Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest event has now concluded for another year. The E3 replacement series of conferences includes the main SGF show, the Xbox Showcase, Ubisoft Forward, Devolver Direct, and many more. They gave us some big game announcements to get hyped for in the next year or two.
But it wasn’t just a game I popped off for. It was the reveal of two new game publishers that stole the show: Blumhouse Games and Outersloth.
Let’s freaking gooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Blumhouse Games
Blumhouse Games is a new subsidiary of Blumhouse, the acclaimed horror movie production company behind M3gan, The Black Phone, and Happy Death Day. Branching into publishing games, Jason Blum appeared on stage at SGF to not just announce one game, but announcing a SLATE of games. And, on brand, they’re all weird indie horror games.
And they all look hella cool!
Fear the Spotlight – A retro-inspired, PS1-era horror game developed by husband and wife duo, Cozy Game Pals, Fear the Spotlight follows two teens misusing a Ouija board in an empty school at night. That’s a setup to every teen horror film from the 90s, right? This game appears to be inspired by the original Resident Evil and Silent Hill games, updated for a new generation. It looks awesome, and it’s coming THIS YEAR!
Crisol: Theater of Idols – A first person shooter with creepy mannequin or statue-like enemies. Think of a more f’ed-up and bolder Weeping Angels from Doctor Who. Vermila Studios have created a mechanic where you have to sacrifice your own blood to craft bullets to keep the living statues at bay. Yeah, I may give this one a swerve for the sake of my underwear budget.
Grave Seasons – What could be scary about a farming and town-building simulator? They’re cozy games which you can just zone out to, like Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley. Wait, WHAT DID YOU DO Perfect Garbage?! The developer behind Grave Seasons added a supernatural serial killer to your idyllic town. It’s your job to keep your town healthy and alive in more ways than one.
Sleep Awake – Don’t fall asleep. Must stay awake. This first-person psychedelic horror from Eyes Out is going to mess with your mind. People are disappearing when they fall asleep, so it’s up to survivors to experiment with sleep deprivation techniques. I don’t have to tell you, though, a lack of sleep does weird sh*t to a person, and this game promises the same.
The Simulation – When a never-before-seen horror game is the only evidence found at a crime scene, a retired game developer is drafted in to investigate. However, the game is much more than it seems. Could this game be responsible? I’m kind of getting Inscryption meta vibes from this one, and I loved that game! This is being developed by Playmestudio.
Project C – Ooooooooo, a mystery! I love mysteries! An unannounced game in the Blumhouse slate is Project C, a game from acclaimed developer Sam Barlow (Immortality, Telling Lies) and Brandon Cronenberg, the director of Night Swim AND the son of the legendary David Cronenberg. I can’t wait to see what they’ve got cooking!
Outersloth
From the developers behind the game that blew up in the pandemic Among Us, Innersloth, comes Outersloth. They decided with all the money they made from the imposter game, they’d help other indies try to do the same. It’s a wonderful mission with the publishing market tightening recently.
Mars First Logistics – A game that involves building rovers to transport items across the surface of Mars, earning credits and unlocking new build parts, Mars First Logistics was originally self-published by developer Shape Shop in June 2023. With Outersloth, I can imagine expansions and improvements are going to be made in the coming months!
Battle Suit Aces – A card-based 5v5 battler RPG (I have no idea what that actually means, but I’m intrigued), Battle Suit Aces comes from Trinket Studios. It looks like it involves Pacific Rim-like mecha suits and pilots and has an anime art style.
Mossfield Archives – Coming from Studio Any Percent, the only thing we know about this game is what we hear in the trailer: it’s about building and making connections. However, this does come from the same studio that made Mossfield Origins, so it sounds like a city builder type.
One BTN Bosses – Midnight Munchies say it themselves on their Steam page. It’s all in the name. Tons of bosses and only one button to press. An interesting idea, but it remains to be seen whether the gameplay can be varied enough to keep the audience’s attention.
Rogue Eclipse – Move over Starfox; there’s a new 3D space battle game on the horizon! And this one is a roguelike with a striking visual style and hundreds of enemies to try to take down. HUSKRAFTS are behind this one, and, although I’m not a dogfighting enthusiast, I’ll certainly give this one a go at launch.
Project Dosa – Slated for a 2026 release, this new game from Outerloop Games has you pilot a mech across the world, bringing together disparate communities and eliminating “corpos” (I’m thinking Christian Bale from American Psycho). The Thirsty Suitors developer is still in the early stages with Project Dosa, but the sneak peek looks cool as hell!
Unannounced games from Strange Scaffold and Visai Games – Strange Scaffold, developers of El Paso Elsewhere and fronted by Xalavier Nelson, make some awesome and freaking weird games, and Visai Games created the BAFTA winning Venba, a story spanning decades using cooking as a medium for narrative. I’m incredibly excited about what these two studios can create with the help of Outersloth.
What did you think about these announcements? Were you as psyched as me? Having two more indie publishers out is surely a good thing, right? Let us know what you think in the comments!
