What The Internet Critics Are Saying About Summer Game Fest
The 2021 Summer Games Fest announced a lot of surprising information, from great indie titles to news concerning massive, long-awaited AAA titles. Not only were there plenty of game announcements, but there was also a new trailer for the movie "Free Guy," which featured a ton of streaming stars. Viewers had a lot to take in, and there was generally something for everyone.
There was even talk about the state of the gaming industry today, some of which didn't go over so well with fans and casual viewers. Legendary developer Hideo Kojima pointed out the parallels between creating games during the coronavirus pandemic and creating games in the aftermath of 9/11, which had a lot of viewers perplexed. People were further confused when voice actor Giancarlo Esposito mentioned Hitler as an inspiration behind his character in "Far Cry 6."
While these topics were used to discuss how games are created, fans were still divided on the event as a whole. The kickoff event hosted by Geoff Keighley was highly-anticipated by some gaming fans and completely disregarded by others. However, when it came to the actual AAA games being shown off, the internet surprisingly came together on most opinions.
Two trailers really stole the show
Not only did "Elden Ring" finally get a new trailer, but fans also got a release date: January 21, 2022.
The internet promptly went nuts. Fan art sprung up of favorite moments in the trailer and people shared stills of the captivating world glimpsed in the new preview. Even Twitter Gaming got in on the fun, posting a picture of Jim from "The Office" crying and captioning it with, "it wasn't a dream, we really have a release date for 'Elden Ring.'" Twitter user @YongYea felt that it was a great ending for a surprisingly good Summer Game Fest, and many gamers agreed.
The internet also had a field day with a new preview for "Death Stranding: Director's Cut." The trailer was "brilliantly stupid" in its references to "Metal Gear Solid," as SweetPeachGames put it. In the clip, lead protagonist Sam Porter Bridges jumps inside a box in a hilarious attempt at a stealth move, only to change his mind when he can't fit in the box. Twitter user @parmderp mentioned that the trailer "sold [him]" on the new game even though he hadn't played the first one.
People weren't too pleased with Overwatch 2
While the internet was basking in the glory of "Elden Ring" and "Death Stranding: Director's Cut," others were slamming "Overwatch 2." The sequel to the competitive MOBA has been long-awaited, and fans were extremely underwhelmed by Blizzard's big "reveals" at Summer Game Fest.
In the week before Summer Game Fest, there was huge news about "Overwatch" becoming cross-platform. As people wait for more "Overwatch 2" news, Blizzard decided to show off two skins with their stage time instead. This, understandably, upset fans. One user, @okshookie, tweeted out a screenshot of three back-to-back tweets of Twitter users upset with "Overwatch 2" while the show was live and said, "I see summer game fest is going well."
One user mentioned that there was a lot of disappointment surrounding the fact that "[Summer Game Fest] showed off certain games [without] really show[ing] anything," and cited "Overwatch" as a perfect example of that.
Several smaller games found their following
While "Elden Ring" definitely stole the show, plenty of other games received great fan reactions.
"Tales of Arise" was shown off by Bandai Namco, and it had fans of the "Tales" franchise coming out of the woodworks. One fan remarked that "Tales of Arise" is contributing to 2021 being "one of the best years for JRPGs in recent memory." In fact, some Twitter users felt that the "Tales of Arise" trailer was the only good thing from Summer Game Fest. Other noteworthy reveals that got gamers excited included new trailers for "Guilty Gear Strive" and "Bloodhunt Vampire: Masquerade."
Overall, it seemed like most people online were pleasantly surprised with Summer Game Fest. Of course, there were people who weren't happy with it, but there are always going to be critics at any game event. All in all, it's going to be pretty hard to top the event that finally gave folks their first good look at "Elden Ring."