While the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 has been on the minds of many, Summer Game Fest (SGF) 2025 also recently took place, and many games showcased at the event left a lasting impression on us. Along with opportunities to get hands-on with Pragmata, Dying Light: The Beast, and Mixtape, we also saw the first-ever gameplay for Onimusha: Way of the Sword and the recently announced Resident Evil Requiem.
There were so many games to check out at the show, including a variety of standouts from the Day of the Devs collective, so we’ve once again made a list of the amazing games at Summer Game Fest. However, I’d be remiss not to say that the timing of this event coincided with an extremely troubling period for not just the video game industry but also for the United States of America itself, which affected the mood – and even the attendance numbers of developers – at the event. With that, here’s our rundown of the most exciting games we saw during SGF 2025.
Our favourite 14 games of SGF
Pragmata
Capcom’s upcoming sci-fi shooter, Pragmata, has been a bit of a strange game ever since its announcement and subsequent disappearance in 2023. But SGF 2025 was finally the time for people to not only see it again but get their hands on it for the first time – and I’m so happy to say that Pragmata ended up being one of the biggest surprises at the show.
Focusing on the bond between a cosmonaut and a child android who can hack rogue machines, they team up to survive within an isolated lunar base and attempt to make it back to Earth. It presents a strange yet surprisingly satisfying mix of third-person shooting and real-time puzzle gameplay.
The main hook with combat is that you have to lower enemy shields by hacking them before unloading your shots into them. Its blend of combat, traversal, and puzzle gameplay was a surprising twist for this game, but what I truly appreciated most about Pragmata was that it felt like a souped-up 2000s-era Japanese-developed action game, much like Capcom’s PN-03. It’s such an unusual action game, but it’s one that I just couldn’t help but enjoy.
Shinobi: Act of Vengeance
Developer Lizardcube has been on my radar ever since I played Streets of Rage 4, which was an exceptional revival of the classic Sega beat-em-up series. Thankfully, their next revival project – Shinobi: Act of Vengeance – hits all the right beats for its attempt at renewing the classic 2D experience of being a super ninja that strikes down every foe in sight. Act of Vengeance is a slick and exciting blend of a metroidvania and an action-brawler, and once I hit a flow state, I was clearing out enemies pulling off “shinobi executions” with ease. The demo I played at SGF not only gave the classic Shinobi gameplay some fantastic upgrades, but it’s also flat-out stunning to see in action.
Relooted
I was sold on Relooted as soon as I heard about its concept. Essentially, it’s an action-parkour-heist game that sees a squad plan and pull off capers to retrieve stolen African artefacts from the wealthy and powerful. It’s an exciting and stylish game, but also poignant in its focus on rectifying colonialism and reclaiming your heritage.
Relooted is an interesting game because it presents its concept not only as a fun dive into Afro-Futurism, but also educates players on real-world figures and artefacts, adding context and motivation to make the heists happen. Once you’ve scoped the site and placed your teammates at their marks, it all comes to an exciting finish as you swipe the artefacts and make that exciting rush out to the exit with the goods. It’s not just fun to pull off the exit plan, but also stealing back what belongs to others. It just felt satisfying to see it come together – Relooted is cool stuff.
Resident Evil Requiem
It’s hard to believe that we’re now approaching 10 years since the release of Resident Evil VII, which marked the beginning of the Resident Evil series’ major refresh as a survival horror experience. With the announcement of Resident Evil Re: Verse (also known as RE9), we’re seeing the third game in the new survival horror saga, but this time, it brings the focus back to what horrors remain in the infamous Raccoon City.
During a special private showcase at SGF, we got to see Requiem in action. In the demo, we saw new protagonist Grace Ashcroft – daughter of Alyssa Ashcroft from the cult-favorite Resident Evil Outbreak – make a daring escape within a seemingly abandoned hospital. In true survival horror fashion, Grace had to evade a grotesque monster stalking her from the ceilings of the hospital. So far, Requiem appears to be a more advanced version of the immersive survival horror found in recent core entries of the series. With the option to play in both first-person and third-person perspectives, the upcoming RE game seems poised to offer the most developed and ambitious take on the modern classic horror series.
