As the primary half of the yr enters the rear view, it’s protected to say that 2025 has been an enormous yr for gaming. However amid all of the studio shakeups, sport releases, and next-gen console launches, Summer Game Fest arrived to reset the hype cycle and showcase all of the issues gamers will likely be pining for from now till 2026.
And whereas the June 6 livestreamed showcase, hosted by occasion creator Geoff Keighley, had its ups and downs (and ended up largely lackluster), the weekend that adopted noticed the annual SGF Play Days open its doorways to press and creators to get sneak peeks and hands-on periods with many newly introduced and beforehand teased video games.
From June 7 to 10, showcases throughout Los Angeles, together with Keighley’s personal Play Days HQ in Downtown LA’s Metropolis Market Social Home and off-site occasions from corporations like Xbox, had been crammed with publishers and builders giddily strolling gamers by their upcoming slates — some with canned shows, however largely with totally playable demos.
There have been dozens of titles from new and established studios offering in depth seems on the subsequent yr in gaming. In a closed-door preview, Capcom confirmed off practically half-hour of pre-recorded footage for its extremely anticipated samurai sequel Onimusha: Way of the Sword; Microsoft let individuals take its upcoming RPG The Outer Worlds 2 for a take a look at drive; and tons of indie titles like PlaySide Studios’ cartoonish noir Mouse: P.I. for Hire and Coronary heart Machine’s darkly animated Possessor(s) grew to become talks of the completely satisfied hour crowd.
However all through the fury of sights and sounds, there have been some beautiful moments of pure gaming bliss. Of the practically two dozen video games Rolling Stone performed — and plenty of extra we solely noticed — the subsequent yr seems to be vivid for followers of each variety. From skin-crawling horror exhibits to tearjerker emotional journeys, listed below are the perfect issues we performed from this yr’s Summer time Recreation Fest Play Days.
‘Lego Celebration!’
(Late 2025) Nintendo Swap, PS5, and Xbox Collection X|S
From developer SMG Studio, Lego Celebration! is precisely what it seems like: a tackle Mario Party, with Lego! One of many few hands-on experiences at Play Days that allowed attendees to play collectively in teams of 4, Lego Celebration! immediately shined as one of the vital ludicrously enjoyable demos of the occasion — recurrently drawing consideration as gamers laughed, shouted, and booed their means by the roughly 30-minute session.
Like Mario Celebration, this one adheres to a well-worn board sport construction the place as much as 4 gamers (domestically or on-line) roll a quantity generator and transfer throughout the realm space-by-space, selecting up objects or operating into response spots that may assist or hinder their path to getting essentially the most golden bricks. On the finish of every spherical, everybody will get to vote on their most popular mini-game (60 in complete) to duke it out for forex to get the leg-up on the competitors.
Like final yr’s Lego Horizon Adventure, Lego Celebration! closely emphasizes the hyper-detailed Lego-ness of its world, pulling from well-known units like Lego Pirates, Area, and Ninjago to create a chaotic and colourful mash-up of characters and locales throughout the boards — though the inclusion of any main licensed collaborations stays to be seen. The sport is high-energy, with a constant sport show-like duo of hosts commentating on the proceedings and injecting humor, and every mini-game we performed, from air hockey to tower constructing, felt like a fantastic use of the Lego brick idea. Alternate options to Mario Celebration are few and much between, and Lego Celebration! looks like probably the perfect fashionable contender for the informal sofa board sport crown.
‘Ninja Gaiden 4’
(Oct. 21, 2025) PS5, Xbox Collection X|S, and PC
Introduced earlier this yr throughout Microsoft’s Xbox Developer Direct, Ninja Gaiden 4 is a gory return for considered one of gaming’s most traditional motion staples. One of two Ninja Gaiden games coming this yr that reshape the method of the sequence, that is the primary mainline entry within the franchise since 2012’s Ninja Gaiden 3 and goals to deliver again the brutally troublesome motion gameplay of the older titles with much more fluid and sophisticated fight.
Co-developed by Staff Ninja (the workforce behind the earlier video games) and PlatinumGames, the studio recognized for blistering motion titles like Nier: Automata and Bayonetta, Ninja Gaiden 4 has all the pieces gamers count on — tight fight, methodical timing, and tons of viscera — and rather more than they don’t. Whereas the current remaster of Ninja Gaiden 2 reminded some and launched newcomers to the franchise’s considerably dated however nonetheless beloved gameplay, the fourth entry seems like one thing new completely. It’s even tighter and snappier, with tons of accessible combos and on the spot executions, and in addition (one way or the other) much more lighting quick.
