DISHONOURED 2 KEEPS
THE STLISED VISUALS OF
THE ORIGINAL
F
ew people believed
that Bethesda would
grace the stage in California with another
E3 press conference.
Yet it seems that their
armoury is a tad bigger than we had anticipated, and while
not blowing audiences
away as they did last
year, Bethesda’s 2016
E3 conference was still
packed with tantalising
announcements that
filled eager spectators
with a warm, radioactive glow of excitement.
The show began in
style, with the surprise
reveal of a brand new
PC-only Quake game
– Quake Champions –
by no other than original series creators, id
Software. Audiences
were Quaking in anticipation, so to speak,
as Bethesda promised
fast-paced gameplay,
arena-style combat,
FALLOUT 4:
CONTRAPTIONS
ADDS
AUTOMATION
TO CRAFTING
uncapped frame rates
and 120hz refresh
rates, categorically affirming the game’s position as a future darling
for PC FPS fans. Unfortunately, no gameplay
was revealed, but if the
new Doom is anything
to go by, id fans will be
expecting the game to
become a future champion of the genre.
"TANTALISING
ANNOUNCEMENTS
THAT FILLED EAGER
SPECTATORS
WITH A WARM,
RADIOACTIVE
GLOW"
After such a bombastic opening, the positive momentum began
to grind to a halt as the
publisher announced
the latest updates to
hit their current roster
of released games.
Hearthstone wannabe
Elder Scrolls Legends
featured a brand new
cinematic trailer announcing a single
player campaign, in
addition to future iOS,
Mac and Tablet support. The Elder Scrolls
Online also made a
brief appearance in order to show off a new
trailer for the upcoming
Dark Brotherhood expansion, as well as a
Japanese release date
of 23 June 2016 and,
intriguingly, the future
removal of level restrictions on all content.
Next up was Fallout 4, with Bethesda
revealing phase two
of the Fallout DLC offerings: Contraptions
Workshop, Vault Tec
Workshop, and Nuka
World. A new update
to Fallout Shelter; including quests, a new
What was your
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combat system and a
PC release, was also
featured.
Then
Bethesda
brought out the big
guns, starting off with
the announcement of
Skyrim Special Edition,
coming to PS4, Xbox
One and PC on 28
October 2016, along
with full console mod
support. Arkane Studios Austin revealed a
retooled and rebooted
Prey, doing away with
the open-world motif
in favour of a horror
FPS angle, and an expected release date
of some time in 2017.
This was then followed
by the surprising announcement of Bethesda VR. Both Doom and
Fallout 4 were promised as future titles, affirming the big-industry
backing of the fledgling tech.
Dishonoured
2
closed out the conference with an impressive, if lengthy,
gameplay demonstration. New character
Emily was the star of
the show, though the
gorgeous visuals were
a close second. No
doubt the game will
be well received when
it releases this November.
Overall it was a solid, if not outstanding,
conference by Bethesda. Many expected a
new Wolfenstein and
Evil Within, yet they
were absent from the
conference – apart
from a brief teaser for
A New Colossus, a
possible addition to
the former series. Of
the games that were
present, many show
promise, yet nothing to
the extent of last year’s
jaw-dropping blockbuster Fallout 4.
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