SNAP JUDGMENT – E3 2018

Instead of making a truncated and minimal post for the few trailers last week, I’ll tackle those next week and instead focus on the jam packed E3. The biggest gaming Mecca of press conferences,  announcements, first looks, and fluff pieces, took place last week and the results have varied wildly (as is par for the course these days). A number of horror and genre inclusions made their appearance known, of course. Aside from the excellent Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus heading to Nintendo Switch, there aren’t any genre titles to speak of there, so I’ll focus on the big two here.

Microsoft’s presentation showed off 50 upcoming games, and we might even see a few of them in 2019 (maybe). A lot of awkward developers reading things from a TelePrompTer as stilted as possible, and company boasting about how they have the most powerful console and how they’ve purchased all these popular developers. They also very casually threw away a statement about the development of a new console. Underwhelming, but a potentially great show in two years awaits. Also, there’s a Battletoads game coming. Remember that frustration?

METRO EXODUS (2/22/2019, Xbox One and PS4)

The third game in the post-apocalyptic FPS series looks like fun. I’ve barely touched either of the previous games, neither of which did anything for me…but this looks dark and scary and it’s set to Massive Attack, so I’m kinda digging it. Some gigantic, nightmare inducing creatures here with some big firepower to take them on.

GEARS 5 (TBA, Xbox One)

After Rickrolling the crowd into thinking a new Gears of War game was being announced, the logo was shown to rapturous applause and immediately disappeared once a cutesy Funko POP! spinoff appeared…they actually did announce Gears 5, which drops the Of War part because…well, nobody calls it Gears of War. No gameplay, obviously early in development — much like their bland Halo announcement — but, again, this show seemed to be a showcase of what’s down the road as opposed to right now. Personally haven’t played a Gears game since the second one, so nothing here piques my interest yet. There’s a FEMALE character now though, and that seems to be the only takeaway from the clip.

WE HAPPY FEW (8/10/2018, Xbox One and PS4)

It feels like we’ve been seeing this game for the past 3 years, and it finally appears to be close to completion. This developer Compulsion Games was one of Microsoft’s big purchases announced, and the game has already been in development with a film adaptation and being merchandised before it’s even been released. It remains creepy; some sort of combo of A Clockwork Orange and 1984 going on, with tones that remind me a lot of Bioshock.

Sony started their show, which they had promised would be a quality over quantity deal, in a dimly lit, giant tent lined with hanging bulbs. This segued into some beautiful live music, and a jaw dropping, new look at the most anticipated game of 2019.

THE LAST OF US PART II (TBA 2019, PS4)

If you haven’t played The Last of Us yet you either don’t own a Sony console, or you’re incredibly foolish. Incredible performances, expertly captured, and some of the best tension and danger I’ve ever felt from a video game. The Last of Us is an EXPERIENCE, so there are big shoes to fill here. But I completely trust in developer Naughty Dog, who won my heart for life with the Uncharted series. The sequel looks stunning in every sense.

DEATH STRANDING (TBA, PS4)

Sony then showed uninterrupted clips of maybe a dozen games and let them speak for themselves. It was the smartest decision, and it came off very well. One of the big highlights is Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding.

If you’re puzzled by what’s on display, join the crowd. Atmospheric, tense, obtuse; it looks beautiful, but the mysterious gameplay looks like a lot of exploration with some sort of invisible, humanoid creatures as your antagonist…but you have a fancy gun…and then there’s the whole baby Bjorn thing and a clapping antenna that helps you find your way or sense danger…? This is from the man who brought us the Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid series, among others. Those games thrive in their depth and bizarre nature, both in very different ways, so I’d expect nothing standard or basic from Kojima. This began development after the (P.T.) Silent Hill game ended up being canceled and Kojima cut ties with longtime partner Konami. He brought along Norman Reedus, who was to be the lead in the Silent Hill project, and as you can see the rest of the known cast (so far) is rather impressive. There’s no telling when this is due, but I’m betting it’ll have another E3 appearance next year.

