It’s that time of the year, again! E3 2018 is upon us and for once I’m pretty damn excited. There’s so much to look forward to this year and that’s just from stuff I expect to see, never mind whatever surprises we may find. Let’s go down the list.
Cyberpunk 2077
CDPR is my favorite RPG developer and I’m a huge fan of cyberpunk media so when CDPR announced Cyberpunk 2077 all the way back in 2012, I pretty much lost my mind. Oh, how long the wait has been. I still can’t believe it’s been five years since the first teaser trailer. What the hell? There have been plenty of hints, including a recent trademark filing just in time for E3, that we’ll be seeing the game at the show. If I knew with absolute certainty that we’d be seeing the game at E3, it would be at the top of my list, but I’ve been waiting so long at this point I refuse to believe the game is real until it actually shows up.
Ace Combat 7
I love the Ace Combat series for its “strangereal” setting, amazing campaigns, and large roster of flyable aircraft. Unfortunately, it’s been a while since we’ve had a “real” Ace Combat game. Assault Horizon just didn’t do it for me and before that we had Ace Combat 6 on the XBOX 360 (which I didn’t own) all the way back in 2007. Needless to say, it’s been a while since I’ve been able to enjoy an Ace Combat game. Tom Clancy’s HAWX scratched the itch for me a bit on PC, but it’s no Ace Combat.
Ace Combat 7 (which is coming to PC!) made a big splash at E3 last year but ended up being delayed to 2018. We haven’t heard a whole lot more about it since then, so I’m eager to see what Bandai Namco has in store for E3 2018. At this point, I’d just be happy to know it’s going to make its 2018 release window.
Fallout 76
This would normally be a lot higher on my list. I love the Fallout series, but I haven’t been a huge fan of Bethesda’s handling of it. Between that and not actually knowing for sure just what this game is going to be at this point, it’s a bit further down on my list. We know it will have some form of online as a core component, but does that mean we’re going to get a Rust/Conan Exiles style survival Fallout? Or something along the lines of Fallout 4 but with co-op? It’s hard to say. But it’s all moot unless Bethesda has learned its lessons from Fallout 4, which was extremely fun to play compared to the more recent entries in the series, but it was pretty terrible as an RPG.
Anthem & The Division 2
I like the idea of loot shooters, but aside from the original Borderlands titles, none of these quasi-MMO versions have been really compelling to me. Ubisoft managed to fix up Tom Clancy’s The Division, but I’m really looking to find one I can play and enjoy right out of the gate, not a year plus later after it’s been sorted out.
For Anthem, EA got my attention with the setting and suits last year, so I’m looking forward to the deep dive we’ll be seeing at this year’s show. The game is coming out in the not too distant future, so I’d like to get a closer look at what we can expect so I can decide just how excited to be about this one.
I feel like it’s pretty early for The Division 2, given that it was just announced in March, so I’m expecting more of a short demo/trailer along the lines of Anthem’s showing last year. I’m excited, but I don’t know that I’ll be able to tell that the game has improved considerably over the first game based off of this presentation. Still, I’m curious.
Avengers Project
It’s been so long since we’ve had a decent console/PC game set in the Marvel universe that I’m basically forced to scratch the itch with a bunch of mobile games. We have Spider-Man this year on PS4, which I’m sure will be a GOTY contender for me, but what I’m really looking to see is something that focuses on the larger Marvel universe à la Marvel: Ultimate Alliance.
We know practically nothing about Square Enix’s Avengers Project yet, but rumors are that it might be a sort of reboot of the Ultimate Alliance series, played from third person. If that’s the case, I’m all for it. Mostly, I just want to know what the damn thing is at this point.
Battlefield V
I’ve played every single PC Battlefield game since the original (even Battlefield Heroes, which was pretty fun!) and it’s my favorite game series, full stop. That said, I have not been too happy with the series’ trajectory over the past few releases, though they’ve still been plenty of fun.
With Battlefield V, DICE is looking to pull off some genuinely ambitious design changes that could truly evolve the series and push it even further in living up to its potential as the ultimate multiplayer combined arms shooter. There are too many changes and additions to list, but you can read more about ‘em here if you’re curious. I’m crazy excited by what I’ve read, but now I want to see it in all in action.
What are you looking forward to most from E3 2018?
