The annual summer of game reveals is almost upon us, and it’s likely to bring updates to exciting games on the horizon. It’s a time of year that almost feels like Christmas for the enthusiast gamer, and while summer 2022 may not have as many individual game showcases as last year, there’s still plenty to get hyped about.
Between Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest, The Future Games Show, the PC Gaming Show, and the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase, there are a ton of opportunities to be blown away by the games we did or didn’t see coming. These are only 10 of the exciting games that we think could appear during the upcoming summer game showcases.
Redfall
Arkane Studios has been on a roll providing consistently high-quality immersive RPG releases over the last generation. Now, the team that brought us Prey and Dishonored, is diving into new territory with an open-world cooperative FPS. Arkane Austin and Bethesda promise that Redfall will stay true to Arkane’s design principles in this new vampire adventure. The open world of Redfall, Massachusetts will be a carefully crafted playground with room for creative mechanics to shine alongside environmental storytelling. Vampires have blocked out the sun and cut off the town from the outside world, leading our heroes to fight for survival.
The game can be played entirely solo or with up to three friends as you take control over one of the four lead characters. These colorful personalities include the paranormal investigator Devinder Crousley and the telekinetic power-wielding Layla Ellison. Each character will have their own abilities, weapons, and gear to earn and customize. Stealth options will be a viable tool, and the studio has mentioned that player choices will impact the world at large somehow. A cooperative Arkane game is sure to lead to some inventive gameplay possibilities.
Starfield
Starfield is Bethesda Game Studio’s first new original RPG in 25 years, and it has a lot of expectations riding on it. It’s supposedly the game that Bethesda Game Studios has always wanted to make, and there’s a good chance that it will appear during summer 2022 at the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase. We know that it is being powered by the new Creation Engine 2, which should hopefully lead to a more polished release than past Bethesda releases. Plus it will have full mod support on PC.
Developer updates on the official blog have covered various aspects of the game in-depth to give us some confidence in the vision for Starfield. A grounded take on star-faring humans led the team to work with an art style the team calls “NASA-punk.” Ideally, that means the storytelling has a tone consistent with the design of the world.
An improved dialogue system with similarities to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion could be a step forward for player choices. Companions will also be more reactive towards your actions and decisions. It’ll all hopefully heighten the sense of immersion players experience in Starfield.
Concept art has shown off beautiful locales like New Atlantis and Neon, and the team has talked at length about the importance of music and classic RPG character traits. It’s about time we get a closer look at The Settled Systems.
The Callisto Protocol
Horror games have been having a resurgence and The Callisto Protocol could be the next big thing if we see it this summer. Glen Schofield, one of the original creators of Dead Space, is working on a brand-new sci-fi horror game with his new team at Striking Distance Studios. The Callisto Protocol is set in the future and follows a regular cargo ship pilot called Jacob Lee. Jacob is forced to traverse through a monster-infested prison on Jupiter’s Callisto moon, and we now know that he is being played by actor Josh Duhamel. Striking Distance wants the player to fear singular enemies, and so Jacob will have to make do with basic weapons like a baton, pistol, and shotgun as he fights off the Biophages.
Schofield has said in interviews that he is not afraid to pull ideas from Dead Space. It’s clear that the setting of The Callisto Protocol bears some visual similarities to the famous horror game. We also know that Jacob will be able to use a GRP device to push and pull items and enemies in the environment, in a similar manner to one of Isaac Clarke’s signature abilities. Hopefully, the team also has some new innovations to push the survival-horror genre into scary new directions.
Street Fighter 6
Street Fighter is one of the most important franchises in gaming. It revolutionized the fighting game genre, but its most recent entry, Street Fighter V, was met with a lot of criticism. The game suffered from a poor launch and a lack of content. It took years for Capcom to salvage the game into a worthwhile experience that would please series veterans. The Japanese developer cannot make that mistake again, so a lot is riding on the release of Street Fighter 6.
Luckily, Capcom has been on a hot streak with almost every major game it has released as of late, and we hope this trend continues for SF6. A short teaser trailer for the game gave us a glimpse at the more realistic art style being employed for the latest iteration. Muscle detail and sweat were clearly visible, marking a departure from the stylized look of previous entries. We’re making a guess that the game is running on Capcom’s RE Engine. Luke, an MMA brawler introduced in SFV, squares off against an older and wider Ryu, although not much else is known about which characters will make the new roster. Capcom has confirmed that we will see SF6 for the 2022 summer, so it’s only a matter of time now.
Dead Space remake
While Glen Schofield works on The Callisto Protocol, EA Motive is also about to bring back the original Dead Space with a new remake set to release next January. The studio has been remarkably open with behind-the-scenes development videos and it showcases that a lot of love and care is going into every last detail of this project. There’s a renewed focus on important features such as sound design using 3D audio and weapon effects, as well as environmental ambiance that is improved thanks to advanced lighting. Updated assets, character models, and environments powered by the Frostbite engine should make the game a stunner.
