Less than a month into 2020, several high profile games have already been pushed back and delayed. More time to work on a game is generally a good thing, but the finish line for the current generation of consoles is in sight. Not only do these games have to compete with other titles, but new hardware, which makes their delays a little more worrisome.
Before we talk about the games in question, it is important to know that Microsoft has already committed to Xbox One games working with the Xbox Series X, mitigating some of my reservations about migrating player bases. We don’t know what Sony has in store on that front, but I’m willing to bet this is all a moot point because every game on this list is going to get a next generation re-release.
So with all of those caveats, here are the big delays in question along with the effect it will have on the product as a whole… I assume.
FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE
First on the list is a game that I honestly could not care less about, but the gaming audience at large loves, Final Fantasy VII. It got bumped from a March 3rd release date, to April 10th.
In the grand scheme of things, this one isn’t so bad. People have waited a hilariously long time for this game to come out that I don’t think another month is too much to ask. It doesn’t matter anyway consider no matter what happens, people are still going to complain about the changes that were made.
This delay is far enough away from the launch of the next consoles that sales won’t be impacted at all.
MARVEL’S AVENGERS
So here is where we get into the more concerning delays. Marvel’s Avengers is an already strange product, marrying single player and cooperative third-person action with a live service model. I’m not saying it can’t work, but it’s a weird fit for a long awaited Avengers game.
Regardless, the game was pushed from May to September 4th of this year. We can assume that the next consoles will come out around November meaning that this live service game has roughly 2 months or less of capturing an audience.
Now yes, I understand that not everyone is going to buy a console the second it’s released, and yes I understand that Xbox is doing their “all games work on both consoles” thing, but with it releasing so close to a new console launch, there’s no way that Marvel’s Avengers doesn’t either get re-released on the new consoles, or just get delayed and released as a launch title.
I’m so curious about this game, and every time I hear more about it I get more and more concerned. Hopefully someone who gets paid to make these decisions has a plan, but from the outside looking in, it doesn’t look great for Marvel’s Avengers.
CYBERPUNK 2077
There’s no possible way that Cyberpunk 2077 can possibly live up to the hype, but I’m still hopeful. Originally slated for April 16th, Cyberpunk 2077 is listed for a September 17th release date.
While it isn’t a live service game like Marvel’s Avengers is, Cyberpunk 2077 is a massive, open-world action-RPG that’s going to take some time to get through if The Witcher 3 is any indication. This one isn’t so much as me being worried that the new consoles are going to eat Cyberpunk‘s lunch, but more me just wanting it to be a next generation title at this point.
In fact, I kind of wish Cyberpunk was planned as a next generation title in the first place. Everything that they’ve shown looks beautiful and ambitious, and I worry that the hardware it’ll be running on won’t hold up its end of the bargain. Maybe an Xbox One X or PS4 Pro will handle it better, but for those of us with launch hardware, I’m not convinced that we’re going to get a technically solid experience.
With all that said though, I’m sure that this game is going to get some sort of “game of the year” version with all the DLC or whatever after a year or so into the next console cycle. Cyberpunk 2077 is gonna be just fine.
DYING LIGHT 2
Now this one is concerning because it went from having an ambiguous “spring 2020,” release date, to not having one at all. Dying Light 2 was pitched as a highly ambitious game, particularly in the storytelling department, promising players vastly branching paths with difficult decisions that have actual impact on the story and world. It sounds great, but it also sounds like something that could be oversold very easily.
More to the point, without a window of time to expect Dying Light 2, it’s easy to assume the worst for the game, but I don’t think it’s on the verge on complete cancellation or anything like that. What I do think is that the pitch and scope of the game vastly overshadowed what the team at Techland can actually deliver. That isn’t an indictment of them as a studio, it’s just me pointing out that the initial pitch was lofty to begin with.
Do I think this game is doomed? No. Do I think that it’s going to be scaled back? Yes. Do I think it’ll be a next generation game? 100 percent. Am I any less excited to play it? Nope.
Full disclosure; this was written over a week ago, so I’m sure 15 other games got delayed since then. I welcome all delays, but if Nintendo bumps Animal Crossing back once more, I will riot.
Since starting The Bonus World, I’ve always tried to get some sort of end of the year wrap up article together for game of the year season. Usually by this time in the year I can start constructing some loose amalgamation of a top ten list. 2019 happens to be the first year in a while where I’m having a tough time building that list.
