By GameSpot Staff on Jun 09, 2017 11:06 pm
What We're Looking Forward To
There's a plethora of games that we're eager to see more of at E3 2017. With most major companies bringing their best to the show, there's bound to be a fair number of surprises in store. Whether it's confirmed or not to be at this year's show, we've compiled our personal picks of what we're looking forward to the most. Click ahead to check out our choices. E3 2017 runs June 13-15, with briefings from Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Bethesda, Electronic Arts, and Ubisoft planned for the days before the show kicks off. You can find a full schedule in our feature on the publisher press conferences times.
Call of Duty: WWII | Eddie Makuch, Associate Editor
Activision doesn't have an E3 briefing nor does it have floor space at the convention center. But this year's Call of Duty is set to have a big presence at the show during Sony's event and at its booth. I am excited to see more of the campaign and find out if it is the Band of Brothers-type experience I am hoping for. The reveal trailer did not do much for me, so I am hopeful for a better, more in-depth showing at the year's biggest gaming event. We are also told that a proper multiplayer reveal is on tap for E3, which is exciting to think about. Call of Duty is the king of first-person shooters, and it will be interesting to see what Sledgehammer brings to the table after the most recent games were set in the future, giving players all manner of super-abilities that won't be in Call of Duty: WWII. However, the fan-favorite Zombies mode will of course also play a role in this year's game. Call of Duty is an expected part of every E3, and I can't wait to see the direction it takes--and the celebrities recruited for it--in the historical time period.
Crackdown 3 | Chris Pereira, News Editor
The original Crackdown, while far from perfect, presented a refreshing take on the open-world action game genre back in 2007. Its 2010 sequel was a disappointment, leaving us with little more than Saints Row IV to provide a superhero-in-an-open-world experience over the past decade. Given that it was announced three years ago, we still know precious little about Crackdown 3, except that it plans to make environmental destruction a key element--another thing we've seen very little of in recent years with no new Red Faction games released. Why bound over a building when you can simply destroy it? It's an exciting prospect that could serve as an interesting element in both exploration and combat, provided it serves as more than just a tech demo for Microsoft's Azure cloud. If leveraged correctly, it could make for an exciting co-op experience to rival GTA Online.
Cyberpunk 2077 | Jake Dekker, Video Producer
To be perfectly honest, I don't think Cyberpunk 2077 will make an appearance at E3. Even though it's been four years since it released the first teaser, CD Projekt Red seems to be taking its time with the science-fiction RPG, and I am totally okay with that. Still, my fingers are crossed that CD Projekt Red will, at the very least, surprise us with another teaser. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is one of my favorite games of all time, and based on the rumors, it sounds like Cyberpunk 2077 will be even bigger and more ambitious.
Destiny 2 | Alex Newhouse, News Writer
Destiny gained a large, dedicated audience, but that accomplishment came in spite of a lot of issues and shortcomings that the game had during its first year. Two of the largest criticisms: it did not have nearly enough content and its story was sparse, sometimes confusing, and largely hidden in Grimoire cards. Developer Bungie recently unveiled Destiny 2 and has indicated that it is taking a lot of the feedback about the first game to heart. Among other improvements, solo players now have an opportunity to play higher-level content like Raids, and all activities can be launched while in one of the playable areas. This is my most anticipated game of E3 2017, though, because it is an essential opportunity for Bungie to prove that Destiny 2's narrative and gameplay are more robust and more, well, Bungie-like. There's a huge amount of information about Destiny 2 that we still don't know, and so at this conference, Bungie really can put doubts to rest. I remember watching the first campaign demos for the original Destiny and thinking about the promising narrative they hinted at. The game didn't entirely live up to that promise, but Bungie will hopefully go even further at this year's conference by showing why we should care about Destiny's world and why we won't just be doing the same handful of Strikes over and over again in Destiny 2.
Far Cry 5 | Alessandro Fillari, Editor
As the first one set in the United States, Ubisoft's next game in the Far Cry franchise presents the developers with an interesting opportunity to make something that can hit players hard. And given the noise after the reveal of the box art, it looks like Ubisoft might be onto something that will hit a few nerves. No longer a high-octane fish-out-of-water story in an exotic land, the setting now brings us to Montana, where players can tell their own story with their custom character facing off against a heavily armed militia aimed at bringing about the next "collapse." Of course, Far Cry 5 is all about open-world action in extremely over-the-top fashion, and the social commentary and storytelling will always come second to that; yet the new context could serve to make this title a seminal entry for the series. The standard hallmarks of the series--such as capturing enemy encampments, customizing gear, and meeting quirky supporting characters--could be seen under a new light, and I can't help but feel more interested in seeing how this American take on Far Cry will turn out. Here's hoping Ubisoft will take its new setting and run with it.
Fallout 4 VR | Jimmy Thang, Technology Editor
Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas are some of my favorite games of all time. Having said that, I haven't played much of Fallout 4. While I have the game, I stopped playing when I heard it was being ported to VR. I got to play a bit of the VR version at last year's E3, and while it was a very early build that had you relegated to the beginning Red Rocket truck stop area of the game, it showed a lot of promise when I started to use my own body to engage in a gunfight with raiders. The game also moves the UI onto the PIP Boy, which is attached to your wrist. It's a really awesome integration of VR that makes the experience feel more immersive. I can't wait to try it out.
