Month: June 2026

Platform:
PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC

Publisher:
Epic Games

Developer:
Kong Orange, Wiredfly

Release:
2027

If you’re a fan of co-op platformers like It Takes Two and Split Fiction, Out of Words should absolutely be on your radar. This 2D platformer stars two teenagers, Kurt and Karla, whose friendship becomes strained when one of them is moving away. Somehow, they’re transported to a bizarrely idyllic but dangerous fantasy world with their mouths erased. I played 30 minutes of the game’s second chapter during Summer Game Fest Play Days, and while the game’s stop-motion aesthetic drew me in, the clever cooperative platforming mechanics kept me hooked. 

 

It’s appropriate that my demo session with the game’s creative director was in relative silence. That winds up being an endorsement of the game’s design because, despite not communicating much, we intuitively tackled the game’s entertaining cooperative physics challenges. The sequence begins as my partner and I sprint and leap across beautiful grassy plains as strange, furry creatures follow and imitate our actions, like jumping, and it ends with us diving into the ocean. 

This underwater segment shows off the first of the game’s co-op mechanics. To avoid drowning while navigating raging currents, we have to stick close together to allow an air bubble to surround us; swim too far apart, and the bubble breaks. One tricky section later in the chapter became my favorite, as it called on both of us to separately explore mossy terrain on the ground, the ceiling, and the walls, by passing a blue, stingray-like creature back and forth that allowed the holder to defy gravity. Switching between platforms above and below by passing the creature like a baton at the right times is a challenging yet entertaining test of our trust and coordination. I got the biggest kick out of overcoming a lengthy gap by repeatedly passing the vital critter to keep each other from falling to our deaths.  It’s probably the best (and least painful) trust fall exercise I’ve ever experienced. 

Out of Words is also an artistic juggernaut thanks to its hand-crafted aesthetic and animation, which is brought to life using traditional stop-motion techniques. I even got to meet and take a photo with an in-game model for one of the game’s creatures (posted above). Seeing the detailed sculpture in person certainly raised my appreciation for the insane artistry and work that’s gone into bringing Out of Words to life. That respect, combined with the fun gameplay, makes me excited to phone up a buddy to see how Kurt and Karla escape their strange predicament when the game launches early next year. 

Each June, Summer Game Fest, much like E3 before it, plays host to the latest and greatest upcoming and ongoing games. With Los Angeles, California, as the backdrop, Game Informer meets with hundreds of developers over the course of the weekend, checking out the most exciting games on the horizon and interviewing those who bring them to life. While we will have plenty of coverage across GameInformer.com and our YouTube channel, this page is the place where you can find a concentrated blast of our favorite games we played and saw while on the ground at Summer Game Fest 2026.

If you’re coming to this article in the beginning of the weekend, be sure to come back throughout the next few days, as we will be updating this page with more games as we see and play them!

End of Abyss

Developer: Section 9  – Release Date: October 1

I’ve read the praises for End of Abyss from fellow editors Charles Harte and Kyle Hilliard, but after spending 30 minutes checking out this moody twin-stick shooter, I’m on the bandwagon. Developed by ex-Little Nightmares developers, that series’ trademark moody vibes and unsettling enemy design are fully present in this sci-fi Metroid-inspired adventure. As a survival horror fan, I enjoyed managing precious gun ammo to drop mutated humans and using limited items such as flares to distract threats or grenades to blow them apart. I especially loved scanning environments to gather intel, marking locked doors (which is then labeled on the maze-like maps for easy reference while backtracking), and revealing enemy weaknesses. I’m going to spend an embarrassing amount of time obsessively scanning, especially since Section 9 confirmed there’s an achievement for recording everything. End of Abyss’ creepy vibes, survival horror design, and tense gameplay make it a great way to kick off the spookiest month of the year. – Marcus Stewart

Slap Out Of It!

