Another year, another E3. It was the usual three days of game reveals, game trailers, release date announcements, and awkward developers in T-shirt and blazer combos being forced to engage in acts of public speaking, even though for most of them, English is their second language. The big contenders we had this year were Microsoft, Bethesda, Ubisoft, Square Enix, and Nintendo.
As you probably noticed, that list was missing a certain Japanese media conglomerate. Yes, Sony decided not to have an E3 conference this year, so there was defiantly an absence of third-person action adventure games with a narrative written by someone who watched The Road once and then said, “Yeah, do that.” Seriously though, Sony’s choice to not attend was noticeable, especially with multiple triple-A titles such as Death Stranding, The Last of Us 2, Shadows of Tsushima in the works. And due to Activision’s deal with the devil, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was a no show.
But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t any exciting news from this year’s show. There were plenty of reveals and trailers that were cause for excitement. There was at least enough news for me to make this Top 10 list, so eat your heart out, WatchMojo.
9. Rainbow 6: Quarantine
I enjoy Rainbow 6: Siege every now and again, though being killed over and over by players who have the reactions and tactical ability comparable to a US Navy Seal does get a bit repetitive after the third match. So, the announcement of a three-player, co-operative, alien shooter, dubbed Rainbow 6: Quarantine, seems right up my alley.
Based off a Siege mode that I never played, (Though I heard good things about it) Quarantine has you and two friends fighting “a totally new breed of mutated alien parasite”… and that’s about all they told us. We know the gameplay will be very similar to Siege, and that the operators will still be a big part of it. I, for one, am hoping for a Left 4 Dead style experience and seeing as Valve don’t much care for developing actual games anymore, maybe this game can scratch that zombie (alien) killing itch.
Here, watch an extremely vague trailer for Rainbow 6: Quarantine, due sometime in 2020.
8. Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
I like Lego. I like Star Wars. I like video games. So, I like the idea of a new Lego Star Wars game. I have fond memories of playing 2005s Lego Star Wars: The Video Game, based on the recently released (and underappreciated) Star Wars prequel films.
The newest game, Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga contains all nine films in cute Lego form. The trailer shows three pivotal duels from each era: Qui Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan vs. Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace, Luke vs. Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back, and finally, Rey vs. Kylo Ren in The Force Awakens. The trailer gives us hints of the same comedy we’re used to from these games, such as Darth Maul yawning while fighting, or Darth Vader handing Luke one of his own hands after cutting Luke’s off.
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is slated for 2020 after we’ve all been disappointed by Rise of Skywalker.
7. GhostWire: Tokyo
When the Tango Gameworks logo appeared on screen, and industry veteran and Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami walked on stage, I was hoping for a sequel to The Evil Within 2, possibly my GOTY for 2016, it was a nice return to the days of Resident Evil 4. Then, I remembered, nobody bought The Evil Within 2 and we will likely never see the third game in the series. Thanks, gamers, I hate you all.
Instead, we get GhostWire: Tokyo. Revealed by the internet’s new favourite person, Ikumi Nakamura, she told us that the game isn’t the team’s usual survival horror experience but is still “spooky”. What that means I have no idea. The dubious cinematic trailer shows people randomly disappearing, leaving only their clothes behind, it’s your job to find the source of this Avengers: Infinity War like event. We see in the trailer a bow-wielding hooded figure who I assume is the player character casting a sort of orange energy spell.
If you think you can figure out what the hell’s going on, or what kind of game GhostWire: Tokyo is gonna be, here’s the trailer. No release date has been mentioned.
6. Deathloop
I always look forward to new releases from Arkane Studios. As a big fan of the Dishonored series and Prey, any games by them usually get the hype train rolling for me, and that hasn’t changed for their new game, Deathloop. As is the way of E3 though, only a cinematic trailer has been released, because the actual gameplay is so boring right?
Deathloop is centred on two assassins’, “Jules” and “The Captain” who are attempting to kill each other and their targets on the dangerous island of Blackreef. But in an Edge of Tomorrow/Groundhog Day twist, every time they die, the day resets, a “Deathloop” if you will. Arkane has said that’s it will follow there usual first person, play your own way style, so stealth gameplay will definitely be on the menu here.
Just like GhostWire: Tokyo, the game has no release date as of yet. Watch the pretty badass trailer here.
5. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Gameplay
EA didn’t leave much of an impact this year, with their EA Play conference focusing mainly on DLC for their already released games. They opened the show with a bang though, with gameplay for Respawn Entertainment’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
The video showed exiled Jedi padawan and the main character, Cal Kestis (silly name), doing his best impression of Nathan Drake, by swinging on ropes and climbing up conveniently placed handholds. The combat they showed looked quite cool, it reminded me of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice more than anything, with focus on blocking and quick, fatal attacks instead of constant wearing down of enemies’ health bars. Saw Gerrera also pops up as well, either voiced by Forrest Whitaker, or someone doing a damn fine impression of him.