The Last of Us Part II | Kallie Plagge, Associate Editor
Since its announcement at the end of 2016, we haven't heard much about The Last of Us Part II. We know that Ellie is the lead character and that the game takes place five years after the first, but that's it--we're due for more details. Motion capture began recently, so short of gameplay, it would be incredible to learn more about how far Ellie has come in five years and what the game's tone will be. It's not like Sony needs more exclusives to have an exciting press conference, but come on! A sequel to one of the best games of 2013 wouldn't exactly be a snooze-fest, either. Show it off!
Marvel Vs. Capcom: Infinite | Tamoor Hussain, Editor
After Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, I was certain the franchise was done, so imagine my excitement when it was announced to return. As a result, I'm still very much in the honeymoon phase with the game, but the lack of new information and footage has been a bit of a damper on my hype. I'm ready to see more of the characters at E3 and, hopefully, also get a deeper dive into how the Infinity Stones work. During a recent preview event, I got some hands-on time with the game and found that, despite being designed to be as approachable as possible, it had a great deal of depth. This is enabled by the Infinity Stones, of which we have only seen three. There's a few more yet to be revealed, and I'm eager to see the impact they'll have on gameplay.
Mother 3 | Justin Haywald, Managing Editor
In 2013, Nintendo re-released Earthbound for Virtual Console on the Wii. The prequel was announced for Virtual Console in 2015. And while the holy grail of the series, Mother 3 (Earthbound is called "Mother" in Japanese), has already come out on Virtual Console Japan, 2017 will be the year that this sequel to Earthbound is finally released in the US. There's no definite proof this is going to happen, and Nintendo has been incredibly stingy with any info about how a potential Virtual Console will work on the Switch, particularly with regard to games that users have already purchased. But since Mother 3 was never released in English, I haven't lost hope that the incredible fan translation (an effort spearheaded by author and translator Clyde Mandelin, and available free at Fobby.net) will finally make it to the mainstream. E3 is going to be a big show for Nintendo, and there are few games that will rally the excitement of an adoring fanbase like the Earthbound sequel we never got--I predict that 2017 will finally be the year of Mother 3. And hopefully, once Mother 3 is official, we can turn our collective gaming consciousness to more important endeavors...like localizing and releasing Seiken Densetsu 3 in the West.
Pokemon Stars | Oscar Dayus, Staff Writer
Okay, so we don't even know for sure whether this exists yet, let alone whether it'll be at E3, so take this with a pinch of salt. But assuming Stars is real, it will almost certainly be at E3. Beyond Splatoon 2 in July, there is arguably not another major release until Super Mario Odyssey this holiday, so Nintendo needs games. Together, Pokemon Sun and Moon were Nintendo's fastest-selling games ever in the UK, Australia, and the Americas, and after Pokemon Go last summer, public interest in Pocket Monsters is at the highest it's been since the series' heyday in the '90s. Imagine the frenzy if Stars is revealed, coming this year--the first proper Pokemon adventure on your big TV! It'll be a dream come true--just like how a proper 3D Pokemon adventure was in X & Y…
Resident Evil Remake 2
Prior to Resident Evil 7, my excitement for Capcom's survival-horror series was low. Resident Evil 6 was a major disappointment, and everything since then had amounted to throwaway spinoffs and bad movies. However, my introduction to the Baker family in Resident Evil 7 couldn't have gone better, and the series I had loved dearly for so many years retook its place in my heart. While I'm interested in what Resident Evil 8 could be, that's unlikely to appear at E3. However, we haven't heard anything about the mysterious Resident Evil 2 Remake since it was announced in 2015, so I'm guessing we'll hear about it at E3, especially since the general reception towards the Resident Evil series right now is positive. The biggest question that needs to be answered is how it will play: will Capcom keep the fixed angles of the original game, or will it adopt the third-person, over-the-shoulder view? Or maybe they ditch both and go with Resident Evil 7's first-person perspective. Whatever happens, I'll be happy to see Resident Evil 2 in a much clearer, HD light.
Shin Megami Tensei (Switch) | Peter Brown, Senior Reviews Editor
Persona 5 dazzled everyone only a few months ago and its lengthy adventure continues to delight, but developer Atlus has another trick up its sleeve that we hope will be revealed in full at this year's E3. 2017 marks the 25th anniversary of the Shin Megami Tensei series, the darker progenitor of the original Persona game, and Atlus has already teased that a special game is in the works to commemorate the milestone. Pitched as a Nintendo Switch exclusive, we know very little about the game other than the platform it's being designed for, and that it will continue the Shin Megami Tensei trend of setting its story in a post-apocalyptic world overrun with flamboyant demons. Like Persona, Shin Megami Tensei games have a stellar reputation among fans, but it hasn't yet found mainstream success in North America; a release on Switch may help reverse that trend. In any case, we can't wait to hear more about the game and hope that both an official announcement of a North American release and fresh gameplay footage make an appearance at the show.