The sport follows Yakumo, a brand new character from the Raven Clan, who’s on a collision course with the sequence’ essential protagonist, Ryu Hayabusa. Taking part in as Yakumo is a deal with; his steely veneer contrasts with the farcical and comedic setting of grimdark ninja preventing by a cyberpunk-like close to future. Supporting workforce members routinely dump exposition and banter by the in-game comms system and, contrasted with the fixed streams and spurts of blood, creates an deliberately campy, however gripping tone that works in tandem with its prime shelf motion gameplay.
‘Finish of Abyss’
(TBD 2026) PS5, Xbox Collection X, and PC
From Part 9 Interactive, Finish of Abyss is an isometric shooter-slash-exploration sport that performs like a hybrid between twin-stick shooters like the primary Helldivers or Enter the Gungeon and Metroidvania video games like, effectively, Metroid. However regardless of the clear influences, it’s really sort of powerful to consider a sport like Finish of Abyss that marries concepts in methods you’d would’ve been accomplished by now.
The sport follows a fight technician named Cel as she lurks by a derelict compound to research horrific anomalies. Inching by every room and hall, gamers can use a scanner to decode messages, discover enemy and environmental weak spot, and uncover secrets and techniques at each flip. The sport is about discovering keys and new instruments to progress, backtracking simply sufficient to revisit areas with higher tools, and naturally, preventing for survival in opposition to different worldly creatures.
The dual-stick shooter format permits for exact and harrowing fight as gamers transfer with the left stick and may purpose exactly with the correct. Encounters usually demand strategic pondering and fast reflexes and teams of enemies in shut quarters could be overwhelming, and larger bosses require sussing out their weaknesses. With an eerie and remoted vibe, Finish of Abyss seems to be a fantastic mix of throwback ideas that work collectively properly to create a self-contained expertise that also feels contemporary.
‘Pragmata’
(TBD 2026) PS5, Xbox Collection X|S, and PC
One of the crucial anticipated video games of Play Days was Capcom’s new third-person shooter Pragmata. Initially introduced again in 2020 for a 2022 launch date, Pragmata has seen a number of delays and left many followers questioning what the ultimate product would seem like (or if it’d ever come out in any respect). However, after a 30-minute hands-on demo, we now know that the sport is each very actual and very badass.
Pragmata follows an astronaut named Hugh who finally ends up trapped on a lunar analysis station within the far future. Staring down the plasma blade of a robotic taken over by the ability’s malicious AI, Hugh is saved by a bit woman named Diana who immediately provides her personal uncanny synthetic vibes with a cutesy demeanor by means of M3GAN. Leaping on Hugh’s again, Diana reveals that she’s capable of remotely hack into the bots and open their weak spots to hit.
Taking part in because the duo collectively creates a shooter in contrast to every other, the place robotic enemies however first be scanned and hacked by Diana, resulting in time slowing down for a compulsory puzzle earlier than Hugh can open fireplace. However time doesn’t cease completely, that means that gamers should correctly select which enemy to hack and when — and do it quick — to keep away from getting killed whereas doing their pseudo-Sudoku. The puzzles themselves aren’t inherently powerful (a minimum of within the early areas proven within the demo), however they supply an attractive dichotomy between the Vanquish-style taking pictures that makes the back-and-forth an enjoyably worrying balancing act.
‘Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree’
(Sept. 19, 2025) Nintendo Swap, PS5, Xbox Collection X|S, and PC
Every now and then, a sport comes alongside that’s so shamelessly derived from one other that it’s downright spectacular. Bandai Namco’s newly introduced roguelite Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree is simply that: the corporate’s personal tackle Supergiant’s fashionable indie traditional Hades. However that’s not an insult, particularly when the builders on-site are open about their inspiration and the way they hoped to make use of that framework to create their very own expertise.
Not like Hades, Towa permits gamers to select from eight totally different guardians, using two directly, with one performing on the lead Tsurugi (sword) and supporting Kagura (workers). In apply, the sport sees gamers march room-to-room clearing out waves of procedurally generated enemies, selecting an improve from a pool, and deciding on their path ahead (the identical fundamental loop of Hades). The distinction lies within the complexity of the dual-character system, whereby each heroes can use offensive and defensive strikes mapped to particular buttons. Whereas dodging, dashing, and attacking, there’s lots to remember about how every of the guardians’ talents can be utilized within the second.
