At the start of June, I wrote about some of the announcements I’d like to see the video game industry make over the course of the month’s showcases. Now, we’re on the other end of reveal-filled events from Summer Game Fest, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, and Ubisoft, and looking back, I had a surprisingly high hit rate. Some leaks turned out to be true, while one pipe dream prediction did come to fruition. Now that the biggest video game showcases of the summer are over, I’m practicing a bit of humility by looking back at what I predicted to see just how right or wrong I was. While I was spot on about three picks, I made two big whiffs.
The re-emergence of Metroid Prime 4: Correct
I had hoped that this summer would finally be the one where we saw Metroid Prime 4 in action; thankfully, that ended up happening. To conclude the latest Nintendo Direct, Retro Studios gave us our first glimpse of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. The short but incredibly dense reveal trailer lived up to my expectations. It not only confirmed the title and release window but gave a look at gameplay as well. This first look indicates that Metroid Prime 4: Beyond will be one of the most graphically impressive Nintendo Switch games to date.
The gameplay looks faithful to older entries in the series but also seems like it can offer up some firefights on par with contemporary first-person shooters. While I was wrong in thinking that Metroid Prime 4: Beyond would be Nintendo’s big fall game, I don’t mind waiting because it looks so promising and titles like The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom will come out this fall instead.
Bioshock 4 finally gets unveiled: Incorrect
2K teased that it would “reveal the next iteration in one of 2K’s biggest and most beloved franchises” at Summer Game Fest this year, and I got my hopes up that the game in question would be Bioshock 4. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case, as Firaxis and 2K revealed Sid Meier’s Civilization VII instead. While I recognized that was possible going in — I even said as much in my predictions article — I couldn’t help but feel some disappointment.
2K was a little misleading with how it framed the announcement. A tease like “the next game from legendary designer Sid Meier” would’ve felt more fitting. For us to not get Bioshock 4 and then not even see any gameplay from Civilization VII was an underwhelming payoff. I do enjoy a good strategy game and lost hundreds of hours to Sid Meier’s Civilization V, though, so I hope Civilization VII’s gameplay reveal this August impresses. The full game will launch for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch in 2025.
A medieval-themed Doom game: Correct
As a fan of 2016’s Doom and Doom Eternal, I was hoping the rumors of a Doom game with medieval theming were accurate. Thankfully, they were, and Doom: The Dark Ages impressed when it was the first new game reveal of the Xbox Games Showcase this year. The brutal first-person shooter series made the transition to this new setting as smoothly as I hoped, and the reveal trailer showed some grisly weapons like a gun that mashes up and shoots bits of skulls and a shield that doubles as a chainsaw.
Doom: The Dark Ages‘ reveal trailer was frenetic, so I’m not sure if its level and encounter design will be as refined as puzzle-like as Doom Eternal. Regardless, I can’t wait to go hands-on with it, as few games match the feelings of utter satisfaction that an Id Software game can provide. Doom: The Dark Ages releases sometime in 2025 for PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PS5.
Horizon Zero Dawn gets the Lego treatment: Correct
Another leaked game also game to fruition: a Lego game set in the Horizon universe. I had become more skeptical of its existence following a no-show during May’s State of Play, but Geoff Keighley chose Lego Horizon Adventures as the game that would kick off the Summer Game Fest showcase this year. As someone who grew up being an avid fan of titles like Lego Star Wars, I am excited by the prospects of Guerrilla Games’ Horizon franchise getting the same treatment.
The reveal makes it clear that Sony truly considers Horizon one of its top-tier franchises and that it wants to ingrain the franchise in the hearts and minds of younger players. The fact that it’s also coming out on Nintendo Switch is another sign that Sony is opening up to the multiplatform approach Microsoft is currently taking. Lego Horizon Adventures will launch for PC, PS5, and Nintendo Switch before the end of 2024.
Mid-gen upgrades for the Xbox Series X and PS5: Incorrect
I’d hoped that over the course of this summer’s showcases, we’d see versions of the PS5 and Xbox Series X with upgraded hardware. That didn’t quite pan out. Despite lots of leaks, Sony is staying dead silent on the existence of what has colloquially become known as the PS5 Pro. If it does want to release that upgraded console this fall, it feels like the hardware would need to be announced soon. The slimmer PS5 wasn’t announced until October 2023, though, so there’s a chance we won’t know about the PS5 Pro until it’s about to be shipped to stores.
On the Xbox front, we did get some new hardware, although they’re alterations on existing models rather than upgraded consoles. We’re getting a 1TB Robot White Xbox Series S, a 2TB Galaxy Black Xbox Series X, and an all-digital version of the Xbox Series X that comes in white and has 1TB of storage. Phil Spencer heavily teased an Xbox handheld in an interview with IGN too. Although this summer was full of new gameplay reveals, it seems like we’ll have to stick to playing them on the base models for now.
