Bethesda held the second press conference of E3 2016 on the new “Day 1” joining EA in bringing press conferences back to Sunday of the week. Their presser, held inside an old airplane hangar and hosted by Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb had plenty of announcements, starting with Quake: Champions. The surprise announcement got the crowd going immediately, showing off hulking figures with massive and futuristic weaponry blasting at each other in a cinematic video. Special abilities were on display in the trailer, as well, and it got a lot of applause.
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id Software’s Tim Willets came out on stage and said, “Quake is back.” He hyped up the way the original Quake and its early sequels changed the landscape of multiplayer. “Whether you’re a new player or have been fragging for 20 years, you’ll enjoy Quake Champions.” The game will run on 120hz and unlocked framerates.
Each warrior has different attributes and unique special abilities. Bethesda and id want Quake Champions to be a major player in eSports, and teased that they’ll be expanding it beyond QuakeCon.
Pete Hines, global VP in PR/Marketing was next to take the stage. He introduced the Bethesda E3 Showcase once again. Hines touted the many successes of Bethesda over the last year, with Doom, Fallout 4, and more.
The Elder Scrolls: Legends, a new standalone strategy card game was next, with the campaign’s opening cinematic shown on the big screen. “This is the story of a forgotten hero, who changed the very course of history.” The two lane battlefield offers “more variety and depth,” Hines said. The game is coming to PC, iPad, but then also to iPhone, Mac, and Android tablets and phones later in 2016.
A video showing Bethesda Game Studios had them thanking fans for making Fallout 4 a massive hit, the biggest ever for Bethesda. New contraptions, that are buildable, are coming to the game. That means tracks, sorting machines, conveyer belts, and elevators, coming next week.
The next add on, add-on 5, is the much-asked for Vault builder! Valt-Tec Workshop, coming in July 2016. You can even experiment on your vault dwellers.
And in August 2016, Nuka World, an amusement park in the game will be coming out.
Fallout Shelter is also getting some new features and content, including new combat, new characters, quests, and a PC version in July 2016.
Yes, the Elder Scrolls: Skyrim remaster is real, and a trailer showed the drastically improved graphics for new consoles. You can also play Mods on consoles, and it hits October 28, 2016. Skyrim: Special Edition coming to PC, CB1, and PS4.
Arkane Studios was next on stage “In 2012, when we released Dishonored, we were so thrilled by the response from gamers.” Arkane is working on two new first person games, they announced, Dishonored 2, and a new property, a “Psychological Thriller.”
A trailer ran, and a man named Morgan Yu is the main character. It’s in the future, 2032. He’s being put through tests, and it gets scary, fast. There are strange goo creatures attacking him. He tells himself in the mirror, “Good morning, Morgan. You’re not going to like what I have to say next.” The game is Prey, revived!
“Things have gone wrong. The space station has been overwhelmed by aliens.” Prey is coming next year for PS4, XB1, and PC.
New updates are coming to SnapMap, the map building function of Doom, including single-player map creation, hellscapes, and more – all for free. New multiplayer modes, including three free-for-all modes are coming, playable on all maps, and free. The first premium DLC pack, Unto Evil features three new maps, a new playable demon, a new gun, armor, taunts, and more.
After the video announcement of the Doom updates, Hines took the stage again. Starting tonight, you can download and play the entire first level of Doom on PC, PS4, and Xbox One for free, doing it oldschool shareware style. “Fight like hell on us.”
Matt Fauer, The Elder Scrolls Online game director was next on stage, to celebrate the one year launch on consoles. He thanked fans for their response to the many changes. A video showcasing the achievements of the game’s players, like 34 billion enemies slain, was shown. 7 million players and growing. Some fanatical players near the front were very enthusiastic about the game. ESO launches in Japan this year, he announced. The Dark Brotherhood DLC launch trailer was shown next, featuring the assassins of the Elder Scrolls world. It’s very bloody.
The game will switch to One Tamriel, with no restrictions and content barriers anymore. “From the moment you get out of the tutorial, you can explore the entire world and go on any quest,” starting this Fall.
At the showcase, for attendees, there’s a new Bethesda VR experience. They have Doom in full VR in LA, and Fallout 4 in VR as well – it’s coming to the HTC Vive next year!
One more thing was ready to be presented, Dishonored 2, that goes “way beyond” the legacy of the first game. Harvey Smith, creative director of the game took the stage to show it off. The game was announced at last year’s E3, and this year’s had the first look at gameplay. It’s in a new location, Karnaka, the Jewel of the South. The architecture, climate, people’s jobs, food, and songs are all different. “We wanted Dishonored 2 to look like a painting in motion, Smith said, as a tour inside the game engine, a new one called the Void Engine, was shown off. No actual gameplay was in the first few minutes of the video narrated live by Smith, instead just showing off the world. “Often you can see the layers of history. Watermarks on the wall from past floods, posters and advertisements peeling off the walls from years ago.”
The game does start and end in Dunwall, so you’ll get to see the classic location again.
The game features both Corvo and Emily Caldwin as playable characters. Emily is 25 years old now, “fighting for her life against the forces of deceit.” Another video was shown, featuring Emily walking into a ceremony to remember her mother. Corvo talks to her about assassinations that seem to be killing off Emily’s foes. A supernatural threat seizes the throne, and you choose which character you want to fight it back with.
The game will again feature missions that can be played any way you like, so that no two players have an identical experience. In a mission when you’re interfering with a war between two rival gangs, they show off the new use of vertical space, and a random dust storm that hits, leading Emily to comment on it. She jumps into combat, swiftly taking out several guards using her far reach power, plus her dagger and guns. Parry with the dagger and shoot an enemy, for example. A new Mesmerize ability can distract foes and make it so they have no idea you were ever there. She uses Far Reach to pull an enemy through the air, stabbing him in the neck before he hits the ground. She goes on her assassination mission, and uses a new power to link several of the overseers – this way, anything that happens to one, the others also experience. That’s called Domino. Another new power called Shadow Walk, seen in the announce trailer, is used for both stealth and combat.
Another gameplay trailer was shown with another environment, and this time with Corvo, who can jump back and forth between timelines with a new device. Very cool. You can look from one timeline to the next, then jump back – that’s the Timepiece.
Dishonored 2 got lots of applause, and hits PS4, XB1, and PC November 11, 2016. Finally, the gameplay trailer for the game was shown, featuring some of the same moments from the demos shown.
