It is that time of the year again, that time where the P2 team bash their heads into a crystal ball and come up with some bad guesses as to what will appear at E3. Join us as we check out their hopes and wishes for gaming’s biggest event.
E3 2021 Predictions – The Rest
Paul James
Safe Bet – Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Well, since I predicted Elden Ring right… so right that I even got the release window correct, I had to change my selection. Matt Hewson clearly held back on the other category to ensure I’d have to change my pick. I see you Matt… I see you. So given my initial selection was confirmed overnight at Kick-Off Live, I guess I’ll go with Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. It’s on the way, it was delayed, but it’s due for another showing. It’s a softball, but it’s a sure winner
Fairly Likely – Spyro 4
2020 saw the birth of Geoff Keighley’s Summer Games Fest, and that series of mini-events played host to a range of fascinating Activision related announcements. I expect that Activision will look to do the same thing again this year, probably with Call of Duty but I also expect to see Spyro doing the same thing – Crash 4 style. Here’s hoping because the purple dragon desperately needs a new adventure.
Wishful Thinking – Castlevania
Nope. Just Nope. It would make toooooo much sense for Konami to leverage the enormous success of the Castlevania TV series, so naturally, they won’t be doing anything with the franchise at E3.
Shaun Nicholls
Safe Bet – Gotham Knights
After being pushed back to next year, expect to see some more footage of Batman’s former sidekicks. The premise of four different characters allowing a more tailored playstyle intrigues me, and yet I wonder if the developers have found a way to make the different styles still work in the traditional stealth aspects of the Batman Arkham series. Only time will tell but as a fan of the Batman games I am looking forward to this one and hopefully, we will get a more concrete release date.
Fairly Likely – Black Myth: Wukong
This game hit a lot of peoples radars in a big way last year when the developers released 13 minutes of pre-alpha footage. Based on the classic novel Journey to the West, Black Myth: Wukong is a souls-like action RPG that puts you in control of the Monkey King. Not much more is known about the game than that, but with the pre-alpha footage racking up millions of views, there is a good chance this game will pop up somewhere during E3.
Wishful Thinking – The Witcher 4
With CD Projekt Red still trying to overcome the disastrous launch and fix all the bugs present in Cyberpunk 2077 any work that would have been started on the next game in The Witcher series is likely to have been paused. While I would love to see what is next for Geralt of Rivia and Cirilla, the game is either way too early in development or CD Project Red is still too busy trying to put out the myriad Cyberpunk bug fires that have plagued its launch.
Jess Zammit
Safe Bet – Back 4 Blood
Apparently Back 4 Blood is the only safe bet from Warner Bros. this E3, which is disappointing for the many who were hoping to see more about the games announced back at DC Fandome, but exciting for those who have been dying to see more about the Left 4 Dead spiritual successor. So, this one feels like cheating a little, but given the Summer Game Fest just taught us that this game is getting an open beta in August, I’m sure we’ll see some cool stuff during Warner Bros’ showcase.
Fairly Likely – Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
Given they’re coming out next month, it’s no surprise that these Ace Attorney titles – which are about to make their way outside Japan for the first time – are likely to make an appearance during Capcom’s E3 showcase. I’ve been waiting years to be able to play these, so even though they’ll be coming out soon, I’m keen for each new bit of info I can get.
Wishful Thinking – We get a new Banjo-Kazooie game
I don’t think this is totally out of the question. Crash Bandicoot made a comeback, why not BK? I’d even take a remake. The characters have just appeared in Smash Bros. though, so clearly they’re on people’s minds. Give the people what they want. (It’s me, I’m the people).
Stephen del Prado
Safe Bet: Sega – Some more Lost Judgement news (and hopefully some Yakuza too)
With only a few months until Lost Judgment launches, there’s no doubt in my mind that Sega will have some more to show – personally I thought it was a great riff on the Yakuza formula and am excited to see where the story goes next. I think it would also be extremely unwise to stop the runaway train that has been the redemption story of the Yakuza series in the west and not have something to tease fans with after Yakuza: Like A Dragon launched last year. Although a new entry is likely years away now the West has caught up to Japanese releases, there are still plenty of unlocalised titles in the series including Ishin and Kenzan which take place during much earlier periods of Japanese history – I’m just hoping Sega don’t make the mistake of assuming there’s no interest outside of their home country in these games.
Fairly Likely – Bandai Namco – Elden Ring details
Despite a new trailer reveal, I can’t help but think Bandai Namco have some more Elden Ring details to share, perhaps revealing to what extent George R. R. Martin is involved with the game. I’m extremely sceptical of the January 2021 release date; it seems ripe for slipping back to March or May easily, citing ‘more polish’ needed, something I can believe given FROM’s penchant for making drastic changes fairly late in development. I also have to wonder if the publisher hasn’t thought about resurrecting the Shadow Tower series, which could easily be farmed out to another developer for a remake/reboot while FROM is busy wrapping up Elden Ring.
Wishful Thinking: Sega – Skies of Arcadia remake
I’ve only been wanting this for almost 20 years, so I suppose 2021 gives Sega another chance to disappoint me once more when it comes to this franchise. Heck, even a Switch port of the Gamecube version would make me happy at this point! To be honest, there are a lot of Sega franchises I would love to see revived from the Dreamcast era; Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Illbleed (OK maybe not everyone is as excited about more Illbleed). Given technological advances, I’d even go so far as to settle for a Dreamcast Classic console – surely by now they could make a mini VMU that didn’t compete with the Atari Lynx for the title of “Most likely to run through a set of batteries in a single evening”.
Matt Hewson
Safe Bet – Scarlet Nexus
This one surprised me last month when I got to go hands-on with it at a press event. It had a very Platnium feel to it and that is honestly the highest praise I can give this sort of game. It is out at the end of the month so it makes sense we will see more at E3, likely on the Xbox stage as that is where it has been shown in the past. After being quite tepid on the game after its original reveal, it is now firmly on my radar and I can’t wait to get my hands on the full version
Fairly Likely – Injustice 3
There is a really good chance we see Injustice 3 this year, only a fair chance it happens at E3. Injustice 3 is more than likely the next game from fighting game masters Netherealm and frankly, it can’t come soon enough. I love their philosophy of making these one-on-one fighters just as appealing to single-player gamers as they do to those in the competitive scene, something other companies have tried, but never succeeded on the scale of Netherealm. Frankly, this is the only Batman v Superman I want to see and I can’t wait for more from this darker branch of the DC universe.
Wishful Thinking – Jade Empire
Look I know you are sick of seeing it, I am sick of saying it. Can we just get it already. Martial Arts RPG, what is so complicated about that? It is glorious and I want it in my life. Honestly, I would settle for a remaster at this point, but I still hold hope that Microsoft can purchase the IP and give it to Obsidian or InXile so we can finally get a sequel to perhaps the most underrated game from Bioware’s back catalogue. Seriously, I am not the only one that is keen for this…. surely???
