Now that E3 2016 has been over for a little over a week, I have decided to take a look back at everything that transpired this E3. To say the least, it wasn’t as bad as we were expecting. While it definitely wasn’t the best year for E3, it was certainly not the worst. Many impressive and interesting games were on the show floor this year, and the conferences themselves were no joke either.

Xbox kicked it off with their announcement of the Xbox One S, a slimmer version of the current console, which greatly reduces the space that the console will occupy. Nevertheless, this announcement has sparked a debate of some sorts that I will address afterwards.

For now, let’s move on to some of the noteworthy games shown off at the Xbox press conference. Let’s start this off with ReCore, a brand new IP, which was refreshing change from the all the monotony of all the spin-offs and sequels usually shown at E3. The trailer gave us a better look at how this game will play. From what I saw, it seems to be a third-person shooter with platforming elements, along with the special uses for each type of robot the main protagonist has at her disposal.

We also saw the return of "Gears of War" and "Dead Rising," both in their fourth installment in the series. For the most part, these games do not seem to differ too much from their predecessors, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. After all, “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” These games are popular for a reason, and it is not wise to change the mechanics everyone has grown to love. Since not much was shown of "Gears of War 4," in terms of actual gameplay, it is difficult to analyze any real differences. In the case of "Dead Rising 4," it seems that they are making major improvements while sticking true to the franchise.

The final game I would like to mention for the Xbox lineup is "Halo Wars 2." While we did not see actual gameplay, we saw the return of Captain Cutter from the first game along with a new enemy, Atriox. The cinematic trailer surely enticed anyone who had played the first game. The lack of gameplay, however, was made up for by the beta that was free to download to any Xbox One owners. This Beta ran from June 13 to 23 however, it was recently announced that a new Beta will run on both Xbox One and PC, but with no specific release date in sight. Hopefully, this Beta will also resolve some of the bugs that the first one had.

After all these games were showcased, came the announcement of the Xbox Scorpio. Hence, brining me back to my first point. What exactly is the purpose of the Xbox One S? Especially since the Xbox Scorpio is coming out within a year of the release of the Xbox One S. Many people will decidedly skip this iteration of the Xbox One. Not only that, but people who do not own an Xbox One will likely buy the older version since it will likely go down in price. Nonetheless, only time will tell how well this console performs in sales.

The PlayStation conference was held a few hours afterwards, opening its presentation with the reveal of "God of War 4." Above anything, we were treated with some gameplay, of what I’m assuming to be the opening of the game. The only battle that takes place in the demo, however, does not give us much of a clue as to how different this game is going to be gameplay-wise. The aesthetic and thematic differences, on the other hand, are as obvious as day. Unlike the previous titles that were centered around Greek mythology, this game will clearly put you in the realm of Norse mythology.

After the grand opening of "God of War," we were treated to yet another zombie game that doesn’t seem to introduce anything new to the genre, "Days Gone." Despite this, Sony seems to have confidence in the title as they ended the show with it as well. This was only proceeded with the long awaited game, "The Last Guardian," which releases October 25, 2016. That date alone got people in the crowd cheering, as the game once thought forgotten, finally had its release date.

"Horizon Zero Dawn" was next in the lineup, and it showed nothing but promise. Various gameplay mechanics were shown, and we were given a really good look at how the game would function. Many of the people who actually played on the E3 show floor also seemed to concur.

Afterwards came Sony’s focus for this year’s E3, PlayStation VR. We were first treated with a trailer that had many wondering what game it actually was until the title was shown at the end: "Resident Evil VII." It seems that they will be going back to their roots, focusing on the atmosphere rather than the action, as the whole game will be available in PlayStation VR.

This, however, was not the only game Sony had to show off for PlayStation VR. Popular franchises such as the "Batman Arkham" series, "Star Wars Battlefront" and "Final Fantasy XV" will also have their place with PlayStation VR. A new IP was also announced, "Farpoint," a sci-fi first person shooter. We don’t know much else about this title other than that.

Finally, after all that, Kojima revealed what he’s been working on since his departure from Konami, "Death Stranding." The trailer didn’t give us much to work on, as it was very esoteric and peculiar.

While Nintendo did not have a conference of their own, it did have two games to showcase. The first of which was the next generation of Pokémon games. While there have been some minor tweaks to the UI to help out new players, there isn’t much else to be said. The only meaningful additions to the game as of now is the new Battle Royale mode, where four players duke it out until one player falls.

Nintendo’s other game, "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild," was much more significant. I would go as far as to say that it was the game of E3. The lines to play the game were closed within minutes, and even then, it was up to an eigh hour wait if you were one of the lucky few, or rather, unlucky few that were at the end of the queue. Nevertheless, the game looked spectacular. They have completely changed the Zelda formula in that it is now open-world. Not only that, but the world seems to be more dangerous than previous iterations of Hyrule. The importance of clothing and food also makes the game that much more immersive, and it makes feel as if you’re really going on some sort of journey. The mechanics were no joke as well, mixing things up with the magnet and temporal abilities that the shiekah slate possesses.

Yes, overall, it was a relatively good E3. While many of us thought that it would be a bland year with forgettable titles. Publishers and developers brought a pretty good lineup of games that will keep us going until the next E3.