Stephanie Bendixsen: E3 delivered big surprises you need to see
It’s the biggest video games convention in the world and points the way to what games you and your family will be playing this year. Here are some of the games you need to see.
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I have been to E3 many times. It’s the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles — a huge trade show held every year at the LA Convention Centre where all the big video game announcements are made.
Projects that different developers have been working on for years — closely-guarded secrets with code names and NDAs — finally, unleashed on the waiting public.
It usually goes like this: the first couple of days take place outside the convention centre — with a series of massive press conferences held by all the major publishers.
Xbox, wall-to-wall screens and swathing the audience in its signature green light; Ubisoft, it’s quirky French humour; EA with loads of sports titles on offer; Sony, big, blue never failing to impress; and Bethesda, with non-stop fan-service.
They’re designed to create the ultimate hype.
Amid awkward, overly-rehearsed stage presentations and playing off the anticipation of the audiences desire to be surprised and delighted — we’re served title after title filling us with hope for the year of play ahead.
This year however, felt a little different.
Largely due to the fact that Sony made the shocking decision to abstain. Not just from holding its signature press conference — but from appearing at the entire expo.
They just … weren’t there.
It was baffling at first; but when I think about previous years, the scale of it all, the expense. Huge stage shows, lavish parties, enormous booth structures all designed to dazzle journalists into a haze of positive reviews.
It’s a lot, and the competition is fierce. Particularly between Xbox and Sony — rival consoles across the world inevitably subjected each year to harsh comparison.
Who has the best reveal? The most impressive slate of games? Teases of new hardware? Most famous celebrity guests? Imagine pouring all that money into this event, only to be dubbed the loser?
I think Sony recognised that this year they perhaps didn’t have enough to bring to the table. That’s not to say they’re not working on something spectacular (or a number of things) but they weren’t ready to announce that yet.
So — why spend all that money on booths and stage shows and parties for thousands — simply to be crucified by the savagely opinionated public ready to hate on something as much as they are ready to love on something else? Makes sense, really.
Nevertheless, it all definitely felt … smaller. If that’s even possible in the LA Convention Centre, which seems at times like a small city.
Despite this, there were some absolute highlights for me.
First and foremost, I must shamelessly gush about the upcoming game by Polish developers CD Projekt Red — the makers of my favourite game of all time The Witcher 3.
They have proven themselves masters of detailed, living, breathing open-worlds — rich fantasy with spectacular storytelling.
This new game is somewhat of a departure. It’s still a huge, sprawling open world RPG, but it’s a futuristic first person shooter called Cyberpunk 2077.
The demo instantly evokes qualities of Bladerunner or Ghost In the Shell with its neon cityscape and body modification-obsessed people.
Despite being a diehard fantasy fan, sci-fi certainly comes a close second, and the visual feast this game presents is seriously enticing.
My one-and-only reservation is one shared by many others — the game is in the first-person perspective.
Which, yes — makes sense for a shooter, but in a huge role-playing game like this one where such a huge part of the experience is crafting the look of your character, upgrading your gear and tricking yourself out with cool new outfits — how devastating that you hardly ever get to see yourself.
It’s all part of the fantasy for me, making my character a fantasy representation of myself — and my heart aches that she’ll be hidden from view.
But the goal from the dev team was to make the game more immersive, give you a better, more detailed view of the world — and to set it firmly apart from The Witcher 3, with which it will undoubtedly be compared.
Logically I can see it’s probably the right choice for this game — and I’ll certainly give it the benefit of the doubt.
Who am I kidding — I am falling all over myself to play this.
Other major highlights include 12 Minutes — an indie game with an intriguing concept — and visual design.
The game takes place in 12 minute time-loops, with a husband learning that his wife is pregnant — after which she is arrested for the murder of his father.
It’s a rush, and in this Groundhog Day-type repetition he needs to try to circumvent the events that take place in order to figure out the truth of what happened. And this all occurs from an entirely top-down perspective.
It’s an oddly-intense story to tell from a birds-eye view, but it’s visually arresting and I was completely hooked by the demo.
There’s also Bleeding Edge — a fresh take on the team-based battle experience and drawing heavy influence from Overwatch.
To me, this felt fresh, innovative — with exciting improvements on the genres predecessors. Nintendo announced to a positively ecstatic audience that a sequel is in development for The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of the Wild — in fact there are a truckload of sequels to look forward to.
Borderlands 3, Baldur’s Gate 3, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Gears 5, Doom: Eternal, Watchdogs Legion — in which you can recruit and play as anyone in the city of London for the hacker cause (including a sweet old grandma, hilarious to arm with a semiautomatic and wreak havoc).
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And remember a while back when I reviewed the very retro Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines? Well there’s a sequel announced for that too!
Phew. If I’m honest, I do try to remain impartial and not get drawn into the hype — but as a fan, I’m not always successful.
I’m excited. I can’t help it! I’m desperate to play each and every one of these games and, despite the smaller-scale of the event and Sony no-show — I’m every bit as thrilled for the year ahead.
Stephanie Bendixsen attended E3 as a guest of CBS Interactive.
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