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Bethesda’s E3 press conference was a blood thirsty, lavish affair that delivered at least two surprises.
Ahead of the event, four games were rumoured to appear: A new Wolfenstein, The Evil Within 2, Prey and a remake of Elder Scrolls: Skyrim.The gossip columns were only half-right.
Skyrim is being rebuilt for PS4 and Xbox One, and it’s a far bigger deal than you might think. This is no spruced up re-release, but a full graphical makeover – think more like the jump GTA V made between PS3/360 and PS4/Xbox One. The title was the best-selling RPG of not just the last console generation, but of all time. So we can expect The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: Special Edition to be popular when it arrives on October 28th.
For the reveal of Skyrim, plus some other info about Fallout 4 DLC, check out the below trailer:
Meanwhile, Prey is returning. Built by Arkane’s Austin studio, a teaser for the title was shown during Bethesda’s E3 conference. It’s apparently due some time in 2017.
There was no word on Wolfenstein or The Evil Within.
Check out the video below:
But there were some surprises, as well. Alongside significant updates to games such as Fallout 4, Doom, Fallout Shelter and Elder Scrolls Online, there was also a full reveal of a new Quake game.
Entitled Quake Champions, the game’s trailer was more a concept video than an actual game (you can enjoy it below this paragraph). We’ll apparently learn more about it at Quakecon, but the type of video and the lack of a release window suggests the title is some way from completion.
That wasn’t the only surprise, Bethesda announced that it was working on two VR projects for HTC Vive. The first isn’t confirmed for a full release and is a Doom experience, while the other will launch next year and is a full VR version of Fallout 4.
The decision to back HTC Vive is of little surprise considering Bethesda’s legal wrangling with Oculus Rift.
There was a lengthy piece on the new Elder Scrolls Legends – that Hearthstone-alike card game. But the real focus of E3 for Bethesda was Dishonored 2.
The publisher is aggressively pursuing the Dishonored opportunity. The first game was a critical hit and sold well, but it’s hardly on the same commercial scale of Elder Scrolls or Fallout. The publisher appears to be eager to change that, with Dishonored 2 arriving in the middle of November – a brave position for any game to take when faced with Call of Duty and Watch Dogs – and taking up a major portion of time during the press conference.
The title looked promising, but its steampunk style means it’s going to need heavy marketing if it wants to be viewed as more than a popular niche product. Bethesda might need to break the proverbial bank when it comes to marketing the game if it wants to push it further.
See what you think with the trailer below.