You can watch the gameplay here. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is releasing November 15, 2019.
4. Marvel’s Avengers
After a year of rumours, leaks, snippets of info, Crystal Dynamics’s Marvel’s Avengers was finally showed off. And, after two trailers and a short presentation, we still don’t have a clue what the game is going to play like.
The way the developers were talking gave me the impression that Marvel’s Avengers is going to be a live service multiplayer action game, in the same vein as The Division 2 and Anthem (God, I hope it’s the former). Now, the only issue is, does anyone actually want that? After the success of Spiderman on PS4, wouldn’t people rather have that type of gameplay than this for an Avengers game? I’m somewhere on the fence. If Crystal Dynamics can pull it off, give players a valid reason to keep coming back, with regular updates and content, yeah, I’m up for it. But, if it’s like Anthem, a game so mind-numbingly boring, that I’d rather strangle myself with my own mouse, the future of Marvel games is going to be an uncertain one.
The trailer for Marvel’s Avengers is here, and the release date is May 15, 2020.
3. Halo Infinite Trailer
It’s been a whole year since the first Halo Infinite trailer. That trailer didn’t tell us much, except that it’s a Halo game, and that it has a fancy new engine. Well, another trailer dropped this E3, and… it doesn’t tell us much more than we already knew. If anything, I’d say I was more confused now, then before watching it.
In the trailer, a UNSC soldier is trapped on a ship which is running low on power. After an alarm goes off, he notices Master Chief floating out in space, like a big green asteroid. The soldier powers Chief back up in pretty much the same way you jump-start an engine. Chief goes to the window, some space energy pulse goes through the ship, Master Chief says a cool line, then it ends. No gameplay, no answer to how they’re going to handle the ending of Halo 5, which if you remember, is gonna need a whole lot of handling. I imagine 343 are saving the gameplay for the full reveal of Project Scarlett, probably at the next E3. Would it have been so difficult though? To just so us a little snippet of gameplay? It’s fine, I’m still hyped. Guess the Master Chief Collection on PC will have to tide me over until release.
Here’s the trailer. Halo Infinite is releasing Q4 2020, just in time for Microsoft next console.
2. Watch Dogs Legion
The history of the Watch Dogs franchise is a funny one. The first game was criticized for being too bleak and having a boring protagonist. Watch Dogs 2 tried to fix that by making all the characters young, “hip”, millennials who are sticking it to the man. The only issue was that the characters in Watch Dogs 2 were unbearably annoying, quoting memes, and making references to 80s films. Now, the third game, Watch Dogs Legion seems to be trying to fix those issues by not having a central main character whatsoever.
Set in a post-Brexit, surveillance filled version of London, Watch Dogs Legion has you recruiting for hacktivist group DedSec. The interesting idea here is that you can recruit literally anyone. People on the street, policeman, the enemies that you’re fighting, even, as the trailer shows, elderly women. The catch is that these recruits only have one life. Once they’re dead, they’re gone forever. It gives me XCOM vibes actually, with having a soldier that you’ve levelled up and love to just die and be gone forever, and then for it to affect you more than a death of a video game character should.
Watch Dogs Legion is slated for March 6, 2020. Watch the gameplay below.
1. Cyberpunk 2077 Release Date with Keanu Reeves
So, this was maybe the coolest moment at any E3 ever, right? Like, they’re never going to beat this. I can say with confidence that Cyberpunk 2077 is the most anticipated game at the moment. CD Projekt Red raised the bar by miles with the release of The Witcher 3, so the hype for Cyberpunk is off the metaphorical hype chart.
What can CD Projekt Red do to make people even more excited? How about having Johnny Mnemonic himself in their game. Yes, Keanu Reeves is in Cyberpunk 2077. When he appeared at the end of the trailer I audibly cheered, this game was already a day one purchase for me, but now, maybe I’ll have to pre-order it. Keanu also announced the release date, April 16, 2020. Not as far away as I feared, I had heard rumours of a release as late as 2022, so we only have to wait ten months before getting our hands on the game. We also got a new cinematic trailer for the game which showed the sort of hijinks you’ll be getting up to in Night City.
Cyberpunk 2077 releases April 16, 2020 (yay), watch the new trailer below.
That’s it for E3 this year. Not the best year ever. I would have liked some more details on The Elder Scrolls 6 and Starfield from Bethesda, and Ubisoft disappointed with no new Far Cry, no new Assassin’s Creed, and no new Splinter Cell. And as I mentioned before, no Sony games made an appearance. But, E3 is E3, it’s usually enjoyable even when there are no interesting game announcements, even if that’s just because of Ubisoft and their weird need to have a dance routine every year.
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