Pre-E3 Season Is Back, Baby
The Electronic Entertainment Expo, E3 for short, remains the biggest event for developers and publishers to announce and show off the biggest upcoming games. This is how it’s been for years. But not everyone can see every game that developers and publishers want to show in just under a week, given the sheer number of games that tend to be in development and need to be advertised simultaneously. This is why the Pre-E3 season exists, when developers and publishers can showcase games early in the lead-up to the main event. This week made it clear that the Pre-E3 2021 season has officially began.
That’s not the real news, though. What’s special this year is how the Pre-E3 and E3 season are even happening. E3 was cancelled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which made it impossible for organizations that aren’t staffed with reckless fools or are part of a death cult (yes, I know those overlap) to hold live events. But E3 didn’t even happen virtually, thanks to reported incompetence behind the scenes at the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). It was replaced with Summer Game Fest, which stretched out announcements over the entire summer, with individual events held by developers and publishers. For anyone who likes the collective spectacle behind these announcement events, it, and I cannot emphasize this enough, sucked, man.
Summer Game Fest is still happening this year, but it won’t be quite as big thanks to E3’s return. That’s why Pre-E3 is back, too, and all the announcements this week suggested that it’s just getting started.
It would be a small stretch to call the Dragon Quest 35th anniversary showcase a Pre-E3 event, since the DQ team lead by creator Yuji Horii tends to do their own thing and go their own way. But the event happening near E3 and having a live English translation for the first time ever means it counts. If this is a rule, I just made it.
Titles like mobile puzzle game Dragon Quest Keshi Keshi and Dragon Quest X: Online’s sixth expansion would have been fixtures at any old DQ event, while Dragon Quest X: Offline could also qualify as one if it doesn’t get localized. (They’re not going to leave this game in Japan twice, right? Right?) The others were special, though, because they’ll be the first simultaneous worldwide releases in DQ history.
The first among those is the Octopath Traveler/Project Triangle Fantasy-ish Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake (above), which looks like a sight to behold in motion. Dragon Quest Treasures also seems intriguing, considering it appears made out of the assets left over from the Dragon Quest Monsters game that was reported to be having development issues.
The biggest, of course, was for Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate, a DQ game that will reportedly be made for adults, and will be edgier than prior installments given the teaser’s tone. Perhaps it will be Dragon Quest Z compared to the old Dragon Quest series, considering Akira Toriyama will still be involved. (Koichi Sugiyama too, I’m sorry to note.) Nothing was shown, and the fact that the team is still messing with prototypes and are using Unreal Engine 5 to create it suggests that it’s years off. Fortunately, there will be plenty of other DQ games to play.
Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown was finally announced by Sega after being a poorly-kept secret, which they’ve put more work into than expected. The character models have been redone by the Yakuza series team at Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, and new hit effects have been added (that can hopefully be disabled). It’s a damned shame that extra work didn’t go into adding rollback netplay, but that’s no surprise. The promotion thus far indicates this this is aimed at Japan, despite that being odd for a release in the year 2021. Not to mention these kinds of “two steps forward, one step back” moves are classic Sega.
A Sonic Central event was also held to inform fans of what’s happening with the franchise. Those rumors about a Sonic Colors remaster were confirmed with Sonic Colors Ultimate, which will come to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and the Epic Games Store (and not Steam, whoops) in September. The Sonic Origins collection is also coming, which will include Sonic the Hedgehog 1, 2, 3, Knuckles, and Sonic CD, along with at least Sonic 3 & Knuckles. It should be worth the purchase if (emphasis!) the emulation is good. A new Sonic game was teased for all current platforms, which rumors suggest could be a new 3D title. It shouldn’t take them too long to show it, considering it will release sometime next year. Perhaps they’ll show it on another Sonic Central.
The gameplay reveal for Horizon Forbidden West also happened through a State of Play, which makes sense considering Sony won’t be part of E3 2021 (and hasn’t been part of E3 since 2018). The game looks great, to the point that I have to wonder how good (or “good?”) it will look and run on PlayStation 4. The presentation ended without a release timeframe being provided, raising questions as to whether it’s still planned for this year. Dying Light 2 was also re-revealed yesterday, after developer Techland ran into development issues and a heap of behind-the-scenes drama. The game will release on December 7th.
The Far Cry 6 gameplay reveal was planned for today, until a montage was posted on a Polish YouTube account yesterday. Whoops. The game looks like a Far Cry title with improved graphics over its predecessors, and in a new setting clearly inspired by Cuba. It will launch on October 7th, so not every piece of info was leaked.
This is already a lot, and more will be revealed from here. There are justifiable criticisms for game announcement events, how they’re largely paid advertising from the corporate arms of video game companies to excite the gaming audience, to sell big-budget video games that are only getting more expensive over time. But there’s fun to be had in all the spectacle, and it’s fine to just let people enjoy things. Everything’s morbid at the moment, and if this gives people enjoyment, don’t mock them for it. There’s plenty of opportunity to criticize other matters.
About The Author
Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
