The 3 Best Summer Game Fest Demos Were All for 2026 Games That Can’t Come Soon Enough

Summer Game Fest demos were varied and plentiful with some games playable while others were just watchable, but days after the event, only three have really left an impression on me. While they couldn’t be more different in terms of their stories and gameplay, they all share two things in common: they’re all three games that have probably slipped by your radar just as they did mine, and unfortunately for me because I’m already eager to play them again, they’re all releasing in 2026.

Those three games are Spine, Infinitesimals, and End of Abyss. Spine was a game that we knew about beforehand since its creator, Nekki, has been keeping players up to speed on its development, but the other two games were just fully unveiled at Summer Game Fest, so you’d get a pass for not knowing about them beforehand. But whether you knew about these games or not after Summer Game Fest, you should keep an eye on them ahead of their 2026 release dates in case there’s any opportunity to play them early.

Spine

• Developer: Nekki
• Release Window: 2026
• Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, PC

“Gun Fu” is the name of the game when it comes to Spine, a combat style where you’re weaving gunshots and head kicks and takedowns seamlessly into a stream of enemies. It’s got big John Wick energy (as it should considering composer Le Castle Vania who worked on the John Wick series also contributed music to Spine) mixed with a bit of cyberpunk and a bit of The Raid to create a very snappy pace that ensures there’s always someone nearby for you to whale on.

You play as a character named Redline in Spine who only has a basic handgun, a can of spray paint, and hand-to-hand combat at her disposal. Like a superhero with Spidey sense in a sea of common thugs, you clear room after room with stylish kills while dodging gunfire and turning their own weapons against them. The demo culminated in a hectic boss fight against a stealthy enemy who had a similar combat-enhancing Spine implant like Redline which, compared to the other enemies, was a pretty noticeable (but not unmanageable) difficulty spike.

A greater variety of enemies and takedown animations would go a long way in a game like Spine, but Artur Ovchinnikov, the Nekki community lead who walked me through the demo, assured me that the more takedowns are definitely planned, and I can only imagine the enemies are varied beyond the demo. Based on what I’ve played of it so far and judging from Ovchinnikov’s refreshingly genuine and infectious enthusiasm for the game, Spine is one to keep an eye on.

Infinitesimals

• Developer: Cubit Studios
• Release Window: 2026
• Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC

It’s easy to look at Infinitesimals and say “this is Grounded with guns,” because that was my exact thought when I first saw it. The scale of our alien protagonist Captain Awkney Relinrake and the much larger ants and leaves around him certainly brings Grounded to mind, but Cubit Studios founder and Infinitesimals game director James McWilliams said the game’s actually been in ideation and development in one form or another for over 10 years now. It’s a good thing it’s stayed in development and found a home under the Epic Games label, too, because Infinitesimals already feels like it’ll be a surprise for many next year.

As our fearless alien captain, your goal is to search for missing team members as you seek answers regarding the fate of a civilization you were supposed to meet on the planet in the first place. This story translates to a third-person shooter where you take on robotic enemies and presumably organic enemies like insects, birds, and more that tower over Awkney (I had the option to shoot the passive ants in the demo, but they weren’t bothering anyone, so I let them be). I try to keep opinions out of these demos at least until then end when and if developers ask, but I couldn’t help but remark to McWilliams and Cubit co-founder and lead developer Mickaël Fourgeaud how pretty the scaled-down world of Infinitesimals is.

Gunplay in Infinitesimals, particularly recoil, was a bit harder to manage than I expected for a game that looks more casual than it is, but when McWilliams and Fourgeaud spoke of the weapon upgrades to control and minimize negative effects combined with different types of armored suits to support various playstyles, it became apparent Infinitesimals had greater depth than a demo could convey. Effortlessly funny at times with surprisingly snappy controls for a game that’s not out till next year, Infinitesimals is dialed in on what it actually means to have fun with a video game.

End of Abyss

• Developer: Section 9 Interactive
• Release Window: 2026
• Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC

The very unique blend of squishy and grotesque seen in games like the Little Nightmares series drew me into End of Abyss, but what kept me engrossed (and wanting to come back to play it a second time) was the simplicity and smoothness of the experience. End of Abyss is basically a twin-stick Metroidvania with so few controls to master that by the end of the 30ish-minute demo, it felt like a game I’d been playing for much longer.

End of Abyss puts players in control of a character named Cel who has to fight through and explore a rundown site filled with all manners of creepy, amorphous creatures that splatter in a particularly satisfying way when you smack or shoot them. While only a few different enemy types were present in the demo, their designs made me thankful for the generous i-frames Cel’s roll allowed for so that I could keep plenty of space from them.

Tapping into the Metroidvania aspect of the game, the dopamine spikes were real when it came to certain genre traits like stepping out of a suit-focused save point machine or finding a key item that now lets me re-explore past parts of the map. End of Abyss co-creator Mattias Ottvall said during the demo that 60FPS was the target which will go a long way with the preciseness the game demands of players during combat, but based on how smooth the gameplay was, the End of Abyss demo would be more than enough to wow players if it were released tomorrow.