Ten Games to Watch from E3 2017

Like previous years, the 2017 Electronic Entertainment Expo showed us several video games to look forward to in the near future and while some may complain about the presentations themselves (in some cases, rightfully so), the games were still present. Here, we’ll look at some of the games that grabbed the public’s attention. 

For this list, we’re focusing on games that were shown at the convention, and that we know a good deal about. While it’s good to know that Metroid Prime 4 and a new main series Pokemon game are coming to the Nintendo Switch, no one outside Nintendo’s circle knows much about them other than the fact that they exist.

Here are Ten Games to Watch from E3 2017.

1. Anthem

Most of EA’s press conference was a prime example of the fluff that gamers don’t like when watching E3 presentations. Not enough gameplay shown, too much extra stuff shown. Of the games that were shown, very few of them caught much attention, but one of the ones that did was the game Anthem. A new sci-fi title developed by BioWare, Anthem revolves around the Freelancers, a group of soldiers exploring a lush and dangerous new environment. The game looks to be a multiplayer co-op game where players can work together to fight monsters and bands of marauders while exploring the jungles of this new world.

2. Far Cry 5

After already stirring up some controversy before the show even began, more information was revealed about Ubisoft’s latest entry into this first-person shooter series. The game is set around the area of Hope County, Montana with the main antagonist of the game being a religious extremist preacher named Joseph Seed, who seeks to force everyone in the county to join his militaristic doomsday cult, Eden’s Gate. The player takes the role of a sheriff’s deputy assigned to arrest Seed after a previous attempt to take him down resulted in the deaths of several officers. Players can customize their appearance with a new custom character creator, the game will have several weapons to use (with an increased emphasis on close-quarters combat), and local people and wildlife (as seen in Far Cry Primal) can even be recruited to help your character.

3. Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle

After their partnerships with PlatinumGames, Koei Tecmo, and Namco Bandai working on Nintendo franchises, Nintendo is now letting Ubisoft take a crack at one of their franchises. Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle is a turn-based strategy game and a crossover between Ubisoft’s Rabbids series and Nintendo’s Super Mario series. Players control Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Yoshi, and four Rabbids dressed like the four Mario characters as they go to stop a swarm of mischievous Rabbids from terrorizing the Mushroom Kingdom. With gameplay that has been compared to series like XCOM, the eight characters can move around the map, fighting enemies with different weapons, including laser cannons resembling the arm cannons used by characters like Samus, Mega Man, or the Mii Gunners from Smash 4. 

4. Monster Hunter: World

Capcom announced during the show that the latest entry in the Monster Hunter franchise would be coming to PS4 and Xbox One in early 2018 with a PC release sometime afterwards. (Sorry, Nintendo fans.) Players take the role of different hunters tasked with killing or capturing large monsters around the village they are staying at. To accomplish this all weapon types from previous game Monster Hunter Generations are available, along with some new equipment like ghillie suits and the grappling hook-like Slinger. The game is said to have large open environments with no loading screens between zones, four player co-op, and will allow players from Japan and Western regions to play together.

5. Destiny 2

After a lackluster launch, Bungie’s hybrid shooter-RPG Destiny has managed to gain traction as a worthwhile game. So, when a sequel was announced to be released in September 2017, a lot of people were actually looking forward to it. Like the original game, players can play both with and against each other in PvE (player vs. environment) and PvP (player vs. player) game modes. Players can also level up their characters by gaining experience points through combat, complete quests from NPCs to receive rewards or further the main story, and customize their character’s attributes, including species, gender, and skin color. Weapons and armor have also been reorganized in this new game, from Primary, Special, and Heavy weapons to Kinetic, Energy, and Power weapons.

No big overhauls here, but you know what they say about something that’s not broken.

6. Call of Duty: WWII

After a long period of setting their games in the modern era or the future, Activision is taking the Call of Duty series back to its roots by making a World War II game, with players will control soldiers from the Allied nations fighting against the Axis powers. Several mechanics are being changed with this installment. Health regeneration has been removed, so players must rely on the medics in their squad for health packs. They will also need their squad to provide extra ammunition, the unlimited sprint mechanic from previous games has been removed, and the campaign mode has no difficulty settings, with the game automatically set to “Hardcore Mode”. The game’s multiplayer also shows a back-to-basics approach with several features from previous games removed and more of a focus put on “boots-on-the-ground” combat. 

And yes, this game has a Zombies mode.

7. Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite

More information was shown about Capcom’s latest collaboration with Marvel Comics with their crossover fighting game series, including a new trailer. The game draws a lot more cues from the Marvel Cinematic Universe for their characters and story and several characters from the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy are included in the roster. Though notably, characters from X-Men or Fantastic Four are absent from the game. The story itself revolves around the heroes’ fight to defeat Ultron Sigma, a fusion of Ultron from Marvel Comics and Sigma from Capcom’s Mega Man X series, and looks to include a full story mode with cut scenes.

8. God of War

One of Sony’s biggest franchises, God of War, will soon be getting a new installment in the series and more was shown about this new game at this year’s show. Taking place after the events of God of War III, the setting has changed from one of Greek mythology to one of Norse mythology and series protagonist Kratos is now taking a second shot at raising a family, taking care of his new son Atreus. He will now have to fight against a new stable of monsters and warriors, while raising his son and trying to master the rage that has driven him for so many years. Kratos’s signature dual chain blades have been replaced with a magical battle axe and a folding shield and a button on the controller can be used to control Atreus to hep Kratos throughout the adventure.

9. Marvel’s Spider-Man

Developed by Insomniac Games as their first licensed game, this title is not tied to any movies or comics and is instead an original story set in the Spider-Man world. The game is an open-world action-adventure game where players will be able to fight criminals and super-villains as the web-slinger himself, traversing the city through different methods including parkour, web-swinging, and wall-crawling. At this point in the story, Peter Parker is close to graduating from college and has been Spider-Man for about eight years, so he’s gotten the hang of being a superhero by this point. But after defeating Kingpin at an early point in the story, a new gang called the Inner Demons starts taking over Kingpin’s turf and now Spider-Man must deal with this new threat.

There’s also a cameo in the E3 trailer from Miles Morales, but no word yet if he’s playable in any way.

10. Super Mario Odyssey

Finally, here is the game leading the charge for the Nintendo Switch. While this game was revealed earlier along with the early lineup of Nintendo Switch games, a new trailer was shown at E3 along with new gameplay and several new mechanics and worlds. The game is a 3D open-world adventure game, inspired by titles like Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine, where players can guide Mario through large expansive environments. The main driving mechanic in this game is Cappy, a ghost-like top hat creature that takes the form of Mario’s signature cap after it is seemingly destroyed. Mario can use Cappy to grab items, fight enemies, manipulate the environment, or even possess different enemies, objects, or characters and use their abilities for himself.

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Of course, this is far from a definitive list. Several games were shown at this year’s E3 and these were only a few of them. So, what do you think? Are you looking forward to any of these games? What games caught your eye at this year’s E3? Make your voice heard in the comments below and have fun gaming once these titles come out.

Thanks for coming!