E3 2015 - Square Enix Overview

This year seemed to be one of first time conferences, with Square Enix joining the ranks of developers and publishers hosting their own pre-E3 events.

In a marked shift from the other press events, Square Enix skipped a gimmicky opening, cringeworthy or otherwise, in favour of what felt more like a business conference than a PR stunt. Featuring lots of men in suits, Square’s event also made heavy use of translators for a lot of the presentations--for better or worse.

The conference opened with lots of acknowledgements and nods to the developers Square Enix has been working with before moving on to a more...explosive topic. Kicking off the actual presentations with the heavily anticipated Just Cause 3, Avalanche Studios was clearly proud of the series and its legacy with fans: “you only have to look back at Just Cause 2 and how five years on gamers are still having fun with the game.”

Avalance promised us a lot more of this.

Their brief moment of introspection over, Avalanche’s Roland Lesterlin got down to what the real goal of Just Cause 3 was: “setting a new benchmark for action and destruction.” Fans of the franchise have a lot of new and updated features to look forward to. Things like the grapple hook have been reimagined, giving players the ability to control their line’s tension and even weaponise it by pulling aircraft into each other or buildings. Players can also look forward to an improved parachute, which will allow better aerial combat, and an all-new wingsuit along with, of course, a small army’s worth of guns.

And for those who want just the simple joy on blowing things up, Avalanche Studios has promised unlimited C4 and completely reimagined explosion physics on nearly everything in the game. Just Cause 3 is launching December 1 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.

Square Enix then shifted genres, revealing a new title in the Nier franchise--currently under the working title NieR New Project--a cult-classic JRPG series many western fans may not have heard of. Despite a five year gap between this and the last Nier title, the game’s developers seem confident in the fan support they'd received, even though the release is still a ways off.

Mostly, we just found out this game existed.

Moving on to another female-led title, Square Enix revealed more details on Rise of the Tomb Raider, the sequel to its critically acclaimed reboot of the series which is hitting shelves on November 10. Astute fans may realise this is the same release date as Fallout 4, which could spell trouble for Tomb Raider’s release day sales. Crystal Dynamics’ presentation for the Square Enix conference took a more behind the scenes approach than their previous one, detailing a lot of the thought process that went into the character design and development of Rise of the Tomb Raider. We also got to see a bit of gameplay, which alluded to Lara dealing with the trauma of what happened to her in Tomb Raider.

On a slightly more whimsical note, Square Enix also revealed Lara Croft Go, a mobile game from the developers behind Hitman Go. The cell-shaded puzzle game is a “turn-based experience set in a long forgotten world.” Fans of the original Tomb Raider games will also be pleased to see the return of Lara Croft’s classic design, albeit minus the improbably sized chest.

The brown short shorts and the flat colour shading really take us back...

After a brief montage of some of Square Enix’s other titles, including Life is Strange and Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward, and a technical hiccup with the translator, the presentation moved onto probably two of its most anticipated series.

“They are coming back at last, the promise has been made.” Yes, it’s actually happening: Final Fantasy 7 is finally getting the remake it oh-so-rightly deserves. But Square Enix isn’t revealing much yet, other than that the remake is officially happening, headed to PlayStation 4 and a promise of more details this winter.

We're not freaking out, *you're* freaking out

Off the back of that however, the developer took a moment to apologise for the delay in Final Fantasy 4 coming to the PC, and announce they’ll be bringing the original Final Fantasy 7 to iOS--hopefully before the end of the summer.

Square Enix then took a moment to tease fans, introducing Kingdom Hearts Unchained Key, a mobile game that’s releasing in Japan and North America and will tie in with a certain upcoming console title in the series.

Of course then the real big news for the Kingdom Hearts franchise was revealed: Kingdom Hearts III was not a fever dream from last year, and is going to come to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Square Enix treated fans to a trailer with some gameplay footage, the announcement of a Tangled-themed world and some vaguely mysterious cinematic bits about destiny and good versus evil.

You have to wonder why the fate of the world keeps resting on a fifteen year old.

On that note the developers revealed another child-friendly title: World of Final Fantasy. Created as a jumping-in point for gamers intimidated by the scale of the franchise, this new title for the PS Vita and PlayStation 4 features characters and creatures more seasoned fans will recognise from previous Final Fantasy games and is set for a 2016 release.

Square Enix then did something of a 180, veering sharply away from the JRPGs to talk about another anticipated release: the new Hitman. With a December 8 digital release on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Steam, the development team have envisioned a constantly updating game with new hits, community collaboration and of course, open-ended gameplay.

 

We're predicting a sudden wave of unfortunate "accidents."

Introducing another slightly less well known franchise, Square Enix revealed a 2016 release for the latest Star Ocean title, Integrity and Faithlessness for the PlayStation 4.

But the presentation once again turned to western titles, revealing more details on the upcoming Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. Taking place two years after Human Revolution, Adam Jensen and other mechanically augmented people have become social outcasts and vilified in the aftermath of a wave of terrorist attacks. As a member of a task force tracking down this terrorist, Jensen must also contend with the secretive Illuminati. Mankind Divided is scheduled for an early 2016 release on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.

Square Enix’s presentations then finished on a bit of an odd note, wrapping up with the reveal of the entirely mysterious Project Setsuna and a new studio, Tokyo RPG Factory.

With some closing statements about the diversity of their upcoming titles and the usual speech about how excited they are, Square Enix tied up their very first E3 conference.