There were a ton of games at E3 this year. We’re still writing up a few of our experiences, and just figuring out which games we wanted to highlight as our favorites took a while. But after a lot of back and forth, we’ve narrowed it down to a few of our favorites. Ron, Joey, and I have each picked out some of the best of this year’s batch of games. Some of them were playable, while others were merely shown. Check out our list and then jump into the comments below to tell us which game you are most excited about from this year’s E3 show.
Anthem
There’s no doubt that Anthem looks beautiful, seems fun and screams highly polished game design. I don’t want to discredit the game by saying what I feel is necessary: BioWare, as of late, hasn’t really shown me that I should trust them with a massive release like Anthem. This is a studio that built its reputation on the shoulders of amazing single player campaigns and stories with truly deep RPG mechanics. That slowly waned over the years, but that’s how they started.
Anthem is a multiplayer game told in a perpetual world. It looks like EA’s crack at Destiny, plain and simple. It seems like it could be good, though, and I don’t think the Destiny-esque genre is too crowded right now. Heck, maybe BioWare can improve upon what Bungie laid out so far. I’m cautiously optimistic for Anthem. It looks good, no doubt, but the studio behind it gives me pause that wouldn’t have been there, say, five years ago.
–Joey Davidson
Assassin’s Creed Origins
I love the Assassin’s Creed series, but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t gotten tired of a lot of its tropes. When Ubisoft announced they’d be taking a year off, I was kind of relieved. Then, the concept for the game slipped out and I was in love all over again. I’m a huge fan of ancient Egyptian history and mythology, so I was immediately excited.
The first trailers for the game and a few minutes playing it at E3 2017 have left me salivating for Assassin’s Creed in ways I would’ve never guessed. I can’t wait for Assassin’s Creed Origins this fall.
–Eric Frederiksen
Cuphead
Are we actually going to get Cuphead this year? Yes! The game hit E3 2017 with a real release date. It’s coming to the Xbox One and PC on September 29, 2017.
Cuphead first debuted as a quick bit of footage during Microsoft’s E3 show a few years back. It was just a single indie game in a larger montage. It went through a lengthy development period, and here we are today. Cuphead looks to bring that old Contra style difficulty to a world of boss rushes in 20s era animation and music. It looks brilliant in all regards.
–Joey Davidson
Dragon Ball FighterZ
Another sleeper hit from the show. Bandai Namco is finally turning in a classic 2D tournament fighter that lets you feel like you’re playing the legendary anime.
Turning to Arc System Works is the smartest move that Bandai Namco could have made. The company is famous for creating high resolution characters that looks like genuine anime, and its fighting game systems are always smart and well balanced.
Many are saying this this the what the next Marvel vs Capcom game should play like, and that’s a compliment the fighting game crowd doesn’t make lightly.
–Ron Duwell
Mario + Rabbids Battle Kingdom
Many had their doubts about this game, but Ubisoft absolutely dominated its reveal. Not only does the XCOM-esque gameplay seem like a solid fit for the Mario world, Ubisoft also has made the insufferable Rabbids tolerable again.
We’ll see how long we stand stand them once we’re out of goofy trailer mode and in the actual game, but I’m going to proclaim that the relatively silent Mario bunch will bring out the best side of the Rabbids and complement them perfectly.
Ubisoft’s game has much more calculated “strange” than the awkward world of Super Mario Odyssey. However, I’ve been made a believer. Can’t wait to give it a try.
–Ron Duwell
Spider-Man
It’s been an incredibly long time since we had a good, proper, decent Spider-Man game worth playing. I know some point to more recent efforts than mine for proof of quality gaming as the ol’ web-slinger, but my favorite in the license is Ultimate Spider-Man. The blend of how it felt to play Spidey and the actual use of true comic book heroes, villains and events made me love that title.
Seeing Spider-Man from Insomniac Games at E3, complete with actual gameplay, looked stunning. The combat rings of the Batman: Arkham series, sure, but I think that Rocksteady really perfected that system in a lot of key ways. If Insomniac can adapt it to work for Spider-Man, I think it’ll be great. What really gives me hope, though, is how good Insomniac made movement feel in Sunset Overdrive on the Xbox One not too long ago. That felt brilliant, so I’m sure the high-flying ways of Peter Parker will be great.
–Joey Davidson
Skull and Bones
Ubisoft delivered the surprise of the show with its latest pirate game. For years, the company has been trying to strike it big with a lasting multiplayer staple, but each attempt has petered out within a year of its release. For Honor, The Division, you name it…
We’re hoping Skull and Bones will be different. The game is clearly tapping into Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag for inspiration, the Assassin’s Creed game with the longest legs, and it will also have its own single player campaign.
It’s not an open world experience, and Ubisoft is going to have to dedicate a lot of resources to make it last. However, this is one we hope that the formula works and carries it well beyond its launch.
–Ron Duwell
Super Mario Odyssey
Mario is back in what might be his strangest game yet. With his new hat, Mario can possess anything and everything from innocent bystanders to tanks and even dinosaurs. Add to this returning to the sandbox style of Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine, I think it will be the best 3D Mario game in quite some time.
Hands-on previews seem universal in their praise for the game, but at the same time, they question its perverse nature and treatment of Mario’s formula. Some seem to think that the game is actually a little too weird.
Because a middle-aged plumber jumping on turtles and eating mushrooms to become giant is just so normal now. How little we take for granted anymore.
–Ron Duwell
The Swords of Ditto
Ditto is one of the biggest, tiniest surprises of E3 for me. It wasn’t anywhere near my radar at all before the show. I hadn’t even heard of it. Being developed by onebitbeyond, The Swords of Ditto combines the ideas of a roguelike game and our favorite parts of Zelda games and squishes them together into what the team is calling a mini-RPG.
The game is fun in single-player and cooperative, and while it’s a one-death game like any other roguelike, it also lets you keep things like items and levels. It’s difficult, but friendly. Perhaps the best part, though, is the Adventure Time-esque art style that fills the game with bright colors and movement. This game has more visual polish already than many finished games.
–Eric Frederiksen
Wolfenstein: The New Colossus
Bethesda Softworks has been on a roll for the last few years, reviving one IP after another and doing unique, memorable things with them that make them feel fresh while respecting their identities. Wolfenstein: The New Order was one of the best of these. Developed by Machine Games, The New Order retained the twitch shooting action and weird, sci-fi take on World War II of classic Wolfenstein, and grounded it in a serious, emotional story about the realities of war, occupation, and resistance.
The New Colossus absolutely looks like it’s continuing down that trend. Where the previous games took place in Europe, this one moves the story to America, where we see what a Nazi occupation might look like (robot dogs aside). The first images are already intense and moving.
–Eric Frederiksen
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