While I didn't get a chance to go to E3 this year, I was glued to the news, previews and conferences along with every other fan of video games that enjoys seeing the shiny new trailers and tantalizing demos. While I ultimately felt a bit underwhelmed with the entire roster of new games (think back to around '07 at the beginning of last gen - Assassin's Creed, Bioshock, Mass Effect, etc) and saw far too many sequels (those last gen franchises were just a bit too successful) there were still plenty of games to get excited about.
Usually I only do a once a year Most Anticipated top ten list in January, but I'm excited for games all over again after E3, and this allows me to pick games from now till next E3 that I'm most looking forward to. Plus it's been awhile since I posted to my blog.
So in alphabetical order, here are the ten games from E3 2014 I'm most excited about.
Batman: Arkham Knight
I skipped Arkham Origins as it had come out a bit soon after the phenomenal Arkham City and by a different studio. Arkham Knight is (supposedly) Rocksteady's swan song for their excellent Batman series, and AK looks very similar to City's amazing open-world gameplay - plus the batmobile! Seems like a sure fire winner, and hopefully a great send off for one of the best superhero franchises of all time.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
I'm a ridiculously huge Borderlands fan, and according to Steam and Raptr have sunk over 200 hours between the first two games. The original was a fun experiment, but the sequel really found its way as it delved deeper into the zany world, fun characters, entertaining story and super solid action-rpg-fps gameplay. Sure this title looks more like an extended expansion pack to 2 than a full-blown game, but Gearbox has proven they know how to deliver on content for Borderlands (I ended up playing all four major DLC adventures for Borderlands 2, pretty much a first for me). Mostly these games are gems for couch co-op as my wife is also a huge fan, and that pretty much makes it a must buy for me.
Civilization: Beyond Earth
Over on Leviathyn we're running a series of opinion articles called E3 2014 Must Buys. Everyone picks one game they're most excited about and writes why. For me it was easy - Civilization: Beyond Earth is more Civ, in space! I missed out on Alpha Centauri back in the day and plan to rectify that with Firaxis' latest turn-based masterpiece.
Code Name: STEAM
Only just recently announced and barely seen at E3, this is the latest project from Fire Emblem and Advance Wars developers Intelligent Systems, and looks a bit like XCOM with Nintendo flair, which I'm totally on board with. I love my turn-based strategy games, and spent a good 40+hrs with Fire Emblem: Awakening, one of my favorite games of last year. This is definitely one of the titles we know the least about but I'm very intrigued and will keep my eye on it.
Dragon Age: Inquisition
I know it's fashionable to hate on Bioware, but I just can't. They've created some of my all-time favorite gaming experiences and memories, and are one of the few developers making big budget, epic role playing games. Inquisition features an all new engine and a world inspired by Skyrim but with Bioware's flair for story-telling and characterization, and that sounds like a hell of a combo. Dragon Age: Inquisition will easily be a day one purchase for me.
Evolve
I didn't think of myself as much of a zombie, horror or even shooter fan, but the Left 4 Dead games had me completely enthralled with their unique approach to cooperative gaming and survival. The next game by Turtle Rock Studios is Evolve, which takes a similar formula of cooperative and competitive action with a unique 4v1 mechanic. We've only seen two of the monster so far, but I like the concept of four sci-fi marines that have to hunt a powerful creature that only gets stronger. Matches seem like a great length and the hunting in the jungle scenarios give me a pleasant Alien vs Predator vibe. If Evolve can do for sci-fi action what L4D did with zombies, I'll have a blast surviving it with friends (or killing them as a giant death machine).
No Man's Sky
Hello Games' new ambitious indie venture exploded onto the scene last year with an impressive announcement and trailer during Spike VGX. Between then and E3 things grew quiet, but we did get an even more impressive trailer at E3. If even half of what we're being told about NMS is true, it's easily one of my most anticipated games of all time - crafting, procedurally generated planets, an infinite persistent universe, everyone starts on their own planet, spaceships, dinosaurs, lasers, GIMME GIMME GIMME.
Super Smash Bros.
Smash Bros. has become the preeminent Nintendo franchise, and they know it. I'm super thankful it's coming to 3DS and really curious how it's going to play out, as I don't have a Wii U. I've been enjoying the franchise since the original on the N64, but mostly for playing with friends in the same room; it'll be interesting to see how well the zany action translates to online multiplayer and to handheld. I have high hopes, obviously, since it's on this list.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
I've an odd relationship with The Witcher franchise. I'm normally all over open-world fantasy RPGs, and I was excited for this mature and dark world of Geralt the monster hunter. I even read one of the books, which was more of a collection of short adventures. The original game was alright, but I just couldn't get into the timing-heavy combat, and eventually abandoned it about 1/3 of the way through. I've yet to play the sequel, but I did acquire it for a few bucks during the last Steam Sale and put it on the schedule for the next season of Rogue's Adventures (my method for getting through my backlog). The reason is because The Witcher 3 looks absolutely amazing. Like Dragon Age, the developers noticed the ridiculous success that Skyrim had and built upon the vast open-world with their own radiant AI systems and quests. Hopefully the writing continues to be top notch and The Witcher 3 could finally be the one that catapults the series into RPG greatness.
Zelda (Wii U)
We know next to nothing about it, but damn if that presentation didn't look great. Give me an open-world Zelda game that looks great and plays like Ocarina of Time and you've already got a great game. It could also be the game that forces me to buy a Wii U; as a PC gamer I can easily skip the big consoles with a mid-range gaming PC - except for Nintendo and they're awesome library of first party titles you can only play on their consoles. The 3DS had an amazing year last year and with Smash Bros. coming to handheld I couldn't be happier....but an awesome Zelda title could be the one to push me into getting a Wii U, which is thus far the only Nintendo console since the NES I haven't owned (not counting the Virtual Boy of course).
There's plenty more that looked intriguing - The Division, Destiny, Mortal Kombat X, Sunset Overdrive, etc but they're either ones I can wait on, or need to learn more about before making a decision (or they're not coming to PC, yet). It's a bit of a shame that there's a lack of new and original Intellectual Properties amongst AAA titles (only 3 of the 10 I listed above are not from existing franchises, and NMS is indie) but between great franchises trying new things and a wealth of quality indie titles, I think gaming is still in a pretty great place.