I know this is a couple days late, but I haven't had that much time to write this week.
Bethesda's first E3 press conference definitely hit every mark needed to steal the week from most every other developer and console manufacturer in attendance. Aside from a couple minor technical difficulties (that annoying, flickering screen on the Jumbotron), the conference went off without any real hitches.
Starting things off is Doom. Not Doom 4, just Doom. The game looks like it feels like old school Doom. Obviously, not being able to attend E3, I can't be sure how it feels exactly, but the game seems to run fast and is very bloody. Since I'm currently reading Masters of Doom (the biography of id Software leading up to and some time after Doom) the game definitely caught my eye. From blowing baddies to bits with the double-barreled to ferociously cutting them in half with a chainsaw, the gore is there in very plentiful amounts.
Doom is bringing back all the fast, hard core multiplayer action reminiscent of Doom and Quake and there are new features are popping up as well, with my personal favorite being the new ability to mod maps on any platform you're playing on. From the UAC facilities on Mars to the fiery depths of Hell, Doom multiplayer looks like a new and improved Unreal Tournament (one of my favorite FPS' series of all time) and may very well be the game that makes me not want to play Call of Duty ever again.
Moving along to Bethesda's next reveal, Battlecry. I couldn't really wrap my mind around what this game was, aside from thinking it was a 3rd person Team Fortress looking Team Based Action game that is a bit bloodier.
The day before E3 started, Dishonored 2's reveal accidentally got leaked in a rehearsal with Arkane Studios. Even though that happened, I was still surprised with everything I saw. In the trailer, Katie, one of the two player characters (Orvo's daughter) fought what looked like General Grievous clones and it looked AWESOME. Also, the Dishonored Definitive Edition is coming to PS4 and Xbox One later this year.
Elder Scrolls: Tamriel Unlimited released recently to console, within the last month. Bethesda was nice enough to let us know of some additions coming to the game in the near future. The first addition they showed was the Ivory Tower in the Capitol City of Cyrodil, which, as most know, is from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. They also showed some gameplay from the area known as Orsinium, which is the land that Orcs originated from in The Elder Scrolls universe. Bethesda also announced The Elder Scrolls Legends, which is a free-to-play trading card game releasing on PC and iPad.
Finally, on to my favorite part of Bethesda's entire conference: Fallout 4. Todd Howard (or as I've started calling him "God" Howard) arrived on stage and began talking about detail with concept art flashing behind him on screen, explaining that every button, panel, light and dial is alive and moving in this game.
The story starts on October 23, 2077, which is the day of the one day war between China and the United States in which both nuked the living Hell out of each other, culminating in a group of people standing on an elevator trying to enter Vault 111 when a nearby nuke detonates. The player character then, through an unknown series of events, wakes up 200 years later and begin their journey in Boston, or the Commonwealth, as it's known in Fallout lore.
Character customization is easier than ever. All you need to do is click the area on your character's face you would like to adjust and drag it to where you want it, a la Mario 64's title screen. Also, apparently, there were rumors that since a female player character wasn't in the reveal trailer that meant that the player couldn't play as a female. That was just a rumor, and Howard nipped it in the bud quickly. Another cool feature revealed was that your robot, Codsworth, will actually (potentially) say your character's name that you enter, as Bethesda has recorded upwards of 1,000 of the most common names in the world.
Making its return to the Fallout universe is the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, or V.A.T.S. The new V.A.T.S system doesn't slow down time all the way, like in previous titles in the series, but it does allow you to control the battlefield a bit more. Along with an update to V.A.T.S., you handy Pip-Boy got an overhaul as well. The screens are still the familiar looking, fuzzy screens of the PC's of yester-year. That being said, the images on the screens now move around (like Vault Boy running on one of them).
The biggest new feature in Fallout 4 is the ability to start and defend a settlement (Imagine Minecraft and Fallout making a love baby). You can build houses, place generators to power lights and traps for invaders. It is completely optional, but I'm sure i'm going to put most of my time and energy into building up my settlement. On top of the settlement customizations, it was addressed that there are now weapon customizations. With around 50 base weapons and over 700 customizations, this is another feature that is going to take a while to complete. As for the dangers of the playable area, a few things I noticed that were new were that airships can now attack you and that Deathblows crawl out of sewers randomly.
DEATHCLAWS. CRAWLING OUT OF SEWERS. RANDOMLY.
Look for Fallout 4 to release in all of it's glory on November 10th, 2015.
In addition to the Fallout 4 news, Howard also announced that an iOS game, called Fallout Shelter, would be released later that night. In Fallout Shelter, you play as an Overseer, placing rooms and building a Vault for your dwellers to inhabit that is very similar to the way XCom plays. From raider attacks to Vault fires, Fallout Shelter offers all sorts of different gameplay options. I've been enjoying Fallout Shelter since it was released and I'm in love with it, though I believe those playing on older iPads and iPhones are having some lag and other gameplay issues. It's running smoothly on my iPad Mini.
All in all, I believe Bethesda blew all expectations out of the water with their first E3 press conference. I'm anxious to see what they have in store in the following years. Stay tuned for more E3 news!