The final part of Monday’s E3 extravaganza was the Future Games Show, a sponsored conference typically filled with indie titles and console-focused games. This year had its own range of eye-catching titles, including the New Zealand Dino Crisis spiritual successor, Instinction.
Instinction showed off more concept art and in-engine footage than we’d seen previously, giving everyone a better look at player models, some of the weapons and different dinosaur models.
Instinction was originally targeting a Q3 2022 release date, but the latest trailer didn’t mention a release date.
More details about Jurassic World Evolution 2 followed, with developer Rich Newbold explaining the game would have four modes including a campaign set after the events of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Flying and marine reptiles are a new feature, and we also got a look at some of the pre-alpha, in-engine footage from Jurassic World Evolution 2‘s species guide videos.
A Tale of Paper, Get Packed, Riftbreaker, Gamedec, Gatewalkers, TriFox, Timberborn, Beacon Pines and Backbone then all had quick-fire introductions. Each of the games have demos available now through Steam, with Backbone having launched just the other week.Some of the games have some fascinating aesthetics: Beacon Pines has a great storybook look, while Timberborn is a city builder about making a society for beavers. Hack-and-slash Riftbreaker — also one of the few games to support ray-tracing for AMD cards directly — looks like a fun enough aRPG, while Gamedec is a cool isometric murder-mystery with some fascinating mechanics.
The Aussie lead developer behind Hell Let Loose then appeared to walk players through the 100-player WW2 shooter, which has sold more than 1 million copies during early access so far.
The game is leaving early access on July 27, which is when the Soviets will be added as an official force. Hell Let Loose is also getting a next-gen console release sometime this year.
Next up was Red Solstice 2, which launches on June 17. It’s a real-time tactical game with support for up to 8 players, building on the twin-stick co-op gameplay from the original The Red Solstice.
Lake, a story set in the ’80s as someone who leaves their big city job to deliver mail in their hometown, then followed. It’s a chill adventure that’s launching September 1 on Xbox and PC (Epic/Steam).
Eldest Souls is a pixellated Souls-like out on July 29. The official announce trailer didn’t feature any gameplay, but you can get a much better look at how it plays through the Steam page. It’s pitched as a “Boss-Rush Souls-like experience”.
Enlisted, another realistic-esque WW2 shooter, followed. This looks more action-oriented than Hell Let Loose; the game’s available through Enlisted.net, and doesn’t have a listing on Steam. It’s on next-gen consoles as well.After a quick montage of 8 games including Dice Legacy, Gestalt Steam & Cinder, the paper-esque Iron Corbo: Kung Fu Janitor, Definitely Not Fried Chicken, Ranch Sim, the quirky Schim and more footage of Silt, SEGA demoed new gameplay from Sonic Colours Ultimate.
Sonic Colours Ultimate hits all platforms on September 7.
Next up was a management sim where you look after a space station: Starmancer. This has been floating around for a while, and it’s got some interesting tower defence elements. It launches in early access on August 5.
Keywe is a cute co-op puzzler where you play as two kiwi birds working at a post-office.
You stamp envelopes with your butt.
That is all.
Next up was DeathRun TV, a roguelike themed around a gameshow with a look that gave me cartoon Smash TV vibes. There’s some interesting elements where the audience can vote on what powerups you get.
A pilot episode is playable on Steam now.
More gameplay of the RPG survival horror game Chernobylite followed. This is available through Steam now in early access — it’s been out for a couple of years, and the reception has been pretty decent. Think STALKER vibes.
Team17 then played a montage trailer of their upcoming titles, which includes Hell Let Loose, Super Magbot, Hokko Life and King of Seas. After that, we got some gameplay from the gorgeous stop motion classic Harold Halibut, which featured in the Tribeca E3 showcase earlier in the week.
Happy Game was next after that. It’s a narrative platformer where a boy falls into a nightmare, and you’re tasked with getting them out of whatever hell they dropped into. It’s launching on PC, Switch and Mac this spring.
Next up is the hand-drawn puzzle platformer, Minute of Islands. It’s launching on Steam today, and you control a young female mechanic as she works to repair her world. It’s got a great high contrast comic-book style, and it’s from the same studio behind The Inner World and Lost at Sea.
New Olli Olli World gameplay followed, reminding me that I keep forgetting how gorgeous this game looks. The company’s developer announced that the game will have an easier onboarding experience for those frustrated with the difficulty of the original. Grabs, wallriders, split routes and new tricks are all part of Olli Olli World, if you’ve got the dexterity among your digits to chain all those tricks together.
Olli Olli World is hitting all major platforms, Switch included, sometime in the Australian summer.David Jaffe then appeared to introduce Lust From Beyond, the M-rated version of a H.P. Lovecraft inspired erotica game.
XSEED then dropped a montage trailer of their upcoming titles, including Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed, Shadowverse: Champion’s Battle, Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town, Rune Factory 4 Special, and the 2022 release of Rune Factory 5.
Batora: The Lost Haven followed. It’s a twin-stick aRPG where you have two health bars, one for your body and another one for your mind. You can switch between mental and physical modes on the fly, which is designed to let you exploit the abilities’ of different enemies.
Two-Point Campus provided another developer update, while the developer of Project Ferocious then appeared to introduce his game. There’s with military soldiers taking on other military forces in a jungle environment that has its own dinosaurs. The game’s targeting a 2023 release date, with a launch on PC, PlayStation and Xbox.Conway: Disapperance at Dahlia View then rolled with what you’d describe as a very distinct look. You’re a character in a wheelchair who looks at the events of the town nearby through a camera. It sounds like an interesting narrative told from a very uncommon lens, watching your neighbours and learning from a perspective that’s often not told.
Last cab off the rank was Immortality, the latest adventure from Sam Barlow, writer and creator behind Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Her Story, and Telling Lies.
Immortality is about the story of a film star who appeared in three films that never released, and disappeared. We don’t know much about the gameplay or main hook, but the writing talent is pretty powerful:
That was the end of the Future Games Show and scheduled broadcasts for Monday, although the hosts noted that the Future Games Show would be back in August for another run. It was left there to give everyone a day to recover, with Take-Two, two indie showcases, Capcom and Razer on the cards for tomorrow’s conferences.
This post is being updated live.
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