WuChang: Fallen Feathers
There have been so many games trying to follow in the footsteps of Elden Ring, Lies of P, and Black Myth: Wukong. These types of games want to be Souls-influenced, yet most tend to fall short of reaching those heights. However, WuChang: Fallen Feathers so far shows some solid promise as a game that is very much Souls-inspired, but takes its own direction by focusing on a pirate’s quest through a corrupted world inspired by Chinese folklore.
Exploring it at SGF, the core action focuses on being adept at evading and overpowering enemy defences with your magic and arsenal of weapons, and I really came to appreciate the game’s emphasis on fighting with grace, utilising perfect dodges to get the best of enemies – even as the game’s challenge can feel insurmountable at times. I still have a soft spot for Souls-likes even when there are so many of them these days, but I can’t help but be excited for another potentially solid action RPG with some grit.
Exoborne
Exoborne is an extraction shooter that aims to empower a squad of players to feel powerful enough to tear through rival players and rogue AI machines, while still feeling overwhelmed by the rise of violent weather events on the battlefield. Armed with a variety of weapons and powerful exo-rigs, your squad will have to traverse through the landscape to secure loot, complete missions, and secure an exit.
Exoborne focuses on suspenseful action, as the developers call it – offering up some action that strikes a balance between being cool and super tense. With a focus on reducing downtime, Exoborne could be the kind of change of pace that the extraction shooter genre needs these days.
Mixtape
The developers of Mixtape have a special fondness for American films and pop culture from the 1990s, and they wanted to translate that into a new type of adventure game that embodies the vibes of the era. From my brief hands-on with the game at SGF, which opened with Devo’s That’s Good playing over the teens skating down a busy road, I think it certainly nailed the tone it was aiming for.
As a group of friends have their final hangout together before heading into adulthood, they reminisce about their first kisses – with what I think is the first-ever French kissing mini-game – and get into some raucous fun, like escaping the police on a shopping cart. Mixtape feels like a heartfelt tribute to the 90s but a fun jaunt into the dangerous and exciting days of being a young adult during that era. I’m eager to see more of what’s in store for these young adults on the verge of adulthood.
Onimusha: Way of the Sword
I love that developer/publisher Capcom has been killing it in recent years, and one of the great outcomes of that is seeing classic games being given new life. Another game from Capcom’s library making a comeback is Onimusha, which is getting a reboot that aims to deliver a new type of samurai action game. Alongside Resident Evil Requiem, we got to see a demo at SGF focusing on protagonist Musashi Miyamoto, using his heightened sword fighting skills to put a stop to a demon invasion across Ancient Japan.
While the classic Onimusha games were deeply rooted in the formula of Resident Evil games, Onimusha: Way of the Sword takes its own path, focusing on executing critical strikes against enemies and exploring a corrupted world. Way of the Sword is not quite Souls-like, but it does look inspired by that style of gaming that aims to deliver methodical and measured action. Many of the hallmarks of the series, such as the orb-sucking gauntlet, satisfying sword strikes, demonic weapons, and the distinct visual style that blends ancient Japan with demonic horrors, are all intact.
However, with the benefit of modern technology, Way of the Sword showcases Onimusha with a renewed sense of realism in its storytelling and combat, which made me excited to see this revival in action. The brief demo I saw at SGF showcased some fantastic action that’s both impressive and spectacular, and it immediately shot to the top of my list of most anticipated games coming next year.
Crimson Desert
Just watch a single trailer for Pearl Abyss’ Crimson Desert and you’ll immediately see how ambitious the devs are with the game. As an open-world action game set during a period of war, you’ll play as Kliff, an adventurer and vagabond who utilises a variety of weapons, magic skills, and open-world traversal skills to defend the land from danger. The game’s scope and depth of activities is immense, and I was continually surprised by what sort of situations the game will call up.
During the demo at SGF, we engaged in a war between factions. It began with setting up siege cannons and then diving into battle against dozens of enemies rushing towards me. The battle culminated in a rush against a warlord who uses dark magic, and I had to use my own spells to grab demolished pillars and use them as clubs to take out the boss.
