Well, it wasn’t that bad after all. With the presentations of E3 2021 moving to dedicated streams rather than a stage show, there were fears from past attendees that it would never quite be the same again. For the rest of us, however, it was business as usual – the streams provided by the various hosts were more than sufficient. Whenever E3 comes around, the whole process threatens to feel more like a responsibility than a spectacle; customers patiently waiting through hours of – let’s be real – adverts, in case something surprises them. Personally, I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be looking forward to now – after the recent highs of FFVII Remake, Persona 5 Royal and Yakuza Like a Dragon I was hoping to discover new things to get excited about again. Happily, I could relax: looking over the paper titled “Qazi’s E3 2021 notes” there are definitely a few things worth talking about.
Qazi’s E3 2021 notes – Elden Ring
Qazi’s E3 2021 notes begin with Elden Ring. From Software’s new game was first announced in 2019 – billed as a new “dark fantasy action RPG” created by Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R.R. Martin. I might not the hugest fan of From’s games and their appeal to me can be hit and miss, but I’ve enjoyed them enough to want to keep an eye on new announcements. The new trailer showcased horse-riding, some slick melee combat (with a hint of magic, or enchantment) and some surprisingly fluid movement. If the final game plays as good as it looks, it seems like we might find ourselves in control of a capable and agile protagonist – putting more pressure on the player to make the most of their character’s abilities. However, From’s dark fantasy action RPGs have a reputation for being challenging experiences, and there’s still a lot about Elden Ring that’s unknown: what is the penalty for failure? How well will it accommodate players who are fans of GRRM but only have a passing interest in videogames? The marketing blurb hints at “open ended” gameplay where one can define their playstyle and “chart their own path”, but it could be no more “open ended” than From’s other games – where a player has to choose one of several taxing challenges to overcome. One positive piece of information (that may have been announced before and I missed it) was that the game would be multi-platform and cross-generation, launching next January on Xbox Series, Xbox One, PS5, PS4 and Steam. So if you’ve been waiting on that new-gen console purchase, at least you know that you’ll be able to play this on something you already own.
Qazi’s E3 2021 notes – Tunic, The Ascent
One game name that I didn’t expect on the “Qazi’s E3 2021 notes” list was The Ascent. I had barely been following this game before seeing the trailer and I only half-knew the name from chatter online, but it looks like a gorgeous piece of cyberpunk RPG shooter action from an elevated perspective. Maybe it won’t be the most cerebral thing out there, and I caught some lighting and textures that made me fear for my ageing desktop PC (my specs are somewhere between the minimum and recommended) but it could be another thing that I can add to my Steam wishlist and then forget about for months. Speaking of my wishlist, another game that’s been on there for a while is Tunic – it received a little slot during Summer Game Fest, as well as an Xbox exclusive demo. This might not be much more than the demo I played a while back, but it’s nice to know that the game is still alive.
Qazi’s E3 2021 notes – Replaced, Phantom Abyss
Phantom Abyss was a game that came to my attention in late May – a procedurally generated “runner” game with asynchronous multiplayer, it asks players to sprint through dangerous gauntlets of traps and obstacles that wouldn’t look out of place on an Indiana Jones set, and retrieving sacred relics. Branching paths force players to make quick decisions, whilst the titular phantoms are the ghosts of other players and their previous efforts – essentially, you’re navigating obstacles with your character and also viewing ghost replays of others. (I’m curious about how phantoms work with procedural environments, but maybe the generation is based on a set of “segments”, with ghost replays representing players’ attempts through one particular segment.) The game is available on Steam Early Access this month, with the Steam store page suggesting a June 22nd release date.
My main notes end with a short mention of Replaced, described by developer Sad Cat Games as “a 2.5D Retro-Futuristic Cinematic Platformer” that will be released next year on Xbox, Steam and Epic. With its striking lighting, cinematic use of focus and pixel characters, it drew a lot of comparisons to The Last Night: the Odd Tales game announced back in 2017. With moody shots of a character running through the woods, cryptic scrolling error messages in red system text and panning views of run-down streets (all set to a synthy soundtrack), it’s hard to blame people for making comparisons, but hopefully this game doesn’t disappear into the void. (And – like The Ascent – hopefully it’s playable on this creaky old PC…)
Honourable mentions
There were a few other notables throughout the various shows but none of them caught my attention like the games mentioned above. The Square Enix presentation actually took a little time to show Neo: The World Ends With You, Nier Reincarnation and Babylon’s Fall… but with Babylon’s Fall still looking like it’s quite early in development, and Neo: TWEWY and Nier Reincarnation (hopefully) arriving soon, there weren’t many new reasons to get excited if you had already been following these games. I think Forza Horizon 5 deserves a mention just for its scale and detail – I haven’t played a Forza game since Motorsport 4 on the 360, so maybe it’s not that much of a leap for some, but the variety of locations on offer make it feel like you’ll be playing for some time before things start feeling samey. And as I write this, I’ve just caught up with Nintendo’s main presentation – as a company that relies strongly on proven IP I wasn’t expecting them to show off anything too outlandish, but there was an intriguing new 2D Metroid, the glorious return of Wario Ware in a brand new game, and another long-overdue look at Shin Megami Tensei V.
Wrapping up
Generally, the previews gave me a lot more than I was expecting, with the hype being brought by several brand new games rather than merely sequels and extensions of games that I already know. I may still be on the fence about my next console purchase, but I’ve got more to think about now, as well as a few things I can enjoy on the hardware I have at the moment. As always, leave a comment if you’d like to talk about your own E3 2021 highlights, and hopefully we can look forward to these games and more in the future.