State of Decay 2 | Aaron Sampson, Video Producer
When State of Decay came out in 2013 it was, at first glance, just another zombie survival game. Players quickly learned that they would be managing not one survivor, but an entire group. Looking after your favorite character's needs quickly took on a Sims-like addiction. The brutal Trumbull Valley offered up plenty for players to utilize and often used previously learned survivor knowledge against players with Special Infected enemies. The game possessed the greater qualities of a war story. A survivor could go out on 20 desperate supply runs only to crash their vehicle into a ditch on the 21st and never return home. The Lifeline expansion flipped the script entirely: Rather than starting with nothing and building a base, players started at a fully stocked military outpost and were ground down to nothing by relentless zombie hordes. By far, the biggest thing missing from the first game was co-op, and now we're going to get it. I am crazy excited for State of Decay 2 at E3.
Super Mario Odyssey | Tony Wilson, Video Producer
Between the Nintendo 64 and GameCube, young Tony was able to get completely lost in the giant worlds of Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Banjo-Kazooie. But these "collect-a-thon" games are all but dead. Recent Mario titles like 3D Land and World traded in sprawling levels with multiple objectives for what are essentially glorified obstacle courses, and attempts to bring the genre back have largely failed--I'm looking at you, Yooka-Laylee. Super Mario Odyssey is an opportunity for platformer fans to dive back into those massive worlds again, but beyond that, it's a chance for Nintendo to reinvent another franchise, just as it did for Zelda with Breath of the Wild.
Wolfenstein (Unannounced Title) | Michael Higham, Associate Editor
After 2014's Wolfenstein: The New Order proved to be a worthy entry into the iconic first-person shooter franchise, it warrants another return to Wolfenstein. It twisted Wolfenstein's already-deranged take on World War II with its alternate history setting, showing the horrific prospect of an Axis-dominated Earth. It seems Bethesda and Machine Games are set to release a sequel to The New Order in the near future, hinted at E3 2016 during Bethesda's stage show (and again at QuakeCon). The E3 stage screen showed a DOS prompt with past Wolfenstein and Doom titles and their release dates, and "The New Colossus" with an unspecified date. Well, now would be a good time to unveil what's next for BJ Blazkowicz. The New Order won over fans by focusing on a rich single-player campaign that found a balance between stealth mechanics and off-the-wall firefights. It also gave us a sensible story rooted in character development and interactions, which was beyond expectations for a Wolfenstein game. Bethesda's VP of PR, Pete Hines, has touted the next game from Machine Games, and there have been hints that it'll take place in Nazi-occupied America. If The New Colossus can build off of what's been established and create an intriguing chapter in alternate history, then I'd be all in.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 | Kevin Knezevic, News Editor
I doubt anyone actually expects Xenoblade Chronicles 2 to arrive this year (despite Nintendo's insistence that it will), but we'll certainly learn more about the game in some capacity at E3. While Super Mario Odyssey may be the star of Switch's holiday lineup this year, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is perhaps the biggest title the company has in the works for the console so far--certainly in terms of scale if not in name recognition. Monolith Soft has proven to be in a class of its own when it comes to crafting imaginative, awe-inspiring worlds, and if any title could possibly come close to matching the scale and beauty of Breath of the Wild, it's undoubtedly Xenoblade. That said, there's still very little we know about the game. Despite the number in its title, it's still unclear if Xenoblade Chronicles 2 will be an actual sequel to the first Xenoblade or a spiritual follow-up in the vein of Wii U's Xenoblade Chronicles X. What little footage we've seen so far has also raised more questions than answers. The game's setting might bear more than a passing resemblance to the rolling fields and thick forests found on the Bionis from the first Xenoblade Chronicles, but the cast of characters we've met so far has been entirely new. Hopefully Nintendo will clear up most of this next week.
Yakuza Kiwami | Matt Espineli, Associate Editor
Yakuza 0 left a huge impression on me earlier this year with its complex narrative and offbeat, absurdist comedy. It was also a fantastic entry point into Sega's long-running crime-drama action game franchise--which I've been meaning to start for years. But after finishing it, the problem of how to experience the next chapter in Kazuma Kiryu's saga reared its ugly head. After all, the first game in the series released on PS2 in 2006 along with an English-only dub, which made it a less than ideal version to play (Mark Hamill voicing Goro Majima notwithstanding). Luckily, a remake of the first game, titled Yakuza Kiwami, is on its way later this year. While I'm excited to see more of how it reimagines the first game's story at E3, I'm also eager to interact with its new mechanics. I'm anticipating seeing the Majima Everywhere system, which involves the series' iconic eyepatch-wearing psychopath trying to surprise you in random ways, be it by popping out of a manhole, disguising himself as a cop, or dressing up as a hostess. The system sounds ridiculous in the most amazing way; I can't wait to experience it. While Yakuza 0 solidified me as a series fan, I'm hoping Kiwami will continue to elevate my passion for the series. And with the western release of Yakuza 6 on the horizon, there's going to be a lot more of Yakuza for me to play if I want to catch up by the time it comes out in 2018. Sega, what have you done to me?
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