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E3 2019: Bethesda Recap

by Eben Griger Bethesda is one of the biggest names in gaming. whether it be the legacy of past games, or the IP's they currently hold, it's hard to ignore anything that has the Bethesda name on it. Unfortunately for the gaming giant, this year that included a good amount of controversy. After the muddy launch and post-launch response of Fallout 76, Bethesda had been in a good amount of hot water with fans. Normally, things like this get swept under the rug at conferences like E3. Bethesda decided to take the high road with this though, having both Pete Hines and Todd Howard himself address the issues they faced from the community. After a few jokes at their own expense, Bethesda launched in to their announcements.

The New

  • Elder Scrolls: Blades
    • An update adding jewelry and a dragon quest-line drops tonight
    • Solo arena battles coming to the game this fall
    • Also this fall, Blades comes to the Nintendo Switch, along with cross-platform play and progression. 
  • Fallout 76
    • Wastelanders update set to drop, for free, this fall
      • Adds human NPC's, new weapons and gear, and "choice and consequence"
    • Free trial week on all platforms June 10-17
  • Ghostwire: Tokyo
    • New action-adventure game from Tango, the studio behind The Evil Within 2
    • Story teaser trailer showed, highlighting ghost's biggest weakness - bows
  • Elder Scrolls Online
    • Showed off an impressive-looking CG dragon fight, showing off a new character
    • Scalebreaker expansion coming in August, Dragonhold late this year
  • Commander Keen
    • Free-to-play mobile game in the style of a Saturday-morning cartoon
    • Doodle Jump meets card game, plus alien slaying
    • Coming this summer
  • Elder Scrolls: Legends
    • We got a live-action trailer that didn't actually show off anything new
    • Moons of Elsweyr expansion coming June 27
  • Rage 2
    • Weekly content drops
      • cheat codes, new vehicles, new challenges
    • Rise of the Ghosts expansion
      • More story, more gear and a new enemy faction
  • Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot
    • You're a hacker who takes control of Nazi mechs and then uses them to shoot their creators
    • Available in July
  • Wolfenstein Youngblood
    • Co-op title featuring the twin daughters of series hero B.J. Blazkowicz
    • More weapons, more customization, and if the trailer was anything to go off of, more synthwave
    • Launches July 26 on all platforms, including the Switch
  • Deathloop
    • We got a CG reveal for Arkane Studio's latest game
    • Basically Groundhog Day meets Dishonored
  • Orion
    • The one thing Bethesda showed off that wasn't a game
    • Service that allows game streaming to run smoother with features like decreases latency and bandwidth usage, as well as improved graphics and framerate
      • For example, they showed Doom 2016 running at 60fps in 1080p, on a phone
  • Doom Eternal
    • We saw new weapons and gadgets, as well as new enemies
      • Doomslayer apparently ran out of things to kill in Hell, becasue we see him in what looks to be Heaven now
    • Parkour challenges, classic Doom green goo levels
    • New and improved multiplayer
      • Player-controlled demons take on player-controlled slayer
    • Post-release story content was confirmed
    • Releases November 22

The Good

The Bad

The... Same

Youngblood
Image: Wikimedia

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