That isn’t to say that the games I’ve played in 2019 have been disappointing or bad, I just found that a lot of what came out this year didn’t really resonate with me. Things like Kingdom Hearts III and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice were received positively, but once again, not my kind of games. Then we also had some real clunkers like Crackdown 3 and Anthem release early in the year and fade away into obscurity.
I think a lot of it has to do with developers gearing up for the next round of consoles along with the fact that early next year we’re going to be blitzed with some big titles like Doom Eternal, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Dying Light 2 and Cyberpunk 2077 to name a few. 2019 just feels like the gap year between the bombastic 2018 we had with Marvel’s Spider-Man and Red Dead Redemption II to cherry pick some of my favorites, and the swan-song, end of the generation year of 2020.
Like I said, I don’t think it was a bad year for video games, but when compared to last year and what’s coming up next year, it’s definitely lacking something. But hey, the year isn’t over yet, so I could eat my words on this. We’ve got The Outer Worlds and Call of Duty Modern Warfare dropping this Friday (10/26), and games like Luigi’s Mansion 3, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Pokemon, Death Stranding and of course, Shenmue III in the very near future, and any of those games could be great.
But let’s be real here, I’m probably just gonna play Red Dead Redemption II on the PC obsessively and let the other games just slide into the background.
Final Fantasy. Yeah, I get it it, a lot of people are jazzed about that remake coming next March, but how about that Avengers project huh? I’m definitely not writing this before the actual presentation, inevitably setting myself up for disappointment or anything. But yeah, this is probably going to be the shortest of the E3 write-ups I do, unless Square Enix brings the heat in other, non-Final Fantasy forms.
Let’s take a look!
FINAL FANTASY 7 REMAKE
A lot of people are really into this game, like, to a scary degree. I never fell in love with Final Fantasy 7, or any JRPG in general, but I’d be lying if I wasn’t interested in trying this version out. FF7 is one of the weird blank spots in my gaming history, and while most of the fans have made talking about it insufferable, I’d still like to try this game out in some aspect.
It looks like they changed the combat up for this remake, leaning into real time combat much more while also allowing for a sort of Dragon Age styled tactical mode where time slows to a halt, allowing you to pick from a list of advanced attacks.
If I could play this game like a more traditional action game, I think I’d be more willing to try it out. But I don’t know that this is what fans of Final Fantasy 7 are looking for as far as this remake. Or maybe they’ll eat it up without any issues. Doubtful, but maybe fans will be cool about this for once.
The remake is slated to come out early next year, March 3rd, 2020.
A BUNCH OF ANIME GAMES
We got a bunch of trailers for other JRPG remasters and ports, alongside Dragon Quest Builders 2 and a remaster of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. Some of the stuff shown looked cool, but nothing that really did much of anything for me.
CIRCUIT SUPERSTARS
A top down, R.C. Pro Am style game with a layer of tuning and strategy was shown off, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit interested. Since the Burnout series… burnt out, I haven’t really been playing much of any racing games, but this one looks like something I’d check out.
DYING LIGHT 2
Shout out to Dying Light for using a Metric song in their trailer, it makes me want this game even more. Unfortunately, the trailer didn’t do much in the way of new footage, but it did come with a nebulous, spring 2020 release date.
OUTRIDERS
A new shooter from People Can Fly, they didn’t show off too much of Outriders, but from what little I did see, it looks like a third person shooter where you’ll create a character, all with this weird, post-apocalyptic yet demonic looking aesthetic. A lot of weird demonic looking beasts were shown off, but not much else. They’ll say more about this winter.
MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS
In what might be the most confusing and nebulous announcement of all of E3, Marvel’s The Avengers, specifically the presentation about out was one of the most confounding things I’ve ever seen. They aren’t following the MCU, rather, building their own version of the Avengers canon to work with.
The story has the Avengers fucking up and getting outlawed and fighting back from that, I suppose. People in the crowd kept shouting at this point.
After a while of saying absolutely nothing, they got around to announcing playable characters, Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor and Black Widow. Take that Hawkeye.
