The best games we played at Summer Game Fest 2025
While we can't talk about everything we got to play yet (stay tuned to Digital Trends over the next week for more coverage), we have plenty of games that we can tell you about. From the psychedelic puzzling of Lumines Arise to Shinobi: Art of Vengeance's fast-paced 2D action, these were the games that impressed us most at this year's show. And trust us: it's only the tip of the iceberg.
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Game of the Show: Lumines Arise
I've been waiting a very long time for a proper sequel to Lumines. The cult classic PSP rhythm game has always been one of my all-time favorites, to the point that its remaster was one of the first games I played on my Nintendo Switch 2. So, my expectations were very high when Tetris Effect developer Enhance announced Lumines Arise. Thankfully, the team did not disappoint. During my demo, I played a quick run that featured three different songs. It completely blew me away. The color matching rules of the original are the same, but that hook has been buffed up by some dazzling visuals. The levels I played were spectacular, full of thumping music and neon iguanas. there's also one new trick in the form of bursts. When I have enough energy built up, I can activate a special effect that lets me build up one giant color block as big as it can go. It's a genius addition to the formula that rewards players who can match blocks fast. It doesn't have a release date yet, but I'll be clawing at the gates of Enhance's offices until I can play more.
Sword of the Sea
There may not be a game released in 2025 that feels as good as Sword of the Sea. The latest game from Giant Squid plays like a mix between Journey and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. The minimalistic game has players surfing through biomes on a sword, solving puzzles in the environment and doing a bit of platforming. What makes it all special is how incredible the movement feels. Surfing feels remarkably smooth and Giant Squid takes advantage of that with levels that are built like skateparks. In my demo, I rode up half pipes and grinded down enormous chains. I was able to nail every trick I attempted thanks to how forgiving movement is. You can feel it for yourself on August 19, and I suggest you do.
Mixtape
If there was one game on everyone's tongue during Summer Game Fest, it was Mixtape — and not just because it features the sloppiest French kissing minigame ever put into a video game. The narrative adventure from the creators of The Artful Escape is 90s teen slacker comedy in video game form. During my demo, I'd follow the tale of three small town teens yearning to break free. The bit I played told the story through interactive vignettes chronicling their escapades, all soundtracked by an excellent selection of songs. I skateboarded along to Devo, tapped buttons in time with music to headbang through a car ride, and escape a busted house party with a daring shopping cart chase sequence as the cops tailed me. Every sequence was hilarious, sincere, and full of jams that placed me directly into its 90s setting.
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance
I wasn't expecting too much from Shinobi: Art of Vengeance when I stepped into my first demo of it. After all, you've played one retro-inspired 2D action game, you've played them all, right? Wrong. Sega's surprising revival is much faster than your average side scroller, full of lightning quick combat encounters that let me clear out an entire room full of ninjas in no time flat. Developer Lizardcube has done a bang-up job here, keeping the series in line with its roots while crafting a highly stylized 2D action game dressed up with lovely hand-painted art. It's one heck of a return for Shinobi.
Blighted
When I first saw Drinkbox's latest game, Blighted, I thought it was a total departure for the studio. Now that I've played it, I now see it as a perfect culmination of everything it has done. It's a top-down action RPG, not unlike Nobody Saves the World. It's a Metroidvania too, just like its Guacamelee series. The art style even calls back to Severed, my personal favorite of its catalogue. All of that comes together in a tough action experience that's inspired by Soulslikes, but still very much a Drinkbox game. My favorite innovation here comes in the form of its blight system, which will gradually buff players' strength while making enemies a little tougher. It's a dynamic approach to difficulty that happens at an in-game level rather than in menus. Plus, it's a game that involves fighting horse-spiders and eating their brains to get powers. That part seems worth mentioning too.
Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School
A few years back, a group of escape room designers decided to form a video game studio and put their talents to good use. The result was Escape Academy, a great set of co-op puzzle boxes that felt just a little too brief. Now, Coin Crew Games is returning with a much bigger sequel in Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School. In my demo, I solved a great introductory escape room with a friend that had us decoding clues together by using split screen to our advantage. What's new this time, though, is that we also got to explore the actual academy, which is full of little side-missions and objectives that almost turn it into a puzzle Metroidvania. It's a great expansion of what was already a solid game, making the sequel feel like a more fully realized version of Escape Academy.
Toem 2
It didn't take long in my Toem 2 demo to remind me why I loved its predecessor so much. The first Toem was a charming little photography game full of critters to snap and puzzles to solve. The sequel delivers more of its black and white joy, and even a few new tricks along the way. This time, I'm not just taking pictures and giving them to villagers to solve their requests. I'm also doing more platforming, using a hammer function in my camera to break blocks, solving riddles, going on a mission to make sure a guy turned his stove off, and more. My demo doled out constant surprises through the end, which made it hard to wrench myself away from the controller when my time was up.
Dosa Divas
After finding success with Thirsty Suitors, Outerloop Games is back with its most creative game to date. Dosa Divas is a turn-based RPG in which two sisters take on a nefarious corporation, ride giant mechs, and occasionally stop to cook a meal or two. It's a genre hybrid in the same way that Thirsty Suitors was, but all of its disparate parts feel much more connected now. There's too much to break down in a quick blurb, but I'll call out its great battle system, which plays like a combination of Bravely Default and Paper Mario. I can both stack up turns to perform more powerful attacks and add extra power to my attacks by pressing a button at the right moment. If you love Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, this is another mechanically creative, narrative-driven RPG that should be on your radar.
Snap & Grab
I've played a lot of heist games, but never one quite like Snap & Grab. This one is all about casing the joint, as I play the role of a woman whose job it is to stake out a loot location and snap photos of every potential obstacle standing in the way of stealing it. The goal of each level is to create a perfect scenario that will allow your accomplice to perform the theft, all by stringing together snapshots in a logical sequence. One heist had me trying to steal a key stuck in an ice statue's hand. By taking photos, I pieced together that I could keep guards occupied while turning up the heat in the mansion to melt the statue. Doing so would give my pal a clear path to get the job done. It's an incredibly clever idea full of heist scenarios that have some immersive sim charm to them, as there isn't just one solution to every problem.
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