E3 2018 – The Missing Titles
Every year E3 bombards us with thousands of games to check out and get excited for. Piles and piles of new titles that are coming out way in the near(ish) future. But because us gamers are a greedy bunch and never satisfied there is always a sense of disappointment after the show. This is because there are games that weren’t shown. These games have been announced or heavily rumoured and their absence makes our enthusiasm dip. With this in mind I thought I would look at five games I was super excited to see more of, but sadly the developers didn’t think the time was right for a reveal.
Square Enix’s Avengers
An Action RPG being developed by the team that made Deus Ex, I was already going to be excited. But the fact it is based on The Avengers, arguably the hottest property on the planet right now and it is hard to not get hyped about the possibilities. After being announced a few years ago, I thought this one was a certainty of getting a showing in the Square Enix show, but sadly it wasn’t to be. So far all we have is a teaser trailer and I need more. There is the possibility that it gets revealed at something like Comicon so there is still hope that we will see it soon, but I can’t help but feel that its presence would have improved a rather lacklustre showing from Square Enix.
Fable 4
It is no secret that Microsoft lacks some big single player titles right now, especially in the RPG/Adventure space. Fable 4 could be just the thing to fill that gap and its existence has been heavily rumoured for quite some time now. The rumours all indicated that Playground’s second studio is working on a return for the franchise and with Microsoft’s acquisition of Playground, that rumour is turning into a roar. I thought for sure we were going to see a tease of it at Microsoft’s E3 conference but alas it wasn’t to be. Perhaps Microsoft felt the time wasn’t right, that it would get lost among the 50 other games they showed. Whatever the reason, the Xbox needs Fable and its absence has been felt.
Anything Star Wars
Come on EA, you have a licence to print money and have done for 4 years now and all you have given us is two problematic online shooters. Any other company would have had Star Wars games coming at us thick and fast, games set in different genres and timelines. But no, all EA can manage to give us this year in their conference was a small tease about the Respawn Star Wars game (which will likely be excellent, but still an FPS) and an apology as to how they cocked up the last one. Where is my Star Wars Uncharted? Where is my new Knights of the Old Republic? Where is my Xwing vs Tie Fighter (ok that may be wishful thinking)? I just want EA to give us something in this universe that has more depth than “Capture Point B”
Splinter Cell
Surely it’s coming, right? I mean you don’t get Michael Ironside in just to record a cameo in some Ghost Recon DLC. No, that iconic voice has to have been in the Ubisoft offices to bring Sam Fisher to life once again in a new Splinter Cell game. I am aching for a new entry in this fantastic stealth series and I thought for sure it was going to be Ubisoft’s “just one more thing.” But alas it wasn’t to be. I think the only reason we didn’t see this one is that major publishers are a bit shy of announcing games too early these days. Too many delays cause fan backlash. As a result, I expect this one to be announced at E3 next year and released a few months later.
Tropico 6
Shock horror, I want to see more of Tropico 6. Hey what can I say, El Presidente and I have a thing. Tropic 6 was announced at last year’s E3 and should be coming out in the next few months so its absence from this years event was a little perplexing. Perhaps it is just a case of an E3 showing this close to release isn’t worth the cost, or that the developers are confident that their audience will buy their product so the time and resources usually spent on E3 can just be focused on game development. Whatever the reason, it doesn’t change the fact that I want this game with an unholy passion and the sooner I see more, the better.
So there you have it, the missing titles. What games did you want to see at E3 and didn’t show up? Was it one of these? Something else, say Final Fantasy VII? Were you happy with what was shown? Let us know on social media or in the comments below.
