E3 2017: 15 Unannounced Games We Want To See
The Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles is finally upon us. E3 is a massive celebration of video games, and features numerous press conferences in which the big publishers and console manufacturers hype their upcoming projects, and also drop some surprise announcements. Sometimes these wildcards are accidentally leaked in advance, but there’s nothing like that moment when the lights go down, and a totally unexpected game reveals itself, like the legendary debut of Shenmue III in 2015, or the stunning art direction of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess all the way back in 2004.
As anticipation for E3 builds, no dream is off-limits, from the Final Fantasy VII remake taking the stage in 2015 to the breathtaking reveal of God of War as the opening salvo in Sony’s jaw-dropping show just last year. This is the time to dream big and reach for the stars. Here are 15 Unannounced Games We Want To See At E3, complete with our scientifically-calculated (read: guesstimated) chances of each game making an honest-to-goodness appearance. Some of these are long shots, but that’s what dreams are for; they just announced a new Bubsy game, so obviously, anything is possible. It’s time to get pumped for the unbridled wonder and boundless joy of the biggest event in the industry!
15. FALLOUT: NEW VEGAS 2
Back in 2008, the long-dormant Fallout franchise was resurrected by Bethesda Softworks, who turned the isometric RPG into a first-person open-world adventure along the lines of their Elder Scrolls series. Fallout 3 was fantastic, introducing a whole new generation to the post-apocalyptic world of Fallout while also retaining the atmosphere and deep RPG mechanics that helped make the original games so memorable.
In 2010, a new Fallout title was released; it was developed by Obsidian, a team comprised of many people who worked on the original 1990s games. Despite being a buggy mess at launch, Fallout: New Vegas ultimately earned strong praise from longtime fans for deepening the role-playing elements of Fallout 3 and being more directly based on the west coast setting of the first games.
2015’s Fallout 4 was a solid addition to the saga, continuing the story where Fallout 3 left off, but fans are eager for a successor to New Vegas. Fallout: New Orleans was pretty heavily rumored for a while, but it seems to have been quashed… Or was it?
Failing a full-fledged new title, we’d settle for a remastered package consisting of Fallout 3 and New Vegas, with stable frame rates and bug fixes.
Probability: 40% for a brand new title, 60% for a remaster.
14. SUPER SMASH BROS. ON SWITCH
Nintendo is a company founded on its characters; from Mario and Link to Samus and Kirby, Nintendo has a truly iconic roster of heroes. It was only natural that a massive crossover game would see Nintendo’s all-stars beating the tar out of each other, but few could have anticipated what a cultural phenomenon Super Smash Bros would become. The first title released in 1999, and it immediately became one of Nintendo’s fan-favorite series.
The fourth game released in 2014 for Wii U and 3DS, and the fans know it’s only a matter of time before Smash makes its way to the Nintendo Switch. The question is, will the inevitable Switch Smash be a brand new title, built from the ground up? Or will it be a port of the Wii U game with all the DLC included and some additional features? Nintendo is having considerable success with this year’s release of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, so a similarly updated version of Smash 4 would be a slam-dunk, right?
Probability: 50%
13. STAR WARS
The biggest brand in pop culture right now is Star Wars, though the franchise has had surprisingly few big video game releases in recent years. Aside from Battlefront and Lego games, the dearth of Star Wars titles is a far cry from the heyday of Rogue Squadron, The Force Unleashed, Shadows of the Empire, Jedi Starfighter, and countless other classic games.
However, that is all set to change very soon. EA has an exclusive deal with Disney to create games based on George Lucas’s timeless space opera, and it’s time for fans to see what they’ve been cooking up — aside from the already-announced Battlefront II, of course. Visceral Games (Dead Space) and Respawn Entertainment (Titanfall) are both working on titles exploring that galaxy far, far away, and it wouldn’t be the least bit surprising to see at least one of those games announced during EA’s press conference.
Visceral’s game is being directed by Amy Hennig, who previously worked on Sony’s Uncharted franchise. Meanwhile, Respawn’s game has been confirmed as a 3rd person action game, though both titles remain complete mysteries for now. Hopefully, that will all change very soon.
Probability: 90%
12. HALO REACH REMASTERED
Microsoft’s line of Xbox consoles owes a lot to Halo. The original killer app for the first Xbox system back in 2001, Halo is, by far, Xbox’s most recognizable brand. The latest title in the series, Halo 5: Guardians, released to considerable praise in 2015 (unforgivable lack of split-screen multiplayer notwithstanding), but it was preceded by the excellent Master Chief Collection.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection brought together the original Halo trilogy, as well as Halo 4 and Halo 3: ODST (by way of DLC), all together on one disc. It’s the definitive set for any Halo fan… Definitive, that is, save for one glaring exception – Halo Reach.
