Our favorite game announcements from the 2026 Summer Game Fest season

Game showcase summer has begun: these early weeks of June fill the void of E3 with video game announcements, capping off with Summer Game Fest 2026 itself on Friday. But saying this week is all about Summer Game Fest feels inaccurate; while that may be the main event, there are many other showcases happening over the week, taking advantage of our eagerness for new release news. And trust me, there will be plenty of new releases, demos, and announcements over the next week or so to fill your Steam Wishlist.

You should check the full Summer Game Fest schedule for all of the gaming showcases happening, but if you don’t have time to watch every showcase yourself, we’ve picked out a few of our favorites to recommend. These are the Summer Game Fest games that have caught our eye and reserved a spot in our coveted shopping carts.

Our favorite games from Thinky Direct

Thinky Direct focused on puzzle games across several genres, but these were our favorites from the show:

• UvsU: You vs You is a Claymation game that requires you to complete puzzles literally against yourself and the only way to fully complete the maze are to overcome yourself.
• Granny Detective Society lets you take on the role of a mouse with too much time on her hands and left to do what every good natured elderly mouse would do — be a nosy neighbor spying on the town around her.
• Hello Again lets you take on the role of a ferret stuck on a mysterious island stuck in a time loop. Explore the island and solve mysteries of your kooky island mates reliving the same day.
• While most of the games were lighthearted, Funeral for the Sun has you exploring an abandoned town to solve the mystery of the fire that took hundreds of lives, as well as a far more ancient secret behind it.

The Thinky Direct curator page makes it easy to find these titles and more as well as demos available now.

Our favorite games from the MIX Summer Game Showcase

With nearly two hours of independent games, MIX offered several interesting upcoming releases.

• Neighboorhoods is a claymation city builder on a smaller scale, focusing on  rebuilding a few blocks at a time.
• Pixel Washer is a power washing game where you play as a pig on a mission to clean the town, one mud pile at a time.
• Infamous Keeper is a Dungeon themed tower defense game where you set up your pit of nightmares in the vein of the famous Dungeon Keeper franchise. Defend your dungeon from those pesky heroes trying to ruin your day by doing good.
• Pale Tide lets you and your dog go and explore and scavenge the land, rescue survivors and build your bunker up as you’re also are on the lookout for zombie hordes.
• My Otter Friends allows you to play as an otter, rebuilding a devastated island rescuing your animal friends, all while being way too adorable.

You can find all of these games and more on the MIX Summer Game Steam page.

Our favorite games from Midsummer Night Scream

In this horror themed showcase, everything was guaranteed to give you chills. For me, most of those chills were in my wallet after adding 18 games to my Wishlist.

• Donut Panic lets you live the nightmare of being a donut shop employee. While that is scary enough, things turn twisted as your start to having nightmarish hallucinations forcing you to retreat to your panic room.
• Out Fishing is a first person fishing game with camp building mechanics. As peaceful and cozy as can be. After all, nothing scary has ever come out of the water.
• Crush Landing is the latest in Akabaka’s romantic eldritch visual novels. A living comet has crashed into your life. Can you keep her satiated and perhaps find love before reality fully warps around her?
• Gretel and Hansel is a stunningly gorgeous nightmare where you play Gretel as she searches the woods for her abandoned brother Hansel in this hand painted point and click adventure.

Visit the Midsummer Night Scream page to be like me and add a ton of games to your wishlist.

More games coming soon!

With at least a week and a half of showcases, we will be giving you highlights and where to find them — so be sure to check back daily@