E3 came and went this year, bringing with it loads of announcements, trailers and surprises like no other. Of course, while it’s always amazing to see promising AAA titles, or the appeal of a minty fresh and creative new indie title, there will be some mishaps along the way, which is how it always goes with the industry as a whole.
That said, it would be wrong to not shine a spotlight on both the good and bad, so here are some of the best and the worst parts of the various E3 presentations this 2019.
For this piece, we’re looking at Bethesda, and you already know it’s going to be rough. It’s been a tough year all-around for Todd Howard and the gang, a feat which was almost single-handedly due to Fallout 76. Now, imagine that a huge chunk of that press conference was dedicated to it, and coupled with what is probably one of the most annoying audience members in E3 history.
It gets a lot worse, but for fairness’ sake let’s take a look at the good it did as well.
The Good
The Doom Slayer carried the whole conference on his shoulders and with a giant shotgun in tow, bringing with him new footage from Doom Eternal, plus a cinematic trailer and a new multiplayer mode called Battlemode to boot. It’s also quite fitting that Bethesda saved this one for last, as a reward for most of the audience in attendance. God knows they’ve earned it. If you have to ask what made the Doom Eternal showcase so good, well, it’s Doom.
Shinji Mikami and Ikumi Nakamura’s presentation of Tango Gameworks’ newest project, Ghostwire: Tokyo, was also one of the very few highlights of the show. As much as I would have loved to see gameplay footage, the cinematic trailer did set up the tone nicely. I’m just glad that Mikami took the time to develop a new IP, rather than stick to The Evil Within for the third time.
Likewise, Arkane Lyon’s next title, Deathloop, was also a highlight. It’s also a refreshing new IP which sees the developer move away from the Dishonored franchise and into completely new territory. Well, not completely new, since the game will carry thematic gameplay elements that Dishonored was known for, but still. I would’ve liked to see a gameplay demo as well, but the cinematics were enough to get me interested, so there’s that.
The Bad
Where do you actually begin with this one? Well, for starters, how about the fact that Bethesda thought mobile games, and actual freemium ones at that, were worthy enough to be shown at their stage? I can’t help but feel like they phoned in (pun intended) most of these announcements as well, starting with The Elder Scrolls: Blades, which was also announced for a Switch release. A sound plan, too, bringing a freemium mobile title to the console, instead of, well, porting another game maybe?
Another mobile title, The Elder Scrolls: Legends, also took up a spot, which was so out of place that it felt more like an ad. Well, yeah, the footage they did show was an ad, but instead of focusing on the game’s next update, Moons of Elsweyr, we got to see a nice little ad for the base game. Very sound decision as well.
Perhaps the one that got the most vitriol was the Commander Keen reveal, which was a slap to the face of everyone who loved the PC title going back to the days of DOS. Imagine reviving this beloved series, a known darling of the PC gaming community, only to be available on your mobile device in a freemium model. What hurts the most, however, is that a modern rendition of Commander Keen on PC would’ve been somewhat of a success, in addition to bringing some goodwill back to Bethesda.
Even mobile titles, however, pale in comparison when brought up against Fallout 76 and its Nuclear Winter update, which now has a Battle Royale mode. Like everything else, this feels like Bethesda cashing in, this time on the trend of Battle Royales. I played a beta of it during the Free Week that Bethesda announced, and I never want to speak of it again.
So, who do you think won E3 2019? Share it with us down below in the comments!
