E3 season kicked off with a bang thanks to Geoff Keighley and Summer Game Fest.

On Thursday, Geoff Keighley (video game advocate, host, and generally nice guy) treated audiences to the 2nd annual Summer Game Fest. The E3 alternative has reduced it’s footprint this year, opting to distill it’s news into one, 90 minute presentation as opposed to spreading announcements across several weeks. The show was absolutely packed with announcements for new games, new modes and features for existing games, and even new development studios. While I can’t cover everything shown, here are the highlights from Summer Game Fest 2021.

Elden Ring

At last! Hidetaka Miyazaki’s latest open world epic has re-revealed itself in epic fashion! Closing out the show, Keighley dropped a new trailer you have to see to believe. Elden Ring appears to be everything that was rumored and much more. The vast open world combined with Miyazaki’s classic souls combat and art design looked absolutely incredible. The trailer shows the player taking on the role of a “tarnished” and having to deal with all sorts of malformations you might expect From Software to deliver. Fans have been patiently waiting, but it won’t be much longer. Bandai Namco revealed a January 21st, 2022 will release for PC, PS4/PS5, Xbox SeriesX|S and Xbox One.

Death Standing: Director’s Cut

Hideo Kojima surprised fans with a short, pre-recorded interview with Keighley toward the top of the show. With rumors swirling that Kojima might be working with Microsoft exclusively for his next game, fan interest was piqued. After a tease, Kojima revealed that he did, indeed, have “one more thing” to show. The PlayStation logo quickly appeared and then we see Sam Porter Bridges, the antagonist for Death Stranding. At first it appears to be a simple DLC announcement, but fans quickly picked up on the fact that the trailer was made in a Metal Gear Solid style. After Sam considers hopping inside a cardboard box for stealth cover, he decides against it, opting to place the box back on the shelf with the box itself reading “HANDLED WITH LOVE”. The trailer closes with the title screen, “Death Stranding: Director’s Cut”, coming to PS5. Was this PlayStation’s way of teasing a future MGS project in the works or was it simply Kojima’s way of saying “take care of the franchise” (which also could suggest Konami is finally moving on with MGS without Kojima). It’s a cryptic message in typical Kojima fashion, so I suppose we’ll have to wait “a few weeks” as Keighley said to see more about this game – a potential tease for a July State of Play.

Tiny Tina’s Wonderland

2K Games and Gearbox Software revealed a brand new game in the Borderlands universe, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands. The short cinematic teaser didn’t show much, but we did see a giant fantasy world and a star-studded voice cast with the likes of Andy Samberg, Wanda Sykes, Will Arnett, and Ashley Burch. The game will be out in early 2022 and will land on PC, PS4/PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One. Check out the trailer right here.

The Anacrusis

The Anacrusis is a 4 player cooperative FPS coming exclusively to Xbox platforms and Game Pass. Developed by Stray Bombay, The Anacrusis invoked heavy Left 4 Dead vibes albeit on an intergalactic starship instead of corn fields. Promising a Fall 2021 release, The Anacrusis looks very promising. Check out the trailer right here.

Planet of Lana

“A water painting come to life” as Keighley explains, Planet of Lana is a game from a brand new Swedish developer, Wishfully. This 2D side-scrolling adventure sees a young girl and her loyal friend set off on a grand odyssey with gameplay evocative of a Playdead developed game (Limbo or Inside). Outside of Elden Ring this was my personal game of the show and one I’ll certainly be keeping an eye on. Planet of Lana is set to release for PC and Xbox platforms in 2022.

Deviation Games

In this era of studio acquisitions and exclusive partnerships, platform holders are always eager to add another card to their deck. Enter the newly minted Deviation Games and PlayStation. Deviation Games is a brand new development house headed up by former Treyarch leads, Dave Anthony and Jason Blundell. Known for their Call of Duty: Black Ops games (and more specifically the zombies mode from those titles) the pair aim to bring a fresh multiplayer experience exclusively to PlayStation. Not much else was announced at the time, so we’ll just have to keep our eyes peeled for what Sony and Deviation Games have cooking.

There were a lot more announcements at Summer Game Fest 2021, but these were just a few of the highlights that caught our eye. Was there something that’s got you jazzed that we missed? Sound off in the comments and let us know what has you excited from Summer Game Fest ’21.