Developer: Turbo Button – Release Date: 2027

Slap Out Of It is a delightfully funny game in which you’re a new employee at PUZZL, an enigmatic, very unserious corporation with many rooms and floors. I assisted customer service with increasingly odd tasks: lubing someone’s digits with butter to help unfasten them from a finger trap, frosting a cop’s donut with a fire extinguisher, and photocopying paper currency to bypass pesky safeguards. You can pick up objects, slap people and things, and generally interact with the environment with both hands to solve involved-but-lighthearted situations. Later in the demo, I infiltrated a nightclub to steal a fog machine by rotating a room to get a pair of sunglasses (it’s a long story), which allowed me to reveal and rearrange the lasers blocking my access to the box holding one of the two bones. As for acquiring the second bone? You’ll have to solve that puzzle yourself! – Alex Van Aken

Platform:
PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Quest 3, Quest 2, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC, iOS, Android

Publisher:
Poncle

Developer:
Poncle

Release:
October 20, 2022
(PC), November 10, 2022
(Xbox Series X/S,
Xbox One), December 8, 2022
(iOS,
Android), August 17, 2023
(Switch), August 29, 2024
(PlayStation 5,
PlayStation 4), November 13, 2025
(Quest 2,
Quest 3)

Rating:
Teen

You probably know Exodus as the Matthew McConaughey game, as the actor’s involvement was the pillar on which the game was promoted when it was revealed in 2023. McConaughey plays C.C. Orlev in Exodus, but his role seems ultimately minor in the larger universe and story (though we could be wrong – time will tell). The arguably more interesting and affecting involved party in the game is James Ohlen. Ohlen worked at BioWare for more than two decades, had his hand on every franchise BioWare worked on and created, and was the developer’s senior creative director at the time when he left to lead Archetype Entertainment with Wizards of the Coast and help build the universe of Exodus. Ohlen was later joined by additional former BioWare members, including Drew Karpyshyn, a writer on many BioWare projects, and Chad Robertson, who worked on BioWare’s live-service efforts.

Alongside seeing extended gameplay for Exodus, we also received a presentation from Karpyshyn, Robertson, and the game’s director, Chris King. I was impressed by the overall effort to create something grand in scale, even beyond the game. There are already two Exodus prequel novels from author Peter F. Hamilton, an animated short film on Amazon’s Secret Level show, a tabletop game, and more on the way. Wizards of the Coast is putting a lot of effort into the fiction, and, thankfully, the game, which feels like it is being billed as the culmination of all this table-setting, looks solid.

Considering the lineage, it’s no surprise that Exodus looks a whole lot like Mass Effect, which I offer as a compliment. Exodus is a sci-fi third-person RPG shooter with affecting narrative choices, mortality mechanics, and deep lore. You play as Jun Aslan (who can be male or female) about 40,000 years in the future. They are a Traveler who explores myriad planets and ships while making choices about who they fight with, against, and who they romance. Jun is special because they can interact with ancient celestial technology, which, hopefully, can help save your home planet – which isn’t Earth, by the way – as it suffered environmental collapse millennia ago.

 

There are reminders of our world, though, beyond the human beings that persist. Familiar animals also appear, and they can talk. An elephant shopkeeper jokes about their bad memory, a giant wolf hangs out with the protagonist, there is a party member who is an octopus in a gigantic mech suit, and Karpyshyn teased a “very interesting raccoon” as being one of his favorite awakened animals.

The other major lore element of Exodus is time dilation, in which traveling to certain planets can make time move faster back home. In the story, maybe only a few hours have passed, but back home, it might be years.

Gameplay is of the cover shooter variety, but an impressive amount of tools are on display in one encounter shown. Jun grapple-swings between platforms and turns temporarily invisible to sprint between safe cover points and sneak up on enemies for stealth kills. Jun can also use hacking tools, but we haven’t see much of that yet. Along with standard guns, Jun can also throw a thruster grenade that rockets through the air to take out a powerful turret.

