Summer Game Fest, State of Unreal, Xbox Games Showcase Highlights and More (Gaming News Roundup)

This week was a big one for the gaming industry with major announcements made out of a combination of in-person and digital events, including Summer Game Fest and IOI Showcase in Los Angeles, Unreal Fest in Orlando, and Xbox Games Showcase streaming live.

All of this occurred amid the Thursday release for the highly anticipated Nintendo Switch 2 console, creating an added layer of timeliness and excitement for gamers and the devs and execs catering to them.

Here’s a look back at some of the other gaming news you may have missed this week between the splashy announcements for “Resident Evil Requiem” and Xbox handheld gaming consoles.

NEW GAMES

“Atomic Heart 2” is in the works from developer Mundfish. Per the description, the “Atomic Heart” followup is “an action-adventure role-playing game that brings you back to a retrofuturistic universe, full of new dangers. The sequel features a living world rich with possibilities and places a heavy emphasis on story, role-playing elements, and player freedom. The story unfolds in an alternate-history world, with events now expanding to a global scale.”

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“The Cube” is a a new multiplayer RPG shooter set in the “Atomic Heart” universe.

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Drinkbox Studios (“Guacamelee!”) has revealed new Metroidvania Action-RPG “Blighted,” where players “battle their way through a psychedelic western nightmare to reclaim the memories of their people.”

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“Relooted” is an Africanfuturist heist game from South Africa-based developer Nyamakop (“Semblance.”)

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“ILL” is realistic first-person action horror game that takes you into a dark fort overtaken by a mysterious entity, per developers Mundfish and Team Clout. It’s “a grim story, unpredictable monsters, a visceral dismemberment system, and realistic physics create an atmosphere of relentless terror.”

FIRST LOOK/TRAILERS

Resolution Games and Hasbro’s Wizards of the Coast unveiled the gameplay trailer for “Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked.” The game is expected to launch later this year across platforms and is currently available for wishlisting in the PlayStation, Steam and Meta Horizon stores.

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A new trailer was released for Annapurna Interactive’s upcoming game “Mixtape.”

CASTINGS

PlaySide Studios and Fumi Games’ “MOUSE: P.I. For Hire” has cast video game acting legend Troy Baker as the 1930s noir-inspired, first-person shooter game’s lead character, Private Investigator Jack Pepper.

RELEASE DATES

Free-to-play extraction shooter “ARC Raiders” launches Oct. 30 from Embark Studios. The game, which challenges players to scavenge a broken world overrun by ARC machines and rival raiders — and build something lasting beneath it, will be available on PC via Steam and Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and NVIDIA GeForce Now.

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“Jurassic World Evolution 3” will debut Oct. 21 on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and is available to pre-order now. The game hails from Frontier Developments plc in collaboration with Universal Products & Experiences.