Then we cut to a weird sit down with the voice actors behind the 5 playable characters which was an… interesting choice. I wish they would’ve talked about this in maybe a developer diary video that wasn’t on an E3 stage, but whatever. I would’ve genuinely preferred seeing more gameplay, we got some more cut scenes which is better than nothing.
After a short cut scene, we got more people walking out on stage and talking about the game. No pay to win and no loot boxes were listed as talking points, which means cosmetics are definitely in the mix.
Notably absent was any gameplay. I have no idea how the game works or plays or anything. It was this weird feeling of them hiding the gameplay from us or something, I don’t think that’s the case, but that was the vibe they put off.
Oddly enough, they’re showing off actual gameplay at their booth, but felt the need to not show anything about that on their stage. I just wish they didn’t withhold so much information about the game, and felt the need to be more coy about it.
Whatever Marvel’s The Avengers ends up being, is out on May 15th, 2020.
And that’s that. A conference filled with a bunch of games that weren’t for me, and the ones that did pique my interest, were oddly vague. This show felt like a real love letter to fans of Square games from the past, with a bunch of remasters and remakes being announced. Good on them, now please tell me more about Marvel’s The Avengers.
Microsoft took the stage at this year’s E3 with what might be the most exciting and interesting lineup of games, hardware and services. With so many of their initiatives coming to a head, between streaming services, announced games from purchased studios, possibly new hardware reveals, and the fact that their main competition isn’t attending the show, Microsoft has nowhere to go but up.
Preamble aside, this is what they brought to the biggest stage in gaming this year that caught my eye.
THE OUTER WORLDS
They opened the show with some new footage from The Outer Worlds, the Obsidian, Fallout style first-person RPG. Personally, I’m not a big fan of the Bethesda style game, but the setting and scope of the game itself was a very attractive prospect.
The sci-fi trappings of this first person action RPG looks right up my alley aesthetically, and the gun play looks like it didn’t suck, which would be a nice change from every Fallout game. Also, I watched the player just shoot a quest giver in the chest, so this game looks like a blast. It comes out October 25th of this year.
BLEEDING EDGE
Next up was Ninja Theory’s, Bleeding Edge. It’s a 4v4 melee focused competitive multiplayer game. It looks like a blend of Borderlands, Overwatch and For Honor. There wasn’t much in the way of details, except that it has attitude. Gnarly.
ORI AND THE WILL OF THE WISPS
The sequel to the very good Ori and the Blind Forest was once again, shown off, boasting it’s signature beautiful art style and tight platforming. In this short trailer, there wasn’t much in the way of information, but if it follows in the footsteps of it’s predecessor while iterating on some of the more irritating aspects of the game, then this could be a homerun. It’s out February 11th of 2020.
MINECRAFT DUNGEONS
Next we were onto that Minecraft game that’s a dungeon crawler, apltly named Minecraft Dungeons. It’s a 4 player coop dungeron crawler that looks neat. I think the art style works with the isometric camera, and I gotta hand it to them, it’s a fairly cool concept that works well within the world of Minecraft. It’s due out next spring.
STAR WARS JEDI: FALLEN ORDER
We got to see more of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, but there wasn’t much in the way of new footage. Instead, it looked as if it was made from the full demo they showed yesterday at EA Play, chopping it down into a more bite sized and exciting package. There were flashes of new footage, but nothing that really expanded on what was shown at EA Play. It releases November 11th of this year.
BLAIR WITCH
They showed off this spooky trailer with a dude running into a shack in the woods, where he was definitely going to die. There was also an adorable dog that traveled with him, that I’m sure is going to die, which makes this game an instant pass and also it gets 0/5 stars for even putting that idea in my head. That’s the official review for a game that comes out on August 30th.
CYBERPUNK 2077
The very anticipated Cyberpunk 2077 made an appearance in the form of what I assume is a cut scene in the game, it’s hard to know for sure though. There were lots of half robot people with guns, a self driving car, a robo-fist-fight between two men, lots of bleeping out of the bad words, a woman who can hack with her mind, and KEANU REEVES. And then Keanu Reeves, not content with blowing the minds of everyone for just being in the game, walked out on stage.
He was charming and wonderful and is precious and I love him. The crowd was eating it up, and so was he. Then he gave us the release date by striking an emphatic pose while pointing to the big screen that flashed to some more gameplay, quickly followed by an April 16th, 2020 release date.
