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E3 2019: Everything You Need To Know And A Little More

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E3 2019: Everything You Need To Know And A Little More

It is that time of the year again. The Electronic Entertainment Expo is back in Los Angeles. In a few days, gamers all around the world will watch with bated breath as companies unveil their latest game offerings on stage. This year E3 suffered two major losses – Sony will not be hosting its conference since they have reached the end of their current console generation and Electronic Arts will be skipping theirs in favour of their own event EA Play, with a bunch of live streams for the audience to enjoy at the comfort of their homes. In spite of these setbacks, E3 will be having a big show this year because of the confirmed and rumoured games on the horizon.

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Our first surprise entry is Google – for their industry-disrupting game streaming service, Stadia. At their E3 Connect event, they confirmed more than 30 titles for its platform and strong support from close to 20 publishers and developers which include heavyweights like EA, Ubisoft, Bethesda, Square Enix and Rockstar Games. Will this be the game changer that gamers have been dreaming of? We can only wait and watch.

https://twitter.com/GoogleStadia/status/1136670139586400257

One of the games revealed during this conference is GYLT, the next game by Tequila Works (Rime). The first teaser feels a lot like 2017’s creepy indie hit Little Nightmares.

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EA Play has decided to focus on Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (gameplay reveal), Apex Legends (new season pass) and Battlefield V (new maps and changes). Anthem, with its current controversial roadmap changes, will be sitting this one out. However, Anthem would still be present at their “fanfest” section for players to get their hands-on. With not many games to show, this is a weak year for Electronic Arts.

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This E3 will be Microsoft‘s biggest conference ever. Fantastic games aside, we might even get a sneak peek at Xbox Scarlett project – their next-gen console codenamed Anaconda and Lockhart. We will also be getting a closer look at their new project XCloud – their own game streaming technology. Also, expect the Xbox Game Pass for Windows 10 PC to launch with more than 100 games.

Microsoft’s decision of acquiring numerous studios last year will finally be paying off. We can expect probable next-gen heavyweight Halo Infinite from 343 Industries, Gears 5 gameplay from The Coalition, Fable 4 from Playground Games, Wasteland 3 from InXile, Outer Worlds from Obsidian and the new AR game, Minecraft Earth, from Mojang.

Ninja Theory’s (developers of Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice) next game is rumoured to be a 4v4 multiplayer melee game named ‘Bleeding Edge’.

https://twitter.com/Nibellion/status/1137008560553021440

Age Of Empires 2 Definitive Edition might also get a trailer – but don’t keep your hopes up for Age of Empires 4 from Relic Entertainment. The studios whose next games are currently under wraps are Turn 10 (Forza series), The Initiative and Compulsion Games (developers of We Happy Few). Rare of Sea of Thieves fame and Undead Labs, the team behind State of Decay 2, might have some updates.

CD Projekt Red (Cyberpunk 2077) will be the showstopper yet again this year. In addition to a public presentation, selected press at E3 will be shown an extended hour-long presentation behind closed doors.

Showcased at last year’s E3, platformer Ori and the Will of the Wisps, teased co-op Battletoads and the Delicious Last Course DLC for the devilishly hard Cuphead will be making a return this year. Creature Studios skateboarding game Session might not show up this year.

The secret collaboration between George R. R. Martin and From Software (Dark Souls, Sekiro), is in all probability, Elden Ring. This leak happened because of a security flaw on Bandai Namco’s website.

The other two games revealed before their official announcement because of this leak are a remastered version of the first Ni No Kuni and the next instalment of the JRPG series Tales Of Arise.

Rocksteady Games will not be coming to E3 this year – co-founder Sefton Hill tweeted that they were hard at work on their next big project but were not ready to reveal it yet. A live-service co-op Batverse game is rumoured to be in the works.

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After their critically panned Fallout 76 last year, Bethesda will be looking for a makeover. They will be having id Software with Doom Eternal and MachineGames showing co-op gameplay of Wolfenstein Youngblood.

Will we get to see Arkane Studios (Dishonored) and Tango Gameworks (Evil Within)? Eagerly awaited The Elder Scrolls 6 and Starfield will not be making an appearance this year. What we don’t want to see? F2P games like Blades or Legends. What happened to #SavePlayer1, Bethesda?

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Square Enix will be having a packed show this year. With the most anticipated Final Fantasy 7 Remake and

Marvel Avengers from Crystal Dynamics, they will also be showing off Outriders, new sci-fi project set in an alien world. Even though details are scarce, this might involve some sort of survival based gameplay. Will last year’s Babylon’s Fall make a return?

