Oh E3, you always promise so much but tend to leave us all a little underwhelmed. This year had its moments but probably won’t be remembered as a classic. I feel that being near the end of the current console generation and the proliferation in gaming expos means that not as many killer games or hardware were announced. With the aim to set out a company’s plans for the next year obviously the end of 2020 is going to be huge but we must wait another 12 months for full announcements. Still there were some surprises and we had a lot more clarity on when known titles are going to be released, probably the most important information in my opinion.
Living in the UK does make it hard to follow every event, Bethesda’s 1:30am showing was far too late but it doesn't look like we missed much... I have thoroughly enjoyed the Nintendo Treehouse mind, three days of creators talking and playing through their games. It lets them show off a lot more detail as well as dropping snippets about their thinking. Shown on YouTube it is easy to skip through the 8 or so hours of footage to find the games you are actually interested in.
Anyway there is no way you will have caught everything bar the headlines. So lets see the full round up of all the stuff you may have missed!
Sony
The obvious place to start is with the biggest no show. Sony deciding to skip this E3 for a few reasons, from what I can guess. They seem to prefer the Playstation Experience they put on and means they can hog the wider limelight. It might also be too early to announce the assumed ‘PS5’, with every detail not finalised though this seems likely. The biggest part to play in this is that last year they had four huge games to showcase and there preferred method of moving the audience from room to room did not go over that well. With only two big games to come on the PS4, Death Standing and The Last of Us Part 2 it would have been hard to base a whole show around it.
So what do we know? Death Standing is now being released on 8th November this year with the Last of Us Part 2 being pushed back into probably early next year. We should probably expect a next gen console announcement sometime this year with the release sometime in 2020. The biggest news so far on this console is the ridiculously quick load times and a heavy emphasis on backwards compatibility with PS4 games.
Microsoft
The big hope at this conference was for what Microsoft would announce about it’s next gen console. We only got a teaser, being that its currently called Project Scarlett and coming in Winter 2020. No name, spec or much else but the key feature so far is to cut out load times. Which would be nice in some those of huge RPGs (Role Playing Games)! Lots of fancy features were mentioned though I won’t bore you here with Ray Tracing or next gen SSD’s. Suffice to say it will be much more powerful than the Xbox One X and should release with Halo Infinite. Even less was said on this title, bar the release window. I must say being released on day one is absolutely fantastic (if they make it). Far too many consoles come out lacking in a killer game so this ticks that box nicely. Exciting times.
As for current console the big game changer is Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which combines the current Game Pass and Xbox Gold subscriptions in one handy membership. On top of this the Game Pass for PC is also included which is awesome for those that love PC gaming. No UK price yet but it should be around £12 for the Netflix of gaming. Pretty much all of the first party games coming will be on this service day one which is an excellent reason to pick it up!
One other addition that seems to have passed most people by was the announcement of xCloud, Microsoft's entry into the cloud streaming service that is coming in October. It will allow you to play any of your games or the Game Pass titles on a variety of devices including mobile phones. It looks like a strong competitor to Stadia but only time will tell.
Oh yes, the games. Gears of War 5 comes on September 10th year and I am actually looking forward to it! By the end of the Third one I was a little weary of the formula but a good break away and with some new interesting… Some new modes thrown in with a bunch of returning characters it could be a return to form.
After being bought last year; Ninja Theory has announced Bleeding Edge, a 4v4 hero action game that is coming to game pass. With a bunch of classes it has a huge Team Fortress vibe.
One of the most exciting titles for me was Obsidians new RPG, the Outer Wilds set across space. Developed by the creators of Fallout New Vegas, so you would hope it’s going to be good!
For the RTS nerds Age of Empires 2 is getting a definitive edition with rather fancy graphics and four new nations to be added. Again on Game Pass for PC. Finally, Microsoft announced they were purchasing Double Fine who are continuing work on Psychonauts 2. Minecraft Dungeons is coming in Spring 2020, a Diablo like game set in the Minecraft world and looks like it could be some fun four player co-op.
As for the non exclusives the biggest reaction was for Cyberpunk 2077 with none other than Keanu fucking Reeves presenting! In fact he is in the game and it all looked jolly nice. Set in the future this insane RPG could be groundbreaking. Much hype for this title and FINALLY a release date of 16th April 2020. So less than 307 days until then…
Elden Ring, the creation of FromSoftware (Dark Souls) and George R.R. Martin (Game of Thrones) looked fantasy to the max in the trailer though no game play nor release date. It’s aesthetics were stunning so it will be interesting to see if we get a very hard, very lore heavy title as expected from these creators.
Overall a good showing from Microsoft, maybe a few too many people coming on stage but they stuck to the games and that's what matters. Oh and a vague idea of the next gen release!
Nintendo
Oh Nintendo, you never let us down! I love the Directs they show across the year to highlight new games, the E3 one being no different. Being a straight up video of around 40 minutes with fast fire of titles. It’s not a live stage show so none of the embarrassing on stage conversations or weird moments when people try to play a game. It’s just straight up footage of games, games and more games! Now with the 3DS basically dead it can fully concentrate on the Nintendo Switch. In fact they have become so popular with fans both Microsoft and Sony are trying to ape them.
There is only one place to start and in typical Nintendo ‘Just one more thing’ they blew everyone out of the water with an announcement that a Zelda: Breath of the Wild sequel is in the works! No title, no game play footage nor any kind of release date it’s still hugely exciting. It took 5 years to make BOTW so hopefully the team can turn around a sequel much quicker than that! Word is they are reusing the map but are intent of going much more story driven which was probably the biggest criticism of BOTW.
