The Ten Biggest Game Reveals From E3 2018

As the dust settles on a particularly busy E3 press conference season, it’s been an interesting show. There’s been a lack of surprises, with everyone keen to announce most of what they’re working on in advance, there’s been some really disjointed and weird showcases, and yet there’s still tons of games to look forward to.

In no particular order, here’s the ten biggest reveals from all of those shows, but if you want to catch up on everything that was announced, you can do so here.

The Last of Us Part II

Here’s the big one that so many people will have been waiting for, and Sony and Naughty Dog did not disappoint. Twelve minutes that blend together sumptuously rendered story moments with some exceptionally brutal and action packed freeform stealth action gameplay. Maybe it’s bordering on fetishistic violence at this point, but The Last of Us Part II is bound to be even higher on people’s wish lists after this.

There’s no launch date for The Last of Us Part II, but we hope it’s not too far away!

Cyberpunk 2077

A wonderfully rendered trailer that delves deep into the setting of Cyberpunk 2077, this was a great way for Microsoft to end their press conference (even if it is third party). I for one cannot wait to see how this all comes together in a video game, but the various previews now coming out of the main E3 show sound really interesting, taking CD Projekt RED’s branching RPG storytelling and blending it with a first person shooter.

We’ve no idea when Cyberpunk 2077 is coming out, but it is coming to this generation of hardware.

Ghost of Tsushima

Back to Sony’s conference and the second game they demoed was Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima, marking a major shift for the company after the superhero antics of inFamous. The game looks stunningly pretty, both on a technical level and in how Sucker Punch frame the action in different ways.

When will Ghost of Tsushima be releasing? Your guess is as good as ours!

Fallout 76

Though it was leaked prior to E3, the manner in which Fallout 76 transforms the RPG series into an online game is really fascinating, and Todd Howard’s effortless presentation of the game was one of the highlights of E3. This an online survival game, but it’s one with few consequences and streamlined for the wider Fallout audience. You can build anywhere, you can drop in and out of friends’ games, you can team up for quests, you can even find launch codes and nuke each other.

It’s set in the Fallout universe, but this is quite unlike anything that’s gone before.

Fallout 76 is out on 14th November for PS4, Xbox One and PC.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Last year’s Assassin’s Creed Origins did a lot to reinvigorate the long-running franchise, and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey clearly builds on what that game achieved. You have more input into how the story unfolds, including picking between Alexios and Kassandra, between male and female protagonists.

Oh, and it would seem that this is the first time that you play as a character that’s not an assassin (and wasn’t previously or doesn’t become one).

Catch a narrated gameplay walkthrough here. AC Odyssey is out on 5th October for PS4, Xbox One and PC.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

A lot of people might have suspected that Super Smash Bros. for Switch would be a port of the Wii U version of the game, but Ultimate is anything but. This is aiming to be the absolute definitive version of this game, including every single character that has appeared in a previous game, as well as the Splatoon Inklings and Ridley from the Metroid series. Beyond that, it feels like every single character has been tweaked, whether it’s giving them a new costume to wear or changing their abilities, so Link has remote bombs and Bowser can become even bigger.

This isn’t the most enthralling video, and maybe led to a muted E3 Direct when the Switch’s second year should be fizzing with excitement, but the game itself is an ode to all those Smash Bros. fans out there.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is coming out on 7th December this year.

Forza Horizon 4

Playground Games’ fourth Forza Horizon game looks like it’s going to take the spin-off series to new heights, fully embracing a connected world of racing, drop-in, drop-out multiplayer and a more playful attitude with world events that evoke Burnout Paradise’s online. Oh, and its take on Britain and the changing seasons is as gorgeous as it is completely unrealistic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmQNo8xtcAg

Forza Horizon 4 is out for Xbox One and Windows 10 on 2nd October.

Dying Light 2

Techland really proved themselves with the first Dying Light, which merged the zombie apocalypse with compelling, weighty parkour and over the top melee combat. Dying Light 2 leaps 15 years into the future, with the zombie infection having spread across the globe, and with humans living with this ever-present threat. Your actions within the game, such as taking missions for the Peace Keepers that restore peace and order under their totalitarian rule, or defying them and embracing outlaws, will shape the city around you.

Of course, at night, that’s when the Volatiles come out to play…

For more gameplay, head here. Dying Light 2 doesn’t have a release date yet.

Just Cause 4

Equal parts expected and doubted from leaks and rumours before E3, Just Cause 4 takes the bombastic open world sandbox to new heights. Rico is back, and he’s got even more ways to mess around with the world, thanks to an amped up grappling hook and tether, and new tools like the airlift balloons, but Solis is a fictional South American country ravaged by extreme weather systems. There’s huge tornados, huge lightning storms, sandstorms and blizzards that tear up the world and push the physics system to the limits.

Just Cause 4 is out for PS4, Xbox One and PC on 4th December.

Death Stranding

And finally, a game that has Hideo Kojima fans frothing at the whatevers. After years of build up, we’re finally getting to see what Death Stranding is about. No, this lengthy video doesn’t answer many questions, and actually raises a few new ones, but we can start to piece together something about how the gameplay works, with Reedus’ character schlepping parcels across a gorgeous island setting on the one hand, and the tense horror gameplay as his bottle baby and backpack’s light arm reveal invisible humanoid monsters floating in the air all around.

We would speculate on when this is coming out, but Kojima likes to take his time making games, so all bets are off.

That’s our top ten, but there’s a few games that didn’t quite make the cut. What were your personal highlights from the show