What I expect/want to see from Bethesda in E3 2018:
When Bethesda announced that they were having a press conference in last year’s E3, all I could think of was “why”; what did they have to show besides the stuff we already knew about, which were the, not so subtle, hints at Wolfenstein 2 and announcements of Fallout VR and an expansion of Elder Scrolls Online. As you already know, they showed Evil Within 2, Dishonored 2: Death of the Outsider, Skyrim and Fallout VR, which if you couple those announcements with the strong showings of Wolfenstein 2 and the Creation Club debacle, it was a conference that I enjoyed watching and discussed afterwards.
In all honesty though, I don’t know if they can pull it off again this year; they already announced Rage 2, which in theory should be a slam-dunk, but it won’t be easy to pull off. They already showed a lighter, more punk-rock tone to the game than the original had, they already announced that the two studios that will collaborate in order to bring this world together would be Avalanche Studios (creators of 2015’s Mad Max and the Just Cause series, thus the perfect option for vehicle based destruction and open world mayhem) and Id software; so, you have experts in the two fields that will be crucial to the success of Rage 2 (shooting and open world mayhem with cars) however if they flow well together, it remains to be seen. I’m excited about it, because DOOM 2016 was awesome and Avalanche are a great studio that deliver good experiences, at the very least, thus Rage 2 seems to have everything in place to be a really good game.
Apart from Rage 2, I expect the announcement of the next Bethesda Games Studio (BGS) AAA game, that they said they were working on back in 2016. Considering how long BGS takes with its projects, this project will probably not be anywhere near completion, but I think they have to show it this year, especially if it’s going to be a new IP.
Part of the reason I’m pessimistic about Bethesda’s E3 conference this year, is because a lot of their affiliate studios already released stuff in 2017; Tango Gameworks released Evil Within 2, Arkane released Dishonored: Death of the Outsider and Prey, Machine Games released Wolfenstein 2, while we already know what Id was working on and Zenimax Online has been working on The Elder Scrolls Online since 2014, and considering that game’s success they won’t stop anytime soon. Thus, all that seems plausible this year, from affiliate studios at least, is a couple of expansions, Rage 2 and the AAA BGS game; let’s not forget that Bethesda is a publisher as well, and they could have a few deals with other studios that they want to advertise, so we could see some of those deals.
All in all, I’ not really looking forward to Bethesda’s press conference; but then again, I was not really looking forward to any of their conferences besides their first one. So they could, once again, surprise and win me over, however, that remain to be seen; in all honesty, I like not knowing what could or could not be there, it allows for surprises and ‘hype’ moments that make these conferences worthwhile. I hope Rage 2 is good and I hope that the AAA BGS game is finally the BGS game that makes me like those games, and I hope that their conference is great once more.
What I expect/want to see from Square Enix in E3 2018:
Square Enix is back after E3 2017, where they didn’t have an actual press conference or a real presence, and they’ve brought the big guns with them; specifically, the big keychain sword thingies. Considering how popular the Kingdom Heart series is and how long fans have been waiting for a new, proper, entry, I think it is pretty safe to assume that, Kingdom Hearts 3 will eat up a lot of time from their conference, and keeping in mind how long Square Enix has worked on it and their insane, financial expectations on games, they will give a lot of time to this game and hope that it will meet their expectations. I’m interested in it, although I’ve never played a Kingdom Hearts game before, I was always interested from afar on the Kingdom Hearts world and lore; hopefully, their presentation convinces me to jump in and give it a shot for myself.
It’s also pretty certain that Shadow of the Tomb Raider will show up, a game that I’m pretty excited for and worried in equal measure; it looks amazing, from what has been shown thus far, and it looks as a thematic continuation of narrative threads explored through in previous games, but in new, grittier avenues. It also switched developers, with Crystal Dynamics only assisting in this one, so they can focus on their Avengers game. This has me a worried, not because Eidos Montreal is a bad developer (they made the very good Deus Ex reboot series), but the game should feel a continuation of both gameplay and narrative from the previous games, just like Rise of the Tomb Raider was a continuation of Tomb Raider, and I would have preferred the original team that worked for years on this series to conclude this trilogy; however, only time can tell and I’m going to give Shadow of the Tomb Raider an honest chance when it comes out.
I’ve also seen rumors that the Final Fantasy 7 remake would be shown again, but this time with a lot more detail and a release date; I have no opinion on this, or this game, but I hope it’s true for the fans that have been dying to see it. In conclusion, I’ll probably watch the Square Enix conference while doing something else, pause for the Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Kingdom Hearts segments, and then continue where I left off; I’m not really interested on what they have to offer unless it’s a gameplay trailer of that Avengers game Rocksteady is working on, because maybe then they might go back to Urban Riot (my favorite guilty pleasure game of all time).
Ruler of Owls 