E3 (or the Electronic Entertainment Expo) has come and gone, and with it came a slew of promising titles from a multitude of publishers. While you have your Call of Duty and your Madden like every year, there are plenty of new IP's that deserve their time in the spotlight, regardless of the studio they're being published by. While many of these games are admittedly pretty to look at, they are not at all being judged solely on their graphical appearance, but rather what I believe is their potential in terms of storytelling and gameplay. With that in mind, here are my favorite games to come out of E3 this year.
1. We Happy Few
We Happy Few comes from relatively small studio Compulsion Games, who has only released one other project so far in Contrast. In the what appears to be love-child of Bioshock and 1984, you control the actions of one Arthur Hastings, who upon a experiencing a decidedly negative feeling towards the appearance of a news article concerning his brother, decides to forego taking his "Joy" pill so he may continue to remember what happened. It is soon revealed that the world Arthur lives in isn't all it seems to be, and once he is labeled a "Downer" by the rest of his office, he must find a way to survive a city turned against him. The game is to be released on July 26th of this year.
2. Horizon Zero Dawn
I know I talked about graphics not being the deciding factor, but boy do they help. Horizon Zero Dawn is a gorgeous game that takes place in a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by the dominant machines and the now seemingly subservient humans. In an apparent reversion to tribal culture, you assume the role of Aloy, a young woman equipped with technology both old and new (such as a bow with mechanical components and arrows) looking to retrieve the history of the past through exploration and survival. Definitely has a Skyrim crossed with Assassin's Creed feel, but without all the religious nonsense (not to say that religion is nonsense, but if you've played either of these games you know what I mean). Look to see this game come out early next year.
3. Detroit: Become Human
So Sony did a great job showing off their new games for the coming year, and Detroit: Become Human was no exception. In addition to the character pictured above (Kara), you will be able to step into the shoes of Connor, one of many androids that have become prevalent in the city of Detroit (surprise surprise). In the trailer shown off during E3, Connor is attempting to talk a fellow android down off of a ledge as he holds a little girl hostage, and it is revealed that the player will have the option to control many of the dialogue based decisions in the game, which will influence the eventual outcome of every event and what I can only assume to be the game. Most decisions seem pretty basic at the moment, and one can only hope it becomes more akin to Mass Effect over Fallout 4 in this regard. DBH currently has no release date.
4. Yooka-Laylee
If you're a fan of old school N64 platforming, then you've probably already heard of this one, which comes from Playtonic Games. The game looks and plays just like a successor to Banjo-Kazooie, which comes as no surprise when you realize that much of the lead staff from this company have deep roots with Rare stemming from the 1990's and early 2000's. While many companies try to shoot for hyper-realism in their games nowadays, Yooka-Laylee looks to recapture the charm and innocence of two or three console generations previous, something I feel a lot of gamers have been missing. Playtonic is looking to release YL in early 2017.
5. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Even a week after E3 it seems almost passé to talk about the newest Legend of Zelda title, but when you dedicate an entire day towards just showing off one game, you're bound to catch attention. Unlike previous Zelda titles, this installment promises massive open world exploration, something the franchise has never truly realized on such a scale (while other Zelda games toted a similar concept, they were still quite linear in direction). This includes interacting with and being influenced by multiple environments, a functioning day / night cycle, and the apparent ability to complete the game without beating the story. Coupled with a surprisingly accurate physics engine, this game looks to be the breath of life Nintendo has been looking for.