The final entry in the saga developed by series creators Bungie (before they left Microsoft to create their ambitious multiplatform shared world shooter, Destiny), Halo: Reach is a prequel to the original game, and is arguably the best title in the entire franchise. The fact that it has yet to be remastered and been reborn on Xbox One is a malady in dire need of a remedy.
While it might be a bit too early to expect a proper Halo 6, fans of the franchise would be sated by an revamped remaster of Bungie’s finest hour: Halo Reach Remastered.
Probability: 75%
11. THE EVIL WITHIN 2
After leaving the Resident Evil franchise behind following the generation-defining Resident Evil 4 in 2005, series creator Shinji Mikami explored many different genres, from screwball comedy (God Hand, Shadows of the Damned) to high-octane action (Vanquish). After spending the better part of a decade flexing his creative muscles, the horror master returned to his love of terror with 2014’s The Evil Within.
While not without its flaws in pacing and generally ho-hum storytelling (flaws which were largely remedied in its highly-acclaimed DLC expansions), The Evil Within was championed as a return to form for the gaming auteur, combining the survival horror atmosphere of Mikami’s classic Resident Evil titles with the updated shooting gameplay of Resident Evil 4, resulting in a scary, gory, and wholly memorable experience.
In the years following The Evil Within’s release, Mikami and his studio, Tango Gameworks, have been strangely silent. Either they’re all on an unprecedented extended vacation, or they’re hard at work on a sequel to one of the most terrifying games in recent memory, and they’re getting ready to reveal the fruits of their labor at Bethesda’s E3 press conference.
Probability: 80%
10. SYPHON FILTER
One of Sony’s classic forgotten franchises, Syphon Filter was initially a trilogy on the first PlayStation before dabbling in early online co-op gameplay with PS2’s Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain. Two severely underrated titles were later released on PSP (Dark Mirror and Logan’s Shadow), after which the series went radio silent; there hasn’t been a new entry in the story since 2007, and that’s way too long, especially considering that game’s soul-crushing cliffhanger ending, which left series protagonist Gabe Logan at death’s door after a dramatic gun battle with an assassin.
Rumors of a new Syphon Filter title have been floated several times over the years, but nothing has come to fruition yet. The team that made the series is now known as Sony Bend, and they’re hard at work on the zombie drama, Days Gone. However, it was recently announced that Deck Nine Games (formerly known as Idol Minds) are working on a new game in an established PlayStation franchise, and that their new, narrative-based game will be unveiled at E3. Could it possibly be a new Syphon Filter? Or perhaps another dormant PlayStation franchise, like Legend of Legaia, The Getaway, or Jak and Daxter? Whatever the case may be, the answer will almost certainly be given at Sony’s conference.
Probability: 40%
9. DRAGON AGE 4
Bioware’s been having a rough time as of late; the disastrous launch of Mass Effect: Andromeda was the final result of a tumultuous period for the studio, which parted ways with key talent like Casey Hudson and Gérard Lehiany. Few were satisfied with the final version of Mass Effect: Andromeda, and even the numerous post-release patches, while welcome improvements, did little to fix the game’s glaring problems. Things got so bad that EA went so far as to put the entire Mass Effect series on hiatus for the time being.
Aside from Mass Effect, Bioware’s other big property is Dragon Age, which replaces laser guns and science fiction with sorcery and fantasy. The third entry in that series, Inquisition, earned many Game of the Year awards in 2014, and is generally hailed as one of the company’s better efforts. A new chapter in the Dragon Age saga has been rumored for quite a while, especially when writer Alexis Kennedy (who previously worked on The Last Court, a browser tie-in game to Inquisition) let slip that he was creating lore for a new title in the series. Of course, Bioware offered a “no comment” to the news, but it seems pretty likely that a new Dragon Age is on the way and could be announced at EA’s press conference. However, due to the unyielding backlash against Mass Effect: Andromeda, Bioware needs to be exceedingly confident in DA4 in order to avoid risking audience ambivalence. Time will tell, but it’s make-or-break, do-or-die time for the troubled studio.
Probability: 50%… It would be higher, but perhaps there’s a chance that they’ll hold off on revealing a new game so soon after the Andromeda debacle.
8. WOLFENSTEIN: THE NEW COLOSSUS
One of 2014’s most pleasant surprises was Wolfenstein: The New Order. Nobody thought that the classic shooter series could be successfully resurrected, but MachineGames won over the naysayers with their shockingly well-written tale of an alternate universe 1960 where the Nazis won the war and managed to subjugate the entire world under their iron hand. The New Order had equal parts righteous bloodletting and emotionally resonant “what-if?” drama, and the resulting game resonated on multiple levels for many players.
