Our Thoughts on E3
Last week was the Electronic Entertainment Expo (or E3 if you prefer), one of the largest and most influential games industry conventions in the world. Developers meet up to share ideas, the press gets to try some games hands-on, and players around the world tune in to see the newest trailers and hear about upcoming games.
In case you're unaware, Louise, our director and lead UX designer, also has a Youtube channel!
There she did a recap of what news she was most excited about from E3, and shares her thoughts on how she's hyped as a player, but also how some announcements might affect the games industry! Check it out, and while you're there leave her a comment and subscribe to her channel! If you want to read more about what we thought, continue reading below
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E3 has changed a lot over the last few years, but it still delivers every time. After last years Fallout 4, we felt like there wouldn't be any big title to really blow our minds this year. Then Zelda: Breath of the Wild happened.
It was so much more than we expected, and we're super excited, but what really surprised us was how it dominated the expo as much as it did. It's fascinating that the franchise still holds such weight in the community and industry, but with a combination of nostalgia for most generations at E3, as well as a broadly appealing gameplay, I guess it's no surprise that you had to get in line within the first 15 minutes of the day if you wanted to give it a go.
Other big games and announcements include 'Project Scorpio', Microsoft's Xbox One.5 console; a true upgrade without being next generation, a new God of War with a Norse mythology setting, Mass Effect: Andromeda featuring a female protagonist for CG trailers(!), Battlefield 1 which looks to be doing an epic scale take on World War I, and Hideo Kojima returning with Norman Reedus in the flesh (literally... He's naked in the game), for Death Stranding.
If you follow us on Twitter or Facebook you might also have seen us post about the all the Bethesda news (we're pretty hyped on anything Bethesda). They included a Fallout 4 DLC's where you among other things get to run your own vault and experiment on dwellers, in some sort of disturbing version of the Sims where you actually play as GLaDOS from the Portal series. They also announced the final DLC which features an adventure through a post-apocalyptic theme-park.
If that wasn't enough they announced a remastered Skyrim which will have mod support on consoles, an update for Elder Scrolls Online where they'll scale any zone to your level, and remove alliance boundaries outside of PvP, letting you free roam Tamriel and quest where you please, and they showed off the opening cinematic from Elder Scrolls Legends.
There is always a ton of news from E3, and we can't cover it all in one blog article, but we can give a quick insight into our opinions and thoughts on the things we care about.
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Of course I have a list of the news that made me the most excited as well, both as a player, as a games designer and as someone who is passionate about the gaming industry.
1. Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Not only do I love the Zelda franchise, but I also can't get enough of open world RPGs with immersive mechanics, and this game just ticks all of those boxes. I can't wait to get my hand on it and explore Hyrule like never before. The fact that it's seemingly got a post-apocalypse setting only enhances my excitement!
2. We the Happy Few
I'd seen a brief teaser of this game before, and I was already on board, but seeing actual game-play and story bits put me firmly in first-class on the hype-train. The atmosphere gives me a Bioshock vibe, and overall I'm just incredibly intrigued by the world and story so far.
3. The Skyrim Special Edition remaster
The Elder Scrolls is my all time favorite game franchise, and I attribute my passions for games design to Bethesda's open world RPGs. I spent countless hours in Skyrim the first time around, and I'm sure I will do so again with better graphics.
4. State of Decay 2
I'll be honest and say that I'm not entirely sure what to expect from this game, as I did not play the first one. I've heard mixed reviews, but I'm tentatively super excited. Ever since I started playing around with the Fallout 4 survival mode (which is now what I spend most of my gaming on), I've been dreaming of a game with similar mechanics in a Walking Dead setting. As far as I've understood, this is just that.
5. Fallout 4 DLC's
Fallout 4 consumes a lot of my free time, and building up my settlements has become an obsession. So it's not surprising that I'm actually quite happy to get more tools to advance my crazy plans of Commonwealth rule. I also always rather liked GLaDOS from Portal, so being able to get into her proverbial shoes has me pretty excited. Finally I love theme-parks (are there people who don't), and Nuka-World looks like a lot of fun. I won't spoil some of what's been said about it if you don't want to know, but I think it's going to be a game changer.
6. Mass Effect: Andromeda
After the Elder Scrolls series, one of my favorite game series is Dragon Age, and Mass Effect is really just to Dragon Age what Fallout is to the Elder Scrolls. I loved the first three games, but I'm pretty intrigued by this fresh start. Just like Assassins Creed: Black Flag breathed new life into Ubisofts franchise, I hope Andromeda can bring with it some fun innovations and improvements, while retaining the Bioware signature character writing.
