E3 2019
Although I wasn't at E3 this year, I still caught the livestreams and saw a lot of the trailers that were announced, and it's got me very excited about the future of games and everything else that comes with it. There were the usual conferences from Bethesda, Xbox, Nintendo, etc. Unfortunately, Sony did not show up this year, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. I mean, it may make them look bad sure, but I don't really care too much as long as the games they have coming are good.
But I want to focus on my own personal favorites from E3 and I'm going to talk about the game that I am looking forward to the most. Again, there are a lot of honorable mentions especially with the surplus of indie games coming out.
So first off, I want to talk about one that I may be the most excited for, and that is the sequel to Breath of the Wild:
With nothing to go off of besides the trailer that was released from Nintendo and a confirmation of the game from them, I'm still very excited to see what Nintendo does to one up perhaps one of their best games of all time. Hell, Breath of the Wild is still one of my all time favorite games, and looking back on the time I put into it, i'd still say to this day that is was one of the best experiences in gaming I've ever had. It wasn't just a redemption moment for Nintendo (since they have had some rocky releases in the previous years), but it was also a way for Nintendo to showcase that they aren't out of the loop when it comes to making quality games. I know people tend to think Nintendo is the far more child friendly developer, and yeah that remains to be true. But they also have been known for their quality. Which again, they've had a few rough patches through the years, but I think since Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey, they've sort of turned the pages and now people are genuinely excited about the future of their games and the future of the Switch.
I don't really know what to expect from a Breath of the Wild sequel, but I'm very excited to sink some time into it and see how the story progresses. I certainly hope its good and I hope it does as well if not better than its predecessor. Hard to say at the moment, but I have high hopes.
While not surprising, we saw a bit more about Jedi Fallen Order, and I may be one of the very few people that is legitimately excited about this game:
While it's not surprising that people are latching onto the idea that EA will just screw this one up again like they did with previous games, I have started to go into EA releases being cautiously optimistic. We all know how both Battlefront games went, and while I didn't bother picking those up (thank god I didn't), I'm genuinely excited to see what they do with a Star Wars single player game.
The trailers we got were from the alpha stages of the game, and while I do have some hesitation with some of the things that were shown, I'm still waiting to see how the development progresses. People have been up in arms already trying to complain about how the game looks and runs, but seem to forget the fact that it literally said "alpha gameplay" in the corner of the trailer. This can't be reviewed as a definitive version of the game. Yeah it doesn't look up to par to other games right now, but even if this was the game they were going to release, I'd still buy it and put a lot of time into it, as I'm probably going to do either way. Cuz y'know, Star Wars.
We got some more information regarding the sequel to Ori and the Blind Forest, titled Ori and the Will of the Wisps. If you have not checked out Ori and the Blind Forest, I urge you to check it out. It's one of the most beautiful and well played out platformers I've ever played, and the sequel has me even more excited:
It was announced that the long awaited sequel to one of the more beloved platformers will be coming out early 2020. Sure, I can wait that long. I mean, just take a look at this trailer and you tell me if this doesn't get you excited to play:
Art style looks great. The overall feel and performance that comes off off the gameplay trailer is also impressive. I have high hopes and I also hope that this doesn't suffer the "sequel curse" where it just doesn't match up to its predecessor. Hell, even if it doesn't, the artwork and graphics alone are enough to keep me going through it. I'm curious to see what new powers and gameplay mechanics are going to be introduced here as Ori and the Blind Forest had a lot to offer in that regard to make the game way more fun.
I don't really have a lot to say for the Bethesda conference or the others as the games they showed didn't really catch my eye that much. They talked about Fallout 76 which is getting its own battle royale mode. Which is fine, but it's to be expected in this battle royale driven era of gaming. Talked about the new DLC for Elder Scrolls, which is also fine, if you play ELO. No new releases or anything regarding a Fallout 3 remaster or a New Vegas remaster. Was really hoping for something like that. But who knows, things may change.
Now of course, the big thing that happened at E3 this year is that Xbox managed to get Keanu Reeves not only to show up in Cyberpunk 2077, but also came on stage and greeted the crowd. I thought that was cool not only because he's in the game, but to have a movie star show up at a gaming conference to get people excited about games is really cool in its own right. To have Keanu Reeves do it just made it 10000x times cooler. Really looking forward to seeing how Cyberpunk 2077 turns out as they've been teasing this game for lord knows how long. I can wait though. But I think it'll be good.
E3 is always hit or miss with me because some developers don't even know what they're trying to do on stage, or sometimes they try to over hype a game so much that the delivery of said game falls super flat *cough* Fallout 76 *cough*. But I always try to remind myself that even if it wasn't shown at E3, it's still in the realm of possibility that more gaming news will surface as time goes on. 2020 is already shaping up to be a great year for gaming, and we've already got a lot to look forward to for the end of this year with Borderlands 3, Jedi Fallen Order, and the like.
All in all, I'm excited.