The title I am the second most excited about this year has to be Luigi’s Mansion 3, with my favourite plumber back in action to save the gang from a haunted hotel. It carries on in the same vein as 2, with ghosts to hunt, mysteries to solve and a brand new sidekick Gooigi! Here’s hoping for a Halloween release!
Obviously the game I am most excited about is the newest Pokemon games, Sword & Shield which we got more details from a Pokemon Direct just before E3. Set in the Galar region (Pokemon’s equivalent of the UK) we have all the usual shenanigans of picking a starting Pokemon, catching and training a team to defeat 8 gyms. So far, so usual but there are some new interesting features. Dynamaxing allows you to make a monster giant for 3 turns in specific fights, particularly in gyms and adds a new element to fights.
There will be the usual assortment of new and returning Pokemon, lots of customisation for your character and the usual progress of building and leveling your team. Another new addition is a huge open space called the Wild Area which allows the character to explore freely with a load of over world Pokemon and newly created Max Raid Battles, allowing you to join up with 3 friends locally or online to defeat giant Pokemon to catch! It’s not too long until release on November 15th.
One worry was that Animal Crossing: New Horizons would not show up at all so thankfully we got a full blown trailer tinged slightly with disappointment that release has been put back to next March. To temper that Nintendo wisely made a statement saying they had to move it to give their employees a better work / life balance, they just didn’t want to crunch. Which is brilliant and should be copied more.
As for New Horizon's it’s set on an empty tropical Island you must start from scratch with a tent to build up a village. With far more variety in resources, crafting and with the ability to play with multiple friends this very cute game is going to be a huge hit!
The biggest takeaway was the sheer amount of older third party games coming to the console with Resident Evil 5 & 6, Spyro Reignited Trilogy, Alien Isolation and my dream game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt! Some people will complain that there should be a lot more newer titles but I would argue it’s great that we are getting some of the best games around from the past decade. All the better to be able to play on the go!
Some new Smash fighters were announced in a Dragon Quest character and then Banjo-Kazooie bringing the house down!
Otherwise it was just more details on the soon to be released Super Mario Maker 2, Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Zelda: Link’s Awakening remake. All in all not too shabby.
PC
As for those computing enthusiasts, most of the titles announced are coming to PC so I won't repeat them here but there were a few exclusives. The gorgeous looking Planet Zoo has been announced by Frontier Developments (makers of Planet Coaster). Aiming for the most realistic animals ever alongside a larger challenge than Zoo Tycoon it could be a quiet hit.
Rebellion is planning on releasing Evil Genius 2 in 2020, 15 years after the original tasking you with building a secret lair, training up minions and taking over the world. For simulation fans this is a cracker.
On top of all of that we also are getting Baldur's Gate 3, great for all the old people like me!
Third Party
Square Enix provided further updates on Final Fantasy VII remake that is still in production but looks rather lovely. Alongside this they are going to remaster Final Fantasy VIII which is due out this year on all consoles. Ah it wouldn't be an E3 without a FF remaster announced! Much hyped Avengers game is a four player co-op action adventure centred around the original team and will be supported for several years with a lot of free content of maps and new characters. Which is nice.
Bethesda were a little bit meh but I am very excited about Deathloop by Arkane Lyon who did the Dishonored games. We only had a trailer but it’s been designed around time loops. Looks nuts. Doom Eternal is out in November with some fancy new toys to help you blow up thousands of demons, Switch users will have to wait a bit longer mind. Fallout 76 is getting an overhaul with new story content, human NPCs and of course a Battle Royale mode. I am not sure if this can save the much criticised title but at least they are trying. Sometimes it takes a few years to fix a title to how the creators envisaged it. No further details were given on Starfield or Elder Scrolls VI so they are a long way off.
The big announcement from Ubisoft was Watch Dogs Legion, the latest in the series set in London with the ability for the player to recruit and control any NPC. February 20th 2020 is the release date of Gods & Monsters, a stunning looking action adventure game where you go fight mythological creatures. It has a huge Breath of the Wild vibe. Roller Champions is Ubisoft's take on Rocket League set in Roller Derby. The next shooter will be Rainbow Six: Quarantine a 3v3 coop experience. Finally UPlay+ will be Ubisoft's new subscription service to rival Game Pass.
EA had their typical overblown show with off course Fifa 2020 being one of the big titles. I am no real fan of EA anymore, they have made too many mistakes and the heavy emphasis of micro transactions and loot boxes is a real turn off for me. But… not even being a huge Star Wars fan I cannot wait for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, it looks fucking insane, a full blown single player game that every fan has wanted for years. Finally something that may be able to match the quality of Knights of the Old Republic titles. Hopefully….
All in all it wasn’t too bad a year though there were a lot more trailers than game-play, a bit light on the brand new announcements and feels like a placeholder for next year. Sony not being there is a big loss but if they have little to announce there is no point being there. As for the best of the rest were Dying Light 2, Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga and Borderlands 3 which all look quite swanky follow ups but will be eagerly anticipated by their fans.
The hype around the event overall is still there and I can see the expo continuing for the next few years though with subscription services being pushed it could lead to a much better spread of releases throughout the year and less of a need for these big events. Let’s see, I just cannot wait to team up with Luigi again!
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