Full disclosure, I am writing this toward the end of the Future Games Show. I have the stream playing in a window off to the side, but I am not really paying attention nor am I listening – the headphones have come off. Maybe this is disrespectful considering I watched the first three streams of my day with mostly undivided attention but I have reached the point where I have seen too many video game trailers and no longer understand or recognize the distinction between them.
With that being said, was today’s slate of showcases and spotlights any good?
Dude, I don’t know. I’m pretty sure most of the games looked fine. There were a couple I wanted to check out for sure, so let’s just talk about those instead of trying to assess the relative quality of each flavor of corporate slurry as it was being poured into my mouth.
SIGNALIS
This trailer came on during the Guerrilla Collective stream, and the game itself has been on my radar for a hot minute. I love the aesthetic and the sound design, and honestly can’t wait to dig in when it comes out on October 27.
THE FRIDGE IS RED
Similarly, this collection of games looks great. It reminds me of CONTROL in a way, and it seems to take direct inspiration from SCPs in a similar way. I’ll play this for sure. Demo’s out now.
SLOPE CRASHERS
Slope Crashers is a game where you are an animal riding a snowboard and doing tricks. It reminds me heavily of SSX Tricky, and I want to play it real bad. Please give it to me.
NINE YEARS OF SHADOWS
I like games that look and feel like Castlevania, and Nine Years of Shadows certainly fits the bill. This game looks excellent, and it was a major standout for me. I think the different elemental-aspect armor is my favorite part.
WITCH STRANDINGS
Witch Strandings got a new live-action trailer today. Developed by Strange Scaffold, the same folks who did Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator and An Airport for Aliens Currently Run by Dogs, Witch Strandings is a new Strand Type Video Game that I am very into. And this trailer similarly rules.
LUMBEARJACK
You play a bear who commits acts of ecoterrorism.
You play a bear who commits acts of ecoterrorism.
You play a bear who commits acts of ecoterrorism.
SNUFKIN: MELODY OF MOOMINVALLEY
It’s a fuckin Moomin video game with music by Sigur Ros? Lmao what? Sure fine give it to me.
LOVE SHORE
This game looks really interesting, and it’s apparently been kicking around for a while but finally at the point where it can launch in a 1.0 state. It seems to be a cross between a dating sim and a horror RPG, it is definitely very concerned with questions about bodies, and it looks simply gay as hell.
THE LAST FAITH
Another Castlevania-ish game, this time with – as the hosts of the Future Games Show said – a tinge of Bloodborne added in. It looks very good.
After three days of this, I want to know why this is a yearly thing. Does anyone actually have any fun with this? Divorced from the typical trappings of industry events, like private demos and interview appointments with devs, what this is really starting to feel like is like I’m Alex in A Clockwork Orange, strapped to a chair with my eyelids held open, being beamed a steady stream of Promotional Content. I do not feel good right now! And I’ve been staying hydrated!
Do these games even benefit from their inclusion in these presentations? They’re often being crammed into 10-minute-long segments where we simply do not get to breathe between games, much less visit Steam to wishlist or preorder them. It’s like, during the Wholesome Direct, a major problem I was running into is that 1) a lot of the games looked very similar to each other, a side effect of being included in a presentation based on a specific vibe; and 2) each game got less than 30 seconds of screen time on average to shine. Also: too many fucking frog games, I’m sorry.
It also becomes clear which games get special shoutouts and which are simply thrown into the Content Tornado. Occasionally there were longer packages where devs had a chance to talk about their projects at greater length. And while it was cool to get that extra bit of context, surely those were paid spots, right? I feel they had to be, though I’d be glad to be wrong. (This makes the segment on Ukraine-based devs during the Future Games Show presentation extra weird, because it genuinely brings up the question: would these games have shown up here if a war wasn’t ongoing?) All the other games just blurred by. It was a real problem lmao.
Aside from that, I got nothin’. I’m getting some real big reactionary vibes™ from American Arcadia the more I see it, and the trailer for an upcoming game, Enemy of the State, had to be one of the funniest, “sir/ma’am, you’re drunk” things I’ve seen so far this week.
While we’re here, you should go buy the Queer Games Bundle. It’s $60 for nearly 600 games and such, and it’s got a lot of quality shit in it. Click here for more information.
If you enjoyed this post and want to keep me alive through the end of tomorrow’s several-hour-long presentations, consider buying me a coffee. I would appreciate it.