Fans got a stand-alone expansion, The Old Blood, in 2015, but the mission-pack DLC wasn’t a true sequel. Then, at Bethesda’s 2016 E3 press conference, they teased something called New Colossus, which would seem to be the next chapter in the Wolfenstein story.
“The New Colossus” is the name of the poem written at the base of New York City’s Statue of Liberty; The New Order was set entirely in Europe, so could this prospective sequel be set in the United States? Brian Bloom, the actor who plays protagonist B.J. Blazkowitz, teased a new Wolfenstein title in an interview with Two Left Sticks, though nothing has been officially announced… Yet.
Probability: 85%
7. CHRONO TRIGGER 3
This one might be a long shot, but it’s been hotly-anticipated for the better part of two decades. The original Chrono Trigger released in 1995 for the Super Nintendo, and it’s widely recognized as one of the greatest RPGs of the era. A sequel, Chrono Cross, came out in 2000, introducing a new cast of characters and exploring deeper and darker storytelling than the original title.
Since then, a new Chrono title has been conspicuously absent. It was rumored that a third game, Chrono Break, was in development all the way back in 2001, but that obviously came to naught, and the future of the series was up in the air.
However, a new hope emerged with the release of the Nintendo DS port of the original game in 2008; this updated re-release contained a silky new translation, additional gameplay, and – most importantly of all – a new final boss and ending, which tied directly into the plot of Chrono Cross.
Strangely, despite the DS port signaling a rebirth for the Chrono series, nothing else came from the revival. No Chrono Cross remake, no Chrono Break, nothing. It’s been nine years since Chrono Trigger DS, and that’s too long. Square Enix’s newest studio, Tokyo RPG Factory, makes retro role-playing games like I Am Setsuna, paying overt tribute to the original Chrono Trigger; perhaps they’re hard at work on a true successor to the complex time-travel/interdimensional story of Crono, Marle, Frog, Serge, Kid, and Schala.
Probability: 5%
6. POKÉMON STARS
Nintendo and Pokémon developer Game Freak have a bizarre policy in place which dictates that there can be no mainline Pokémon titles on Nintendo’s home consoles; they are limited to handheld systems like the Game Boy and 3DS.
Enter the Switch; Nintendo’s unique hybrid system can be played as a handheld or through the television. The question is, is it handheld enough for Nintendo to allow a full-fledged Pokémon title on the platform? Ever since the console/handheld’s announcement, the biggest Nintendo rumor was that Switch would become the de facto home for new Pokémon titles, succeeding the 3DS.
Those rumors came to a head at a recent Nintendo Direct digital presentation, where it was widely believed that a new Pokémon game, or at least an updated version of Pokémon Sun & Moon (Stars), would be announced for the Switch. Alas, those rumors proved to be unfounded, and what would surely be a guaranteed system seller for the Switch remains a pipe dream for the time being. Maybe Nintendo just wanted to save the big reveal for E3. Perhaps Pokémon Stars (or whatever the potential title might be called) isn’t dead after all; maybe it’s just waiting for the right moment to reveal itself!
Probability: 45%
5. SPLINTER CELL
When one thinks of Splinter Cell, the first thing that comes to mind is the commanding voice of Michael Ironside (Total Recall, Top Gun) as series protagonist Sam Fisher. From the original 2002 title through to 2010’s Splinter Cell: Conviction, Ironside’s dulcet tones helped to elevate the series from a solid stealth series to a bonafide video game phenomenon.
It came as a huge shock, then, when Ironside was dropped from 2013’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist. Ubisoft claimed that the change — which brought on actor Eric Johnson (The Knick, Rookie Blue) — was made in order to facilitate the new motion capture techniques they were using on the game, but many fans balked at this younger, less imposing take on the infamous black ops agent. Ultimately, Blacklist failed to meet sales expectations, and Splinter Cell has been missing in action ever since.
It’s time for Sam Fisher to return, and for Ubisoft to bring him back in the correct way; old, rugged, and with the guttural growl of Michael Ironside. A new Splinter Cell game should follow Conviction’s storytelling cues, delving deep into the character of this iconic secret agent, while building on the incredible gameplay foundation of Blacklist.
Probability: 20%
4. METAL GEAR RISING 2
It’s no secret that the future of Metal Gear is in grave danger. Series mastermind Hideo Kojima was essentially removed from his own game, and it shows in the final version of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Despite being universally acclaimed as one of the best games of 2015, MGSV is clearly unfinished, with an abrupt jump to the ending and numerous glaring holes in its narrative.
