Five Free-To-Play Games I Hope To See During Summer Game Fest

Summer Game Fest is, at this point, almost a week-long affair. All week long, games are being celebrated with panels of various types. Some are rather focused. Others are presentations by game companies showing off their latest projects and upcoming offerings. But for most gamers, the highlight (or disappointment) is Friday’s Summer Game Fest keynote stream. All the major surprises are saved for this, after all.

Ananta

Of all the games that have been teased in the last year, one of the ones I’m most excited about is Ananta, or as it was formerly known, “Project Mugen”. Yes, I know I’ve been playing a lot of Neverness to Everness lately, and that Ananta is similar. It’s an urban open-world action game with supernatural powers. But, based on the trailer, it has very different vibes.

But aside from the vibes, there’s also the gameplay. From what we’ve seen in the trailers, rather than the combat we’re used to from most gacha games – including NTE, which is pretty similar to Wuthering Waves in style – Ananta’s combat is more reminiscent of GTA or Saints Row. And, of course, there are the Spider-Man mechanics.

With Naked Rain throwing so many things together, of course, we’re interested to find out more. It’s doubtful we’ll get a launch date, but perhaps some test announcements?

Varsapura

Speaking of open-world supernatural urban environment games, we have Varsapura from miHoYo. At this point, we’ve seen a 30-minute gameplay video of the game. What we’ve seen is intriguing. The game looks like it will be darker in nature than HoYo’s other offerings. That said, their current games can have some pretty dark themes, so it might be relative. It’s something I hope to see more of.

I doubt we’ll get dates for anything at this point. But a trailer or something similar will be nice.

Sea of Remnants

Stylistically, Sea of Remnants is different from most of the other games on this list. It’s not anime, it’s not even anime-inspired. After all, the game is set in a world where puppets take up the fine occupation of piracy. That said, like a lot of games on this list, it can be considered character-focused. One of the features it boasts is the ability to bond with more than 300 companions.

The game has been in testing on and off for a while, and we know that unless something changes, Joker Studio and NetEase plan to release the game sometime this year. So, with that in mind, a launch trailer would not go amiss.

Aniimo

When it comes to creature-collecting games, it seems like we’re going to have quite a few options for them as we go on. Mongil: Star Dive, which leans more toward Monster Hunter if it were a gacha game, has been out for a while. Honkai: Nexus Anima, HoYo’s Pokémon-style game set in the Honkai-verse, has done a bit of testing. And then there’s Aniimo, a very adorable creature-collecting game that’s also been through several rounds of testing.

Unlike some of the other games on this list. Aniimo doesn’t have a strict 2026 release window. In fact, Steam just has it listed as “Coming Soon”. So, a launch date might still be a lot to hope for. But perhaps an early access date? As the game is developed and published by the same company, it wouldn’t be surprising if they elected to do a round of paid early access before launch to get things rolling.

Petit Planet

HoYoverse’s entry into the cozy game space has been in testing on and off for a bit now. I’ve spent a bit of time in the game and have really enjoyed my experience. And that was before they made whatever changes they’ve chosen to implement based on testing feedback. Like most cozy games, it’s relaxing. It offers unique ways for players to interact with the game’s world and each other. (It’s pretty neat to see other players’ planets just kind of float by.) And the choice of art style is appealing.

Yes, there are other cozy games available right now. Heartopia has been out for a while and has been landing quite a few collaboration events, for example. But Petit Planet just clicked more for me. So I’ve been waiting patiently for a launch date for the game.

Of course, a good portion of the games highlighted during the stream are likely to be single-player and buy-to-play. But,. I can still hold out hope that I’ll see at least a few of these.