Samantha Lienhard's Blog, page 21

Bustafellows Season 2 Localization Confirmed At Last

PQube has been teasing Bustafellows Season 2 since last year, and this morning it finally came to fruition with the announcement that it will be localized in 2025.

Only the Steam page is up so far, but it will be localized for the Switch as well. A physical release for the Switch version has been confirmed, though there’s no word on a limited edition.

(PQube’s upcoming lineup also includes otome games Celestia: Chain of Fate and Genso Manège, idol games I*Chu: Chibi Edition and B-Project Ryusei*Fantasia, and visual novel SINce Memories: Off the Starry Sky, so they’ve certainly stepped forward when it comes to unexpected niche releases.)

There’s a Bustafellows panel scheduled for Anime Expo, so I thought they might announce localization there, but it looks like they wanted to handle the announcement first instead.

When I played Bustafellows last year, I praised its characters while criticizing the way the story and mystery were handled. At the time, the sequel wasn’t out in Japan yet, and I had my fingers crossed it would improve those areas. I liked the characters enough to buy the sequel for them, so here’s hoping I get my wish.

It is a great time to be an otome game fan, and 2025 is already looking good. Who knows what other announcements might come from Anime Expo, too? Aksys will be announcing new games, and Idea Factory is holding an event at the same time, so the chances of getting more otome localizations is pretty high.

A few days ago, eastasiasoft also announced an August 1 release date for Hakuoki: Chronicles of Wind and Blossom, which I almost blogged about except I was too busy rambling about Ace Attorney.

Yes, it’s a great time to be an otome fan… Now I just need to get my backlog under control! Are you looking forward to Bustafellows Season 2?

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Could Ace Attorney 7 Be Coming Soon?

I know what you’re thinking.

Another Ace Attorney post? The Ace Attorney Investigations Collection was just announced last week, with an Ace Attorney Investigations 2 localization after all this time, and I’m already speculating about Ace Attorney 7 again?

Yes, it would be logical to assume that with the Investigations duology on the horizon, we shouldn’t expect any other Ace Attorney news for quite a while.

But I’m not convinced.

In fact, the timing makes me wonder if Ace Attorney 7 might be closer than we think.

When you have a series like this, spacing out your releases makes sense. You want to give people time to buy and play the first one before you dangle another in front of them. So with the Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy having come out at the end of January, I would have expected the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection to come out early next year at best.

But it’s coming out this September. Less than 8 months after the previous Ace Attorney collection, the Investigations Collection will be available.

I’m not complaining; I’m delighted that it’s so close, but why do it that way? Spacing them out more would make more sense… unless there’s a new game on the horizon. Because you know what else is happening in September? The 2024 Tokyo Game Show, a prime candidate for where a new Ace Attorney game might be announced.

When I think of it like that, everything fits. They are building off the momentum from re-releasing games 4-6, with Ace Attorney 7 to be announced at TGS… but they want the whole series (except the crossover) on modern platforms first, so they’ve slotted Investigations into early September ahead of TGS. Heck, maybe Ace Attorney 7 will include Investigations characters, and so they specifically want it out first.

Either way, while the announcement of the Investigations Collection would normally make me temper my Ace Attorney 7 hopes for a while, its release date being so close has had the opposite effect instead.

We’re getting two Ace Attorney collections in the same year. That’s crazy! And what better reason to do that than if 2025 is set for the long-awaited return of the series with a brand-new game?

(On the other hand, my predictions of Capcom’s Ace Attorney behavior – “Capcom will localize Great Ace Attorney in 2023 when Sherlock Holmes enters public domain;” no, they called him Sholmes and released it in 2021; “Capcom won’t announce any Ace Attorney games until the Ghost Trick remaster is out;” no, they announced the Apollo Justice Trilogy a couple weeks before Ghost Trick’s release date; “Capcom will announce Ace Attorney 7 before an Investigations collection to build off the momentum from 4-6;” no, here we are with the Investigations Collection announced first – have pretty much all been wrong, so I might be entirely off-base again.)

What do you think? Will we get an Ace Attorney 7 announcement this year?

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Action RPG Rear Sekai Coming West as Elrentaros Wanderings

I recently saw the announcement that an action RPG called Elrentaros Wanderings would be coming to the West on August 16.

The name meant nothing to me, but I decided to watch the trailer.

The trailer looked pretty interesting, so I read more about the game… and realized we’ve actually talked about this one before!