I am very excited about Cyberpunk 2077 as a fairly recent convert to the camp of CD Projekt Red, and as you can probably guess, the grimy sci-fi aesthetic is definitely my jam.
BATTLETOADS
Hell yeah baby, the Battletoads are back and they look like a Disney Afternoon cartoon. It’s a 3 person co-op brawler that has no release date. Hopefully, it’ll be as good as I remember Castle Crashers being. Realistically, it’ll be the best Battletoads game, but that isn’t saying much.
ID@XBOX MONTAGE/GAME PASS
A bunch of games were announced and highlighted in this ID@XBOX game montage. A lot of the stuff looked really cool and up my alley. I plan on investigating some of these games more in-depth at some point, but for now, just enjoy the trailer.
The montage was followed with the news that the games in the montage were all going to launch day and date on Xbox Game Pass.
They also announced that the entire Master Chief Collection is coming to game pass on PC, along with the news that the PC game pass launched today, and they’re bundling both Game Passes and Xbox Live Gold for $14.99. Which honestly, is a pretty great deal.
MICROSOFT FLIGHT SIMULATOR
Powered by Google Maps, there was a lot of pomp and circumstance around this iteration of Flight Simulator, and honestly, it looks absolutely solid and something that I could definitely see myself dumping an obscene amount of time into.
I’ve never been a big, “plane guy,” but I am definitely a, “seemingly mundane simulator game guy,” and this speaks to me in that regard.
THEY BOUGHT DOUBLEFINE PRODUCTIONS/PSYCONAUTS 2
With the announcement that Microsoft had purchased Double Fine, they celebrated their union by showing us a new trailer for Psychonauts 2. The game itself looks just as phenomenal as I’d hope, and seems like it’s striking the right tone while boasting a fairly interesting story for the follow up to one of my personal favorite games.
Psychonauts is easily one of my favorite games based on it’s tight gameplay, and great humor. Hopefully, almost 15 years later, the sequel can illicit similar feelings.
HELL YEAH SON, THEY SHOWED OFF THAT GOKU GAME. It looks dope as hell, and it would be the ten thousandth time I’ve experienced the first 100 episodes of that show. I know nothing about the game, how it plays, how progression works, how many sagas are represented in it, but I’m definitely getting this game.
Anapurna came to show a game that revolves around a time loop and an emotional and gut wrenching story. It looks like you’re reliving the same time loop over and over in an attempt to get it right and not watch your wife die. It’s being billed as an “interactive thriller,” which means I’ll probably really like it and confuse my friends by talking about it so much. Or, it’ll suck. Who knows? It’s coming soon apparently.
GEARS OF WAR 5
So they started off this Gears of War 5 trailer with some slight body horror stuff that was very uncomfortable to look at, and I’m not sure if Bound By Blood is the subtitle or just a catchphrase about the game, but whatever. After that profoundly disturbing sequence, it was clear that this presentation wasn’t about the story mode.
Instead, they blasted off some fireworks for a while and then zoomed in under the stage to show off a multiplayer mode that has you and your team plant a bomb in an enemy base and then escape from said base. It sure seemed like a lot of production and effort to go into just to show off a new mode, but whatever. Also, there were wrestlers under the stage who were gonna play the mode on Mixer, so that was bizarre.
Then there was a hip hop remix of Crazy Train that featured Lil’ Jon, I think? There was also a character who pulled out an electric knife and stabbed a bunch of fools which looked cool, but since it’s a CG trailer, who knows how it’ll actually play? From said electro-knife lady, I assume that this mode is a class-based affair, and one person is the gun-man, and there’s lady-knife, and probably bomb-dude or something. But that could be just me projecting.
It’s a three player focused co-op mode that looks interesting, but didn’t seem worth all the effort they put into showing it off. It all felt disjointed and weird and also if you preorder you can play as a Terminator. So never mind about the disjointed thing, this entire sequence was never “jointed” to begin with.
It releases on September 10th this year and can be played a few days early by buying the expensive edition or playing via Game Pass.
ELITE CONTROLLER II
They announced a new Elite Controller with more features, dongles, Bluetooth, a rechargeable battery and charging dock. It all seemed like smart innovations and needed redesigns, but will probably also be expensive as hell.
I really want an Elite Controller, but cannot justify paying $150 for a controller, no matter how good it is.