 

Seeing Exodus in action, it’s hard not to recall Mass Effect. The BioWare lineage aids that association, and it’s a third-person RPG shooter in space with narrative choices. I am sure we can all be forgiven for reaching for that comparison, but my hope is that when we get to play the game next year, it will be able to separate itself from BioWare’s landmark quadrilogy and develop an identity of its own. I look forward to giving it that chance.

Blasphemous 2, a great indie game fueled by inspiration from Castlevania and Bloodborne, came out almost three years ago, but its developers at The Game Kitchen aren’t finished with it quite yet. Revealed at today’s Future Games Show, the gothic platformer is getting free DLC, and it’s out right now.

Dubbed “The Third Sin,” this content adds a new area to the map to explore and battle through, along with a new weapon, outfits, music, and more. The following excerpt, shared via a press release, has a full breakdown of what to expect: 

Blasphemous II: The Third Sin challenges players to explore and overcome a part of Cvstodia that once served as a refuge for the nobles, until The Miracle wrought devastation within the castle walls. Set across the fortress’s meandering halls, twisting towers, cavernous library, and dank crypt, the expansion also features a gallery allowing players to replay previous bosses, and introduces a new gameplay experience in the form of three Familiars – magical entities that accompany The Penitent One, supporting them in both combat and exploration.

Added to the player’s armoury is a new weapon, a blade-tipped whip, enhancing The Penitent One’s move set with a series of standard and special attacks to vanquish foes into dust. Blasphemous II: The Third Sin also includes new prayers, unlockable outfits, five new achievements/trophies, and an additional six music tracks by series composer Carlos Viola to further immerse players into the castle’s uneasy ambience.

For more Blasphemous 2, check out our review of the game, where we said, “Blasphemous 2 takes inspiration from those that came before it, but by intertwining a gorgeous art style, enticing exploration, and rewarding combat, it rises above the horde of Castlevania-inspired action titles.” For more Summer Game Fest, check out Game Informer’s SGF coverage hub.

Cairn was one of 2026’s first sleeper hits. While we were expecting to like it, even our reviewer was pleasantly surprised by how hard it hit, and it’s one of Metacritic’s top 20 highest rated games of the year at the time of writing. Naturally, DLC for a game like that would be an easy sell, but in this case, it’s not a “sell” at all – On The Trail: Deep Water, Cairn’s first DLC pack, is dropping for free on August 13. Check out the release date trailer below.

“On the Trail brings climbers to new climbing locations and challenges,” the DLC’s reveal trailer description reads. “Find your route freely, solve fresh climbing problems and explore new iconic locations as you follow the trail of a legendary climber.”

Cairn is available now on PC and PS5, and the new content will be added on August 13. For more on the game, check out our review, where we said, “Cairn is more than a remarkably gripping mountain-climbing game. It’s also a deeply affecting narrative of anguish, loss, and the steep cost of obsession.” For more summer news, head to our Summer Game Fest announcements hub.

Little Nightmares III launched on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and Switch 2, and PC back in October, and now, the game’s first DLC expansion, The Backstage has a release date. Text your co-op buddy asap, though, because it launches next week on June 12. 

Revealed during today’s Future Games Showcase, The Backstage is the first DLC expansion of the Secrets of the Spiral pass for the platformer, which Until Dawn developer Supermassive Games developed for publisher Bandai Namco. In it, players will head into the underbelly of the Carnevale, the creepy location featured in the main game. In this first-look trailer, we get a glimpse of the new controllable protagonist, along with plenty of creepy-crawly moments. 

Check it out for yourself in the Little Nightmares III: The Backstage trailer below: 

While Little Nightmares III felt a little too familiar, it’s still a fun (if scary) time, and you can read about why in my review here. 

Little Nightmares III is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, and PC. The Backstage launches next week on June 12. 

Xbox exclusive Grounded 2, the miniature backyard survival game from Obsidian Entertainment, will make its way to PlayStation 5 later this Summer on August 11. Alongside that new platform, an underwater-themed update titled “Into The Abyss” will also hit the game on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. 

