Wildcard Wishlist: These are the games we've pinned our hopes and dreams on turning up at Summer Game Fest 2025

A solid seven years have passed since Bethesda first lifted the veil on The Elder Scrolls 6 back at E3 2018. With so much time between now and then, you'd think we'd know more about the upcoming RPG – but we don't, and no, little passing references to it like the post-Oblivion Remastered mention from Todd Howard don't count. I might be on some serious copium here, but I'm holding out hope that Summer Game Fest gives us the new glimpse of The Elder Scrolls 6 we've deserved for nearly a decade. After all, there's only so much Skyrim a girl can stomach, and I've been playing for almost 14 (very long) years.

As the resident live blogger, whenever I am tasked with making predictions for Summer Game Fest or anything similar, one of my final pleas is almost always: more Valkyria Chronicles. It's not happened yet, and it does feel like one of the bigger longshots, but there's never been a better time to bring Valkyria Chronicles 2 and 3 (the latter of which was not released in English!) to new platforms instead of keeping them trapped in PSP jail.

Every time Summer Game Fest rolls around, I have one big(by) thing on my mind: The Wolf Among Us 2. As a huge fan of the first Telltale game based on Bill Willingham's fairy-tale infused gritty graphic novel, I've been absolutely howling at the moon for the sequel to at last arrive, and maybe, just maybe, we'll see the game surface once more this year. After all, it's been a long time coming now, with it initially getting announced all the way back in 2017, followed by an official reveal in 2019, and another look in 2022. It's been pretty quiet ever since, but with new screenshots from Telltale last year, could 2025 finally see Bigby huff and puff and bring us a release date? I sure hope so.

It's been a day since The Witcher 4 tech demo, and I've already heard all the performance debates I can handle. So it would be extremely powerful if CDPR immediately one-upped itself by showing off The Witcher 4 gameplay instead. Even just simple grey-box work from super early in development would work in the studio's favor - the only way is up!

Deep in my heart, I know a new Banjo-Kazooie game won't appear this weekend. But despite that, I know that by the end of the Xbox showcase, I'm going to feel a little tingle of anticipation, like 'what if there is a big One More Thing announcement that comes with a guh-huh and few strings of Banjo music?'

I've had my heart broken just like this at Xbox events for over a decade straight, and I'm prepared for that streak to keep going. And yet… Phil Spencer has to deliver on those teases someday, right?

It's been five years since Animal Crossing: New Horizons carried us all through the pandemic. And as I stare at my shiny new Switch 2 I feel a pang of guilt for the years since I've checked in on my island. It's time for a new Animal Crossing, and as there was only five years between Amiibo Festival and New Horizons, it feels ripe for an announcement.

Silent Hill is back with about 20 new releases, a Metal Gear Solid 3 remake is on the way, and even Contra got a new game. So this feels like the time for Konami to finally bring back Castlevania. After countless cameos in other games, two successful anime series' and four collections coming out over the last eight years. I don't care if it's a new 2D sidescroller to join the likes of Shinobi and Ninja Gaiden's revivals, or a full-blown soulslike. I just want it now.

Is it cheating for me to wishlist a game that's been heavily leaked in recent months? Perhaps (yes), but it gets a pass because Persona 4 slaps. While the original game's setting, soundtrack, and story all hold up remarkably well, I'd love to see it with a fresh coat of paint and improvements to its freewheeling dungeons to bring them more in line with Persona 5's hand-crafted approach and whoops, it doesn't matter because I've already reinstalled Persona 4 Golden.

We don't need remakes of great games like The Last of Us, playable on modern consoles. We should revisit jank that had a single good idea but was terribly executed and is hard to play now. That's Haze, a 2008 FPS with an idea so good it was nabbed by Black Mirror. C'mon Ubisoft – you're an official partner of SGF, and it's right there for the remaking.

Don't call Dave Grohl, but I have a confession to make. I've been waiting – nay, pleading – for Capcom to announce the follow-up to Resident Evil Village for the past two years, and at this point, it's turned into a full-blown delusion. After failing to manifest it at yesterday's Sony State of Play showcase, I'm putting all my hopes into Summer Game Fest to deliver the goods and give me a reason to live again. Or, at the very least, a Resi game featuring both Leon S. Kennedy and Jill Valentine.

Like every Stardew Valley fan, at this point I'm feral for any news regarding Eric Barone's upcoming game Haunted Chocolatier. The new life sim (which sees you playing as a chocolatier in a haunted castle), was announced back in 2021, and after years of free Stardew Valley updates, Barone recently said that he's focusing on his new cavity filled adventure. Does that mean we'll see it during a showcase? Probably not, but I’ll still cry into my cozy gamer pillow if we don't.

After years of bubbling speculation, we found out last summer that Resident Evil 9 is real and not just a dream – so I ask you, if wishing is enough to bring about a new Resident Evil game, then why not an old one, too? Capcom itself hasn't yet shared anything about a Code: Veronica remake, but it's reportedly been working on one for at least a year. And, since the developer is an official SGF partner this year, officially announcing the Code: Veronica remake should be as easy as spreading T-virus. Either way, I'm keeping tissues handy.