We are in a transitional period for video games: new console technology is right around the corner, but most of the industry’s big players aren’t quite ready to show their cards. Sony has removed itself and the PlayStation from this year’s E3 conference, leaving Microsoft to take centre stage on the first day of this year’s event.
Microsoft announced the next Xbox console, Project Scarlett, albeit with maddeningly few details beyond rather abstract technical specifications. It will be on sale towards the end of 2020, and forms one half of Microsoft’s video game strategy – the other half being a cloud-powered service that lets you play Xbox games anywhere, on any screen. Halo Infinite will be a Project Scarlett launch game – but will also be playable on Xbox One.
At a Final Fantasy-themed concert, Square-Enix announced that a reimagined, modern-looking version of one of the best-loved Japanese games of all time, Final Fantasy VII Remake, will be out on 3 March 2020.
Cyberpunk 2077 was one of the most-anticipated games going into this year’s E3, and developer CD Projekt Red capitalised by busting out Keanu Reeves to promote it at Microsoft’s Xbox press conference. The game is out on 16 April 2020 and Reeves plays a prominent character.
Gears of War 5 also got a release date, 10 September 2019, alongside a mildly distressing new trailer showing protagonist Kait struggling to keep hold of her sanity.
Speaking of Microsoft’s Xbox press conference, the company showed around 60 games in the course of 90 minutes. Among the most interesting-looking were Bleeding Edge, a competitive brawler from multi-Bafta-winning developer Ninja Theory; Wasteland 3, a post-apocalyptic strategy role-playing game with a wicked sense of humour; Microsoft Flight Simulator, an eerily realistic return to PC gaming roots; a new Blair Witch horror game; Spiritfarer, described as “a cosy management game about dying”; Twelve Minutes from Annapurna Interactive, a thriller in which you get stuck in an infinite time loop after a romantic evening goes wrong; and Way to the Woods, a game about magic deer set in a post-human world. Microsoft has also acquired Double Fine, a San Francisco studio known for its quirky adventures.
Bethesda also announced two interesting new games: Deathloop (think Groundhog Day but action-themed) from the makers of Dishonored at Arkane, and Ghostwire: Tokyo, an intriguing Japanese horror adventure. Doom Eternal, the publisher’s big release this year, will be out on 22 November.
We’ve had a first proper look at Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, a single-player Star Wars game from Respawn (makers of Titanfall). The footage has pretty much everything you’d want from a game based on the world’s most popular space opera: flashing lightsabers, a ginger Jedi, freedom of movement, Forest Whitaker and frequent flashes of humour.
It was confirmed that George RR Martin and Dark Souls director Hidetaka Miyazaki are collaborating on a new FromSoftware game: Elden Ring. There’s been almost no actual information about it, but the trailer shows the same themes of flame and decay that have characterised Miyazaki’s other work, albeit in a much more western-fantasy-looking context. It’s certainly not as dark as Bloodborne.
Ubisoft showed an impressive range of games at is conference on Monday, kicking off with Watch Dogs Legion – a futuristic dystopian crime game set in a totally broken post-Brexit London. You can take control of any Londoner, from grannies to teens, in an effort to build a resistance against the extremists, surveillance capitalists and corporations that have taken over. And you can hijack black cabs. This is being directed by Clint Hocking, of Far Cry 2 fame, so there’ll be no “but we’re not trying to say anything political!” nonsense from this. It looked really impressive, the first serious challenge to Grand Theft Auto in a while. It’s out March 6, 2020.
Ubisoft also announced a new team sports game, Roller Champions, based on roller derby; a new, beautiful-looking, Breath of the Wild-inspired mythological game from the creators of Assassin’s Creed, Gods and Monsters; and the next Rainbow Six game, Quarantine, which will be a 3-player co-operative shooter where the enemy is a scary and little-understood pandemic.
Square Enix’s closely-guarded big announcement was its new Avengers game, which is being developed in Canada. It’s both a single-player and a live multiplayer game, letting players take control of Captain America, Black Widow, Thor and Iron Man to indulge in superheroics together. The characters don’t bear the likenesses of the stars that portrayed them in the movies, and the plot is distinct from the Marvel cinematic universe. It’ll be out 15 May 2020.
A big surprise from Square Enix’s conference was the news that we’re getting a Final Fantasy VIII remaster. It was thought that the game’s source code had been lost, but it will be coming to modern consoles later this year.
Nintendo wrapped things up on Tuesday with a varied Nintendo Direct broadcast. The big news was confirmation of a Legend of Zelda: the Breath of the Wild sequel, with no release date, but a teaser trailer showing Zelda and Link adventuring together as a new evil awakens in Hyrule. To tide fans of the series over, Nintendo also announced a 20 September release date for its Link’s Awakening remake, which will include a dungeon editing feature. The next Animal Crossing game, subtitled New Horizons, was also shown, with a delayed release date of 20 March 2020 and a new tropical island setting, and lots of cute crafting and gardening features.
Also shown during the presentation were Trials of Mana, a remake of a Japan-only instalment in the classic Mana role-playing series, and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics, a fantasy strategy game, based on the Jim Henson movie and Netflix adaptation. Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt will also be coming to Switch later this year, while cult favourite No More Heroes 3 is arriving in 2020. Luigi’s Mansion 3 was shown, but not given a release date. It was then a presentation filled with classic Nintendo brands, but it was Zelda and Animal Crossing that ensured the 2019 E3 press conference season ended on a high.
