So, another June has come and gone, and the dust is finally settling on the YouTube Theater in LA. If you spent any time on social media during the Summer Game Fest 2025 kickoff, you probably saw the usual mix of hype-fueled screaming and "industry is dead" doom-posting. Honestly? Both sides are kinda wrong.
The event wasn't the second coming of E3, but it also wasn't the "marketing marathon" some cynical critics claimed. It was weird. It was loud. It was deeply focused on sequels that we probably should have seen coming years ago. Geoff Keighley stood on that stage for two hours, and while he didn’t give us Half-Life 3, he did give us a bizarrely polished look at the next half-decade of gaming.
The Resident Evil Requiem Reveal Was a Total Curveball
Let’s talk about the ending. For about ninety minutes, everyone thought the show was winding down with some standard indie updates. Then Capcom decided to drop the hammer. Resident Evil Requiem (aka Resident Evil 9) is officially real, and it’s coming February 27, 2026.
The trailer was... unsettling. We’re going back to Raccoon City, but not in a "nostalgic remake" way. It looks like a total shift in tone. Capcom is calling it a "new era of survival horror," which basically means they’re moving away from the first-person perspective of Village and the tight remakes we've lived with lately. It felt cinematic. High stakes. If you were worried Capcom was running out of steam, this trailer was a pretty loud "shut up" to the skeptics.
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Everything That Actually Happened (The Hits and the Misses)
It wasn't just the big resident evil news that kept people talking. We got a literal flood of trailers. Some were great; others felt like they were generated by a "Soulslike" prompt generator.
- Lies of P: Overture did the unthinkable and shadow-dropped during the show. You can go play it right now. It’s a prequel expansion, and if you liked the base game, it's more of that brutal, puppet-smashing goodness.
- Mortal Shell 2 got announced for a 2026 release. It looks way more "metal" than the first one.
- Dying Light: The Beast confirmed a release date of August 22, 2025. Kyle Crane is back. People were hyped.
- Wu-Tang: Rise of the Deceiver was easily the most "out there" announcement. It’s an Afro-surrealist anime-style action game with music by DJ Just Blaze.
There was also a lot of talk about the Xbox handheld rumor. While it didn't get a full "here is the price and specs" moment on Friday, the hints were everywhere. During the Sunday Xbox showcase that followed, we finally saw the "Xbox-branded ROG Ally" essentially confirmed as their move into the Steam Deck space. It’s an AMD-powered beast, and it basically confirms that Microsoft is done trying to tether you to a living room TV.
Why the "Death of E3" Narrative is Tiring
Critics love to say that Summer Game Fest 2025 lacks the "magic" of the old E3 days. Sure, you don't have thousands of fans screaming in the Staples Center, and the LAPD actually shut down parts of downtown LA this year due to local protests, which put a damper on the after-parties. But the "magic" of E3 was usually just over-budgeted marketing and fake "vertical slice" gameplay that never made it into the final product.
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Keighley's show is more honest, even if it’s more corporate. You see the games that are actually being made. You see the indies like Into the Unwell or Mina the Hollower (finally coming October 31!) getting the same stage time as Mafia: The Old Country.
One thing most people missed? The Access-Ability Summer Showcase. It showed off over 20 games designed with disabled gamers in mind. It wasn't the "main event," but for a lot of people, it was the most important part of the week. This is where the industry is actually growing, even if the "core" fans only care about how many pixels are in a zombie’s face.
The "Soviet BioShock" Sequel and The Cube
Mundfish, the developers behind Atomic Heart, showed up with something that split the audience right down the middle. They announced Atomic Heart 2, which looks like a direct escalation of the first game's alternate-history madness. But they also revealed The Cube.
It’s an MMORPG shooter set on a literal levitating cube where the edges rotate. Honestly, it sounds like a technical nightmare to develop, but it looked stunning on screen. Some people in the Reddit megathreads called it "bloated," but you can't deny the ambition. In a year where a lot of games feel like safe bets, the Atomic Heart universe is at least trying to be weird.
A Quick Reality Check on the "Big Three"
- Sony: They stayed relatively quiet after their State of Play, letting Hideo Kojima do the heavy lifting with a final Death Stranding 2 trailer.
- Nintendo: They’re clearly holding back for the Switch 2. We saw "Switch 2" logos on partner lists, but no hardware reveal. It’s a waiting game.
- Microsoft: They won the weekend. Between The Outer Worlds 2 and the handheld news, they have the clearest roadmap for 2026.
What You Should Do Now
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the 60+ trailers, don't try to watch them all. You'll just get burnout.
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First, go download the Lies of P: Overture DLC if you have the base game. It’s the only thing you can actually play today that came out of the show. Second, keep an eye on the Steam Next Fest dates. A lot of the indies shown, like Mouse: P.I. For Hire and S.P.I.N.E., will have demos dropping soon.
Lastly, if you're a horror fan, mark February 27 on your calendar. Resident Evil Requiem is going to be the conversation starter for the next year. The move back to Raccoon City suggests Capcom is ready to reckon with the series' roots in a way we haven't seen since the 90s.
Keep your expectations in check for the rest of the year. 2025 is shaping up to be a "bridge year"—lots of announcements, but the real heavy hitters are all aiming for that early 2026 window. Just enjoy the ride and maybe clear some space on your SSD for that Dying Light expansion in August.