DYING LIGHT 2
A new trailer for the very exciting Dying Light 2 was shown off, focusing on choices and “remembering who you are” and other ethical quandaries. I saw a zombie climb the player like a ladder, so that’s uncool and definitely not welcome.
I liked Dying Light a whole bunch, but I felt like I lacked any agency and also hated the weapon durability system, although, to be fair, it wasn’t as egregious as it could’ve been. Still, I hate that mechanic in games, but for Dying Light 2, I can make an exception.
Also it’s out next year.
FORZA HORIZON 4
They rolled out a sports car made of Lego pieces to promote Forza Horizon 4 and their upcoming crossover with the toy manufacturer. Yes, Lego. Everything was Lego, people, cars, animals, fences, and other stuff were all made of those delightful little bricks. Not since Forza Horizon partnered with Hot Wheels, have I been more curious about playing a Forza game. It looks like a lot of fun and will be available on June 13th.
GEARS POP!
Bad. All of this is bad. It’s a mobile game in the vein of Clash Royale and looks terrible. Seriously, it looks gross, and appears to be little more than an attempt to suck money out of people. Also, Funko Pop figures are ugly and terrible.
PHANTASY STAR ONLINE 2
For a long time, a lot of people have been clamoring for this MMO to finally get localized and get a proper western release. I have no reverence for Phantasy Star Online or the MMO genre in general, so this doesn’t seem like anything I’d be interested in. It comes out next year and is exclusively coming to Xbox.
BORDERLANDS 3
I’ve made my thoughts on Borderlands as a series clear, and this trailer didn’t do much to change them. It looks exactly like what you’d expect from a sequel to Borderlands 2, which I guess is what people want. But in an age where games like Destiny and The Division exist, I’m curious to see how Borderlands 3 does against other loot shooters. I just wish they would have tried to do some more interesting things as opposed to just doubling down on what’s worked in the past.
They also released a new piece of DLC for Borderlands 2 to link the stories of the two games, which I’m pretty sure is free.
It comes out September 13th of this year.
GEORGE R.R. DARK SOULS (ELDEN RING)
With no gameplay and just an ambiguous as hell CG trailer, it sure felt like something both From Software and Georgie boy would make.
I don’t have any love for either From Software or the throne man himself, Mr. R.R. Martin, and this detail-packed trailer did nothing to sway those feelings.
STREAMING
They were extremely brief and vague when it came to their streaming initiative, Project X-Cloud, but it sounds like it’s launching this year, and you can even use your Xbox One as a sort of home streaming device, allowing you to stream to other devices on the same WiFi connection.
NEW CONSOLE
There was a lot of hype and boasting about the technology and connectivity around the next Xbox console to kick of this next segment. Focusing in on the more tech heavy bullet points like the processor in the console, ray tracing support, SSD inclusion, backwards compatibility and so on and so forth. No real visual element aside from various studio heads talking about how powerful this technology is.
The way they’re positioning this next console seems to be a direct response to how the Xbox One was lambasted upon reveal. Instead of superfluous features, they chose to focus on performance, and how it’s for games and gamers. Nothing about TV or movies which, while it almost definitely will support other forms of entertainment, won’t be a focus at all.
Releasing holiday of 2020, we didn’t get a name aside from the code name, Project Scarlet.
HALO INFINITE
Announced as a Project Scarlet launch title, we were treated to what I assume is a cut-scene from the game Halo Infinite. All I can surmise from this trailer is that, once again, things are bad, and Master Chief got saved by someone so that he can save everyone else. Also he misses he digital, blue, cyber-girlfriend who lived in his head for a while until she went bonkers.
And just like that, you now know the entire plot to all of Halo.
Then everything ended. It all just stopped. And not one mention of Fable at all! Sure we got Keanu Reeves, but I really, really wanted the Fable rumors to bear fruit. It’s all exciting stuff, but doesn’t solve the issue of big releases this year. They’ve got Gears coming this year, but not much else.
It really felt like the entire Xbox brand is just going to lay low for a while, restructuring it’s offerings and services, so that they can come back next winter to release an incredibly, fully featured console.
But next year, it seems like Microsoft is gonna hit consumers hard and make sure people feel good about the brand by the time the next console drops.
