E3: Bethesda’s Solid and Safe Showing

Robert’s take: One of the easiest ways to be recognized as a publishing powerhouse in the game industry is by providing a press conference in one of Los Angeles’ larger venues. While it’s a route that’s recently been shunned by Activision and Nintendo, it’s still the audience-grabbing approach that’s utilized by Microsoft, Sony, Electronic Arts, and Ubisoft. This year, Bethesda hoped to transition into the upper echelons by providing a Sunday night presser which showcased a rather safe assortment of sequels and reinterpretations of their popular IPs.

While reuniting Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb for an X-Play-esque pre-show discussion might have seemed like a good way to stoke the smoldering flames of nostalgia, the segment suffered from uninteresting writing and a rapport that obviously withered across the waning years. What should have been jazzy and humorous came across as insipid, potentially signaling that Bethesda wasn’t quite ready for the big leagues.

Fortunately, after a visually nervous Vice-President of Public Relations and Marketing Pete Hines offered a few introductory comments, the presser’s excitement level was elevated with a demon-stration of Doom’s single, multiplayer, and creation suite called Doom SnapMap. Although there’s nearly a year until the title’s spring 2016 release date, it’s clear that Id Software’s reboot rekindles the spirit and raw ferocity of the original 1993 release. Forgoing any narrative setup, the playthough showed the protagonist double jumping across platforming and effortlessly mantling over objects. Essentially, the player seemed to move with the ability of a ninja while sluggish but formidable hellspawn tried their best to dispatch their moving target.

Doom appeared remarkably old-school in its design decisions, forgoing contemporary mechanics like regenerating health and a limited inventory. That said, the game does offer a number of pleasing modernizations, from slow-motion sequences during weapon changes to melee attacks which were shockingly brutal, ripping limbs and jaws off of demons. Undeniably, the game’s more visceral sequence were chainsaw animations were the protagonist cleaved foes into pulpy piles of viscera. While eye-grabbing, it’s be interesting to see if enemies hold their fire after triggering the extended cinematic sequence.

Whereas Doom appealed to the reflexes, Dishonored 2’s quick trailer played up the sequel’s narrative elements. Arkane Studios’ Harvey Smith and Raphael Colantonio discussed the return of protagonist Corvo Attano, as well as the inclusion of a second character, Emily Kaldwin- the little girl orphaned during the intro of the first game. Interestingly, both characters will have distinct ability sets, and storylines, although their predominant goal is shared. Woefully, it was discussed later that the game won’t offer any co-operative play during the main campaign nor will players be able to freely shift between the two characters.

Anyone fascinated with intricacy will marvel at Fallout 4, Bethesda’s final big title. Director Todd Howard looked especially comfortable with the crowd and was clearly quite proud of his creation. Intriguingly, the game’s prologue places players in Boston before nuclear war has decimated the landscape, showing the main character in a quaint suburban setting. While this is used for contrast, the sequence also demonstrated the capacity and complexity of the game’s character creation suite, where a male or female protagonist can be crafted by clicking on different parts of a model’s head. In execution, the range of characters looked realistic and was far removed from the perpetual ugliness of The Elder Scroll’s creation suite.

An emphasis on crafting is one of the game’s biggest additions, permitting players to tweak fifty base weapons with 700 different modifications, allowing for a lot of experimentation. Likewise, players could break down shelters and settlements, recycling elements into new creations. Captivatingly, this activity isn’t just aesthetic, with gamers able to build power grids that provide energy to Raider-repelling defense turrets, endowing the game with a tower-defense vibe.

Naturally, combat remains a big part of Fallout 4’s equation, with the game accommodating first-, and third-person perspective, as well as the return of the VATS system, where players can target specific body parts. Howard also showed a plastic Pipboy which comes with the $120 premium edition of the game, giving gamers a plastic shell that houses their smartphones to provide an arm-based, second-screen interface. Fortunately, more economically minded players can experience the same functionality using the free app, although they’ll have to engineer their own wrist-case.

Beyond Doom, Dishonored 2, and Fallout 4’s (as well as the announcement of Dishonored: Definitive Edition) appearance on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, Bethesda announced a few other titles: The Elder Scrolls Legends, a Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft-like TCG and a iOS title called Fallout Shelter where players manage their own vault. The sole new IP was Battlecry, an online action title that was playable at last year’s show.

Although Bethesda’s inaugural presser was a near-complete success, there was the feeling that the publisher was being a bit too risk-avoidant. Sure, everything exhibited on Sunday looked stunning, but the lack of any original titles left the possibility that Bethesda could be trumped by conferences stacked with surprises and unleaked reveals.