It’s that time of year again. No, not for enjoying the sunshine (thought it seems like that has already been and gone here in good old Blighty), but for staying up and watching the pre E3 conferences that can run anywhere up until 3:00 am. Bliss.
With Sony not attending this year and Nintendo doing their usual own “Treehouse” Direct, it was Microsoft’s to lose. With talks of new hardware, and the promise of World Premieres, Microsoft had to come in guns blazing. Did they? Yes and no. Starting up with a CG demo of CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 (a game I’ve been looking forward to for over 7 years) arguably stole the show with the arrival of Keanu Reeves walking on-stage to reveal he was in the game and the release date of 2020 (the year the original Cyberpunk RPG is set no less). What followed could never top this which was a steady, if less impressive stream of indie games as well as the usual “Triple A” games expected. No real footage of Gears 5 was worrying, considering the game is scheduled for release toward the end of the year (which was accompanied by the now standard promise of early access if you pre-order the collector’s edition).
There were some interesting looking games with the highlights being Twelve Minutes (think Groundhog Day set over, you guessed it, 12 minutes), Elden Ring (the new collaboration between Darks Souls creators FromSoftware and George R.R Martin), Battletoads (yay?) and more surprisingly, a new Microsoft Flight Simulator for PC as well as Xbox. The most notable omission was last years stunning The Last Night which will hopefully be re-revealed at a later date.
It was Project Scarlett, the next Xbox console that closed Microsoft’s conference that I was quite interested in. The specs seem very similar to what Sony have described the PS5 to be like (talks of 8K, ray-tracing, SSD etc) with the only current game announced for it a launch to be Halo Infinite (also coming to Xbox one and PC). The footage for which looked very impressive, despite it being a cut scene only (a running theme for the majority of trailers this year). As a former Halo fanboy, I’m quite looking forward to playing this. The aesthetic seems to have gone back to basics with Master Chiefs armour looking similar to the original Bungie games as opposed to the overly detailed4 and iteration of the Mark IV armour. The music at the end is ripped straight from Combat Evolved, indicating 343 Industries are listening to long-time fans and are on the right track with this soft reboot of the franchise.
Bethesda may as well not have bothered turning up for a pre-conference this year. Doom Immortal is more of the 2016 reboots gameplay but with added flair in the form of a grappling hook which should still provide to be adequate enough considering the last games quality. No news on Starfield and The Elder Scrolls VI was a missed opportunity, especially as they have come under fire with the recently released The Elder Scrolls Blades for mobile being a free-to-play lootbox sham (also coming to Switch) and last years abysmal Fallout 76.
The Avengers game coming from Square-Enix looks interesting if you like playing shared world shooters such as Destiny, The Division or Warframe but the character models look slightly off considering we’re all used to the films lately (the developer has since stated they are listening to feedback). Nolan North and Troy Baker providing the voices for Tony Stark and Bruce Banner respectively should ensure the characters have good banter though(ugh).
Final Fantasy VII Remake was the star of the show, however, with the first part scheduled for release in March 2020. The combat has changed, the game world will include more quests but it looks stunning, even more so than the Advent Children film which the character models seem to have surpassed.
EA had the usual FIFA on display (sport isn’t one of my fortes so I won’t embarrass myself), but the main attraction was Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. The demo shown to the public was average looking at best but behind closed doors, whispers emerged of a Metroidvania coupled with Dark Souls mechanics which sounds more enticing.
Nintendo seemed to have the biggest surprise of the show with a direct sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild being announced (something that hasn’t happened since the N64’s Majoras Mask). As the original is probably my favourite game of all time now, I’m excited to see what more they can do to improve perfection. They also showed Luigi’s Mansion 3 which looked more of the same albeit set in a hotel (I’ll still probably get it) and the much rumoured but unbelievable to be true port of The Witcher III: Wild Hunt. The graphics are vastly downgraded but the full game including expansions will be released on the actual cartridge which is nothing short of a miracle.
I’m sure there are many more announcements that have slipped by or worthy of more attention (Devolver’s conference was still the best in terms of pure gameplay and absurdity on show) but half the fun is being surprised. Oh, is that a Panzer Dragoon remake for the Switch? Go on then.
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