Bethesda ended the second day of the E3 press conference by capturing the main attention of the event through premiering more footage for Fallout 76, announcing Doom and Wolfenstein sequels, and teasing new games Starfield and the heavily awaited The Elder Scrolls VI.
The conference kicked off slowly with Rage 2. Andrew W.K wore some very special-looking white jeans and led the opening somewhat awkwardly; the game itself is a post-apocalyptic shooter, headed by a guy named Walker. He calls himself the “last ranger of the land” with an accent I cannot place without offending somebody out there. The gameplay sets up the driving features of the game and the overall mission to “take out the authority” (though, exactly what authority, it doesn’t mention). The game itself looks extremely colourful, violent, and a complete change to the buggy game style that we are accustomed to with Bethesda games.
Following Rage 2 was Doom Eternal, the next entry in the Doom franchise. Not much was revealed at the conference, only the promise of even more demons than in the prequel, with a promise to reveal the gameplay footage in August at QuakeCon.
“All in all, it promises to be extremely unique and interesting”
Prey was a surprise addition to Bethesda’s conference. They not only added a survival mode, but also another ‘New Game+’ mode as well. It was released on the day of the conference and uploaded free onto all pre-existing games. There is also a new paid DLC called Mooncrash which wants you to “get to work” (which they repeated about fifteen times). All in all, it promises to be extremely unique and interesting.
Next came along the bigger shocks at the Bethesda showing. First, they announced Wolfenstein: Youngblood which features BJ and Anya’s twin daughters and is set in the ‘80s. The twins can be played either solo or co-op (a reoccurring theme of the conference), and is coming next year. I only hope that they have a soundtrack worthy of the times in which it’s set.
The next big mention of multiplayer comes as a way to divide the fan base of Bethesda’s hugely popular Fallout series, through the announcement of Fallout 76. This was easily one of the most anticipated games for E3 and for some fans, it delivered. Todd Howard came to unveil this one – and answered the many, many questions that fans posed following its trailer release a few weeks ago. It is an online multiplayer experience (the first of the franchise), set in West Virginia. The map size is four times that of Fallout 4 and the main storyline will see your player move between five of the biggest areas in the map.
Some fans were delighted at the news that the newest entry will be online. Todd Howard stressed that this game can be played solo, but the online feature cannot be turned off. The only other human characters that your player will interact with will be other online players, and robot characters will give quests. More details will be shared later, but we know that the game will be released on November 14 this year. It will definitely be the most interesting reception given for a new game!
With all that excitement in the air, Bethesda announced a new game for mobile devices: The Elder Scrolls: Blades. It will be free, and is coming this fall, and is a first-person RPG; it can also be played in landscape and portrait, and features a lot of combat and dungeon crawling. It’s good – but really, it’s nothing that fans of the long-time Elder Scrolls series haven’t necessarily seen before.
What we haven’t seen before is Starfield, a new science-fiction game. We were only given an extremely short teaser (again, saving more footage for QuakeCon) but it was described as “next-gen” so it might not be released for current generation systems. Rumours circulate that it’s a first-person shooter and RPG hybrid. It doesn’t have a release date, but we’ll see more soon
“But they saved the best ’till last”
But they saved the best ‘till last. Only 36 seconds long, with no actual gameplay footage – just the theme and title, but it was enough to allow Bethesda to win E3. They announced The Elder Scrolls VI. Finally!
Annie McGill
What are you most looking forward to out of Bethesda’s upcoming releases? Let us know in the comments below.
Featured image courtesy of ‘Steam XO‘ via flickr.
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