EA Motive is also improving the detailed gore associated with dismembering the horrifying Necromorphs. Dead Space will be a faithful remake, but the developer has mentioned that it will now include references to future games, as well as improved zero-gravity sections. Isaac Clarke will now have dialogue in moments where it feels unobtrusive to the story. And much like God of War, Dead Space will feature no loading screens for a seamless one-shot experience. We can’t wait to hop into the suit of Clarke and rediscover our fear of the USG Ishimura. We’ve been seeing a lot on the game up until now, so we’re sure to get more during a summer 2022 showcase.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
Respawn Entertainment’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is arguably one of the finest games the franchise has ever seen. Its Metroidvania level design and Dark Souls-inspired combat was cleverly blended, while likable characters such as Cal Kestis and Cere Junda set the stage for a compelling story of Jedi survivors between the two trilogies. Outside of some technical hiccups, it was a resounding success.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is set five years after the first game, with Cal trying to stay one step ahead of the Empire’s pursuit. It looks ready to tell a darker tale than its predecessor, with Cal trying to make connections with unsavory people, according to Game Director Stig Asmussen.
An Imperial Senator has made a dangerous deal that results in him obtaining Cal’s Lightsaber and leaving the young Jedi with a new blaster at his side. This could be how Respawn makes us start the game without the iconic weapon. More interestingly, fans have speculated that the mysterious figure Cal has found could be Darth Revan from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Since Aspyr is working on a KOTOR remake, there could be something to this theory, and a future where Star Wars games interconnect sounds mighty exciting.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
It’s been almost seven years since Rocksteady’s last game, Batman: Arkham Knight, was released. In the time since then, superhero games like Marvel’s Spider-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy have been summer blockbusters that pushed the genre forward in exciting new directions. Hopefully, Rocksteady has been preparing to do the same with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Set after the Arkham games, Suicide Squad will place us in the boots of Amanda Waller’s Task Force X as they attempt to do the impossible and kill Justice League members who have been brainwashed by Brainiac.
Suicide Squad is a four-player cooperative shooter with an emphasis on teamwork, fast movement, and gunplay. In the open world of a Brainiac-controlled Metropolis, players will be able to make use of the customizable weapons, unique skills, and traversal abilities of each character. Harley Quinn’s grapple hook, Captain Boomerang’s warping ability, Deadshot’s jetpack, and King Shark’s huge jumps are just some ways to get around. Rocksteady has proven that it can mix character-driven DC Comics storylines with exciting gameplay. That could mean some fascinating boss battles against the Justice League, and an expansion of the DC universe Rocksteady has been building.
Dragon Age 4
Dragon Age 4 (now officially titled Dragon Age: Dreadwolf) was revealed a few years ago, but we still haven’t seen anything substantial from the game. BioWare working on a new single-player RPG again is cause for celebration. But can the current team live up to the lofty heights it achieved with previous games like Mass Effect 2 or Dragon Age: Inquisition? Since Inquisition was released, RPGs like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt have shown what is possible with quest design. Games like Elden Ring may have changed expectations players have for open-world level design. BioWare seems to be taking its time to get this right. We hope that the studio is going to innovate when it comes to how it handles character progression, romantic relationships, and dialogue-driven player choices.
A new cast of loveable characters is an expectation for fans, and a new game is also a chance to expand on the already impressive lore of the Dragon Age world. Lead Writer Patrick Weekes has said that the story asks: “What happens when you don’t have power?” That could create an interesting underdog premise where player decisions could impact the politics of powerful factions. It’s one of the multiple games that BioWare is working on, but it would be the most likely of them to make an appearance during a summer 2022 showcase.
Indiana Jones
MachineGames and Lucasfilm Games are collaborating to bring players an original and standalone Indiana Jones game. Franky, it seems like a match made in heaven. MachineGames has no lack of experience when it comes to killing Nazis in its games. So we expect that the team will be able to craft a satisfying mixture of gunplay and narrative to support Indie’s new adventure. Pete Hines, senior vice president of global marketing & communications at Bethesda Softworks, has said that Indiana Jones will launch before the next entry in the Wolfenstein series, so we hope to see it in action relatively soon.
A short teaser trailer for the game has left a lot of hints about the setting and premise. Signature items like Indie’s hat and whip are seen, as well as a passport, a plane ticket to Rome, and a date of 1937. That would place the game between the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. Notes and books on a table point towards the Vatican, hinting that Rome could be a key location in the game. Imagining what MachineGames can do with elaborate puzzles and traps, stealth, platforming with the whip, and combat is terribly exciting. And since Harrison Ford is starring in a new Indiana Jones movie next year, could MachineGames use his likeness for this too?
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Ninja Theory has been taking its time to develop Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II. The game is running on Unreal Engine 5, and the trailers thus far have depicted a stunningly realistic and bleak world. Senua’s character model is more detailed than ever, and mythological creatures like giants are utterly horrifying thanks to excellent motion capture. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice masterfully told a story that weaved together Norse mythology with mental health issues.
The sequel is implementing binaural audio effects to better represent Senua’s complex psychosis. When paired with the leap in visuals, this could give Ninja Theory a perfect canvas to showcase a deeply character-driven story. Ninja Theory also has plans to improve combat with the much-anticipated sequel. Combat Designer Juan Fernández has said that the team is working to improve the variety of combat options and enemies.
To get an idea of how ambitious the studio is being, Ninja Theory Co-founder, Tameem Antoniades, said that the sequel will “make Hellblade look like an indie game.” That’s a confident statement and we hope it lives up to that with an overdue summer 2022 appearance at the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase.
These were only a small selection of the potential games that we could be seeing this summer in 2022. The most exciting time of the year for gamers is about to begin, and it has a lot of potential.
Published: Jun 2, 2022 09:30 am