon Inferno is a shooter bursting with motion from the primary seconds. Russ Frushtick and I suited up as assassins Angelo Morano and Mariana Vitti to play co-op in varied levels that confirmed off a lot of the mechanics threaded into the everyday run-and-gun gameplay. As you are taking out waves of cyber gangsters, Neon Inferno pits you in opposition to foreground and gallery-shooter-style background enemies, means that you can parry projectile gunfire, and throws in a number of car levels for good measure. It’s retro chaos that would nonetheless solely be finished with fashionable tech. —MP

Launch date: Oct. 2 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Sequence X|S, Nintendo Change, and PC, with a demo out now.

“Overcooked, however it’s on a spaceship” was the pitch that Sol Mates’ builders gave me and Matt Patches once we stepped as much as play the sport at their Summer season Sport Fest sales space. That’s largely true, though Sol Mates feels a bit much less frantic; every time I play Overcooked, my companions and I find yourself shouting at one another like we’re in an episode of The Bear. In Sol Mates, we moved like a well-oiled machine earlier than too lengthy; recharging the ship’s batteries, reloading its cannons, and repositioning its shields to guard from enemy spaceships all occurred fairly seamlessly, however I can inform that with the best steadiness, Sol Mates might be simply as gloriously chaotic and finally satisfying. This was undoubtedly a sport idea with sturdy potential and one I’ll be testing when it will get a full launch. —MM

Tentative launch date: Early Entry on Steam in 2025 on PC.

This upcoming sport — the debut title from nascent indie studio Comfortable Rains — might be going to be the one sport that each revolves round a water gun mechanic and is designed to make me cry. In Ambrosia Sky, the participant steps into the house boots of Dalia, an intergalactic explorer who’s revisiting her house planet after it’s been overrun by a hostile fungus that’s killed everybody. She makes use of a high-tech energy washer to scrub the fungal overgrowth from her former house, and it’s a really satisfying cleanup job, besides that’s not Dalia’s actual mission: She’s primarily right here to rediscover the corpses of her pals and carry out their funeral rites for them. What little I noticed of the writing in my 20-minute demo already impressed me, and the music was the right haunting accompaniment to all of it. —MM

Tentative launch date: TBD to PC on Steam

It’s been some time since Ninja Gaiden gamers have had a brand new one, and now, they’ve acquired two on the way in which: Ninja Gaiden Ragebound, a 2D throwback to the spirit of the 8-bit Ninja Gaiden period coming to consoles this summer season (which we additionally actually dug for his high-speed revival of the basic type), and Ninja Gaiden 4, which represents an unlikely studio team-up between PlatinumGames and Staff Ninja.

The previous is thought for splashy, button-mashing-friendly motion video games like Bayonetta and Satan Could Cry, whereas the latter is thought for mega-difficult hack-and-slash gameplay (along with Ninja Gaiden, Staff Ninja makes the Nioh video games, which I might describe as being for individuals who assume FromSoftware’s Soulslikes are too simple). Due to that mixture, most gamers and I weren’t actually positive what to anticipate of Ninja Gaiden 4, however the outcomes actually labored for me, an individual who loves each a methodical Soulslike and a splashy Bayonetta-style motion sport. It’s a wedding of two methodologies that also completely works; it performs a bit like a 3D combating sport, with large fancy particular strikes to carry out however nonetheless a necessity to be taught particular combos and pay cautious consideration to enemies and their talents. I spent all 20 minutes of my time with Ninja Gaiden 4 studying as a lot as I may simply so I may sustain, and the outcomes had been very rewarding. —MM

Launch date: Oct. 21, 2025 to Xbox (and GamePass), Ps 5, and PC

Blumhouse Video games took over a nook of SGF to preview a number of new titles, together with an especially cheeky, bloody farm sim/horror mash-up known as Grave Seasons and Crisol, the primary sport from the Madrid-based Vermila Studios. The latter gave me the willies in a basic Doom, Quake, and Hexen did for me again within the day. Crisol says its first-person horror shooter was deeply impressed by the frenzy of taking part in Bioshock again within the day, the vibe of the demo — filled with Spanish design parts and sparse-but-haunting encounters — felt like a refreshing AA twist. On the core of Crisol’s supernatural thriller is the blood gun, a lethal weapon that depends on the participant’s personal life properly for ammunition. You’ll be able to accumulate blood from corpses scattered across the map, however or typically than not, I discovered myself draining my very own life provide to outlive fights with zombie puppets or straight-up fleeing from towering monsters who needed to gobble me up. Like an incredible horror film, Crisol forces you to journey the advantageous line between life and demise and worry turning any nook. Mad by sickos for sickos. —MP

Tentative launch date: 2026