With Geoff Keighley recently airing his Summer Game Fest kick-off show and E3 officially starting this weekend, it seems the season of huge gaming showcases has well and truly begun. June will be loaded with events from the likes of Microsoft, Bethesda, Capcom, Square Enix, Bandai Namco, and more, while July is already beginning to boast big-name companies such as EA.
As announced by its Twitter account, another major publisher will be joining the latter in holding a showcase next month, with Annapurna Interactive officially adding its own event to the Summer Game Fest lineup on July 29 at 12:00 PM PT. According to the company, it will offer never-before-seen gameplay, all-new announcements, and "a few more surprises," offering a short teaser trailer to get fans hyped for the show.
Annapurna Interactive uses the fifty-five-second clip to tease some of the biggest games slated to show up during the showcase. Although titles like Neon White, Skin Deep, and 2019's highly-acclaimed The Outer Wilds were featured, the main three games focused on are Stray, The Artful Escape, and Solar Ash.
Stray was first announced during the PlayStation 5 showcase last year, with the game focusing on a stray cat in a dystopian sci-fi setting. In this world, humans have been replaced by machines, with the Annapurna website claiming it'll center on players investigating the uninviting setting and "defend[ing] against unforeseen threats." The trailer posted by Annapurna even shows off a few seconds of new gameplay, with the cat leaping between ledges. The title is slated to release later this year on PC and PlayStation 5.
The Artful Escape, on the other hand, is a 2D platformer where players take control of a teenage guitar prodigy who must adventure across a range of psychedelic worlds. Players will be able to create their own protagonist and customize several facets of their identity, while the game will offer plenty of mind-bending locations and bizarre character interactions. It's also slated for 2021 and is coming to PC and Xbox.
As for Solar Ash, the game was shown off earlier today during the Summer Game Fest kick-off show, with developer Heart Machine debuting more of its fast-paced action through an airborne fight between the protagonist and a dragon. The title will see players venture to a stylized world where they'll battle giant enemies using free-flowing combat. It joins Stray in launching for the PC and PlayStation 5 later this year.
Annapurna's showcase is sure to unveil new information about the trio of notable games, as well as its lineup of other major releases slated for this year and beyond. The company has already had several huge successes in recent years, including The Outer Wilds and 2017's What Remains of Edith Finch.
Annapurna Interactive will hold a showcase at 12:00 PM PT on July 29, 2021.
Source: Annapurna Interactive