There is so much other stuff that didn’t make conference stages that I’m sure will be in my lane, and I can’t wait to hear about them. But from what I saw over the past few days, these were some of the notable games that caught my eye at E3 2018.
Battlefield V
I’ve had a weird relationship with Battlefield over the years. I really enjoy it conceptually, but the actual playing it part usually is hit or miss for me. Part of why I enjoy it so much has to do with the memories I have of playing past entries with my friends. Having reconnected with one of my old Battlefield 3 buddies might be the reason why Battlefield V is so enticing to me, but I hope that game itself can stand on its own merits.
Halo Infinite
I have no idea what this game is going to be or why it isn’t called Halo 6, but I do know that as a long time fan of the Halo franchise, I’m excited to see what this one does differently. I personally wouldn’t mind if this turned out to be an evolving platform for the Halo series going forward, but I’m curious either way.
The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit
I really, really enjoyed Life is Strange and am onboard for anything that expands that universe. I felt that way even before I learned that it was a prequel to the upcoming Life is Strange 2, so knowing that all of these games weave into each other is just icing on the cake. And honestly, this game looks whimsical as hell and evokes a weird Calvin and Hobbes vibe with the main character losing himself in these imaginary worlds he’s conjuring. Also it’s free.
After Party
The people behind Oxenfree are making a game about having to out drink the devil to regain their mortality and be returned to the world of the living. I can’t wait to see more of it and eventually play it next year.
Tunic
I written about Tunic before, and all of my feeling about it then still ring true. It’s adorable, it has an awesome aesthetic, and it looks like the combat is going to be challenging and rewarding enough to pull me through the entirety of it.
Dying Light 2
I loved the first Dying Light and seeing the systemic changes they’re making to that game gets me even more excited. I love concept of being able to shape the world and story based on your decisions, and mixing that with the already great mechanics of the first Dying Light is a home run. The only thing I wish I could change about these games is the zombies. I would love this exact game even more if no zombies were involved. But hey, I’ll take this either way.
Cyberpunk 2077
The reveal trailer alone was enough to solidify my excitement, but the additional details that came afterwards make it all the more tantalizing for me. CD Projekt Red confirmed that Cyberpunk 2077 is a first person RPG that allows you to customize a character with various stats, “Cool” being one of them. It’s an open world where you drive around (I’m assuming exclusively in a DeLorean) and shoot people. There’s more details here that should get you just as pumped as I am.
Starfield
I don’t know what it is, or when it’s coming, but the concept of a big Bethesda RPG in a sci-fi setting that doesn’t suck (Fallout) is something I’m interested in.
The Quiet Man
I’ll be real here, I mostly included this because the name is so dumb, but the little tiny glimpse of combat we saw was pretty captivating for me. I’m always down for some good punching and kicking in games.
Beyond Good & Evil 2
Another one of those “what even is this game” games, BG&E2 looks impressive visually and mechanically, I just want to know what I’m doing and what the structure is. But that world seems pretty cool to me and that’s enough to keep this game on my radar.
Trials Rising
Trials is fun, you should play a Trials game. That is until you reach the last few levels where the impossible is asked of you. With alleged better tutorialization, maybe I can finally beat the final levels of a Trials game. Probably not though.
The Last of Us II
Games are too happy these days. I need a good ol’ fashioned romp through the morose to bring me back down to Earth. Nothing like a sequel to the heart-wrenching Last of Us to fill that void. Seriously, fuck this game for looking so amazing and making me want to play it. I know how this ends, and it most certainly is in tears.
Ghosts Of Tsushima
Just watch the trailer Sony showed off for Ghosts of Tsushima. That should be all you need to know about why I want to play this game so badly.
Spiderman
I feel like with the popularity of the Marvel movies over the past few years, I should be up to my ears in good superhero games to play. Unfortunately, since the Arkham games wrapped up, I’ve only been left with Lego-based options. Then you got Spiderman over here, shooting his hot webs all over the place, and I’ll admit it – I’m impressed.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
I think what I enjoy most about Smash Bros. isn’t the actual gameplay, but the absurdity of its roster. Seeing shit like Solid Snake punching Sonic in the mouth, or Ryu uppercutting Cloud into space just fills me with a joy that I had long forgotten. Smash Bros. just seems like Nintendo got a hold of a bunch of 80’s and 90’s kids and asked them who would win a fight, over and over.