Techland’s epic zombie-bashing sequel Dying Light 2 will have an extended gameplay reveal at Square Enix’s conference. With its deep RPG foundations, a focused approach at the branching storyline and updated parkour mechanics, this Polish studio is going to turn heads.

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The PC Gaming Show will be a divisive show this year. Even though they are bringing in quite a lot of studios to showcase their exciting games, the major point of discontention would be the presence of Epic Games, their title sponsor, announcing a whole new set of PC games exclusive to their store. Sean Plott aka Day[9] and Frankie Ward will return to host the show.

Frogware’s next game – the weird and soul-chilling ode to the Lovecraftian universe – Sinking City will probably be featured this year too. After a planned delay, this detective game is set to release this month itself.

Rebellion has confirmed that they are bringing three titles to E3 2019 – Evil Genius 2, Sniper Elite VR and a major unannounced new title.

Zombie Army 4: Dead War, a 4-player co-op campaign, might be their surprise which was spoiled by Amazon (Spain).

Frontier Development (last game – Jurassic World Evolution) will show the first Planet Zoo trailer. Chucklefish will be there as a publisher to show a new game and Digital Extremes will show Warframe’s new co-op space combat expansion, Empyrean.

Expect surprises from Donkey Crew (Last Oasis), Funcom (Mutant Year Zero), Modus Games (Trine 4), Coffee Stain Studios (Satisfactory), Annapurna Interactive (Outer Wilds), Fatshark (Vermintide 2), Re-Logic (Terraria), Tripwire Interactive (Maneater), Fellow Traveller (Neo Cab) and Raw Fury (Sable).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9Gu1PspA3Y

Gearbox will have a presence with Borderlands 3 releasing in September, and Paradox Interactive will show Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 and Age of Wonders: Planetfall. Spiel Times’ Caleb Wysor has been invited to Borderlands 3 ‘s private presentation and will be allowed exclusive gameplay footage for commercial use.

Since the IP of the World of Darkness universe is held by Paradox, these two games might also show up.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood is being developed by Cyanide (Styx) and published by Bigben – rumoured to be an action RPG about an exiled werewolf who returns to help his clan.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York is being developed by Draw Distance (Serial Cleaner) – this seems to be a narrative adventure in the veins of Telltale Games.

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Ubisoft has promised to release 3 unannounced AAA games before March 2020 and a Ubisoft Premium Pass, a subscription service for its games.

Watch Dogs 3 – Legion after being leaked on Amazon UK, was officially announced by them a few days back. Set in a post-Brexit near-future London, you can play as ‘anyone’. Hype aside, it remains to be seen whether Ubisoft can tackle this politically charged scenario with grace.

Ghost Recon Breakpoint, announced a few months back, will bank on hardcore survival aspects and the polish of its predecessor. This tactical open-world shooter already has a release date for this Fall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjC8_av7hhU

Assassin’s Creed spinoff, the multiplayer naval combat game Skull & Bones, has been delayed to next year and will not be present at this conference.

Assassin’s Creed Codename Kingdom was last teased in a Division 2 easter egg Viking poster named Valhalla. Will it be there this year?

Beyond Good & Evil 2 will not be appearing this year but will feature in their own Space Monkey Report.

https://twitter.com/Nibellion/status/1136602405389381632

New Rainbow Six spinoff game to be announced at E3 – co-op PVE shooter which is a spiritual successor of 2018’s special timed event ‘Outbreak’ of Rainbow Six: Siege and of the space game ‘Pioneer’ teased in Watch Dogs 2. Will release by March 2020, making it the third and final AAA game Ubisoft has promised to release within that time period.

The other game mentioned codenamed Orpheus project is an RPG of a much smaller scope with Zelda-inspired graphics.

https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/1136771400654626816

A Rocket League style multiplayer-only game called Roller Champions has also been rumoured. Keep your eyes open for that!

Roller Champions

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Nintendo Direct E3 will be showing Super Mario Maker 2 and Animal Crossing with Bayonetta 3 and Metroid Prime rumoured to be in the works.

We might also get to see more of the remake of the 1993 classic The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. Reimagined for the current generation, this action adventure with retro-modern art and its top-down perspective, sure made a splash last year for fans of the Zelda series. We might as well get a gameplay reveal for Luigi’s Mansion 3. So, stay tuned for that!

