Oh, god, they’re remastering Skyrim… because the current motto of the games industry is apparently “let’s not be original, let’s just make old things look prettier”. But hey, at least the remaster’s free if you already own the game and all the DLCs! On PC at least. Sorry, console people. I’d find something to console you with, but I’d probably just end up making bad puns instead.
We also received word from the RPG moguls that we’ll be getting three new DLCs for Fallout 4, and all three of them will be about building things, arguably Fallout 4’s most redeeming feature. One will be about contraptions, one will be about theme parks and, most importantly, one will let you build vaults. I am already so far on that hype train that you may just see me settling in to the buffet car. I hear the sweetrolls they do here are better than the Vivec! Wait, that’s the wrong franchise, isn’t it?
We’ll also be seeing the return of the ill-fated Prey series, which, to be perfectly honest, I didn’t even realise Bethesda had a hand in. I enjoyed the original, but it never really left enough of an impression on me for me to care about a sequel. Or reboot. Or whatever the hell they’re doing with it.
There was also mention of a new Quake game to come out at an as yet unspecified time. Having never played a Quake game before, I couldn’t possibly comment on how well Bethesda will do with the series, but if their delve into Doom is anything to go by, they might just do quite well.
Dishonored 2 also featured for a fair amount of time, and it was rightly placed on that stage. It’s very refreshing to see a sequel to a game be done with some kind of respect to the original. Indeed, from what Bethesda showed of Dishonored 2, it’s the same game with heaps of improvements and a much more colourful, vibrant world. The storyline, which seems to be about Emily Kaldwin “taking back” what’s hers — presumably the empire we saw in the first game — also seems to be dramatic and engaging, even in the few snatches we saw of it. Oh, and the mystical magical stranger is back, so I’m super happy. He was the best bit of Dishonored 1!
So, apart from the amazing-looking Dishonored 2, Bethesda could really have done better this year. But, then again, they did lead last year’s conference with Fallout 4, and the hype train for that is rather hard to beat.
And that’s the second conference down! Mike will be with you next, talking a little about the Microsoft and Ubisoft conferences.
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