Bethesda rolled out the expected footage of games like Dishonored 2 but also managed to drop some pretty big bombs in their pre-E3 press event.
Dishonored 2 stars a returning Corvo or now-banished former empress Emily Kaldwin travelling throug the southern kingdom of Carnaca in search of answers. Both characters have deep skillsets with tons of upgrades, and this time around developer Arkane is paying even more attention to the detail work in a world already famous for its incredibly vivid and varied environments. They want every little corner of the “jewel of the south” to tell a story all their own.
Dishonored‘s open level design and numerous routes return, exponentially increasing the ways that players can approach each mission. Emily was shown slithering around as a shadow and even looking into the past by way of some sort of arcane pocket watch in the demonstrated gameplay.
The game will hit all major platforms on November 11 and somehow manages to look even better than the amazing first installment. There will also be a very limited collector’s edition, because of course.
After years of teasing glimpses into a possible Prey sequel, Bethesda has finally opted to allow Arkane to reboot the series instead. Aside from being one of the most gorgeous games we’ve ever seen on a screen, the newly-announced Prey is carrying a torch for dimension-twisting horrors and a blend of survival horror and bent reality gunplay. A Groundhog Day-style trailer didn’t offer much in the way of details on story or mechanics, but what was there was utterly stunning to behold.
Fallout 4 will receive a “Contraptions Workshop” DLC pack next week. The new content is chock full of objects for use in creating your own in-game Rube Goldberg machines, complete with tracks, conveyor belts, and an assortment of oddities guaranteed to spawn some pretty interesting YouTube videos. After that, July will bring an expansion to finally allow you to design your own vaults. They’ve also confirmed the next expansion, “Nuka World,” will be taking players to what seems to be a massive Nuka-Cola themed amusement park overrun by raiders.
The Fallout Shelter mobile game is also being expanded, in celebration of reaching 50 million players. We’ll be getting new locations, enemies, quests, and a completely revamped combat system.
After the amazing success of Wolfenstein: The New Order and DOOM, id Software is going for a triple play with Quake: Champions. The multiplayer-focused shooter is going for an Overwatch-esque cast of unique characters with individual abilities. id also seemed to be hinting at an eSports bent to the game, which suggests that Bethesda is ready to throw its hat into the ring of competitive gaming. We didn’t get any actual gameplay footage, but there was a long trailer featuring an unnamed woman with a luminescent bob, so that’s something.
Speaking of DOOM, its getting a campaign expansion, along with free SnapMap updates and additional multiplayer modes. Fans of the phenomenal franchise re-entry should be pleased by the extensive post-release support that it’s getting.
And in case you were worried that we wouldn’t get another balls-to-the-wall single player shooter from id, have no fear. It looks like Wolfenstein is getting a sequel. We don’t have much more than a mysterious notation about “The New Colossus” during the Quake trailer, but it’s an obvious wink at the audience.
Finally, if you are somehow one of the only people not to have ridden Skyrim into the ground by now, the last Elder Scrolls entry is getting an HD revamp full of upgrades to the original and featuring all of its expansion content. The visual upgrades are comparable to adding a couple hundred mods to the original and will be available on all platforms on October 28. The best part? If you already own the game, you’ll get this new version free of charge.
Bethesda also announced the VR editions of Fallout 4 and DOOM, wrapping up the strongest publisher showing we’ve seen so far this year. We’ll dive deeper on all of the above titles in the coming days, should we get any new information.
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