Bethesda held their annual E3 briefing Sunday night and they had a ton to show off for their fans, including news on a new Quake game, Dishonored 2, the reveal of Prey and much more.
The presentation started with an MS-DOS style load screen that cycled through a few menus before the final screen which had the word “Quake” in a line of text, to which the crowd erupted with applause.
Watchers with a quick eye may have noticed one of the menus listing the contents of a hard drive listing file names and dates. Within the Wolfenstein section, there was an entry for “New Colossus” with the date marked out. This entry was directly below 2014’s Wolfenstein: The New Order and 2015’s Wolfenstein: The Old Blood so although no official announcement was made during the briefing, it looks like we may have another announcement coming later this week.
But of course the big news out of Betheseda’s presentation was that they unveiled Quake: Champions. One the creators of the original Quake, Id Software’s Tim Willits came out to show us the trailer which dropped us in the middle of an arena battle with what looked to be characters from previous games in the series, using weapons ranging from a lighting gun to having a huge buzzsaw strapped to your arm. Of course, each warrior will have different attributes and abilities to equip for battle and Willits mentioned that Quake: Champions will be running at 120Hz and have a fully unlocked frame rate.
Willits also discussed that Id is treating Quake: Champions as an eSport and will host competitive tournament and leagues beyond those at the upcoming QuakeCon this August in Dallas.
Bethesda then went on to do a quick re-cap of last years E3 briefing, to show what had been released since and what they’re doing to improve players experiences in those games. The most notable of these updates are those to Fallout 4 which is getting three new add-ons starting next week with the all new “contraption mode” featuring armor and weapon racks as well as Rube Goldberg machine style tracks, conveyor belts and sorting devices to keep your settlement organized and running smoothly. The Vault-Tec Workshop is also coming and will allow players to build their very own vault and run experiments on the dwellers of that vault, coming July 2016. Last up is the addition of the Nuka-World location, which appears to be a dilapidated amusement park.
Also announced was an update to the mobile game, Fallout Shelter. The update will allow players to send their dwellers out of the vault to complete quests. New characters, locations and enemies, as well as a new combat system will all be included. This update and a PC version, for those wanting more screen restate will be available July 2016.
Next up was the much-rumored reveal of the amazing looking Skyrim: Special Edition, which has completely updated art and effects and will include all add-on storylines. This release will even feature PC game style mods.
In related news, there was an announcement that The Elder Scrolls: Legends mobile game is expanding to include Mac, iPad and Android. Bethesda showed a cinematic revealing the story behind the strategy card game. The final reveal related to Elder Scrolls was that The Elder Scrolls Online will be getting an update as well. Besides launching in Japan this June, a DLC for “The Dark Brotherhood” including a new area, The Gold Coast of Cyrodil will be released on June 23, 2016. Also introduced was One Tamriel, where for the first time ever in any multi-platform RPG, all characters will level to content in the world without any restrictions. One Tamriel is coming our way this fall.
President of Arkane Studios, Raphael Colantonio then took to the stage to reveal Prey, the long-awaited follow up to 2006’s Prey. Only a short trailer was shown with the promise of more information at the upcoming QuakeCon. From the little information released about the “immersive first-person” game, we know that the main character wakes up on space station in the year 2032 and is part of some kind of experiment. After seeing a Groundhog Day style opening, where the player is repeatedly waking up, he truly wakes up surrounded in a laboratory. A battle with an alien creature represented by mass of darkness ensued. It looks pretty cool but I’d love to see more from them later this summer. Prey will coming to Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC next year.
Doom was another property heavily discussed at Betheseda’s briefing. The Doom SnapMap will have free updates with new construction modules including a hell visual theme. New props, objects, weapons and items will also be included and two new multiplayer modes will be released next month, a variant of one flag capture-the-flag called “Exodus” and a new capture-and-hold mode called “Sector.”
Also, three “Free for All” modes will be added this summer including a classic Death Match version. The first multiplayer DLC pack, “Unto The Evil” will be released including new maps Offering, Cataclysm and Ritual. A new demon character called The Harvester makes an appearance, also there’s a new gun, armor sets and taunts. For those who haven’t tried Doom yet, Betheseda is offering the first level of Doom free to new players this week only on Playstation 4, Xbox One and Steam.
Bethesda VR was also revealed and highlighted that two titles, Doom and Fallout 4 will be playable with the HTC Vive, coming in 2017.
Arkane Studios’ Creative Director took to the stage to reveal the highly anticipated Dishonored 2, saying that you’ll be playing as a “supernatural assassin in a steam punk city.’ Set 15 years after the events of the first game, players can take on the role of either Corvo Attano from the first game or his daughter, Emily Kaldwin. The open-world game will heavily feature stealth elements and takes place in the well lived-in Victorian style city of Karnaka.
Created on Arkane’s own void engine, game footage for Dishonored 2 showed a level called the Dust District, in which the player has a choice to side with one of the local groups or decide to go it alone. It’s up to the player how to proceed through the world, using stealth or combat. The level features dynamic dust storms altering visibility for enemies and yourself alike. Action takes place on the streets of the city as well as the rooftops so climbing and exploring seem to be encouraged. The player will also have a wealth of special abilities such as a telekinetic grab, referred to as far reach and mesmerize, which hypnotizes enemies into not seeing you.
Another interesting gameplay mechanic shown during a location called the ruined manor in which the player used an alternate timeline lens while moving through the space, allowing them to be able to see how it was in the past and jump in and out of that timeline at will. In the footage shown, the player uses the lens to perform an execution and then disappears unseen.
A limited quantity of an incredible Collector’s Edition of Dishonored 2 will be available later this year that includes Emily’s ring and Corvo’s mask, as well as a definitive edition of Dishonored including all add-on content will be included in that set. Dishonored 2 will be released on November 11, 2016 for Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC.
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