The Summer Game Fest main event has come and gone, and it's left some fans unsatisfied thanks to a lack of high-profile announcements and a handful of near-identical trailers.
Disappointed fans have flocked to social media to share their frustration with the lackluster event. Many perceived SGF as a replacement for the more traditional summer gaming conference, E3, which was canceled earlier this year. A source of dismay for many was simply the lack of content. With only a small handful of major announcements -- including The Last of Us Part 1, which leaked hours earlier -- some gamers felt bored, and expressed that boredom according to Twitter's tradition: reaction memes.
In terms of what was actually presented at the showcase, some took umbrage with a lack of variety. One Twitter user aptly pointed out the abundance of titles which fit the description of "Shooter game set in space/about aliens with realistic graphics." Between the announcement of Aliens: Dark Descent, the gameplay reveal for The Callisto Protocol and the trailer for the Troy Baker-led Fort Solis, there were plenty of realistic space shooters to go around. Even Flashback 2, a throwback platformer developed by Microids, made an appearance to revive a long-dormant series about aliens, and Genshin Impact developer miHoYo went to space with its new game, Honkai: Star Rail.
Several high profile games which were rumored to appear at Summer Game Fest were totally absent from the main event. Of these, the most desired may have been God of War: Ragnarok, the sequel to 2017's God of War reboot. Ragnarok, a title developed by Sony's Santa Monica Studios, was absent from PlayStation's State of Play event, leading many to assume that footage was held back to be revealed at SGF. Instead, God of War fans got a whole lot of nothing.
Although many fans found Summer Game Fest a disappointment, there are still more announcements and trailers to come in the near future. Studios aren't done showing off big reveals at flashy events, with the next major show being the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase on June 12.
Source: Twitter