Elrentaros Wanderings is the English title of Rear Sekai, the action RPG developed by the Rune Factory studio that we discussed last year. I would not have made the connection from the title, so I’m glad I looked into it.

At the time, we knew barely anything about it, but it’s since been released in Japan and now is on its way here, and the trailer has me intrigued.

The digital release is due out on August 16, but it’s also getting physical editions (standard, deluxe, and collector’s) on October 11.

It seems like Rear Sekai got a mixed reception in Japan, but I’m still curious about it. Are you interested in Rear Sekai – or rather, Elrentaros Wanderings?

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Every New Ace Attorney Investigations 2 Name We Know So Far

Yesterday, our hopes and dreams for the past 13 years came true when the Nintendo Direct included the announcement of the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection.

This means that when that collection comes out on September 6, we’ll finally have an official localization of Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor’s Gambit.

And with an official localization… comes official names, which has been causing no end of both amusement and arguments among fans who got used to the names from the popular fan translation.

I spoke about this briefly in yesterday’s blog post, but now let’s take a look at all the names currently revealed from the official Ace Attorney Investigations 2 localization.

The Ace Attorney Investigations Collection website gives us two right off the bat, listed under the main characters for Investigations 2.

Hakari Mikagami, whom the fan translation called Justine Courtney, now has the official localized name of Verity Gavèlle. I like this one a lot. It’s an elegant-sounding name, and it plays on the same court meanings without being as overt.

Tateyuki Shigaraki, dubbed Raymond Shields by the fan translation, is now Eddie Fender. This is the one I’m having the hardest time getting used to. I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s because the “a defender” pun is so blatant. Maybe it’s because I keep thinking of Freddy Fender. But like it or not, Eddie Fender is what we’ve got.

Moving away from the the list of characters, the gallery section provides us with one more, the name change that’s received the most attention from fans. Yumihiko Ichiyanagi, who was called Sebastian Debeste in the fan translation, is now officially known as Eustace Winner. And honestly… it’s growing on me. “Winner” feels a bit too on-the-nose, but it turns out it’s actually a real surname, and I can see him being a Eustace. It’s an adjustment, but it’s growing on me.

Next we need to take a look at the reveal trailer. At 1:12, a demonstration of the dialogue history shows a line in which Edgeworth mentions Di-Jun Wang. That character’s Japanese name is Teikun Ō, and the fan translation called him Di-Jun Huang. According to the wiki, Di-Jun Wang is the Mandarin Chinese reading of his Japanese name, while the fan translation then changed “Wang” to “Huang” to add an additional play on the word for “emperor.” This explains why the official name for him is so similar to the fan translation name, compared to the others.

Those are the only four new names we currently know in full. However, we have pieces of three more.

The reveal trailer also includes a scene at 2:02 in which Edgeworth is talking to a character named Knight and mentions two other characters, Ms. Lloyd and Mr. Rook.

Knight is Manosuke Naitou, who was called Horace Knightly in the fan translation. We have no clue what they’ve gone with for his first name yet, but it’s interesting that they simply went with the surname “Knight.”

Similarly, Rook is Gai Tojiro, who was Ethan Rooke in the fan translation. From Rooke to Rook, another choice that’s so close it almost seems like they didn’t have to change it at all.

And the character referenced as Ms. Lloyd matches up with the young journalist Mikiko Hayami, called Nicole Swift in the fan translation. While we haven’t seen her first name yet, the popular theory is that it will be Tabitha or Tabby to make her full name a play on “tabloid.” If that’s true, that’s a brilliant choice. I love it.

Those are all the new names I’ve been able to find. If you’ve spotted one that I missed – from an official source, not just people editing the wiki – let me know. It’s certainly going to feel strange seeing these new names after I played the fan translation just last year, but I’m so, so excited that this is even a conversation we’re having at all.

After all these years, Ace Attorney Investigations 2 is being localized. How do you feels about the character names revealed so far?

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Amazing Nintendo Direct Brings Mario & Luigi, Ace Attorney Investigations, and More!

WE WON!

And I’m not just talking about the obvious way that we “won” in this obsessed Ace Attorney fan’s eyes. Today’s Nintendo Direct was amazing from start to finish, and I’m still reeling over all the new games that were announced.

The Nintendo Direct started with, no joke, a new Mario & Luigi game. I’m stunned. After AlphaDream went bankrupt, I assumed the Mario & Luigi series was dead and gone. But Mario & Luigi: Brothership is due out on November 7.

First Super Mario RPG got a remake, then Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door got a remake, and now we’re getting a brand-new Mario & Luigi game?! Is this real life??

