Following my last article of the confirmed titles at E3, which have all been pretty cut and dry, with only a few to get excited about, let move on to the rumoured titles shall we?

  • Cyberpunk 2077
    Yes! This game… as soon as possible please. I for one, and I am sure the entire gaming community agrees with me here, am very VERY excited for any word from Cyberpunk 2077. From the makers of The Witcher, mainly the third entry into the series, which was an amazing open-world fantasy adventure that we lost ourselves for hours in its immersive world. If Cyberpunk is remotely similar to The Witcher 3, completely with the Cyberpunk setting in a well constructed Science Fiction world, then we have a phenomenal game.
    While, at this time, we still don’t know enough about it, but we can imagine that it will be a third person RPG.
    I am a huge fan of this genre and, for me, this is going to be a day one purchase. Regardless of how I did feel that maybe the Witcher 3’s story dragged on for too long in the third act, I still think that it was a brilliant game and if Cyperpunk is even close to it, that too will be a piece of gaming history.
  • Final Fantasy VII Remake
    I am a big fan of FF7. I have many fond memories of playing this game (as well as a couple of its non-related sequels) throughout my adolescent years. While recent Final Fantasy have not been for me (as they moved away from turn based combat to focus on more hack and slash, as well as not having the same kind of charm that they used to), the brilliant era of the series holds a special place in my heart.
    A remake originally made me quite excited, but after some of the gameplay videos and seeing that the game has been remade into a more modern Final Fantasy, I have lost the enthusiasm that I had once felt. If they had kept it exactly the same style of combat, but with a total remake of the environments and characters, then this would have been a definite buy for me. So for now, I will have to wait and see.
    I have heard rumours that this remake will actually be episodic. It appears that Final Fantasy 7 was just too large a game to recreate and so they need to deliver bits in drips and drabs. I am not sure how this will effect the flow of the game when freely travelling between locations, but it does not give me much hope that this game will retain much of the same magic that made the original infamous… but you never know.
  • Shadow of the Tomb Raider
    While the reboot of the Tomb Raider franchise has not been as memorable as the original run, it was still better than that Legends – Underworld series that they did a decade back. The franchise had fallen flat and this complete reboot was much needed, even if it did make the entire dynamic of the game different. Ironically it felt like a copy of Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series, which has stolen elements from the original Tomb Raiders, so now everything has come full circle.
    With that said, Tomb Raider and Rise of the Tomb Raider were still enjoyable games, even if the sequel was pretty much just a copy and paste of the first game.
    I felt like these games have a lot of potential, but the developers are too worried about playing it safe so that they can continue to make money from this series, rather than pushing the boat out and going for the prize, which is what all sequels should do.
    Rumours have it that Shadow of the Tomb Raider is the darkest in the series, and given some of the difficult and uncomfortable situations Lara Croft has found herself in during these rebooted games, I can say that this will be dark indeed.
  • Gears of War 5
    Microsoft need to do something about this exclusive gap that Sony has gotten, which has made the PS4 seem like the superior console of the two, so a new Gears of War; one of Microsoft’s most well respected franchises amongst Playstation fans, other than Forza, would be a great way to help bring this back.
    While Gears of War 4 was not the greatest game in the series (in fact I have only played it the once with my fellow Bearded Robot, where as the others we have played a number of times now), it was still enjoyable and the build up to it created a lot of hype.
    Number 4 played it completely safe and didn’t do anything to rock the boat, but back in the day, Gears of War 2 was absolutely brilliant and blew us all out of the water, so hopefully a sequel to Gears4 (which was essentially a reboot) will do this once again.
  • Fable 4
    The original Fable was a great fantasy RPG which I spent hours playing on the first Xbox console. The sequels unfortunately got worse and worse over time and the series essentially died with the dreadful Fable 3.
    Since then, Lionhead Studios fell and Peter Molyneux went off the radar, and we have not had a new game in this series for years.
    Rumours have started circling that a new entry could be shown, and if this is the case, I believe that whoever is spearheading this project will hopefully learn from the mistakes made in the past and give us a game that is worthy to stand shoulder to the original.
    However, is it too late? Is it just better to create a new IP and start something new? It is always a risk as people will flood towards something that they know, so having the title Fable or Fable 4 would attract more sales, but it does not mean that it would be a good game.
  • Life is Strange 2
    Rumours have emerged that a sequel to Life is Strange could potentially make an appearance. The series recently had a three part side story prequel, but that could have easily been created to lay the groundwork for an upcoming sequel.
    I really enjoyed the first Life is Strange. I found it an enjoyable experience where, like in the Telltale games, my choices actually did have an effect on the world around. Although the game does end on a dramatic choice that you must make, which would drastically change the beginning of a sequel, unless it is merely brushed aside and your choice does not overly matter.
  • Splinter Cell
    The last Splinter Cell game; Blacklist, which was released in 2013, was a lot of fun. It shifted its focus to a more multiplayer theme and changed the original actor (Michael Ironside) in an attempt to reboot the series for newer players, while at the same time discouraging their already existing fan base.
    The game has marked the end of the series for the last five years, so it goes to show that it was not the hit that Ubisoft would have liked. Now that enough time has passed, this is their chance to reboot the series once again, but much like Fable 4, would it just be easier to create a new IP based on the existing mechanics already established? Ubisoft have done this before as their new IP Skull & Bones is based heavily off of the Assassin’s Creed game; Black Flag, as well as Assassin’s Creed itself being a spiritual successor to the Prince of Persia.
  • A few other rumoured titles are:
    • Crackdown 3
    • Metro Exodus
    • Pokemon Let’s Go
    • Ori and the Will of the Wisps