Grounded 2 launched into Early Access on Xbox Series X/S and PC in July of last year, and while there’s still no 1.0 release date in sight, new players will soon head to Brookhollow Park to encounter ants, spiders, lots of leaves, and more. We don’t know much about Into The Abyss, but based on the teaser trailer, it looks like it’s taking our cast of kids underwater (perhaps into the murky waters of a puddle). 

Check it out in the Grounded 2 PlayStation 5 release date trailer below: 

For more about Grounded 2, read Game Informer’s exclusive behind-the-scenes feature about the making of the game, as told by Obsidian Entertainment. 

Citizen Sleeper and its sequel, Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector, are getting Nintendo Switch 2 editions later this month. More specifically, both dice-rolling adventure games will hit Switch 2 on June 25. 

If you already own the games on Switch, you can upgrade to the Switch 2 versions for free. Developer Gareth Damian Martin, who develops games under the studio name Jump Over The Age, revealed this news during today’s Story-Rich Showcase, hosted by Citizen Sleeper and 1000xResist publisher Fellow Traveller. If you haven’t played the Citizen Sleeper games, I cannot recommend them enough – beautiful art, amazing score, haunting stories you can shape with your actions, and a cast of characters you won’t soon forget (or ever). 

Check out my review of Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector below to find out what makes it such a special game: 

Be sure to read my Citizen Sleeper review after that. If you’re excited for more from Jump Over The Age, Martin teases that they’ll be revealing their next game during the PC Gaming Show tomorrow, which airs at 10 a.m. PT/1 pm. ET. 

As a fan of the Ace Attorney series, I adored Tangle Tower when I played it a few years ago. It was one of the first titles I downloaded on Apple Arcade, and I remember immediately hoping they would make more. It’s taken a few years, but the game’s sequel, The Mermaid Mask, is right around the corner, and today we got a firm release date. As revealed during the Story-Rich Games Showcase from publisher Fellow Traveller, The Mermaid Mask is dropping July 16. Check out the trailer below.

The Mermaid Mask follows the same two detectives from the previous game as they pursue a new case: the death of Captain Magnus Martuga. “Set aboard a strange submarine off the coast of the abandoned fishing town of Silkwirm-on-Sea, the game follows Detective Grimoire and his sharp-tongued sidekick Sally as they investigate the impossible locked-room murder of the enigmatic Captain Mortuga,” the trailer’s description reads. The game also retains its signature character animations and voice acting, which I find breathes more life into the narrative than many other adventure games are able to.

The game will launch on July 16, 2026 on PS5, Switch 2, Switch, and Steam. For more on developer SFB Games, check out our magazine feature on the studio on page 14 of Game Informer issue 367.

Burn-9 is a Metal Gear Solid-inspired adventure game where, instead of playing as the agent in the field, you play as their comms in the chair. It was revealed during today’s Story-Rich Showcase hosted by Citizen Sleeper publisher Fellow Traveler, and is set to launch sometime this year. 

Described as a “Tactical Radio Action” game, another nod to Metal Gear Solid’s “Tactical Espionage Action” tag, your job is to guide the last survivor of an elite black-ops team after a mission has gone terribly wrong. While they are in extreme danger, you are not, and that’s because you are safe behind your screen as the person in the agent’s ears. 

Check it out in the Burn-9 trailer below: 

“When a top secret military research facility in the Antarctic goes dark, an elite strike force of cybernetically-enhanced black-ops super soldiers is dispatched to investigate and secure Burn-9 at all costs,” the game’s description reads. “Minutes into the mission, the helicopter is shot down. There is one survivor… and you’re her only lifeline.” 

As the team’s Operator, you will find yourself caught between the demands of the top brass and the harsh reality on the ground – every piece of intel becomes a decision: what to share, what to hold back, and who to trust is up to you. 

Burn-9 is due out sometime in 2026 on PC. You can wishlist it on Steam here. 

This weekend is packed with showcases to celebrate Summer Game Fest 2026 – bookmark Game Informer’s 2026 Summer Showcase Schedule to make sure you don’t miss any you want to watch!