While I wasn’t crazy about the last game in the series, Paper Jam, this new one looks fantastic so far.

The next game shown was Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition, and then a new Fairy Tail game. I wasn’t too interested in that until I saw it was Fairy Tail 2 from Koei Tecmo, which means it’s another game developed by Gust. I picked up the first Fairy Tail solely because I enjoy Gust’s turn-based JRPGs, so I’m interested in this one now.

And then they announced… Fantasian! Yes! Ever since Fantasian appeared on SteamDB, I’ve been (im)patiently waiting for news of a port, and now it’s finally coming to PC and consoles this winter as Fantasian Neo Dimension!

I started it on Apple Arcade and enjoyed what I played, but I didn’t get very far since I don’t like playing games on a tablet as much. Its release is set for this winter, so I’m looking forward to that for sure!

(Mistwalker also filed a trademark for “Fantasian Dark Edge,” which has me wondering if that’s related to this or if it’s something new.)

Basketball was added to Nintendo Switch Sports, they revealed a beautiful metroidvania called MIO: Memories in Orbit, and announced new content for Disney Illusion Island. Next up was Hello Kitty Island Adventure (which actually looks cute enough to be tempting), Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports, and an update for Among Us.

The next game shown was Farmagia, so my criticism from the Marvelous Game Showcase that I still had no idea what sort of game it is has now been settled. It’s a farming game… where you farm monsters and lead them as an army?? I’m not sure if I’d enjoy it, but it’s unique enough that I’m intrigued.

Donkey Kong Country Returns is getting a new release on Switch as Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, and then we finally, finally got to see the HD-2D remake of Dragon Quest III again!

It looks absolutely beautiful, it’s due out on November 14, and they revealed at the end that Dragon Quest I & II are also being remade in HD-2D next year!

By this point, it was already an amazing Direct, but it could still get even better. Because after the announcement of a Funko Pop game called Funko Fusion and a new trailer for Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, they moved on to… Denpa Men???

I never thought I’d see the name Denpa Men again. Years ago, I tried a demo for a weird little game called The Denpa Men on the 3DS, in which you scanned QR codes or picked up wi-fi signals to recruit new characters. I enjoyed it enough that I intended to play the games, but I never got around to them. Nevertheless, I picked up The Denpa Men 3 before the eShop shut down. Now The New Denpa Men has been announced for July 22.

I’m a little nervous since it’s free-to-play, but I’m still so excited that of all things, The Denpa Men is back!

I was still buzzing about that when they showed Metal Slug Attack Reloaded and a new trailer for Darkest Dungeon II (which looks great, by the way), as well as new games coming to Nintendo Switch Online.

Then they announced Phantom Brave… no, not another re-release, but an all-new sequel called Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero planned for 2025! I have the first game as part of a collection, so I should really give it a try.

Classic games are being released in Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics, we’ve got a brand-new Mario Party on the way called Super Mario Party Jamboree set for October 17, and the next Legend of Zelda game isn’t anything I would have predicted!

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is coming out on September 26. It features chibi graphics, and the main character is actually Zelda. And instead of traditional gameplay, you learn how to copy different objects (or monsters!) and spawn them in the environment to solve puzzles and fight enemies. I was mildly interested at first, but the more they showed of the gameplay, the more interested I got. This looks really cool!

I was afraid the Breath of the Wild style would be the only style of Zelda game we’d get from now on, so I’m really excited to see this.

The next few games didn’t interest me as much: Just Dance 2025 Edition, Lego Horizon Adventures, Stray (though I do love cats, so I might play it one of these days), and Tales of the Shire, but then…

It was time.

Ace Attorney Investigations… and Ace Attorney Investigations 2, with a translation for the first time… are coming to modern platforms in the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection!

This is a momentous occasion. The third blog post I ever wrote, all the way back in 2012, was a my long and rambling attempt to muster up support for an Investigations 2 localization. I’ve had it on my list of E3 pipe dreams for years. After waiting over a decade, I finally gave up last year and played the fan translation, and now it’s finally, finally seeing an official release.

Now, they aren’t using the names from the fan translation, so this might take a bit getting used to. Eddie Fender and Eustace Winner are difficult for me to accept, although I actually like Verity Gavelle quite a bit.

Oh, and it’s coming out on September 6. September 6. That’s… really close, considering the Apollo Justice Trilogy just came out earlier this year. I expected them to space them out more than that. Maybe they do have Ace Attorney 7 ready to announce soon after all…?

