The 10 best trailers from Summer Game Fest 2024

Geoff Keighley told us not to get our expectations too high for big reveals at this year's Summer Game Fest, and perhaps it wasn't a barn burner, but Civilization 7 is pretty darn big if you ask me, and the animated trailer for upcoming RTS Battle Aces is so good it risks overshadowing the game itself.

Below are the trailers from Friday's Summer Game Fest stream that we think are most worth your precious viewing moments. We're also expecting a big showing from Microsoft on Sunday, so come back for our coverage of that, as well as for our own PC Gaming Show—here's the full June gaming showcase schedule.

Civilization 7

Admittedly, you're not going to get much out of this trailer: Sid Meier's appearance at Summer Game Fest told us precious little about what to expect from Civilization 7, which is getting a bigger reveal in August. But I'm just glad that we can finally say officially that Civilization 7 is coming out next year.

I'm super curious to see how Firaxis builds on the series, which has more competition than it used to. We loved 2021 grand strategy game Old World, for instance, which came from Civ 4 designer Soren Johnson.

Slitterhead

This is a new horror game from Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama's studio. Two of us at PC Gamer said "looks sick" when we saw it, so I think that qualifies it for inclusion here.

Battle Aces

OK, so this is an RTS game that looks pretty neat—check out Lincoln's hands-on impressions—but instead of gameplay, I put the animated story trailer above because, damn, that's a badass animated trailer.

Alan Wake 2 Night Springs expansion

Remedy has a great aptitude for switching tones, and the first Alan Wake 2 expansion is among the more exaggerated examples of that skill. The Remedyverse crossover fan service is fun, too. Alan Wake 2 owners note that the expansion's out in mere hours.

Enotria: The Last Song

Did he kill that guy and then take his face and put the face on his face so he could stroll outta there all casual? Because that's pretty cool.

As Jon put it in February, Enotria is "a soulslike with the flashy, colorful outfits and neat folklore of renaissance Italy"—it's scheduled to release on Steam on September 18.

Skate

The Skate revival is exciting, but still in "pre-pre alpha." I mainly put it here because it's a Tim Robinson sketch. Not an S-tier one, but his delivery of "that's actually a home issue" and the face he pulls after it is the good stuff.

Monster Hunter Wilds

I'll let Mollie speak for this one: "I am so irrationally excited to attack monsters while riding my giant chicken."

Cairn

"When I was a teenager my dad prepared an expedition to Mount K2, but half his team didn't come back," Audrey Leprince, CEO of developer Game Bakers, said to set up this trailer for Cairn. "And I always wondered why do alpinists risk their lives in such extreme conditions. This is something we wanted to explore in Cairn."

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2

As Fraser put it: "This is our second look at the game, and it's pretty much got it all: folk getting battered, buddies getting into trouble, good times and bad times, guns, swords and a wee taste of siege warfare."

Phantom Blade: Zero

Phil described this one as "Sekiro on a drunken night out" when it was announced last year. Don't let all the PlayStation branding fool ya—it's coming to PC.