E3 is, without fail, the highlight of the year for a gamer; and E3 2017 stayed true to form with a torrent of new information, trailers and announcements released over the last week. There’s so much to talk about, in fact, that we’re going to have to split it up. First up, let’s talk about the genuinely new stuff — new IPs galore, and a new console too!
Sea of Thieves
I didn’t get the memo, but maybe multiplayer pirate games are in this year? In Sea of Thieves, from Rare, you and your friends will crew a pirate ship in search of lost treasure and plunder and all the usual piratey stuff. This is definitely a more light-hearted take on the formula, as evidenced by the fact that you can shoot yourself out of a cannon in order to board an enemy ship — but it looks absolutely gorgeous and is well worth a look.
Skull & Bones
Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag was an excellent game, although more for the pirate bits than the Assassin ones in my opinion. Happy days, then, because Ubisoft announced Skull & Bones, a game based entirely on the pirating part of Black Flag. It’s an online open-world naval combat game, but it did seem to be heavily tilted towards multiplayer - hopefully, there’ll be something on offer for solo players as well.
Spider-Man
In PS4 news, there was a new trailer for next year’s Spider-Man game which was one of the most talked-about this year. If you haven’t had a chance to watch it yet, go check it out — Insomniac (known for Ratchet & Clank) really look like they’ve got a solid chance of pulling this one off.
Xbox One X
Back in the day, I laughed when Microsoft announced the Xbox 360. They then managed to one-up their own naming system with the Xbox One. Now we’ve got the One X, and nothing should really surprise us any more.
Naming mishaps aside, the One X looks like a very solid piece of hardware. The question that’s yet to be answered is whether there’s genuinely a market for it, though. Given that you can still play the latest games on an Xbox One, Microsoft really needs to convince Xbox fans that they shouldn’t just hold out for the 37.5 (or whatever the next Xbox is going to be called) — and that’s going to be a tough sell.
A Way Out
One of the more out-of-left-field hits of this year’s E3 was A Way Out, from the folks behind the critically-acclaimed indie game Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. In it, you and another player (you will need someone else, either through online or couch co-op - there’s no AI partner) will play through a prison break and the subsequent escape. Very interesting indeed.
Anthem
And finally, we come to Anthem — the game I’m most excited about. BioWare’s new IP, which they’ve been developing for years, looks like some sort of fantastic hybrid between Mass Effect and Destiny. Players play as freelancers, guardians of a city on a lush and inviting world, who use powerful exosuits called Javelins to survive in the wilderness. This really does look like it’s set up to compete with Destiny 2, and I can’t wait to find out more.