Anyway, the next game shown was The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy, a game from the creators of Danganronpa and Zero Escape that looks very Danganronpa-esque aside from being a strategy RPG. In short, it looks pretty cool.

A full remake of Romancing SaGa 2 was announced, and then they closed out the Nintendo Direct with a new trailer for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. It just has a 2025 release window, but maybe by then I’ll have played the other Metroid Prime games.

So, this was an amazing Nintendo Direct. There were several “I can’t believe this is happening” announcements for me, along with a bunch of other great-looking games. Which announcements from the Nintendo Direct stood out to you the most?

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Thoughts on Dragon Age: The Veilguard After the Gameplay Reveal

When Dragon Age: The Veilguard was shown as part of the Xbox Games Showcase, I was not exactly thrilled.

In fact, I was pretty worried.

I’ve been worried about the next Dragon Age game for a while now, between the years of getting tiny teasers with no actual footage shown and all the people who have left BioWare since it’s been in development. I’m not crazy about the name change from “Dreadwolf” to “The Veilguard,” either.

(Also, I keep calling it Dragon Age: Veilguard by mistake since that sounds smoother to me.)

So when it finally got a full trailer, and the tone just didn’t feel like Dragon Age at all, the only thing I had left to cling to was the hope that it was just a bad trailer.

At least I didn’t have long to wonder. On Tuesday, they followed up the trailer with a 20-minute gameplay reveal.

Note: due to the nature of Veilguard’s story, the footage spoils a major reveal from Dragon Age Inquisition’s DLC.

The combat looks a bit more faster-paced even though in Inquisition, with a skill wheel to pull up for special abilities and no way to directly control party members. According to the official blog post about the gameplay reveal, the combat has “tactical depth” not shown in the video.

But what had bothered me the most in that trailer was the tone, and the tone in the gameplay reveal feels much more suitable for Dragon Age.

So this essentially restored me to my “nervous, yet cautiously optimistic” mindset.

Now, in an interview with IGN, BioWare confirmed that Veilguard is “a mission-based game,” with curated areas that do sometimes open up for “alternate branching paths, mysterious, secrets, optional content.”

One of my biggest criticisms when I played Inquisition was that it felt to me like the open world areas were entirely separate from the main quest. This sounds like it should avoid that. I’m hoping that its mission-based approach won’t go in the opposite direction and make it too linear, because I’d like to have a good amount of exploration along the way.

My other criticisms of Inquisition were related to the story, and that’s impossible to judge this early.

Once, a new Dragon Age game would have been one of my most hotly-anticipated titles. Now I’m just holding my breath hoping it doesn’t disappoint. At least my initial worries from the trailer have been calmed. But what do you think of what we’ve seen so far from Dragon Age: The Veilguard?

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Not-E3 2024 Part 6: Miscellaneous Highlights

Table of Contents

Guerilla Collective
Summer Game Fest
Devolver Direct
Wholesome Direct
Future Games Show
Xbox Games Showcase
PC Gaming Show
Ubisoft Forward
Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous Highlights

It doesn’t look like the Nintendo Direct will be held this week after all, so despite waiting a day or two just in case they announced it, I’ve decided to move onto the miscellaneous highlights from other showcase held throughout the “E3” period this year.

Basically, there were some additional showcases that I didn’t cover like the others (although in retrospect, I probably should have) but still watched to pick out some highlights.

For example, the Day of the Devs showcase held after Summer Game Fest had a couple interesting games, such as the GBA-inspired slice-of-life game Petal Runner and a psychological thriller called Karma: The Dark World.

Then one of the best announcements for me came in the Future of Play Direct, which showed a trailer for 3D metroidvania Abyss x Zero.

It looks really great, so I’m looking forward to that.

Nova Hearts looks interesting, as does A Date With Death. They also showed an interesting cat game called Copycat, although the story premise makes me worry it will be depressing. Slay the Princess: Pristine Cut also caught my attention.

Next, there was the Latin American Games Showcase. The games shown there include Game Boy inspired action-adventure game Glory Hunters and an adorable hidden object game called Hidden in My Paradise.

Runa & the Chaikuru Legacy also looks like it could be great.

Another game shown was a horror game called Curilemu, which looks pretty cool, and a point-and-click detective game called The Midnight Crimes.

Digital Exorcist looks pretty neat, and Mariachi Legends has such a great visual style that it stood out to me as well.

Now after that showcase, there was a Women-Led Games Showcase, and that gave us yet another detective game to add to the list (another animal detective game, at that), Albert Wilde: Quantum P.I.