In our demo, pairing collectively a speedy shinobi-like guardian allowed for fast strikes and space of impact cost harm (amplified exponentially by upgrades alongside the way in which), however a tall fish-like hero supplied help that allowed for fast getaways and guerilla ways in opposition to a colossal serpent boss. Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree might’ve simply felt by-product; as an alternative, it must be one of the vital anticipated titles of the yr for anybody with a passing curiosity in roguelites and top-down motion video games.
Xbox’s New Handheld
(Vacation 2025)
Whereas a lot of the gaming world was taking a few different handheld final week, Microsoft upended expectations by saying a partnership with {hardware} developer Asus to launch their very own Xbox-themed model of the ROG Ally throughout their Xbox Video games Showcase livestream. For tech lovers, the ROG Ally and Ally X fashions have been main hits within the handheld PC house that enable customers to play their sport libraries throughout digital platforms like Steam anyplace, all on a beefy cell unit.
The brand new mannequin, known as ROG Xbox Ally, streamlines that even additional with the inclusion of an Xbox button on the gadget that shortly accesses a participant’s Xbox Wherever library to play video games just like the upcoming Gears of Warfare Reloaded on the fly. Going hands-on with the machine, it’s clear that it’s greater than only a emblem slap; the ROG Xbox Ally is structurally designed with glossy grips on the facet and reworked shoulder buttons that emulate the Xbox Collection controllers and is exponentially extra comfy to make use of than the bottom Ally. Taking part in Gear of Warfare Reloaded on Ally X was eye-opening; the sport ran simply as easily because it did on the Xbox Collection X and PlayStation 5 variations operating close by. Whereas it will not be a totally devoted cell Xbox, the partnership with Asus is a brilliant strategy to broaden Microsoft’s gaming footprint throughout platforms and nonetheless injects among the firm’s DNA into the combination.
‘Grave Seasons’
(TBD 2026) Nintendo Swap, PS5, Xbox Collection X|S, and PC
In a comfortable nook of the showroom ground far-off from the blinding shooters and soulslike actioners, horror studio Blumhouse Games confirmed off a quaint little farming simulator with a ugly twist. Developed by small indie studio Good Rubbish, Grave Seasons combines the comforting gameplay of farm sims like Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley with the attract of homicide thriller and supernatural horror — all with some horny romanceable NPCs blended in.
Gamers tackle the function of an unnamed convict who has not too long ago taken up store within the mountain city of Ashenridge. The sport shortly introduces its acquainted simulator hook as gamers should clear up the overgrown farmland, harvest crops, and get to know the locals. That’s, till one darkish evening brings a massacre to the neighborhood within the type of a supernatural killer.
Through the walkthrough, the builders described the sport as a farming sim with better company and repercussions. Originally of the marketing campaign, the sport will randomly choose the kind of risk customers will likely be dealing with, and every of the 4 seasons spent farming can also be spend making an attempt to know and anticipate the killer, put together for his or her arrival, and hopefully save the NPCs doomed to be slaughtered. Grave Seasons is meant to supply selection and helps a number of playthroughs for tons of various twists and outcomes based mostly on the participant’s determination making. The sport retains the charm of cozy gaming, however creates a world the place farming is rather more scary (and horny) than it has any proper to be.
‘Resident Evil Requiem’
(Feb 27, 2026) PS5, Xbox Collection X|S, and PC
Revealed throughout a contentious bait-and-switch in the course of the opening ceremony livestream of this yr’s Summer time Recreation Fest, Capcom’s Resident Evil Requiem was one of many greatest surprises of the present. Rolling Stone was one of many choose few shops who had been capable of go hands-on with the sport following its premiere, and the outcomes had been completely terrifying.
The ninth mainline entry within the franchise sees gamers return to a now-decimated Raccoon Metropolis a long time after the occasions of Resident Evil 3 (1999). The demo opens with a brand new character named Grace Ashcroft, an FBI tech analyst, who’s being held in opposition to her will in a darkish asylum-like facility. After a harrowing cinematic the place Grace frees herself from being a dangling blood bag, the sport lets gamers discover the darkish, eerie hallways of the complicated whereas jump-scare sequences introduce a hulking monster that appears to be this sport’s ongoing risk. The unnamed creature is very large in scale, head scraping in opposition to the ceiling because it lumbers down the shadowy corridors and burst by partitions on the worst attainable instances. In true Resident Evil vogue, the creature will possible be a recurring hazard that seems at key factors — or probably at procedurally timed, unscripted sequences (that’s unknown) — very similar to Resident Evil 2’s Mr. X and 3’s Nemesis.
