That Special Time of Year (E3 Day 1 recap)

Dawn of the First Day

E3 is finally upon us. Yesterday Microsoft and Bethesda held their press conferences and revealed all that they are planning. Devolver Digital also made an appearance near the end of the night. I decided that I wanted to go over what was shown and talk about what I'm most excited for.

Microsoft Conference

Is it strange that the revel of Keanu Reeves staring in CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077 was the best thing we got out of the conference? I didn't think so. At the end of the trailer for Cyberpunk 2077 we got a sneak peek at the actor's charcter, depicted above. Moments later, Reeves came out on stage to an incredibly warm reception. He deserves all the love he was receiving and I'm excited to see him star in this game. However, still can't help but express my disappointment in the lack of gameplay we got. We may have gotten a few story hints here and there but ultimately nothing was truly shown. Don't get me wrong, I'm hyped for this game and to see Reeves star in it but I would've liked a bit of gameplay. Regardless, we now have the release date of April 16, 2020. I look forward to it and definitely plan on getting it. 

Elden Ring is probably the next biggest thing out of Microsoft's conference - for me at least. It was rumored that From Software (Souls Series) and George R.R. Martin (Game of Thrones) were making a game together. This is that game. And we know very little about it, as can be expected from Souls games. We got some cool medieval shots and some narration but nothing more. I'm excited no doubt and will play it, even though we don't know anything about it. 

I'm going to rapid fire through a few announcements that didn't catch my attention at all. 

We got gameplay footage of the new Star Wars game, Jedi Fallen Order. It looked good but I'm not crazy excited for it. Perhaps I'm just a little tired of Star Wars. You play as a Jedi during a pre-Rouge One time. Interesting, but I'm not all hyped for it. 


We also saw a trailer and a bit of gameplay for Gears 5, the next installment in the Gears of War series. I've played Gears 1-3 and enjoyed what I saw and haven't touched the series since. Can't say that I plan to return to it anytime soon. We also got a strange Funko Pop and Gears cross over. It looked cute but was a little bizarre. 

We also saw some new Lego stuff coming out. There's a Lego Star Wars complete pack, containing all 9 movies. They also revealed an odd Lego and Forza crossover. It looked fine enough and I may dabble in these games. 

The Outer Wolds is a game being developed by Obsidian, the same studio that brought us Fallout New Vegas. It was full of color and looked like it could be a lot of fun. Definitely putting it on my watch list. 

We also saw State of Decay 2, a shooter game called Crossfire, Dying Light 2, a new Dragonball Z game, a Battletoads reboot, a multiplayer arena game called Bleeding Edge, Tales of Arise, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Phantasy Star 2 is coming and will be free to play, Ori and the Will of Wisps, and Minecraft Dungeons. A lot was announced and I had varying excitement for all of these games but none of them had me extremely interested. But there's still more. 

Microsoft bought Double Fine studios, the makers of Pyschonauts. The developers at Double Fine brought Pyschonauts 2 with them and it looks wonderful. Very excited to play this one. 

We also got some fun looking indie games. One called A Way to the Woods looks interesting. You play as a deer and you lead your fawn through abandoned civilizations.  You have a weird, electricity power with your antlers and you can turn on some of the old tech. Very cool. 

As was a game called 12 minutes, where you play as a character stuck in a time loop. It appears his wife did something bad and you steadily learn the story through these 12 minute segments. Very excited for this one. 

We got to see a new horror game based off the Blair Witch Project. It look spooky and like a lot of fun. I'd definitely want to give this one a try. 

There was another fun indie game called Spiritfarer. You play as this girl who is building up this boat house and taking NPCs to this portal. Presumably, you are taking them to the afterlife. It looked pretty and seemed like a lot of fun. 

That's pretty much it for ant noteworthy games. Microsoft also talked a lot about tech and their game pass feature. The biggest announcement was that they are developing their next console, Project Scarlett. The specs for it seem rather insane and I'll believe it when we get closer to it's release. The next big thing they announced with it was their next Halo game. I tried getting into the series but never really played much of it. It looked great and I'm sure it will be. 

But that more or less does it for the Microsoft Conference. Certainly a lot good stuff announced and I'm excited for a handful of things. Now did Bethesda do any better? 

Bethesda Conference

Without a doubt I am most excited about the new IP, Ghostwire Tokyo. 

It's being made by some very talented people, including Ikumi Nakamura - which the internet absolutely lost it's mind over her. This adorable woman worked on Okami and Bayonetta, two big heavy hitters that make this spooky action-adventure a must have. Little is known about the story other than people are disappearing without a trace around Tokyo. Similar to the snap in Infinity War, people are vanishing and the player has to figure it out. There was some showing of magic and use of a bow during the trailer. I know little about this game but I am hyped for it. 

The only other thing I'm a little hyped for is a game called Death Loop. 

Being made by the team at Arkane, which brought us Dishonored, Death Loop seems to be a game where two protagonist are stuck in this horrible environment and that killing each other will set them free. Only issue? Any time one dies, they are immediately respawned, making escape a bit more difficult. It looks interesting and I'd love to see more. 

Other then that Bethesda talked about their two power houses, Elder Scrolls and Fallout. They are making some updates to Fallout 76, including NPCs and dialogue trees. We got some news on Blades and Elder Scrolls Online but nothing Earth shattering. They showed off Doom Eternal and announced the revival of Commander Keen. They talked about some streaming tech but nothing to get too excited about. 

And that pretty much does it for Bethesda's Conference. 

Final Thoughts

A pretty meh start, if I'm honest. Not bad by any stretch of the imagination. I'm mostly excited for the indie games announced at Microsoft's conference - Spiritfarer, 12 Minutes, A Way to the Woods - as well as Blair Witch. From Bethesda I'm very interested in Ghostwire and definitely want more of it. All in all, not a bad start to E3, but I haven't fan boyed yet. Guess we gotta see what Nintendo pulls. ;) 

Thanks for reading, as always. What games are you looking forward to? Which conference are you most excited to see? Let me know in the comments and remember to subscribe to get email notifications. Thanks again and Good Night and joy be with you all.