With the Summer Game Fest 2024, one of the most important shows in gaming has now taken place. MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus followed the stream live all night and is quite surprised by the trailers shown: A lot was quite brutal and definitely mature. The other part consisted of almost 100% anime trailers. Too much for his taste.
Yes, I also watch anime from time to time. However, usually either dark stuff or things that are less known in Germany. Cortyn’s horror anime almost all appeal to me.
But what drives me crazy are the completely exaggerated series, especially in the Isekai and Shounen genres. Dragon Ball, Inuyasha, Naruto… even with Pokémon and Digimon I couldn’t get into it after just a few seasons.
I also never finished watching the possibly “holy grail,” One Piece. The first seasons were still nice, but at some point it just became too much. I prefer it more grounded, like Black Sails.
Accordingly, anime games don’t excite me at all. And I was correspondingly frustrated when I compiled all the announcements and trailers from the Summer Game Fest 2024.
For a short time, I wondered if this is really still a game show, or if I accidentally left the stream open for a comic or manga convention.
Metaphor started the whole misery:
Dragon Ball, Mechs and the … Power Rangers?!
It actually started quite well. With Harry Potter and Lego Horizon Adventures, two games even piqued my interest that I would otherwise completely ignore – neither Harry Potter nor Lego really interest me.
Then it went on and the completely exaggerated trailers quickly set the tone for the show: Over-the-top animations, a lot of action, and overloaded with clutter. Black Myth: Wukong already set the first tone.
With Metaphor: ReFantazio, the first real anime game came along, which even looked pretty cool with the Warframe approach. MeinMMO editor-in-chief Leya Jankowski, who sat live in the hall, said: “It speaks to the Digimon/Dragonball/Neon Genesis Evangelion child in me. […] A feast for anime fans.” And she is right, but it is a nightmare for everyone else:
- Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero
- Battle Crush
- Mecha Break
- Kunitsu Gami: Path of the Goddess
- The First Descendant also has quite a bit of anime vibes
- Monster Hunter with multiple announcements
- With Battle Aces, an anime strategy game even came!
- Honkai Star Rail
- Hyper Light Breaker
Why is everything SO COLORFUL?!
Even games that are not really anime games came either in that style or with the same flair. Street Fighter and Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, Power Rangers, even the tactical shooter Valorant boasted its anime trailers at the very end.
And even the existing games that only showed updates jumped on the Japan train. The Finals takes place in Kyoto and gets samurai and some cosplays as skins, Palworld will soon feature cherry blossoms and Japanese castles.
ARGH.
Promising games disappoint with their announcements
What was not an anime game either showed little new or only said: “Yes, see you at gamescom with gameplay.” Star Wars: Outlaws wants to show itself first at Ubisoft Forward, the best trailers had the mobile game Squad Busters and the skate game Skate.
Big names like Valorant only come with a “Yes, we are coming to console” and otherwise remind mainly with a lot of advertising how great they are. I mean… yes, thanks for reminding me that you still exist.
But the worst was by far the new Batman game. Just the first images made me so happy, Arkham Shadow looked so great. And then the big disappointment: The new game is only coming for VR. I just want something I can look forward to…
Watching the trailer hurts my soul: So much wasted potential:
Despite too much anime stuff: The presentations were pretty good
It may now sound like the whole Summer Game Fest was a huge failure. I wouldn’t say that. It was just pretty hard to sift through the huge pile of stuff to find the few gems that are really interesting.
Dune: Awakening should be the highlight for anyone who doesn’t like anime. The game paints a world in which Paul Atreides does not exist and thereby opens up a super exciting narrative. A few other titles also looked exciting:
- Enotria, the Mediterranean soulslike, and Phantom Blade 0 sound like promising action RPGs
- Space Marine 2 may not be my favorite, but I see why one could get excited – I would too, if it weren’t about space marines
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 delivered an excellent trailer
- Even for New World, I have gotten really excited again due to the announced changes
However, the stars were – as is often the case – the indie studios. Here come some exciting horror games, adventures, and the secret star of the Summer Game Fest: Tears of Metal.
All in all, the Summer Game Fest 2024 was not bad. The obvious theme: “Just everything and a lot of it” was pretty well executed, every trailer was absolutely wild. Just next time it could be less anime. Even if colleague Jasmin Beverungen certainly sees it completely differently: The Summer Game Fest was a “feast for anime fans” and that’s exactly why… great