Whereas there have been rumors of one other well-known protagonist becoming a member of the sport, Grace offers an excellent counterpoint to the sequence’ emphasis on motion that overtook among the horror tone in video games 4 by six and even bled into its most up-to-date seventh and eight entries. Frightened to the purpose of delirium and outfitted with solely a lighter to see simply a bit into the darkness, Grace is extraordinarily susceptible and should outsmart the beast to outlive, at the same time as she whimpers and chokes her means by the untold terror round her. A primary for the sequence, the sport could be performed in each first- and third-person, recreating the expertise of each the FPS entries Resident Evil 7 and Village, and the trendy remakes of 2 and 3.
‘Out of Phrases’
(TBD 2026) PS5, Xbox Collection X|S, and PC
Though Play Days gives all kinds of sport sorts and visions, it’s not precisely a spot you’d count on to finish up crying throughout a demo — and but that was precisely the scene throughout Epic Video games Publishing’s hands-on session with subsequent yr’s Out of Phrases. Co-developed by sport makers Kong Orange and animation studio, WiredFly, the sport is a cooperative narrative expertise within the vein of It Takes Two however totally designed round a vibrant stop-motion aesthetic.
The sport follows two lifelong buddies who, simply when it’s time to specific their mutual love for one another, immediately lose the flexibility to talk. Trapped within the recesses of their very own inside world, they have to work collectively to assist the individuals in turmoil across the surrealist realm, whereas additionally discovering the phrases to say what’s of their hearts.
The sport’s visuals are awe-inspiring, with narrative sequences all totally crafted by hand and animated through stop-motion. Each asset, merchandise, and element of the world can also be totally scanned from actual life supplies and crafts. Out of Phrases performs like a traditional side-scroller whereas its motion and puzzles require coordination between two gamers. One space noticed the 2 characters dealing with inverted gravity the place one is at all times on the ceiling and the opposite on the bottom, forcing the duo to exactly shift locations and catch one another to progress. Whereas the characters can’t converse to one another, that side is meant to be placed on the gamers as they be taught and bond collectively; after some time, the gameplay turns into much less verbal and extra like a posh dance between two synched minds, ending one another’s jumps and actions with out saying something.
The confluence of the sport’s tangible, textural design, its moody rating, and the pleasant forged of characters can be sufficient for an unimaginable stop-motion movie alone, however by including a extra immersive cooperative layer, Out of Phrases finally ends up shortly being a shifting, humanist expertise in contrast to something ever created in gaming.
‘Crimson Desert’
(Late 2025) PS5, Xbox Collection X|S, and PC
Of all of the hyped-up video games at this yr’s Play Days, few delivered the sequence of jaw-dropping moments that Pearl Abyss’ new action-adventure Crimson Desert did. It’s the sort of sport the place any description seems like confounding hyperbole. How can anybody mix the open-world exploration and RPG storytelling of The Witcher sequence, the physics-based fight and puzzles of Breath of the Wild, and the kind of fluid, over-the-top strikes from preventing video games like Tekken — and make any of it make sense?
Constructed completely on Pearl Abyss’ proprietary BlackSpace Engine, Crimson Desert is a technical feat that frequently surprises the extra it exhibits. The open-world map (of which we noticed possibly 5%) is gargantuan, crammed with mountain vistas, forests, and cities to discover. The character fashions are intricately detailed; zooming in actual time to clothes exhibits off each fiber and leathery pores and skin on armor, which reveals spectacular consideration paid to the trivialities when all the pieces else is so massive in scope.
Nevertheless it’s actually about how the sport performs, and whereas others usually lean on the promise of participant selection, Crimson Desert affords the chance to do absolutely anything and make it really feel good. Throughout a fort siege sequence, fireplace lit tree-lined street by a city on the mouth of an enormous gate. Surrounded by enemies, there have been dozens of the way to battle: slicing with a sword, dropping elemental thunder and ice assaults, or actually selecting troopers up and suplexing them like a professional wrestler. After fixing some high-perched catapults, taking pictures an arrow on a watchtower or crowd resulted in a fiery aerial strike ripped straight from a Call of Duty sport, with constructions collapsing in physics-based mayhem harking back to the destruction mechanics from Battlefield.
There’s lots occurring in Crimson Desert however even with out in depth tutorials, it was simple sufficient to choose up on a minimum of some of the sport’s many techniques. If the ultimate model can ship the excessive depth pockets of motion and intelligent design previewed throughout session, it might simply find yourself being a darkish horse contender for sport of yr.
From Rolling Stone US.