Most Anticipated Games from E3 2018

Now that the E3 hype is passing, it's time to look back and see what games are truly worth anticipating for the next years.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Intelligent Systems (IS) announced a Fire Emblem game for the Switch years back and now they're finally ready to show it. While Three Houses has an air of graphical limitations and performance hiccups, it has a lot of potential being on a much more powerful platform than the 3DS.

The interfaces look well presented and sleek, the music was on point. It's just a shame about the dropped frames (even during pre-rendered video), low detail and general low image quality.

The battlefield now shows actual soldiers alongside your party members, making the whole all-out-war aspect of the series more visible. But again, those extra soldiers use the exact same low quality models and their animations are terrible.

Like many of Nintendo's handheld teams, the rough edges may be related to a lack of experience, so I hope it improves as the game nears release. The approaches they're currently taking may be acceptable on a tiny 3DS screen, but it doesn't scale to HD.

I've personally not played a Fire Emblem since Fire Emblem Awakening so I'm more than ready now to play another instalment.

Devil May Cry 5

Ever since Devil May Cry's reboot as "DmC: Devil May Cry" (DmC), fans have been urging Capcom for a true sequel to the original franchise. Now they've finally delivered.

Using Capcom's latest RE Engine, it's going for a more realistic look while still maintaining the feel of Devil May Cry 3.

This new look has made some assume it's taking cues from the reboot, going as far as to credit Nero's shorter hair as inspiration from DmC Dante's redesign. Some even assumed Nero was Dante, even after Red Queen's signature revving. It really shows the bandwagon effect DmC faced from so-called fans of the original series.

I'm personally not very interested in playing the games themselves, but I enjoy the culture and output from the franchise's community. I've enjoyed Platinum Games' recent offerings so I'll likely give it a shot regardless.

Super Mario Party

With the Switch being a portable, sharable game console, Mario Party is pretty much a no-brainer. It's good to know it's arriving relatively soon.

I just hope it's a well fleshed out game. Nintendo's been lacking on their more casual instalments for the past few years. The screen connecting and other gimmicks aren't that interesting.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

While this sequel to "Ori and the Blind Forest" was announced last year, seeing more of it just reaffirms my hype. The first Ori was a great ride with excellent, fluid gameplay. Ori and the Will of the Wisps seems to be building on that core gameplay with more tricks and maneuvers. The soundtrack will no doubt be as good as ever too.

DAEMON X MACHINA

This surprise trailer at the start of Nintendo's presentation did initially get me hyped. I've always loved the Mecha genre, and it's a shame we don't get more polished games under its banner. Xenoblade Chronicles X really satisfied that itch years back, and I hope DAEMON x MACHINA (DMX) does the same.

The team behind this game seems to have worked on previous established mecha games like Armored Core so it's in good hands.

It's a shame that during the live Treehouse event, the gameplay shown seemed a bit boring.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna: The Golden Country

I tend to avoid things like Season Passes, but this may push me over. "Torna: The Golden Country" is being sold as a standalone expansion pack to Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (XC2).

Unlike previous Nintendo-developed Story DLC, this looks like substantial content. There's new characters, new regions, new music and new core gameplay mechanics. Which would explain why it can be sold standalone.

The story itself is a prequel to XC2, answering a lot of the mystery surrounding a civilisation that fell centuries before the start of the main game.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

It's hard not to hype a new Smash Bros. instalment. There's been a lot of discussion about whether or not Smash Bros. Ultimate is an entirely new instalment or just a port. It's hard to distinguish since the Nintendo Switch is so graphically similar to the WiiU.

No doubt they've re-used a lot of the game, but that isn't a real indicator considering the countless annual sequels we get of most popular franchises.

I don't care either way. It's not like Smash Bros. has to reinvent everything all the time. I do hope they fix the horrible menus and improve the available side modes. The WiiU version was a bit lacking in those fronts compared to Brawl on the Wii.

Honourable Mentions

There are a ton of games coming out so it's hard to get hyped for all of them. Games like Sekiro, The Elder Scrolls VI and Nioh 2 are no doubt going to be great games. Hell, even Assassin's Creed Odyssey looks good too. But there's a limit to how hyped a person can be.

Conclusion

Overall, there's some big games in development right now. It's a shame there are no big JRPGs on the horizon. I've gotten to a point where only Xenoblade games can satisfy that RPG itch. Games with large, natural, high fantasy open areas with a ton to discover both in the environment, characters and story.