So at the start of this Not-E3 season, I looked over all the scheduled conferences and picked the ones I saw as the “major” showcases to cover, while the rest would be saved for the miscellaneous post. In retrospect, I probably should have included the Latin American Games Showcase as one of the main ones, since it had more highlights than half the shows we covered!

(Oh, and Visions of Mana got a release date of August 29 along with a new trailer. Why that wasn’t included in one of the showcases, I can’t imagine, since it would have been a great addition.)

The Nintendo Direct is rumored for next week, so I’m eagerly looking forward to that. In the meantime, did any of these games stand out to you? Let me know in the comments!

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Not-E3 2024 Part 5: PC Gaming and Ubisoft Forward Highlights

Table of Contents

Guerilla Collective
Summer Game Fest
Devolver Direct
Wholesome Direct
Future Games Show
Xbox Games Showcase
PC Gaming Show
Ubisoft Forward

PC Gaming Show

After the Xbox Games Showcase yesterday, the PC Gaming show was held in the evening. I’ll be covering highlights for this one, since only a few games stood out to me across the two-hour show.

Wander Stars is a turn-based RPG in which you use words to fight, a unique enough idea that I’m intrigued.

Steel Seed had an interesting trailer, but it didn’t show enough for me to get an idea of what it was about. Meanwhile, the musical-based puzzle game Tempopo looks like it could be fun.

Action RPG Last Moon looks like it has potential, and every time I see another trailer for Demonschool, I get a little more interested in it. The rhythm-adventure game Unbeatable also looks interesting.

There was another trailer for Cat Quest III, too, and it’s adorable. That’s a series I definitely want to try.

Meanwhile, the latest trailer for Still Wakes the Deep looked interesting enough that I’m tempted to give it a chance after all. If it was from any other developer, I’d probably be talking about how I want to play it. It’s just that it’s from The Chinese Room, who previously made Dear Esther and Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, neither of which I was exactly crazy about. I haven’t played any of their games after those. Will this be the one I finally take a chance on?

The fantasy farming yokai game Tales of Seikyu also got a new trailer here. It was in one of the other recent showcases, and I have to admit it looks intriguing even though I’m not the biggest farming game fan.

All in all, the show didn’t have a lot of great announcements for me, but there were still some nice games shown.

Ubisoft Forward

Finally, our last showcase of Not-E3 2024 so far was Ubisoft Forward this afternoon. A pre-show began half an hour before the main show, but since its goal was to deliver updates on live service games, I didn’t watch.

I’m not the biggest Ubisoft fan, so once again I’m only going to cover the highlights. They began with an extended look at Star Wars Outlaws, and while I don’t think I’ll play it, I have to admit it looks good.

They also gave updates on the Prince of Persia series! Now as they were discussing DLC for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown and new content for The Rogue Prince of Persia, I couldn’t help but wonder if they were going to mention the Sands of Time remake at all or if it’s effectively dead.

And they did! It’s not dead after all! …It’s now planned for 2026 and got a short teaser trailer that showed basically nothing, so it really sounds like they must have restarted the whole thing.

A considerable portion of time was also given to Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Assassin’s Creed is one of those series where I find some aspects of it interesting but doubt I’d enjoy playing it, so I’ve never given them a try.

And that brings us to the end of Not-E3 2024, for now at least. I was hoping the Nintendo Direct would be tomorrow, but it looks like it won’t be. Of all the showcases so far, which have you enjoyed the most?

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Not-E3 2024 Part 4: Xbox Games Showcase

Table of Contents

Guerilla Collective
Summer Game Fest
Devolver Direct
Wholesome Direct
Future Games Show
Xbox Games Showcase
PC Gaming Show
Ubisoft Forward

Xbox Games Showcase

One of the biggest showcases of this year’s Not-E3 is the Xbox Games Showcase this afternoon. They started off with Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, a new Doom game called The Dark Ages, and State of Decay 3.

Then they showed a game I’ve been cautiously optimistic for, Dragon Age: The Veilguard (which used to be called Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, but they retitled it). And it looks… uh… well, let’s just say it did not restore any of my optimism. In fact, it diminished it. It doesn’t look bad exactly, but the tone doesn’t feel like Dragon Age to me.

I thought it was going to be a spin-off until the title appeared.

But maybe it’s just a trailer thing and it’ll look more promising the next time they show it. Anyway, from there we got to see new expansions for Starfield and Fallout 76, and then a surprise new game that ended up being my favorite announcement of the show.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 looks like an intriguing dark fantasy game, so I was already interested even before I saw it actually has turn-based combat. It looks really cool, so I can’t wait to see more from it.