Grab your game passes and get your asses in line, cause it’s Microsoft time.
Halo Infinite
No real info given outside of a trailer. Seems as if they’re launching a platform for Halo as well as a campaign. It’s unclear as to what makes this different enough to not call it Halo 6, but I’m definitely intrigued.
Ori & The Will of the Wisps
Following up the tremendous Ori & The Blind Forest is something that very much appears like its predecessor with enhanced combat and more mobility options. Not much info was given here aside from a general tone piece and some gameplay.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Initially I thought this was a Dark Souls-esque re-imagining of the Tenchu series. While I wasn’t too far off, it has a different name and seem to have more exploration and mobility options. Here we have something that invokes Bloodborne and God of War. Time will tell if it’s as gross as those games, but it definitely is trying.
Fallout 76
It appears all the rumors were true and this is prequel to all other games. It’s said to be 4 times the size of Fallout 4 and is a base building focused multiplayer game. No surprises here. More to come when we see it at the Bethesda Briefing.
The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit
This is billed as a story in the same universe of Life is Strange, but not featuring the same characters. With a focus on a young boy and his imagination, it looks like you’ll be seeing a bunch of fantastical stories with different settings, featuring him. It’s releasing for free on June 26th.
Crackdown 3
Terry Crews is yelling a lot, while a virtual Terry Crews is blowing shit up, and driving up walls. Nothing else really revealed. Allegedly releasing early next year.
We Happy Few
We Happy Few seems to have pivoted from its survival roots and has become more story focused. It shares a weird vibe with the Bioshock series which isn’t a bad thing. I personally prefer this approach to their original pitch, but I don’t think I’m breaking any new ground with that one. It’s out on August 10th.
The Division 2
They’re going for it with the setting and story. Shit went real bad in Washington DC apparently. It looks really good graphically but didn’t do much to differentiate itself from the original. From what I gather the end of the trailer sets up the idea that you and your friends can storm other player run bases.
ID@Xbox
This was just one of those classic “indie game montages.” I went ahead and picked out the games that looked interesting.
Afterparty
Outerwilds
Below
Conquerors Blade
Raji
Planet Alpha
Islands of Nine
Harold Halibut
The Wind Road
Ashen
Sable
Shadow of The Tomb Raider
What else can I say about this game? If you liked the previous games or the Uncharted series, this is probably a safe bet as far as games you’ll enjoy. If it builds upon the already rock solid formula of its predecessors, we’ll be in for another fantastic entry in the series.
Session.
Totally got my hopes up for Skate 4. But where EA refuses to deliver, smaller studios will step in. That’s what’s happening with Session. I’ve played the very early demo they put out a while ago and I wasn’t terribly impressed. Hopefully there have been big improvements since I’ve played it and it will fill that skateboard shaped hole in my heart.
Tunic
This game still looks out of this fucking world. It’s a Zelda-esque, isometric action-adventure game that looks charming as all hell. I humbly request that Tunic is released this moment.
Dying Light 2
More parkour, more zombies. Actually they really didn’t show any zombies, there was way more human drama. I prefer the focus on the people rather than the zombies, honestly. There’s a big focus on player choice, for example they showed dialogue options that effect your standing with various factions, which in turn, effect the world and missions you do.
Battletoads
No footage to show, but it has 3 player co-op. So yeah.
Just Cause 4
It’s Just Cause. You know what this game is. It might as well be called “Grappling Hooks and Explosions” at this point. It looked pretty neat, although then again, so did JC3. They showed a tornado, so that could be fun.
Gears Pop!
What if Gears of war, but Funko Pop and on phones? Huh? I guess that’s what this is. God help us all.
Gears Tactics
Looks like a tower defense, X-Com looking game. They really breezed through this announcement.
Gears 5
No “of War” on these games. It’s perplexing. They’re really leaning into the story with this trailer, and as someone who has not finished Gears of War 4, I have no idea what’s going on. But it looks like a personal journey featuring the lady from Gears of War 4. It looks nice and has cover shooting.
Cyberpunk 2077
I wasn’t a huge fan of The Witcher 3 mostly because of its setting. Cyberpunk 2077 seems to be everything I wanted out of the Witcher, but with more guns and neon. Sign me the hell up.
The Bonus World 