I don’t want to speak for the entire world, but I think it’s pretty safe to say that there’s no point in arguing about who “won” this year’s E3 Expo. Looking back at what each consolemaker and third-party publisher unveiled during their press conferences, it almost felt like Oprah had commandeered hosting duties for the entire week… you get a sequel… and you get a sequel… they get sequels… everybody gets a sequel!
Though I add that even though exciting new entries from nearly every long-running franchise dominated this year’s E3 Expo, there was also still plenty of new and unique stuff announced.
And while the three consolemakers spent the week firing on all cylinders, Nintendo especially drove this point home with their reveal of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. After it became clear that every character from the franchise would be making a reappearance in Ultimate, Nintendo stopped on Solid Snake and threw a meme-ready “Everyone Is Here!” caption up on the screen.
For me, that’s what the entire Expo felt like this year. Like Tangina, the diminutive medium from Poltergeist, publishers and developers of all stripes let the world know that all are welcome…
Sony got things started early on the PlayStation Blog for fans of puzzlers and adventure games by revealing a psychedelic new Tetris game from Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Tetris Effect) and the next game from Life Is Strange creators Dontnod (Twin Mirror). A few days later, Microsoft would also recruit Dontnod for a special unveiling of The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit, a free-to-play spinoff set within the Life Is Strange universe.
Shooters were big at E3 2018 (as they always are) with Microsoft showing off Halo Infinite and Gears 5 (and the strategy-focused Gears Tactics spinoff), as well as new features coming to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. Battle Royale fans were particularly well-served by this year’s E3 Expo as EA and DICE unveiled Battlefield V‘s “Royale” gametype and Fortnite debuted on the Switch for an eager new audience.
Though I suppose it wasn’t all roses. Activision used the E3 Expo to unveil Call of Duty: Black Ops 4‘s Season Pass, and fans seem a tad unhappy about the publisher’s plan to split the userbase with post-launch maps that won’t be available to those who don’t pay up.
Thankfully, Bethesda was around to deliver an early look at sequels to nearly every one of their franchises. Todd Howard seemed absolutely giddy to pull back the curtain on games like the the post-apocalyptic Rage 2, the multiplayer-focused Fallout 76, cooperative spinoff Wolfenstein: Youngblood, and the company’s quick turnaround on Doom Eternal. Fans have been asking for a sequel to Rage for years, and hoping they’d be able to continue the adventures of the Doom Slayer sooner rather than later. And new Fallout and Wolfenstein games will always make somebody happy.
But Howard also got to reveal that The Elder Scrolls VI has entered the pre-production phase, reassuring RPG players who aren’t interested in The Elder Scrolls Online spinoff that the franchise will still be there for them. And Bethesda finally announced the oft-rumored Starfield, though it is probably quite a ways away.
From Software is another developer with a fervent fan following, and they were able to use this year’s E3 Expo to showcase three games they have in development. The ninja-themed Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice looks interesting, as does the VR-focused Deracine, but the North American debut of Metal Wolf Chaos absolutely blew my mind. Originally released in 2004, the game features a fictional US President going mech-a-mech against his treasonous Vice President. As the Xbox was quickly supplanted by the Xbox 360, which was itself replaced by the Xbox One, I assumed I’d never get to play it. As this E3 Expo taught me over and over again, I was very wrong.
And speaking of From Software and mech games, several former members of the developer’s Armored Core team were revealed to be the brain trust behind Daemon X Machina, a new mech game in the works for the Switch.
I’m not sure that a game released for the original Xbox can rightly be referred to as retro just yet, there were also plenty of games at this year’s E3 Expo that will please nostalgic gamers. Studio MDHR’s side-scrolling shooter, Cuphead, is getting a huge expansion next year. And Rare is (finally) bringing back the Battletoads in 2019.
But first, we’ll all get to slide headfirst into a new Mega Man game this Fall when Capcom releases Mega Man 11. Capcom is also looking to 2019, and really got into the retro revival act with our first look at the long-awaited Resident Evil 2 remake and a return to Devil May Cry’s original timeline with the announcement of Devil May Cry 5.
Of course, fans of epically large single-player games had plenty to drool about during this year’s E3 Expo too, especially during Sony’s E3 Showcase. Hideo Kojima delivered another weird look at Death Stranding, Naughty Dog went for the heart and the jugular in a new The Last of Us Part II, and Sucker Punch explored a very cinematic samurai story in Ghost of Tsushima.
All of these games are just scratching the surface at what was available at this year’s E3 Expo. There were also plenty of indies, something new from Remedy, some really unique multi-Switch minigames in Super Mario Party, and on and on and on.
Though yes, it has to be said, we didn’t get to see a few games that we definitely wanted to (like Nintendo’s Metroid Prime 4, Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII Remake, and Gearbox’s Borderlands 3), but it’s easy to assume that all three will likely make an appearance next year (alongside stuff that hasn’t been announced, but is surely in development, like BioShock 4 or Mortal Kombat 11.
But why worry about that now? And there’s definitely no need to debate winners and losers from this year’s E3 Expo, because as far as I’m concerned, there’s something for everybody to look forward to.
It is a great time to be a gamer.