And finally, lets discuss a couple of games that are neither rumoured nor confirmed to be making an appearance, but would be amazing if something would materialise. I am going to try and be as realistic as possible here.

  • Resident Evil 2 – Remake
    I am a huge fan of Resident Evil. One of my personal favourites is the remake of the first game, which in my eyes, is the perfect remake; it does not take anything anyway or change anything, only add to it, and what they added was brilliant.
    Ever since then, fans have been on at Capcom to remake Resident Evil 2 and they have finally listened (although when does it end? Once they have this then they will ask for a remake of 3). I
    This game has been in production for quite a while, and so now would be the perfect time for them to show us what we have been waiting for, even if it is just a taste.
    The idea of traversing the Raccoon City Police Department and fighting against William Birkin on this gen’s consoles is something that I would to see as soon as humanly possible, so pull your finger out Capcom and get to work!
  • Bloodborne 2
    Following the success of Demon’s Souls, Fromsoft created Dark Souls. Then the success of that spawned a couple of sequels, but one unique one that really stood out for fans of the series was Bloodborne. It was essentially Dark Souls but set in a H.P Lovecraft book, and shifted the focus from defensive gameplay to offensive, which is always a big favourite with players (as true fanboys love Dexterity built classes).
    I have only recently finished Dark Souls 3 and have now obtained a PS4 with the special edition of Bloodborne with the DLC, so I have yet to play it, but my friends all say that it is the true sequel to the original Dark Souls.
    While the sequels to Dark Souls were met with mixed reviews (I personally loved them) and they never seemed to match up to the original, we are left wondering if a sequel to Bloodborne would manage to recapture what made the first game so good, but I am sure Fromsoft will make a good go of it.
  • OVERKILL’s The Walking Dead
    Overkill; known for Payday, has been developing a co-op FPS based on Robert Kirkman’s comic book series; The Walking Dead. I believe that this will be set in the comic universe over AMC’s TV one (as Telltale game’s ones are set in the comic one, but that god awful Survival Instinct is set within the TV universe).
    There has been a few teaser trailers over the last couple of years, one of which was only the other side of Christmas 2017, but they have been few and far between. We still do not know enough of this game as we have not actually seen any gameplay footage or anything enough to sink our teeth into, but it is scheduled for release towards the end of 2018, so now at this year’s E3 would be the perfect time to do so.
    We can imagine that this game would be similar to Left 4 Dead, but with slower zombies, or maybe it will be closer to the FPS co-op game; Dying Light, who is to say. Both of these options are perfectly viable for a game of this nature and theme. Personally I would choose a Dying Light-esc game over a Left 4 Dead, as the fact of venturing out in search of equipment and dealing with survivors, with up to three friends, was brilliant in that game, but everything over than the Telltale game has been a bit of a cash in (the miniature game, all those other board games, the iOS and mobile games, any other console based Walking Dead game), so I can imagine that they will go the easy route and end up making it a linear shooter through various locations.
    But one can dream of the perfect zombie apocalypse game.

Well there you have it. These are my thoughts and dreams of E3 2018. Be sure to check out the shows, which are starting on Saturday night, and keep checking Bearded Robot for more E3 articles over the next week.

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