 

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Who’s going to steal the show with their batshit crazy antics? Like always, Devolver Digital with their 2019 pretaped press conference – The Future’s Future. Apart from the blood and humour, they will be having four major game reveals and updates on their soon to be released games like My Friend Pedro (which now has a release date of June 20), Eitr, Heave Ho and Metal Wolf Chaos XD. There is a rumour that Talos Principle 2 will be announced.

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Darkhorse THQ Nordic has 80 projects in its kitty – 32 announced and 48 unannounced. Three games are going to be announced before E3 starts – the first announced a few days back is the SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated – a remake of the 15-year-old PS2 game of the same name.

We might see stuff like the recently revealed Destroy All Humans Remake, Red Faction Evolution (NVIDIA Ansel leak), Dead Island 2 (announced in 2014, this game is still in development), Spellforce 3, Biomutant, Desperados 3 and Iron Harvest.

In the runup to E3, THQ Nordic has already revealed a top-down Diablo-style third person hack and slash spinoff of the Darksiders franchise – Darksiders Genesis.

This light-hearted alien invasion game set in 50’s USA, is getting a remake by developers Black Forest Games. This trailer set to Rammstein’s hypnotic tunes dropped recently.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-1Q86252hg

They have 4 top secret unannounced projects from game development teams like Warhorse Studios (Kingdom Come: Deliverance), Deep Silver Volition (Saints Row), Coffee Stain (Goat Simulator, Satisfactory) and 4A Games (Metro). Acquisition of Piranha Bytes (Gothic, Risen and Elex) might result in some teasers too.

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These games are rumoured to be coming, and we have seen some signs here and there, but will they be at this year’s E3?

https://twitter.com/WS_Dandelion/status/1135750767590150144

A cryptic tweet from an unverified Twitter account believed to be of writer Chris L’Etoile has stoked fire for a new Alien game. Will this be the sequel to the horror classic Alien: Isolation from Creative Assembly?

Revealed at the Stadia event, Baldur’s Gate 3 has been announced by Larian Studios – the makers of Divinity: Original Sin 2. This fantasy co-op turn-based RPG is sure to pull in a lot of veteran fans of the series.

Activision Blizzard storefront exclusive Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare is a reboot that won’t be present at E3 this time around. We can hope to get a look at the demo that was shown to press at reveal behind closed doors.

Nioh 2 – the successor to 2017’s sleeper hit Nioh by Team Ninja is being developed and currently in alpha.

After 2015’s interactive drama adventure, Until Dawn, Supermassive Games are deep in development on The Dark Pictures Anthology – Man Of Medan. It is a supernatural horror adventure aiming to release this year.

Greedfall, an upcoming colonial RPG with supernatural elements, by developers Spiders and publisher Focus Home Interactive, launched a new story trailer just before E3. It promises an evolving world and an ambitious quest design where you can choose to play aggressive, use diplomacy or be sneaky.

Bungie has gone the free-to-play way with Destiny 2. The base game along with all Year One content has been renamed Destiny 2: New Light and also being transitioned to the Steam platform from Blizzard Entertainment along with a cross-save feature for Stadia, Xbox One, PS4 and PC. The upcoming Shadowkeep expansion is slated for later this year.

Teased last year by Associate Producer Valerie Vezina of WB Montreal (developer of Arkham Origins), a Batman game based on the Scott Snyder graphic novel Court Of Owls is rumoured to be in the works.

The leaked gameplay footage of the Harry Potter game of last year might now have a name. According to BBC Entertainment correspondent, Lizo Mzimba, it is called Harry Potter: Magic Awakened.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNEk4-R_B5k

Will we see a new Bioshock at this year’s E3? A Kotaku report by Jason Schreier (How The Makers Of Mafia III Lost Their Way) had indicated that publisher Take-Two formed a top secret studio for helming the next project. It has been six years since Bioshock Infinite.

N64-darling Yooka-Laylee is ditching the 3D third person POV of its last iteration to a more 2.5D retro side-scrolling and top-down platforming approach. Named Yooka-Laylee And The Impossible Lair, expect this game to release this year itself.

Genre-hopping developers The Astronauts (of The Vanishing Of Ethan Carter fame) might bring their next game Witchfire, a first-person dark gothic shooter, to E3 this year.

Ken Levine, Creative Director of Ghost Story Games formerly known as Irrational Games, might show their next game which was announced playable in 2018.

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That’s all folks! Leave your comments about what games you are waiting for and why, and also about the games that I might have missed! Have news of any other leaks? Tell me here!

All aboard the hype train!

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