Shack Chat: What was your favorite reveal from the Summer Game Fest 2023 livestream?

Summer Game Fest 2023 went down yesterday, bringing about the biggest gaming news event of the summer. With the showcase said and done, we're thinking about what resonated the most with us during the latest Summer Game Fest.

Question: What was your favorite reveal from the Summer Game Fest 2023 livestream?

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth - Ozzie Mejia, Senior Player of Days

I could honestly put a lot in this slot. Prince of Persia looks beautiful, Mortal Kombat 1 looks dazzling with some of the best stage design I've ever seen in the series, and the Spider-Man 2 release date got me hyped.

At the end of the day, I could only get excited for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. It's expansive. It's massive. It has a totally revamped party system with more than one playable character. It raises… so… many… questions about what in the world is happening in this story. Keeping in mind that I've never played the original PlayStation classic, this is the "Rowdy" Roddy Piper of video games for me. Just when I think I get some answers, Square Enix changes the questions. Whatever's going on, I'm extremely excited to find out and I'm willing to go through two discs to see what's next.

Sand Land - TJ Denzer, Toriyama open world simp

Whenever I see Akira Toriyama’s art style in a new video game, I feel like I’m in for a good time, and Sand Land looks like a ridiculously good time. The little devil character looks really silly and fun, we got a look at a whole bunch of machinery that it looks like we’ll be able to ride through the desert and use in combat, and the action looks like it’s going to be fun and exciting.

Some of the most fun stuff in there was what appeared to be references to other Toriyama stuff. I swear one of the robots looked like Robo from Chrono Trigger. It would hardly be the first time Toriyama referenced his own work, but it looks like it’s being implemented in fun and exciting ways in the gameplay itself. I’m all in on Sand Land when it comes out.

Lies of P - Sam Chandler, Fear the old blood

I can’t get enough of Souls-like games. Take a fairy tale like Pinocchio and fuse it with Bloodborne and I’m a happy chappy. I think the setting here is fantastic and can’t wait to see more. In fact, I think this weekend will be dedicated to playing the demo.

MK1 Gameplay - Asif Khan, Shacknews CEO/EIC/EIEIO

Sure, Nick Cage may have stolen the show, but did you see that Mortal Kombat 1 gameplay footage? I love how detailed fatalities have gotten over the years, and it was great to see Ed Boon back on stage smiling about MK. FGC is gonna be well fed this year.

The Witcher Season 3 trailer - Bill Lavoy, Kaer Morhen Custodian

I enjoy the Summer Game Fest showcase each year, but this year didn’t send me away with a game that I just couldn’t wait to play. There were some good things, but at no time was I as engaged with what was being shown than when the Season 3 trailer for The Witcher played. Yeah, I’ll play Space Marine 2 and Spider-Man 2, but that Elden Ring moment was certainly missing for me.

Mortal Kombat 1 gameplay - Donovan Erskine, Citizen of Earth Realm

Mortal Kombat 1 is one of my most anticipated games of this year. The gameplay reveal gave me everything I was expecting, and then some. The combos looked smooth, the stages are gorgeous, and the story looks super interesting! I'm also so happy that they confirmed Kameo characters can still appear as standard fighters, too.

Mortal Kombat 1 and more - Steve Tyminski, Stevetendo Show host, Finish him!

The best non-game moment was when the audience thought they were getting more Final Fantasy 16 information, but it was a Doordash promo. However, there were three games shown that I’m looking forward to. I have to start with Mortal Kombat 1. I was a Mortal Kombat fan growing up and I still am a fan of the series. Any Mortal Kombat game that I get to play as my favorite, Kung Lao, is a step in the right direction. I’m not sure how I feel about Mortal Kombat characters having their backgrounds changed but only time will tell. Sand Land looks like my type of game. An open world game that has characters designed by Akira Toriyama sounds like a fun time. Lastly, Palworld is a Pokemon-style game: stop me if you’ve heard that one before, but the difference is that Palworld has characters fight with guns. An interesting take but when you’re going for a Pokémon-like game, you need to make it different and Palworld does indeed go that different direction. It was a good Summer Game Fest, not a great one, but good.

We're sure you caught some of the news out of Summer Game Fest 2023, what were your favorite announcements? Sound off in the Chatty!

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.