DF Direct Weekly #115: Summer Game Fest 2023 - Hit or Miss? An Unreal Extravaganza

Geoffcon aka Keigh3 aka Summer Games Fest aka Summer Game Fest is back, kicking off with a mammoth show crammed with new games of varying quality, Nicolas Cage and a big bunch of obvious ads. In this DF Direct special, John, Rich and Alex mull over the various reveals and wurld prm'ears, debate the inclusion of the letter 'i' in the word 'mobile', dive deeply into Spider-Man's symbiote lore, get excited about the new Sonic game and ponder the big question - how many of the games in the show were running on Unreal Engine?

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00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:08 News 01: Summer Games Fest 2023 reaction! Prince of Persia, Mortal Kombat 1
00:10:48 Path of Exile 2, Exoprimal, Dead by Daylight, Witchfire, Crossfire: Sierra Squad, Remnant 2
00:18:22 Sonic Superstars, Lies of P, Sand Land
00:27:27 Throne and Liberty, Party Animals, Crash Team Rumble,
00:31:51 Alan Wake 2, Space Marine 2, Yes Your Grace, Toxic Commando
00:42:42 Baldur’s Gate 3, Palworld, Black Desert Online, LOTR: Return to Moria
00:51:44 Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
00:55:51 Like a Dragon Gaiden, Under the Water, Fae Farm
01:04:18 King Arthur, Stellaris Nexus, Star Trek Infinite, Lysfanga
01:09:47 Immortals of Aveum, Fortnite, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
01:24:19 Supporter Q1: Will DLSS 3 evolve in the same way DLSS 2 did?
01:28:14 Supporter Q2: What’s up with DF getting Diablo 4 code late?
01:29:22 Supporter Q3: Is there an ideal frame-rate target for games?
01:32:41 Supporter Q4: Do recent PC gaming woes stem from the relative strength of console hardware this generation?
01:41:09 Supporter Q5: What old console or graphics technology would you like to see get a few years of active development?

[omgawesomeomg]

"It looks almost but not quite completely unlike Nicolas Cage." That could be a line straight out of a Monty Python sketch.

[RayVa]

I love that Rich is a huge spider-man fan

[rjScubaSki]

One day Alex will escape from Stutter Island

[philipajfry]

Rich referencing Dr. Evil was great. But performing the bit was gold.

[Alcaatraz]

I loved that spiderman lore drop from Rich. Let's go!

[gebgeb]

The "oh wow" in response from Alex to the Spidey lore is now forever a legendary moment in df direct history to me

[fried_funk]

I love Richard as the Master of Marvel's Lore !

[djtomoy]

Yikes, seeing this a day earlier made me think I’d accidentally forgotten to go to work 😅

[AgsmaJustAgsma]

Very insightful comments from Nicholas Cage himself. You should invite him more often.

[meen]

Richard's passion in explaining Marvel and Spider-Man lore is awesome. I hope it continues until the game's release, and possibly if he does the analysis

[Die-Coughman]

Like a Dragon: Gaiden is definitely dragon engine. The lighting system looks very similar to Lost Judgment's lighting and Dragon Engine does have per-object motion blur.

[gamingoptimized]

Lies of P Demo is surprisingly well optimized, some games don't even perform that good when released and this is a DEMO!

[balaam_]

@John You didn’t like the music from the first three Crash games!? I use you as a gauge to determine if I’m going to like a particular game, since I’ve noticed we’re pretty much in unanimous agreement 99% of the time. This…this represents the 1% where we are diametrically opposed. I adore the music from the og Crash games ❤

[opts]

My eyes were glazing over every single time a new generic fantasy sword and magic game crossed the screen

[names-are-for-friends]

Crash doesn't talk or have that faux-cool snippiness or attitude like a lot of old platformer mascots do — he's just a crazy lil critter that does a funny dance. That's what makes him cool imo

[philth]

I think the Ori games were Unity Engine. They looked and played amazingly, too.

With how good some of their tech demos were, it's a shame that more hasn't been made of it.

[WarriorRazor]

On the subject of Mafia 2's volumetric particles, that still hasn't been topped, I think they even removed that in the "remaster". Driving through tyre smoke in that game was so impressive.

[konczdavid]

Appreciate the video. However, I have to say I find it strange how unimpressed you guys are with Lies of P (especially you, Alex), while at the same time, you three overpraise the new Prince of Persia game that clearly looks like 15 years behind from a tech standpoint, while its art style is also quite reminiscent of early smartphone titles with its muddy textures, sharp angles and rough shapes.

Alex and John, you said Lies of P is not pushing any tech boundaries, implied its dated looking and also said its art style and color palette is dull and lacks variety. I feel the complete opposite as someone who played through pretty much every worthwhile Soulslike and Soulsborne title. My first thought after launching the game was how beautiful it really is - both graphically, and artistically. The combination of lightning, distinctive architecture, level & creature design, detailed texture work, and the overall mood that Belle Époque style manages to create help to bring this world to life.

Here's the thing: I actually think Lies of P looks far more consistent and better graphically and looks far more inspired and unqiue artistically than Hogwarts Legacy is, for example, all the while running 200% better (or more). I can drop to 90 or below with my 3090 / 13600KF / 32GB DDR5 6800 combo (even with optimized settings), and even drop below 60 with heavy stutters due to CPU usage. In Lies of P, I can get even 250-300 FPS, without the CPU being a limiting factor.

Honestly, I would much rather see games like this, that to use your words, "don't push any boundaries". Because I think it looks incredible (plus what a nice gesture to give us a 3-hour long demo), and it runs fantastically. I had 3 small stutters in 3 hours. In Hogwarts, I had a stutter every 20-30 seconds.

[ARIXANDRE]

Loved the lore deep-cuts for Spiderman, Lord of The Rings, Star Trek, Commando and Terminator! ❤

[floppa]

I might be willing to trade my mortal soul for a few extra years of Nvidia 3D Vision support and development. It wasn't perfect and wonky in many games but when it worked totally changed the experience for me. I still remember driving in Burnout Paradise in 3D. It was an insane rush.