It’s a game that continually one-ups itself with its spectacle. At face value, the game adopts a kitchen-sink approach to its gameplay pillars – a massive open world in the vein of Breath of the Wild, The Witcher 3-style combat, and even Dragon’s Dogma-esque battles. However, after spending a considerable amount of time with the game, I can’t help but admire the sheer confidence in Crimson Desert, and it’ll be interesting to see how far the game will take its heightened spectacle of open-world action.
Dying Light: The Beast
I would personally say that the Dying Light series from developer Techland has delivered the most thrilling and action-packed take on the zombie apocalypse that I’ve ever played. Its pacing and freedom of traversal within an open city give it such a unique approach to the experience of surviving a city full of infected monsters. With the upcoming Dying Light: The Beast, which returns to the original game’s style and focuses on returning protagonist Kyle Crane (voiced by Roger Craig Smith once again), it’s very much a back-to-basics approach to the series after the RPG-style narrative of the sequel. My hands-on with the game at SGF proved that the core action and smooth parkour movement hold up quite well.
In my chat with Tymon Smektala, franchise director for Dying Light, he expressed that The Beast is the best Dying Light game they have ever made. I’m still waiting to play the final game for a full assessment, but the inclusion of new beast powers that amplify Kyle even further does make the case for this game being one of the most unique entries in the series.
Snap & Grab
Snap & Grab from developer No Goblin is what you get when you mix Carmen Sandiego and her globetrotting escapades with the photography gameplay of Pokemon Snap. As a heist puzzle-adventure game, you need to plan out a series of perfect scores by scoping out the scene and using your photographic eye to find opportunities. It’s a hyper-stylised 80s-set heist puzzle game that channels the style of Miami Vice, and it has a strong aesthetic that lends clever photography gameplay a cool sense of excess. Snap & Grab is loaded with personality and style, and I can’t wait to see more of it.
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Marvel Cosmic Invasion
I have a soft spot for beat ’em-ups, especially those from the SNES and Sega Genesis era. 2022’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge really hit the spot in delivering a 16-bit style beat-up while also advancing the simple yet exciting gameplay of the modern era. Thankfully, developer Tribute Games Inc. has another beat-up coming with Marvel Cosmic Invasion, which brings the Marvel heroes and villains on their own side-scrolling adventure.
It leans into the same gameplay style from Shredder’s Revenge, but taking a cue from Marvel vs Capcom, Cosmic Invasion adds in the ability to tag in-and-out fighters at will. At SGF, my game partner and I picked Spider-Man, Nova, Captain America, and Wolverine as our fighters, and it led to some truly chaotic and exciting brawls against alien invaders. It felt satisfying and just plain fun to tear through enemies, and with more characters yet to be announced, I’m already thinking about what sort of team-ups I can have with the game.
Mouse: P.I. For Hire
A couple of years ago, Mouse: P.I. For Hire went viral when the developers showed a proof-of-concept video featuring an old-school FPS game with the visual style of 1930s animated cartoons. It’s essentially Who Framed Roger Rabbit by way of Goldeneye, and it’s such a cool concept. Thankfully, the full game is coming together nicely, and at SGF I got to see a full-level demo by the developers. Playing as the titular mouse private eye, Jack Pepper (voiced by Troy Baker), you’ll explore the seedy underbelly of a city full of gangsters and fascists looking to take control.
Seeing Mouse in action was wild, and I was very impressed with the detail of the “rubber-hose” animation as the various characters moved about and prepared for action. The arsenal of weapons always makes the FPS, and P.I. For Hire showcases a really excellent selection of cartoon weapons that move and bob around when you pull the trigger. What I dug most about Mouse: P.I. For Hire is that the world feels like it’s alive and in motion. I loved the energy I saw with this throwback cartoon shooter, and I’m hoping there are more wacky antics in store with the full game.
Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree
Just announced at SGF 2025, Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree was a pleasant surprise and one of the most wholesome action roguelites I’ve played in ages. Inspired by Japanese folklore, you take control of a band of guardians seeking to protect a sacred tree and the surrounding community that’s come under attack by demons.
By utilising each guardian’s skills and forming greater bonds with them, you’ll be able to build up a fighting crew that will tear through enemies. But what I liked most about the game at SGF is that it feels like a counter to the usually dour and bleak roguelite action RPGs that are out there. It’s such a colourful and uplifting world to explore, and I found a lot to like with this one.
