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The Round-Up E3 2018: 12/06/2018

12th June 2018

We’re back with E3 and have taken a closer look at the Square Enix, Ubisoft, and Sony conferences, featuring: Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Control, and Death Stranding!

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Square Enix

Square Enix have taken a relaxed approach this year by presenting a 30 minute blast of trailers and gameplay footage, including: Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Dragon Quest XI, an in-depth look at Just Cause 4, and more on the Kingdom Hearts III narrative.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Release date: September 14th, Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, & PC.

The most prominent showcase was for Shadow of the Tomb Raider – in which you will become ‘one with the jungle’ and have full underwater exploration in the largest hub created for the series thus far.

The Quiet Man embraces cinematic storytelling and diversity

Square Enix announced a brand new IP, The Quiet Man, which promises a cinematic action experience. The trailer intersperses between live-action and CG footage, in which ‘silence rings loudest’, and it is implied you will be playing as Square Enix’s first ever deaf character.

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Ubisoft

Ubisoft started the show with a colourful dance troupe led by a panda. There, I said it. This led into the yearly Just Dance announcement, just to get everyone warmed up. Beginning as they intended to go on, the conference had a number of vibrant performances; including an orchestral performance for the upcoming Donkey Kong Adventure, which is an add-on to the runaway success Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle!

Quick fire announcements:

Ubisoft drove in, quite literally, with a new Trials title: Trials Rising. It also expanded on Skull and Bones, The Division 2, and revealed that their upcoming toys-to-life title, ‘Starlink’, will feature Star Fox – the 25 year strong, classic Nintendo character.

Rainbow Six Siege:

Currently Rainbow Six Siege has 35 million players, and has promoted growth through eSports. In light of this Ubisoft revealed and previewed a documentary called Another Mindset, which follows key members of the Rainbow Six Siege community on their journey to the Pro League. This will be released during the Six Major Paris in August.

Beyond Good and Evil enlists the help of Joseph gordon levitt – and you, the players!

Ubisoft surprised the audience after an in-depth look at Beyond Good and Evil 2, as Joseph Gordon Levitt took to the E3 stage and announced a partnership between his company HitRecord and Ubisoft! HitRecord is a place where people from all over the world can collaborate on all kinds of creative projects, and this will be the first time Levitt’s company enlists the community to work on a video game. HitRecord isn’t a place to promote your own work, this isn’t a creative contest, and they have issued a global invitation to the community asking for collaboration on artwork, music, and other assets for Beyond Good and Evil 2. This method is a first for the game and the industry, as community involvement is becoming a more prominent trend going forward.

Elijah Wood takes to the stage for VR Horror, Transference

Everyone’s favourite Hobbit is Co-Founder and Creative Director at ‘SpectreVision’, which is known primarily for horror film content. For the first time, the studio has teamed up with Ubisoft to bring the ‘first-person exploration game into a chilling new dimension’. Following its reveal last year, Elijah Wood presented spine-chilling gameplay footage for the horror mind-bender Transference, which has been heavily marketed for VR. Interspersing movie-like footage with traditional gameplay, Transference seeks to merge the entertainment mediums for a fully immersive experience.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Release date: October 5th, Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, & PC.

Following the recent reveal of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, this was Ubisoft’s headline act and it delivered gameplay, a brand new trailer, and an Assassin’s Creed first. You will be able to choose a male or female character to play as for the game’s duration – no switching out, or wishing you could be one over the other. This has, of course, sparked conversation across social media and has been a major focus following Ubisoft’s conference.

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Before the conference began, Sony promised fans an in-depth look at its highly-anticipated upcoming titles, with ‘no added surprises’. While this made for low expectations and an underwhelming start, Sony still delivered in what was a low-key look at its upcoming games.

Quick fire announcements

Sony announced the long awaited Resident Evil 2 remake, Nioh 2, and gave us a peek at Pirates of the Caribbean in Kingdom Hearts III. We also had the chance to see the first full previews of: The Last of Us II, Spider-Man, Death Stranding and Ghost of Tsushima.

Last of Us II

In the Last of Us II, Ellie has become the lead character and the cinematic shown at E3 is unafraid to show her sexual orientation. This has been applauded on social media, particularly as this has occurred during Pride month. She is the first main character where this is explicit as canon in a AAA game’s storyline.

Death Stranding aims to reach out beyond gamers and stand as a form of entertainment for all

Death Stranding comes from renowned Video Game Designer Hideo Kojima, and since its initial reveal two years ago Kojima has come forward with stunning gameplay and a chance to take an in-depth look at the hyper-realistic world. With the most true-to-life CG seen this generation, we are still in awe of the visuals, outlandishness, and it’s all-star cast: Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen, Guillermo del Toro, Lindsay Wagner and Léa Seydoux. Kojima aims for Death Stranding to transcend the gaming medium and blur the lines between art and entertainment: “I want to deliver something for people around the world that transcends generations. I want all people to experience the entertainment medium of games, not only gamers, but fans of film, novels, comics, music and art.”

Control

Remedy Entertainment announced that its upcoming project, codename P7, is titled Control. Published by our client, 505, Control is a third-person action-adventure game, combining Remedy’s trademark gunplay with supernatural abilities’ and has generated worldwide coverage from IGN, Kotaku, Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer and more!

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Hashtags to watch:

#E32018

#SpiderManPS4

#DeathStranding

#KH3

#UbiE3

#SquareEnixE3

#SonyE3

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