Dragon’s Dogma 2 – there wasn’t much new information (Picture: Capcom)
GameCentral rounds up the news from the final preview showcase of the season, as Capcom announce a new Ace Attorney compilation.
The loose collection of unconnected preview showcases, that is the closest we’ve had to E3 for several years, is now at an end. It started with the controversial PlayStation Showcase two weeks go and then began in earnest with the Summer Game Fest and Xbox Games Showcase last week – and has now concluded with Ubisoft Forward and Capcom’s own event.
The PlayStation Showcase was clearly a major misstep for Sony, while Xbox drew universal acclaim for its event and Ubisoft managed to turnaround months of bad headlines with a very sold line-up. Summer Game Fest, which is the nominal centrepiece of the season, was a bit of a non-entity by comparison – neither very exciting nor terribly disappointing – and you’d have to say that probably describes the Capcom Showcase too.
The big difference is that Capcom had nothing to prove, especially given their current run of critically acclaimed games, so the few titbits and reveals we did get were a welcome bonus. There may well be other events in the next few weeks, with rumours of a Nintendo Direct in July, but for now this was the last big showcase until Gamescom in August.
Kunitsu-Gami: Path Of The Goddess
Unfortunately, this was exactly the same trailer as first shown at the Xbox Games Showcase, although we don’t remember the bit about it containing both ‘strategy and action’ before – not that that helps understand what it is. It seems to involve kami though, the gods and spirits of the Shinto religion, although that also doesn’t really explain much.
In the original reveal, we felt sure it was going to turn out to be a new Onimusha game, which means that Capcom now has two new titles on the way that seem reminiscent of a mothballed franchise but don’t actually have anything to do with it – after it transpired that Exoprimal isn’t a Dino Crisis spin-off after all.
Mega Man X Dive Offline
We’re going to drop some spoilers here and admit that there weren’t really any major new announcements during the showcase and we doubt many people in the West, and especially not in Europe, are going to be interested in a new Mega Man X mobile game. Especially not one that seems to have gacha elements, involving collecting and unlocking new characters and stages. If you are keen though, it’s out later this year.
Pragmata
Although it was briefly mentioned, there was no release date for Resident Evil 4’s VR mode and there also wasn’t for Pragmata – the mysterious third person action game announced back in 2020 and never mentioned again since. Now that it has been though the news is not great since it’s been indefinitely delayed, with not even a launch year to its name. Capcom apologised to the game’s ‘fans’ but how you can be fan of something when you don’t even know what it is, we’re not sure. Although to be fair, every new Capcom is automatically interesting to some degree.
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
As a case in point, Ghost Trick is an absolute gem. Originally released in 2010 for the Nintendo DS, it was the brainchild of Ace Attorney creator Shu Takumi (who appeared to promote the game, claiming he’d spent two weeks practicing his English) but never proved very successful. It’s getting an unexpected second chance with this very welcome remaster for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC. It’s out in just a few weeks’ time, on June 30, but if you’re not convinced you can try out the free demo that should be available as you read this.
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy
Speaking of Shu Takumi, he must be in someone’s good books at the moment, as there’s going to be a new remaster collection of the fourth, fifth, and sixth mainline entries in the Ace Attorney series. Apollo Justice was first released on DS in 2007 and sees the titular new lawyer replace Phoenix Wright as the main playable character. Dual Destinies was the first entry to debut on the 3DS, in 2013, and Spirit Of Justice is currently the final entry in the series, having first launched for 3DS in 2016. There’s still no sign of a brand new game but hopefully that’s what all this is building up to.
Exoprimal
Another game that’s out soon, on July 14, this non-Dino Crisis related dinosaur game seems to be Capcom’s attempt at a live service title, even though it’s a paid-for game (although it is free day one via Game Pass). Recently there’s been more emphasis on the exosuits you wear than the dinosaurs you fight but it’s still clearly a multiplayer-only game, even though there is some kind of story going on.
The Showcase footage concentrated on a new mode called The Savage Gauntlet, which involves five-player missions that change weekly. Oddly, there was no reference to the Ryu and Guile exosuits that were present at the Xbox Games Showcase but Capcom did announce a second open beta, which will run from June 16 to 18 and involves extra story related missions and co-op options.
Dragon’s Dogma 2
Even though it got the prime slot at the end of the showcase there wasn’t really much substantial news about this long-awaited sequel, just a reconfirmation that there are no co-op options and that it’s still an open world action role-player. The AI-controlled Pawns take the role of human allies and it’s clear the game is trying to lean into the fact that it’s a co-op game where you don’t have to worry about interacting with any pesky humans.
Capcom also revealed that the game world will be around four times the size of the first and highlighted the game’s ‘immersive physics’, via a destructible bridge and what happens when you pull a monster’s leg. It all looked perfectly fine, but it was a surprisingly short glimpse and there’s still no word on a release date.
And that’s it. However, it’s Capcom’s 40th anniversary this year and they’re got a ‘digital museum’ at Capcom Town that they’re using to celebrate the fact, with free playable retro games, artwork, and concept designs.
They hinted that there’d be more freebies and extras as the month goes on, as well as an anniversary sale, including Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen, Ace Attorney, and up to 87% off on Steam.
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GameCentral rounds up the news from the final preview showcase of the season, as Capcom announce a new Ace Attorney compilation.