Dishonored 2 is the headliner for Bethesda’s E3 presentation this year, but it isn’t all sneaky assassins of course. While there isn’t any huge surprised at Bethesda’s presentation this year, the company did reveal some updates that will be coming to their existing titles, as well as resurrecting a game that many thought was dead.
Quake Champions
Kicking off the Bethesda presentation is a old school command prompt that segues into a Quake Champions trailer. The trailer shows off some of the characters and weapons that will be returning to Quake Champions. Ranger, Visor and Anarki are just some of the characters that were shown off in the trailer. Weapons that will also be making a return to Quake Champions include the Lightning Gun, the Rocket Launcher, the Machine Gun, the Rail Gun and the Gauntlet. One surprising bit of information that was revealed about Quake Champions is that it will be a PC-exclusive, and will be capable of running at 120hz with unlocked frame-rates.
Of course, the Quake Champions trailer also reveal some interesting information that puts it in the questionable category. The trailer shows that each character may come with its own abilities that range from teleportation, to a straight up wallhack, something that seems rather out of place in an arena shooter. Another thing worthy of note is that the presenter on stage states that Quake Champions will be a “class-based arena shooter,” a term that seriously diminished my hype for the game. There were no gameplay footage revealed during the event, but Bethesda has said that more information will be available at Quakecon 2016. Until then, I will be cautiously optimistic about Quake Champions.
Fallout
DLCs are a-coming to Fallout 4 and most of it revolves around construction. If your favourite part of Fallout 4 has been the construction mechanic, the upcoming DLCs will make you very happy indeed as the upcoming DLC will allow you to build contraptions, a theme park, as well as your very own vault! The first DLC is called “Contraptions,” and it will allow you to build workshop related machinery such as conveyor belts sorting machines, and all sorts of other devices that would probably allow you to construct your own Rube Goldberg machine.
The second of the DLCs is “Vault-Tec.” As the name implies, this expansion allows you to build and customise your very own Vault! In fact, you can be the Overseer of the Vault you created, allowing you to run your own personal experiments on the poor inhabitants of your Vault. The last of the expansions is ‘Nuka-World,’ an expansion that appears to be centered around theme parks. All of the DLCs will be released over the course of the year.
Fallout Shelter will also be on the receiving end of some updates as well. Scheduled for July, the updates will introduces quests, new characters, as well as new locales where you can visit to gain resources or materials. Besides updates, Bethesda has also confirmed that Fallout Shelter will be coming to the PC next month, so you now control your Vault with a mouse and keyboard as well.
Elder Scrolls
Many people were expecting a surprise announcement for a new Elder Scrolls game. Unfortunately, there wasn’t one. What we have instead is an announcement that Elder Scrolls V Skyrim will be receiving a remaster. Titled The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim Special Edition, this remastered version of Skyrim will have updated visuals and will give the console version mod support. The remaster will be available for PS4, Xbox One and PC on the 28th of October.
Moving on, The Elder Scrolls Online will also be receiving a major change soon. This change is called One Tamriel, and it will introduce level-scaling to the entire game world of Elder Scrolls Online. This means that all enemies will be scaled to your level, allowing you to wander around the world of Elder Scrolls Online without needing to worry about enemies that are higher levelled than you. Aside from One Tamriel, Bethesda has announced that The Elder Scrolls Online will be rolling out to Asia, more specifically Japan, this year.
Remember that Elder Scroll cards game? Bethesda remembers it, and has announced at E3 that The Elder Scrolls Legends will be available for PC, iOS devices, Mac and Android devices later this year.
Prey
Just so we’re clear here, this Prey has nothing to do with the cancelled Prey 2. In fact, I’m not even sure if this version of Prey has any connection to the 2006 game of the same title. Developed by Arkane Austin, Prey is a first person game that is set in a sci-fi setting. Not much is known about the reboot other than the fact that the game will feature some ‘psychological elements,’ but it is good to see Prey moving out of the limbo that it was in for the past three years.
Dishonored 2
Dishonored 2 is pretty much the main event for Bethesda’s presentation today and they’ve given us a rather extensive look at the gameplay. According to an Arkane Studio’s representative, the setting for Dishonored 2, Karnaca, will be much more vertical than Dunwall. The location will also sport weather efforts in the form of storms, causing you and your enemies to have reduced vision when a storm is taking place.
As mentioned during the initial reveal of the game, Dishonored 2 will allow you to play as either Corvo Attano or newcomer Emily Kaldwin, and both of them will come with their own set of special abilities. The on-stage demo of Dishonored 2 shows off what Emily is capable of and reveals some of the powers that she has. One of the two powers revealed during the demo includes Mesmerize, a power that allows you grab the attention of enemies, preventing them from detecting you. The other new power is Domino, an ability that links the fates of multiple characters together. Once linked, whatever you do to one character will affect the others in the same way. Another interesting gameplay mechanic is the Timepiece, a gadget that allows you to time travel between the past and the present. No idea if the Timepiece is strictly limited to one level, but if it isn’t, it opens up a slew of interesting possibilities when it comes to tackling missions.