DYING LIGHT 2 (TBA, PS4 and Xbox One)

Open world zombie game Dying Light’s sequel gets a frightening first look. It looks like an improvement on the first game in many respects, including a lot more depth and what looks like an unending supply of things to do and enemies to face, living and dead and mutated as hell alike. I’ve yet to get around to playing the first game, but I’ve heard so many nice things that I may have to give it a shot before this one drops, likely sometime late next year.

RESIDENT EVIL 2 (1/25/2019, PS4 and Xbox One)

One of the biggest surprises for the crowd (and myself) was Capcom’s long-awaited remake of Resident Evil 2 is finally upon us! Starting with that strange, rodent view and ending up with a zombie attack, the crowd went nuts when they saw who was behind that gun. After the amazing upgrade to the first Evil game years ago, fans have been anticipating the same treatment for the fantastic sequel. It’s been decades since I’ve played this game, so I am really excited to dig into this next January. These visuals are so awesome to see revamped and reworked!

DAYS GONE (TBA 2019, PS4)

While the game was M.I.A. for the showcase, a nice look at some gameplay from this zombie-fest made it’s appearance online. This game made a major splash last year that showed off a staggering amount of zombies to combat at once, and now we’re seeing more of a look at what’s out there besides the undead. Can’t wait to play this thing whenever it’s due, likely late next year.

OVERKILL’S THE WALKING DEAD (11/6/2018, PS4)

The 4th and final character trailer for the anticipated, open world, four player co-op FPS set in Robert Kirkman’s Walking Dead world was released. They have all been fantastic little short films. full of character and grit and stellar animation. While I believe the game didn’t appear in Sony’s conference for some reason, the developers were on hand to show off gameplay at the show, and soon after this trailer was released online.

You can find more lengthy gameplay footage out there as well. Looks good! Not necessarily anything new, but it’s about time a big game showed up for The Walking Dead. I’ve been a fan of the excellent Telltale series that’s been going on (of which the final chapter is on the way), but for those of us who prefer to roam around in first-person slaying the undead rather than an interactive motion comic, Kirkman’s complex playground is a perfect, no-brainer place to do so. I’m in.

TRANSFERENCE (TBA, PS4, PSVR, Xbox One and PC)

In an ambitious move, Elijah Wood’s production company Spectrevision and Ubisoft have teamed to create a unique VR experience that looks like a film and plays like a game. A mysterious horror/thriller that was teased in the past gives you another little glimpse at what’s in store, with Macon Blair appearing to be some sort of architecht of a nightmare he’s submitting his son to out of love. It’s cryptic, but it does intrigue. What’s even better is that while this is designed to be a VR game, it’ll be playable without the pricey equipment. Does anyone have VR? I don’t think I know a single soul, and I’ve yet to see a worthy reason to shell out for the tech…but maybe this is the one to do it? This doesn’t feel like a gimmick, rather truly innovative and bold. We’ll see how this one shapes up in the months to come.

Of real note that I have to mention is solid indie developer Devolver Digital’s hysterical press conference, which was a sequel to last year’s unorthodox presentation. Essentially a short film that lampoons the gaming industry and E3 as a whole, they also show off some great looking titles while they’re profanely disturbing us with dark comedy. Do watch in full, if you’ve got the time. It’s so worth it! It’s also not necessary to see last year’s conference, but it can easily be found on Devolver’s YouTube page and is also well worth watching.

So much more solid looking stuff appeared, including Max Payne developer Remedy’s telekinetic action game Control, Square Enix’s new Tomb Raider and Bethesda’s Fallout 76, Doom Eternal and the bonkers chaos of Rage 2…but especially Sony’s Spider-Man. Sony brought the house down to end their show with this. It’s the game I’m most looking forward to playing THIS year (9/7/2018), and so I leave you with the demo that was shown so you can get pumped as well. The gameplay on this, of which you can find a lot now, looks incredible and by all accounts is, in fact, incredible. See you on Monday with the movie trailers round-up!