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Whilst not as long as some of the other showcases this year, Square Enix, as expected, did not fail to deliver. There was no flashy show, no glitz or glamour, just a straight-up presentation reel of game footage.
This was not a bad approach to take, straight to the action. All that sweet, sweet role-playing action. And who better than to share his voice-over than the role-playing wizard himself, Mr Matthew Mercer.
Guardians of the Galaxy
Well, what a way to open a show! We were rewarded straight off the bat with an extended look into the newly announced Guardians of the Galaxy game.
I was apprehensive of this, however. I absolutely love the Marvel franchise. However, I was so ridiculously disappointed with what they ended up doing with Marvel Avengers. My pessimism caught the better of me. Luckily, that pessimism was short-lived. It was evident straight from the get-go that Guardians will be following a completely different approach than its Marvel counterpart.
Guardians will be a SINGLE player experience where your decisions have comical and consequential repercussions. Interacting with your team opens up dialogue choices, actions through exploration lead to decision making, and characters actually remember and adapt to what you choose. My eyes popped when I watched Drax throw Rocket over a small chasm at Star Lord’s behest. Understandably, Rocket was very against this decision. An ominous red message displayed on the screen, “Rocket is furious that Drax has thrown him”. This indicates to me that characters will change their preference to other players, as well as remember the actions that changed that. I cannot wait to see what that actually brings to the game.
The creator of the Guardians of the Galaxy comics even made an appearance. He was highly complimentary over the game, saying it is “the best version of the team possible for the media” saying that the characters have been adapted very well and are true representatives.
Some little details I picked up with the trailer and gameplay: the transition from the title screen to the game was seamless, multiple planets and characters were mentioned, Rocket has a ponytail beard, all 5 characters are in combat at once, there seem to be plant-based demigorgans and some sort of blue llama.
Remasters!
So Square Enix really enjoyed throwing lots of news snippets at us in between the big shows.
We were told very quickly that they are remastering FF, FFII, FFIII, FFIV, FFV and you guessed it! FFVI. But unfortunately, they will only be available to smartphone gamers. For some reason.
We will also be getting a Trials of Mana remaster, that IS coming to consoles. It will be getting released on June 24th.
Marvel Avengers
Putting my personal feelings aside to deliver you news about this game is incredibly hard. At least I now have Guardians of the Galaxy to look forward to.
Square Enix seems to have no intention of letting this game slip into obscurity as gamers will be getting new DLC and updates soon. New missions are being pumped out, including a cosmic apocalypse scenario. Patrol mode is being rolled out, whatever that is. And also, bosses can now be randomised.
Oh, I suppose it is somewhat important to mention that there is a whole expansion to the game coming in the form of War for Wakanda. This looks to bring Black Panther into the roster with a slew of new scenarios and baddies to fight.
More Mobile Games!
Square Enix seems to be determined to monopolise the mobile market. Another blink and you miss it section gave us small highlights on some games being developed for mobiles.
- Hitman Snipers
- Nier Reincarnation
- Final Fantasy War of the Visions, Brave Exodus and The First Soldier
There was not a whole lot of information to go with these reveals. Aside from a couple of seconds screen time for each.
Babylon Falls
This game has been drifting in and out of the limelight lately.
It is on my radar as it is the new game being developed by Platinum Games, the legends behind Nier Automata.
This game seems to be a 1-4 player cooperative hack and slash action RPG. The combat, as expected, looks very slick, with interesting looking enemies and at least 4 different players to play as. I am not sure if there will be a ‘choose your class’ mechanic, or fully customizable characters. However, I did snipe gameplay of a sword master, hammer guy, bowman and a lancer. I am optimistic that there will be more variety than this.
As important as visuals are, the team at Platinum Games also put as much time and effort into their sound pieces. This game seems to be no different, boasting an incredible sounding operatic/orchestral style.
The few details I am cautious of however were the mentions of ‘live service’ and ‘never ending’. These are two things I do not like to see in games, but I know a lot of people prefer this kind of game model.
Life is Strange Remastered Collection
As much as calling a set of 2 things a ‘collection’ makes my OCD brain melt, it is evident that the developers have a lot of love for this game. There have been some obvious improvements to the graphics but also the lip-synching has been synched more realistically, which is a big tick in my book. The collection will feature the critically-acclaimed Life is Strange that follows Mac Caulfield and her time-meddling. The collection will also feature Life is Strange: Before the Storm, a prequel to the first game that follows Max's best friend Chloe Price.
Life is Strange Remastered Collection is due on September 30th.
Life is Strange: True Colours
And of course, there would be no Life is Strange news without a better look at the upcoming title. Taking the franchise in a different direction, we have a new protagonist with her own set of abilities. Namely the power of empathy. Albeit a power that sounds like the made-up nonsense an anime hero learns mid-battle against a villain that has trained for a thousand years, this actually looks fairly interesting.
Being able to see peoples’ auras and feeling what they are feeling opens up dialogue choices, opens new routes to take etc. Connecting your feelings with someone else creates a nova, warping the surroundings into how the connected person’s subconscious interprets their reality. I think this is a truly inspiring mechanic. I just hope we can do this with every NPC, not just pre-determined ones.
True Colours is due on September 10th.
Life is Strange Ultimate Edition is also available, this gets you the remastered collection and the new release.
Stranger of Paradise – Final Fantasy Origin
This, for me, was the biggest surprise of the event. Team Ninja, the people behind the Ninja Gaiden games and the Nioh franchise, are creating a Final Fantasy game! And it looks boss. The combat style looks like a stylish merging of Devil May Cry and Final Fantasy XV and is most definitely an action RPG.
There is not much I can offer on this title, as apart from a trailer, we were really not given much information. We know it looks boss, the main character REALLY wants to ‘kill chaos’, and it is going to be amazing, and we should all pre-order it immediately.
More to Come
The event closed with a teaser that there will be more information on more Square Enix games at the next Square Enix Presents. Whenever that is, it is not soon enough!
We will be getting more information on Forspoken, Final Fantasy XVI, Final Fantasy XIV Online Endwalker expansion and Guardians of the Galaxy.
Wrap Up
And there we have it. The end of the Square Enix showcase. Can we just take a moment to appreciate just how many Final Fantasy games are in the works?
FF, FFII, FFIII, FFIV, FFV, FFVI, FF War of the Visions, FF Brave Exodus, FFVII The First Soldier, FF VII Remake Intergrade, FF XIV Online expansions and FF XVI! That is 12 Final Fantasy games! TWELVE! Dear lord.
I hope E3 is bringing you all the game releases you were hoping for! Stay tuned on Zatu for more E3 coverage.