Summer Game Fest’s best games were small and personal

Summer Game Fest 2025 was definitely a weird one, but even with everything going on outside, the games on display were still immaculate. My favorites, the ones that I live for, are small, unique, and made for pure love of expression. Being able to see that love so clearly on display, expressed through such painstaking and often thankless work, and also being able to show them to our audience who might not otherwise encounter them, is the defining privilege of my job. That's what I love about Summer Game Fest, weirdness and all, and hopefully when these games come out, you'll check 'em out too.

Escape Academy 2 - TBD

I loved the first Escape Academy and vibrated through my chair seeing that Coin Crew Games had returned to Summer Game Fest with a bigger, more expansive sequel. Instead of selecting levels, now you can explore an open world, solving puzzles as you discover them in a college campus setup. I love this new direction: the open-world exploration better melds the quirky / cute storytelling of Escape Academy with the actual act of solving puzzles.

In the short demo I was introduced to a cat who lived in my dorm room and wanted a snack. As I explored the campus, I found t …

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