The game South of Midnight, shown next, looks like it could be interesting as well.

They showed the next expansion for World of Warcraft, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater (the remake), and new stuff for Sea of Theives. You know, Snake Eater looks pretty great, so maybe someday I’ll actually get into those games since I have a bunch in my backlog.

Next up was Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, Age of Mythology Retold, and the upcoming new Perfect Dark game. After that was a new Diablo IV expansion and then another look at the next Fable game, which actually looks a lot more interesting to me than when they showed it before.

They showed a game called Fragpunk, a cute (and possibly sad) mouse game called Winter Burrow, a game called Mixtape, and then Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024.

Then they announced a game that took me by surprise: a new Life is Strange game, Life is Strange: Double Exposure, but the real surprising part is that it’s about Max again! I did not expect them to make a sequel following Max, and the fact that this one is a murder mystery on top of that has me more interested in the series than I have been for years.

The upcoming Indiana Jones game looks like it could be cool, although I’m not crazy about the gameplay. A mech game called Mecha Break, which was in one of the showcases the other day, was shown here as well.

The action RPG Wuchang: Fallen Feathers also looks pretty cool.

That was the last game in the showcase that interested me, since the rest – Avowed, Atomfall, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Stalker 2, and Gears of War: E-Day – aren’t really my sort of thing. They followed that with a longer look at Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, but I didn’t tune in.

There were definitely some great announcements at the Xbox Games Showcase, but I’m already looking ahead to hope the Nintendo Direct is soon. But while that’s up in the air, we’ve still got the PC Gaming Show tonight and Ubisoft Forward tomorrow. Stay tuned!

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Not-E3 2024 Part 3: Wholesome Direct and Future Games Show

Table of Contents

Guerilla Collective
Summer Game Fest
Devolver Direct
Wholesome Direct
Future Games Show
Xbox Games Showcase
PC Gaming Show
Ubisoft Forward

Wholesome Direct

Our look at Not-E3 2024 continues today with the Wholesome Direct. Now they always go through a huge number of indie games, so once again, I’ll be pointing out some highlights and you can check out the full showcase to see the rest.

There were a lot that didn’t especially stand out to me this year (lots of building games), but I did find the montage of games for the miniature Playdate handheld console interesting.

And sometimes, even if you aren’t planning to play a game, you still have to give it a shout-out. That’s the case with Squeakross: Home Squeak Home, which is such a great title that I just have to mention it.

Ila: A Frosty Glide looks neat, and the blocky art style especially made it stand out to me.

Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge and Usagi Shima both are cute games that I believe we’ve discussed before, and Moonstone Island also looks great even though I don’t know if I’d enjoy it (open world).

It feels strange to end there, like I should be highlighting a lot more games, but those were the main ones that caught my attention this year.

Future Games Show

Now, there were a few smaller showcases in between (and ironically I saw several interesting games there that I’ll mention in the miscellaneous segment at the end of Not-E3), and then it was time for the Future Games Show. I’ll be covering highlights for this one as well, so check out the full showcase to see the rest.

I’ve gotten to see a few detective games to add to my list, including two from this showcase: Nobody Wants to Die and Detective Dotson. These two couldn’t be more different in terms of style, but I’ll be keeping my eye on them both.

Sword of the Necromancer: Resurrection seems interesting, and there was also a Souls-like action RPG called The Relic: First Guardian that looks cool.

We also got to see another detective game called The Operator, so I’ll add that to the list to keep in mind.

I was also very surprised to see Deliver Us Home, from the creators of Deliver Us the Moon and Deliver Us Mars. Now I enjoyed Deliver Us the Moon a lot, but I haven’t gotten around to Deliver Us Mars, but the main reason it startled me is because I thought I remembered that developer going under. It turns out that what I remembered was them laying off the entire studio, with the founders staying on to fund the third game via Kickstarter.

Which… seems a little odd to me. Is that just me?

Anyway, SacriFire got another trailer, and it looks so good. I really hope it lives up to how good its trailers are.

I was also intrigued by Eternal Strands, an impressive-looking action-adventure game, and The Casting of Frank Stone. (While I have no interest in Dead By Daylight, this being more of an Until Dawn style narrative game has my interest.)

That’s it for today, but we have another big showcase coming up tomorrow with the Xbox Game Show and then the PC Gaming Show as well after that. Stay tuned!

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