E3 2019 - Bethesda Overview

It’s no secret that Bethesda have had a pretty crappy year all things considered, what with the abysmal issues surrounding Fallout: 76 at launch and well beyond, and the rather disappointing impact some of their other titles had when they dropped. This conference was a chance for them to recover some faith they had lost since last year, so the real question is: did they succeed? Well that depends on whether you like Doom or not…

The hit mobile game announced at last year’s E3, Elder Scrolls Blades, is apparently doing very well for itself, at least as well as a mobile game spin-off of a beloved RPG franchise can do, (here’s looking at you Fallout Shelter), and Bethesda have found themselves topping the charts of the mobile gaming scene yet again. Blades is set to receive some new content in the form of questlines, dungeons and even dragons. Perhaps the biggest bit of news is that Blades is coming to the Nintendo Switch, and it seems to us that it would be right at home on the best mobile gaming device out there. The Switch port even features cross play and progression with the mobile game, something that so many titles sorely lack. The port will drop sometime this autumn.

Fallout:76. Oh boy this was a divisive one for sure. Naturally all the bad press surrounding Bethesda’s MMO take on Fallout had many holding their breath when they started talking about it this year, but actually things seemed rather positive. They managed to spin their shaky first year and thank all their devoted fans for continuing to play the game in spite of the issues, and promised a smoother experience this year. We were shown the newest update coming to the game; Wastelanders, which seems to be more than just a barebones weapon pack update. Not only does Wastelanders add actual, REAL NPC’s to talk to, it brings new communities built by said NPC’s, full dialogue trees and even a new gamemode, “Nuclear Winter”. Yeah of course it’s a Battle Royale mode, did you really expect anything different? We don’t know much about the game other than the fact that it’s a Battle Royale in which you compete with other players to become the Overseer of the previously locked Vault 51. What we do know is that all of these updates are entirely free to previous owners of Fallout: 76, and that they will arrive this autumn.

TangoGameworks, the very same folks to bring psychedelic horror games like The Evil Within, announced they’re working on a new project titled Ghostwire Tokyo . We don’t know much about how the game will play, but we do know from the cinematic trailer that was shown that it appears to be a very similar style of game, which is to say a horror or thriller that messes with your head. Information is limited, but we’re more than intrigued to see what else this game has to offer.

Along with a new CGI trailer for the Elsweyr expansion of Elder Scrolls Online that depicted two of the main draws to the update, (dragons and the new Necromancer class), we also heard the titles for the next two upcoming expansions. Scalebreaker and Dragonhold are continuations of the Season of the Dragon movement in ESO, and both will feature new environments to visit and dragon-related threats to vanquish. Scalebreaker will arrive sometime this autumn, while Dragonhold will arrive later this year.

Bonus points if you recognise this one. I didn’t. Commander Keen is a classic side-scrolling platformer made by id Software, before even Doom, Quake and Rage, that Bethesda are attempting to bring into the modern era by reintroducing it as a… free to play mobile game. Of course they are. The game revolves around a card based system for the singleplayer, so it’s likely that we’ll have some obtrusive microtransactions to contend with. There’s also a multiplayer PvP mode, so there might be some longevity to speak of after all. Overall, not a great impression, especially since one of the original creators of Commander Keen has gone on record stating that he’s skeptical of the new release.

Bethesda revealed that the next expansion for Elder Scrolls Legends, The Moons of Elsweyr, will release on June 27th for all platforms. I hope you didn’t expect much more info than that, it’s ESL that’s just how it goes.

The whole trailer for Rage 2’s new content was honestly one of the more creative ones we’ve seen at E3 so far this year, as it was shot on an old VHS tape, (titled “New Shit Coming to Rage”), in the style of an old 80’s American sitcom. Artistic choices aside Rage 2 is actually getting a lot more content on the way in the form of new enemies, weapons, physics breaking cheat codes, and even a full expansion with it’s own story and enemy types known as Rise of the Ghosts. It’s looking quite promising for fans of the game.

We got a full trailer for Wolfenstein Youngblood at the conference, showing us the two new playable characters and once again confirming that the game will feature glorious two play co-op Nazi killing action. Actually the whole presentation relied heavily on the “Nazi killing” appeal of Wolfenstein, which I suppose you could say is the main draw anyway, but good to know they’re not straying too far from their roots. Youngblood was confirmed to be releasing on July 26th for all major platforms. There was also a quick mention of Wolfenstein Cyberpilot, a VR game in which you control a mech and - guess what - kill Nazis! Wholesome.

From Arkane Studios, those who brought us the Dishonored games, we have a new first person action game with a pretty unique central mechanic, Deathloop. On a lawless island it seems that two playable characters, who we will probably be able to pick between a la Dishonored, will be caught in a cycle of killing one another and reawakening soon after. Purely in concept alone this game has its own identity and has certainly piqued the interest of many, can’t wait to see more than just the trailer.

When I asked if you liked Doom I really did mean it, as it seemed that Bethesda were putting a hell of a lot of stock in their fast paced first-person shooter series. Alongside trailers for the upcoming Doom Eternal there was also a full 5 minutes or so of gameplay played during the show itself, which is rare to say the least. The game very clearly plays almost identically to 2016’s Doom reboot, and as someone who never played that game I can say with confidence that I simply can’t tell the difference between the two titles at a glance. To set itself apart though Doom Eternal features a multiplayer game mode, called Battle Mode, in which one player controls a fully equipped Slayer in a fight against two other players, each controlling his own powered up demon. The demon players must rely on strategy to outwit and outmaneuver the Slayer, who in turn must use their skill and arsenal to overpower their opponents. Overall a great time for Doom fans.

Which is more than can be said for those waiting to hear about Elder Scrolls 6...