E3 2018 In Retrospect: Bethesda

E3! It stands for something. Entertainment Electronics Expo, Entrails Exiting Exuberantly, Explaining Expensive Exhibitions… I think the first one was right.

Anyways, Bethesda isn’t one to be left out of the proceedings, so I’d be remiss if I didn’t take the time to talk about the stuff they talked about!

Let’s Get The Bad Outta The Way

Do Freebird!

I’m sure that Andrew W.K. is a very talented musician, and it wasn’t bad to say the least. The lyrics were a little eerie though, considering the context. They performed their song in celebration of Rage 2‘s announcement. I just don’t care much for live performances at this type of event I guess. It reminds me too much of the Sonic Fest or whatever that was.

Bethesda also seems to have this idea that The Elder Scrolls Legends and Quake Champions are going to be big deals. I could be wrong, but it seems to me that Bethesda missed the hero shooter bandwagon by a couple years, and the same could be said for a trading card game. I know they’re trying to out-Blizzard Blizzard, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.

I really don’t know how to feel about The Elder Scrolls: Blades either…

Now Onto The Good

Even though the announcement for Rage 2 began rather oddly, it actually looks rather interesting. They’re definitely aiming for a design similar to DOOM and Wolfenstein, which is pretty neat. Those fast-paced games are fun to play, and it looks like you’re going to have a ton of neat abilities and weapons to play with. I admit that I don’t have a ton of experience with the original Rage, but the premise stuck with me, even if the game didn’t fully capture my attention at the time. Maybe I need to revisit it.

Oh, I mentioned DOOM and Wolfenstein! Well good news everyone! They’re working on new entries for those games too! DOOM Eternal is going to bring demons to our doorstep, making good on Bethesda’s promise to make it hell on Earth for us. Wolfenstein: Youngblood is going to put the player in the role of B.J. Blazkowicz’s daughters, who are carrying on their father’s legacy to destroy Nazis at every opportunity. Both look like they’re going to be great additions to their respective franchises.

Prey is also getting some love, with new DLC and updates on the way, as well as some VR support, named Typhon Hunter, for those with the proper gear. VR is also coming to Wolfenstein too, as Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot, making you into a hacker who can take control of Nazi weapons of war to turn their tools against their creators.

In Other News

Bethesda’s new Fallout game, Fallout 76 had a little more light shed on it. It has been officially revealed that it’ll be a multiplayer title with story components and an private mode for those that don’t want to be griefed constantly. The other good news is that the map is going to be roughly four times larger than Fallout 4! Of course, that’s only meaningful if the size of a game’s map is all that matters.

Answering the call of fans looking for the next Elder Scrolls game will be thoroughly excited to learn that a new game is in the works, for mobile platforms. The Elder Scrolls: Blades will give players the chance to adventure on the go. Then again, Switch owners can already play Skyrim on the go…

Oh, and they announced The Elder Scrolls VI finally. It’s just a shame they’re teasing a game we already know they’ve been making. Even better? It seems like we’re going to need to wait until the next generation of consoles to see this new title!

Not That Bad

All in all, it wasn’t a bad press event. Some cool new stuff was announced, and even the worst of the event was meh-inspiring at worst. They made some funny jabs at themselves over their constant re-releasing of Skyrim with a completely legitimate release of the Skyrim Very Special Edition for Amazon Alexa. They also showed some more of their toy-based game, Starfield, (scratch that, I’m just an idiot!) and Then they threw some shade at WalMart Canada for ruining the surprise of Rage 2.

Not bad, Bethesda… Not bad…

What were the highs and lows for you?

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