Shack Chat: What was your favorite announcement at Summer Game Fest?

Greetings, folks. We're back with another Shack Chat this week, and the question is a no-brainer given the time of year. It's E-Week this week, followed by E6 next week. Video game announcements, news, and trailers are flowing through our screens at a non-stop pace, not the least of which were the games shown off during Summer Game Fest 2022 hosted by Geoff Keighley. This week, we want to know which announcement from Summer Game Fest 2022 was your favorite, and we've included our own picks for you to dig into.

Question: What was your favorite announcement at Summer Game Fest?

For those that need a refresher, we've got a Summer Game Fest wrap-up article for you to browse through, then do us a solid and let us know in the Chatty comments below what your pick is for your favorite Summer Game Fest 2022 announcement.

Six-player Turtles? WHAT? - Ozzie Mejia, Senior Ninja

What's amazing about the hype cycle for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge is that we've had a general idea for months of what exactly this game is. There shouldn't have been anything about this that really surprised us. Yet, somehow, the Geoff Keighley show managed to pack in a whopping three surprises. First, the playable Casey Jones (which I'll let others here touch on), then the sudden release date. Oh snap, it's out next week!

The one I want to focus on is the six-player local and online play! Six players means we're going back farther than the Turtles' heyday. We're now diving into X-Men arcade territory, which is hallowed ground that's rarely ever explored. I'm stoked to see if Dotemu and Tribute Games can stick the landing on this and I'm happy to see that I won't have to wait long to find out.

Goat Simulator 3 - Donovan Erskine, The G.O.A.T.

The original Goat Simulator was one of the first gems I found on Game Pass, and I’m not ashamed to say I sunk hours into that game just screwing around, wrecking stuff in ways that only a goat can. I already know that Coffee Stain is going to give me a million more silly ways to cause chaos and I’m dying to see what they have in-store. Also, the Dead Island 2 spoof was hilarious and made for the best trailer of the day.

Flashback 2 - Blake Morse, Co-EIC

This was quite the pleasant and unexpected surprise for me. I am a big fan of the original Flashback and have fond memories of playing it on the Sega Genesis as a kid. While the game’s rotoscoped animation would probably seem crude by today’s standards it was mind blowing at the time. And the sci-fi plot struck a chord with me with its mix of influences like Total Recall, They Live and Blade Runner. There was a remaster done a few years back, and the game technically had two sequels already, but those apparently didn’t count since we’re getting Flashback 2 a whopping 30 years after the original debuted. 30 years?!?! Damn, I’m old…

Routine - Sam Chandler, It’s been 84 years

I remember seeing Routine way back when it was first revealed about 10 years ago. I figured the devs had abandoned the title when there were no updates posted for years and the team went radio silent. A lot of good games suffer that fate. But it looks like Routine lives and stays true to the sci-fi horror it sold me back in 2012. I can't wait to experience some scares!

Fort Solis - Bill Lavoy, Moving to Mars

There were a few very cool announcements and trailers at Summer Game Fest 2022, including those that my colleagues have called out in this week’s Shack Chat. I’m going to go with For Solis as my favorite announcement, though. It looks cool, and it features a great group of actors with Julia Brown, Troy Baker, and Roger Clark. If you’re looking to tell a cool story in a game, that’s not a bad cast to do the job.

TMNT Shredder’s Revenge - TJ Denzer, this week the “T” stands for “Turtles”

I knew it. I knew that it would only be a matter of time before Dotemu and Tribute Games came through and revealed Casey Jones as a playable character in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge. How could you not after revealing that the impeccable April O’Neil and Master Splinter would be playable? Nonetheless, I was thrilled with all of the reveals for Shredder’s Revenge. Up-to-6-player co-op? Yes, please. Online and offline local play? Mmmmhm. June 16 release date?! Whaaaaat?! Wild. We’ve all been so ready for this game and it’s so close now. I cannot wait to show people why Mikey is the top-tier turtle.

Nightingale - Steve Tyminski, Stevetendo show host, Crafting makes me feel good!

The Summer Games Fest, otherwise known as the “Summer of Geoff Keighley” has come and gone. It started off slow for the Stevetendo show host you know and love but about half way in, it started to show the type of games I like to play. Seeing a release date for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge as well as Casey Jones being playable was great to see. The Dotemu folks did a nice job keeping that under their shell at PAX East this year. I am also keeping an eye out on the HoyoVerse games, Zenless Zone Zero and Honkai: Star Rail. That being said, the announcement that I think was my favorite from the presentation was Nightingale. I didn’t know anything about this game prior to the show and now I want to know more.  Craft to survive in this game where you will need to figure out how to travel the different locations. It’s nice to see games get announced that you weren’t expecting in presentations like Summer Games Fest.

The Callisto Protocol - Dennis White

Check out some more of the first looks at gameplay from #TheCallistoProtocol hitting PC and consoles Dec 2nd, 2022 #SummerGameFest pic.twitter.com/KkicLEOKQa

— Shacknews (@shacknews) June 9, 2022

I’m going to avoid going for Street Fighter again this week (Guile is pretty cool even with a beard). The Callisto Protocol looks like the mixture of fun action and eerie space horror that I am totally down for. It’s also a pretty big game that is actually releasing this year at a time where it seems like every major title is getting delayed or hit with a 2023 date. Bringing out the devs to talk about the experience of building this game and wanting to live up to the hype behind what they’ve created really made me want to root for these folks to succeed. With a December release date, there is a chance that this creepy title becomes one of the last games to make it onto our Game of the Year list at the buzzer.

Casey Jones in TMNT - Asif Khan, Hero in a half shell

While the Summer of Geoff certainly had a lot of tremendous reveals and trailers, I have to say that the Casey Jones announcement was absolutely wonderful. He is one of my favorite characters in the TMNT franchise, and the news was paired with even more information like the game featuring 6-player co-op! Talk about turtle power!

Metal: Hellsinger - Morgan Shaver, Shreddin’

I was extremely excited to see a release date announcement for Metal: Hellsinger at Summer Game Fest as Metal: Hellsinger is currently one of my most anticipated releases for 2022. Having done a preview for it, I already know the game is right up my alley, and adding to the exciting release date is the news that a public demo is now live. So now, I can play the demo and compete with more people to get to the top of the leaderboard, which very much appeals to me and my interests. Outside of Metal: Hellsinger, I have to say… Routine and The Callisto Protocol looked absolutely amazing. Just wow. Very hyped for both of those titles as well!

Those are our staff picks for the best Summer Game Fest 2022 announcements and reveals. What was your favorite moment from Geoff Keighley's summer showcase?

Shack Staff

Shack Staff stories are a collective effort with multiple staff members contributing. Many of our lists often involve entires from several editors, and our weekly Shack Chat is something we all contribute to as a group.