E3 2019 Bethesda Conference Roundup

Bethesda’s E3 presentation was packed with an exciting roster of new games, and I’ll be breaking down all the new titles and more revealed At Bethesda’s E3 conference.

First we have Commander Keen, a free-to-play mobile game and successor to the classic ’90’s PC game of the same name. You’ll play as Billy and Billie, twins that are children of the original Commander Keen. A 2D tactic type game with different type of tools and powers at your disposal to help stop different threats in the game it also features a single-player story-mode and PVP. It’s coming to IOS and Android summer 2019.

People’s expectations for Fallout 76 were high coming in to the conference, and rightly so with all the problems the game has. Todd Howard didn’t shy away from the problems and announced much needed content for the game. Year 2 content starts with the free DLC “Wastelanders”, which drops in Fall 2019. Bethesda has also confirmed the existence of NPC’s (finally) to Fallout 76, as well as dialogue trees. There is also a free trial for Fallout 76, starting June 10th – June 17th. Including a brand new battle royale mode coming to the game called Nuclear Winter. It will be a 52-person mode, with the ultimate prize being the Overseer title of Vault 51.

Shinji Mikami and Ikumi Nakamura from Tango Gameworks, creators of the Evil Within franchise, were on stage during the conference to announce a brand new game titled: Ghostwire Tokyo. Ghostwire Tokyo is a psychological-horror action-adventure game set in Tokyo, where people start mysteriously disappearing, and your objective is to figure out why. It’s definitely a little different from the Evil Within games as it poses more of a paranormal vibe than survival horror, but its meant to be a new action-adventure game. You can check out the trailer below.

Bethesda also showcased more details for the upcoming Elsweyr expansion DLC for The Elder Scrolls Online. The new the trailer shows a fight between what seems like players and an intimidating dragon similar to the ones from Skyrim. The trailer also features the Dragon Guard. Including a new dungeon DLC called “Scalebreaker” to arrive soon. More details to come at Quake Con this summer.

Speaking of Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls: Blades is coming to Switch, or “Switchblades” as they called it on stage. The mobile game will now have a new Nintendo switch port with Joy-Con motion control. It’ll be free to play, and include cross-play, with cross saves compatible with the mobile version. It is set to release on Switch this fall, while the iOS and Android versions are available now. The mobile version will also be getting a new update tonight with a “new dragon questline.”

Check out the trailer below.

In one of the more exciting reveals, Bethesda also unveiled a new Wolfenstein: Youngblood trailer, featuring a brand new co-op mode, set in 1980’s Paris. It is a direct sequel to the current Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, staring BJ Blazkowicz’s twin daughters, Jessica and Sophia, who similarly to their father, are working together to the fight against the Nazi regime. Bethesda showed us some new gameplay footage on the game you can check it out below as well. Its set to release July 26, 2019 for PS4 Xbox One and the Switch.

The game I was most excited to see out of the Bethesda’s conference, is a brand new game from Arkane Studios, the devs behind the Dishonored games, titled: Deathloop. Deathloop is an action-adventure set on the mysterious Black Reef during a “time of madness.” To put it simply, Deathloop tells the story of Colt and Julianna, who are stuck in a time loop that repeats itself each time one of them dies.

Colt and Juliana are the dual protagonists of the game similar to Dishonored 2, but this time they are on opposite teams. The gameplay is also similar to that of Dishonored with sword play and gun play, though it seems to be more focused on combat. Deathloop will feature unique levels and special powers that will come in handy to deal with enemies. I for one am excited to see where they take this idea. Find out more in the trailer below.

Bethesda also revealed more details on the latest entry of one of their most successful series, Doom Eternal. The details were revealed in the form of an extended demo, which shows off much of the fast-paced brutal action gameplay the original had. Additionally, Bethesda announced an additional multiplayer mode called “Battlemode”. This new mode is a “first-person fighter” that pits one Slayer against 2 player-controlled demons to fight it out. We also got a release date for Doom Eternal: November 22, 2019 for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Stadia. They also revealed a Collector’s Edition that includes a slayer helmet. See all the fun action packed gameplay in the showcase below.

We also have some new content coming out for Rage 2. Which is a surprise as the game came out only a month ago. During Bethesda’s presentation, a new expansion titled Rise of the Ghosts, was announced which shows new enemies, vehicles, weapons, and more. Check out its trailer below.

Other interesting things revealed at the conference include Orion, a cloud-based service meant to rival Google Stadia and Microsoft’s project xCloud. Orion will apparently allow games to stream content up to 20% faster per frame, and at 40% lower bandwidth which will enable a dramatic reduction in latency.
“Orion will optimize game engines for performance in a cloud environment,” says director of publishing operations at id Software James Altman in regards to Orion. Though i’ll never understand why they decided to show the full majesty of Orion on a mobile device and not a 4k display monitor or TV.