E3 2021 So Far
Did you guys know E3 was going on? Because it is. It’s a whole thing! I even put together some E3 predictions as part of a collaborative post over on WCRobinson’s blog. A bunch of us submitted predictions across a spectrum of:
- An almost sure thing
I thought the Bandai-Namco session would give us even more Elden Ring than we got with the trailer released in the Summer of Games Fest. Specifically, I thought they’d go to lengths to show us how they will retain the rather intentional design of a Souls game while going open-world.
I am… Starting to revise my expectations given the insane weighting toward cinematic ‘teaser’ trailers so far this year. But this one won’t be proven/disproven until tomorrow. - Something we think has a 50/50 split
Cities: Skylines 2 was my thinking here. I wondered if it had perhaps been held back from PDXCon to be revealed at this, the bigger event, on a partner stage perhaps. They do after all work with Microsoft and form part of the XBox Gamepass.
But nope- this didn’t come to pass. Dangit! Back to waiting for even an official announcement it is, then. - A ridiculous, almost certainly not going to happen thing — but something we hope for nonetheless.
Neverwinter Nights 3. I waaaant it. I don’t know whether BioWare would take up the reigns again or not. They probably have enough on between Mass Effect 5 and Dragon Age 4. Obsidian could do it — but they have a good number of projects in the oven too.
So really my hope was that the rights might’ve reverted to WoTC and that another party entirely might be interested in picking up the legacy.
Still time for this one to come through — but I picked it for this category for a reason. I’m pretty sure this one will remain in the realm of dreams for a while yet.
Shonky predictions aside, there have been a few games to catch my attention so far. Most things are (sadly) coming with rendered teaser trailers sure but even amongst these some have caught my eye for future attention. And the odd gameplay featuring video is out there too.
So I’ve spotted a few things of interest so far.
Games of Interest so Far
Oh- I should call out; I’m considering ‘E3’ to include all the gaming events on at the moment just for simplicities sake. Including the Summer of Games Fest thing that jumped in at the start and EA’s own rogue session a little later in the month.
If you just wanna see the whole list, here you go.
As for my picks…
A Plague Tale: Requiem
The writing was on the wall, what with the subtitle and everything. But I’m glad. I really enjoyed A Plague Tale: Innocence, the first game in the series, noting at the time, “You’ll get the satisfaction of a clear and definitive end from this title. But there are enough hooks that I have a fair idea of where a sequel would go. Or at least; I think I do. I imagine there will be a timeskip involved between the end of this game and the start of the next.“
It doesn’t look like there will be a timeskip afterall, or at least if there is, not a significant one. So that immediately throws a lot of my thinking into the air.
Whatever direction the story of this one takes though, definitely looking forward to it.
Babylon’s Fall
You know, this trailer doesn’t do a lot for me. Even the gameplay portion doesn’t really look very good at all.
But… It’s Platinum Games — makers of Nier: Automata, Bayonetta and the like.
Add to that the seeming heavy focus on co-op and it at least managed to garner my attention. My faith so far is in the developer’s pedigree that this will be far more interesting to play than it is to watch right now.
Still; we’ll have to see.
Battlefield 2042
You know? It’s kind of refreshing being excited for a Battlefield game again. It feels like it has been a long time since that was true for me.
I joined in last for Battlefield 1 (the confusingly named, definitely not the first in the series game) but the WW1 setting left me a little cold.
This… This though. Now we’re talking.
Elden Ring
Complete with a release date that isn’t as far off as we might’ve imagined given the radio silence over the past year or so: January 21st, 2022.
So far as I’m concerned, open-world Dark Souls simply cannot come fast enough. I might have to take some time off for this one, although the timing is a little awkward as will have been back at work for only a week or two post the Christmas shutdown when this comes out.
IGN just posted quite a significantly sized interview with Hidetaka Miyazaki, answering a lot of questions about the game too.
Lost Ark
Another terrible trailer. But this isn’t the worst part. Lost Ark being confirmed for a western release should’ve been a stunning highlight for me.
They don’t want Aussie or Kiwi money.
Still… *sigh* …Terrible trailer aside; this is a pretty fantastic game if you can make it through a bit of a rough opening where your skills haven’t developed much in the way of fluidity yet. So it’s great news for ya’ll who will be permitted to play!
The Outer Worlds 2
This trailer must’ve gone into production at least a little while ago so the designers had to be somewhat prescient about the state of the show this year.
What does it tell us about the game? Nothing.
But it’s still probably my favourite trailer so far.
Riders Republic
The narration and player/npc voices in this thing make me want to curl up into a little ball from all the cringe.
But all that aside, and on assumption we will be able to mute all voices in the game…
It actually looks like a fair bit of fun! Especially the huge player count events shown at the end!
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl
That will be the first and last time (probably) that I bother to write that out with the ‘correct’ punctuation.
That aside, I really liked the first STALKER game (see, dropped it already). The atmosphere of it was incredible. And if it wasn’t the first, it was the first I recall, of the more open-world FPS style games.
I didn’t get into the expansions as much — although I hear that in particular, Call of Pripyat was very good — but the revival of the series now? Good news. Good news indeed.
Starfield
I feel no more enlightened now, as I did before watching the trailer, as to what this game will actually be. Skyrim in Space with a side of ‘Han Solo simulator’ are the descriptors being bandied about at the moment.
But no actual detail yet.
Well- one detail. It’s coming November 2022. Whether we’ll see more information drip fed along the way or have to wait for next E3 then, who knows?
Tales of Arise
My entry to the Tales series is quite recent, with Berseria. And I found it to be the J-est of JRPGs I’d ever played. For all that though, I still quite enjoyed it.
The anime cutscenes were top notch, the combat system allowed for a good degree of customisation and it was one of those games where just when you thought you’d unlocked all the mechanics there was, something else would come along.
So I’ve been keeping a keen eye on Tales of Arise since it was announced.
Comes out September 10th, 2021. Not far now at all!
Annnd I think that’s it for me. So far.
There were a few that almost made it to the list like Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands and Forza Horizons 5. I’ve actually never played a Forza game before but have eyed up FH4 more than a few times on the game pass as something to maybe give a shot.
I imagine there will be a few other things of interest yet to come out of E3 as well. Or maybe even just something I’ve so far missed!