Following Kojima’s acrimonious departure from Konami (he is now working on Death Stranding over at Sony), the only subsequent Metal Gear projects have been a Japan-only slot machine for casinos and the polarizing Metal Gear Survive, which pits soldiers against zombie hordes in an experience only tangentially related to Metal Gear.
However, there is a potential bright spot in store for the future of the series. In 2013, Platinum Games released Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, a spin-off starring dark horse hero Raiden. The game was surprisingly true to the themes and sensibilities of its parent series, telling a story which segued naturally from the ending of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. On the other hand, it blazed a brand new trail with lightning fast hack-and-slash gameplay, complete with a breathtaking “cutting” mechanic, where Raiden could slice enemies to pieces with a slow-motion swing of his sword.
The year 2017 is Metal Gear’s 30th anniversary. Will Raiden’s story continue in a potential Rising 2? Will a remake of the original Metal Gear reveal itself? Or will Konami announce a new line of Metal Gear-themed slot machines?
Probability: Of Rising 2? 15%. Of a Metal Gear remake? 20%. Of anything special for the 30th anniversary? 35%
3. BLOODBORNE 2
The hottest game studio in the business right now is FromSoftware. In addition to their revolutionary Dark Souls series, the developer also released one of 2015’s biggest PlayStation exclusives, Bloodborne. This title took the tough-as-nails gameplay of their Souls games and merged it with a visually stunning gothic art style. The final result is hailed by many as FromSoftware’s best game to date,
If the studio is to be believed, their premier franchise, Dark Souls, is completed. Maybe, instead of launching a new IP, FromSoftware will put out a new entry in the Bloodborne series, turning it into as big of a phenomenon as the Souls games. There are so many places they can go with this, from a prequel exploring the conflict between the Vilebloods and the Executioners, or a more traditional sequel, continuing the story right where the first Bloodborne left off. To be honest, it would be quite surprising if Bloodborne 2 didn’t make an appearance at Sony’s E3 show.
Probability: 95%
2. METROID
One of Nintendo’s most iconic franchises is Metroid, the space drama following the exploits of intergalactic bounty hunter Samus Aran and her quest to protect the universe from the scourge of the Space Pirates. Not including the ho-hum spin-off, Federation Force, the last true entry in the series was 2010’s underwhelming Metroid: Other M.
The word on the street is that Retro Studios is working on a secret project at Nintendo; the studio is best known for their work on the Metroid Prime trilogy, though they also revived the Donkey Kong Country series. Could they be working on a new Metroid game, and could that game be revealed at E3?
Fans are divided on what they want from a new Metroid title: some would like a first-person Metroid Prime 4, while others want a 2D successor to Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion, like the previously cancelled Metroid Dread. Whichever direction this hypothetical Metroid title goes, we hope it picks up the story from where Metroid Fusion left off, pushing the series forward into the future, rather than exploring yet another interquel or side story.
Probability: 60%
1. MEGA MAN LEGENDS 3
Originally announced in 2010 as a Nintendo 3DS exclusive, Mega Man Legends 3 was all set to revive the classic PlayStation franchise, a full ten years after the release of Legends 2. Sadly, just months later, in July 2011, the game was unceremoniously cancelled.
The holy grail of long-lost cancelled games, fans have spend the last six years wistfully hoping that Mega Man Legends 3 will return from the dead and continue the story where Legends 2 left off. Now, more than ever, it seems entirely possible that Mega Man Legends has a chance to actually make it’s long-awaited comeback. Across 2015 and 2016, the original Mega Man Legends games (parts one and two, as well as spin-off The Misadventures of Tron Bonne) were re-released on the PlayStation Store, allowing a new generation of players to enjoy the timeless adventures of Mega Man Volnutt and the Bonne family of pirates. Meanwhile, The Mega Man Legacy Collection, along with Mega Man’s appearance in Super Smash Brothers 4, are doing their part to keep the Blue Bomber relevant in the minds of players all over the world.
Mega Man Legends 2 ended with a gripping – but hopeful – cliffhanger, which only gets more and more heartbreaking as the years go by. Still, even seventeen years after that incredible ending, the fans have never lost hope that the time will come when Mega Man Legends 3 could actually see the light of day. It’s time to bring Mega Man back, in a big-budget, triple-A next-gen gaming experience like no other. Make it happen, Capcom!
Probability: 5%
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What do you think? Which unannounced games might make an appearance at this year’s E3 extravaganza? Max Payne 4? Batman Beyond by Rocksteady? A new Devil May Cry?
