We’re sorry..
Bethesda had their annual BE3 press conference last night, and they certainly had a lot to show off! Pete Hines kicked things off and brought out Todd Howard, who immediately addressed the elephant in the room that was Fallout 76 and the somewhat disastrous launch. What followed was something of a deluge of announcements, so if you missed any of them, we’ve got you covered below!
ELDER SCROLLS BLADES
Probably not the Elder Scrolls you wanted to hear about, Bethesda announced that the iOS and Android versions would get some free stuff if you play this week, and the big surprise was that it’s coming to the Nintendo Switch later in the year, and it will still be Free to Play.
FALLOUT 76
Next up was the aforementioned elephant. There was a new Battle Royale mode announced, along with a huge update coming in the Autumn which sees the return of NPCs and full quest lines. It was also announced that the game will be free on all platforms this week, so if you haven’t tried it, you can get involved and see how much they’ve changed the game since its difficult launch.
GHOSTWIRE TOKYO
Shinji Mikami took the stage next, and announced a new title from Tango Gameworks called Ghostwire Tokyo. After a further introduction, the adorable Ikumi Nakamura described the game in more detail, calling it an action adventure game that’s not survival horror, but will probably scare the likes of me at some point. You can check out the trailer below, and it looks REALLY creepy!
THE ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE
The success of ESO was then discussed, with attention being drawn to the new increased server capacity due to a flood of new players to the game, and a new expansion, Elseweyr was announced with a gorgeous cinematic trailer featuring a rather angry dragon. Another batch of DLC was announced, called “Scalebreaker”. More details will follow at QuakeCon later this summer.
COMMANDER KEEN
A bit of an odd one, this. I’ll fully admit to not knowing what Commander Keen was going into this conference, and during the reveal I genuinely thought I was having a bit of a fever dream – but the new game is a 2D cartoony mobile game featuring Billy and Billie Blaze. For those who do remember the original, they’re the children of that game’s protagonist, also called Billy.
ELDER SCROLLS LEGENDS
Bethesda’s answer to Hearthstone got a new update confirmed, called the Moons of Elseweyr, with a very fancy trailer that flitted between a coffee shop and a tavern in Elseweyr itself.
RAGE 2
A series of DLC announcements were made about Rage 2 with a very cool retro themed trailer, including some new cheat codes, new enemies, new vehicles and a full expansion, called “Rise of the Ghosts. New content will be dropping weekly, promising “new ways to fuck shit up”
WOLFENSTEIN: CYBERPILOT AND YOUNGBLOOD
Jerk Gustafsson then took to the stage to announce that you’re going to be able to kill a LOT of Nazis both in VR, and in the 1980s with two new Wolfenstein releases this summer. Co-op gameplay was confirmed for Wolfenstein: Youngblood, with a very slick trailer showing off some cut scenes and gameplay. I think it’s safe to say that it’s definitely more Wolfenstein! Youngblood releases on July 26th
DEATHLOOP
The folks from Arkane took the stage next, to talk about their new project, Deathloop. Not a great deal was said about the gameplay, but you can infer from the trailer that there’s some kind of assassination competition taking place between two characters, that you have to battle through other enemies to get to. It looks really cool, with a really nice retro aesthetic. Check out the announcement trailer below:
ORION
This one was more pitched at the developers than the fans, but Bethesda introduced a new piece of tech to help lighten the load when it comes to game streaming on the likes of Stadia and xCloud. I’m sure it’s all very impressive and will do wonders for people looking to develop games for the new services, but honestly, it was getting close to 3am and I just wanted to see some more Doom Eternal…
DOOM ETERNAL
A new trailer was shown off, alongside an extended gameplay demo and further details on the multiplayer mode, Battlemode that was teased last year. Honestly, this is what I think most people were here for and it didn’t disappoint. Doom Eternal looks like it’s going to be the sequel to Doom 2016 that we all want, and it’s coming out on November 22nd with a very cool collectors edition that features an ACTUAL wearable Doom Guy helmet!
THAT GUY THAT WOULD NOT STOP SCREAMING
That about does it for games, but there was one other thing that’s seemingly becoming a staple in the Bethesda conferences. A dedicated throng of super fans who are intent on disrupting every single presentation and every other sentence with a huge, over the top “YEAAAAHHHH!!!” or “WOOOOOOOOO!”
Previous years have seen a woman that I think I called a “shrieking banshee”, and while she seemed to make an appearance this year, there was one guy (predictably in a Fallout onesie) who was intent on yelling after every single minor announcement. It’s not about you, dude. Just chill out a little bit.
Anyway, mild rant aside, that was Bethesda’s E3 showcase! Check out our live reactions below, and let us know what you thought in the comments, we’ll see you next time out!
