The E3 Watchlist - 2017

Another E3 is in the books, and now that everyone's properly locked down I thought I should organize the titles that stood out the most to me this year. There were less of them than maybe I was expecting, but that doesn't mean there weren't some really cool ideas up for display.

A Way Out

This co-op adventure by the creators of Brother Bear mandates splitscreen at all times. The examples they gave for how this affects the game's structure were pretty interesting, but hopefully they were just the tip of the iceberg. The trailer also shows that they do in fact find A Way Out. Either way, I'm looking forward to helping these goons escape with a friend.

Star Wars Battlefront II

As a prequel apologist, it made me very happy that Disney acknowledged those movies in a big-budget project. It was great to hear the cartoon's voices for the clones and droids, and see the models (in a surreal way) surpass those of the source material. As for the game itself... well, it's probably not that great based on the last one, and I know for a fact I will be god-awful at it should I try to play it. I'll probably give it a pass, but I like looking at Star Wars ships and lightsabers so I included it here.

The Last Night

If this game doesn't win best styyyyyyle in whatever year it comes out, I'll flip. Sci-Fi France with awesome pixel animation. The trailer didn't have a lot of gameplay, but I am totally on board with the tone. I just hope this doesn't disappear into the background for too long.

The Artful Escape

Fine, if The Last Night loses to The Artful Escape, I guess I'd be okay with it. It's even harder to parse what's going on here, but it's brimming with the promise to blow me away. I choose to let the trailer speak for itself:

Cuphead

YEAH, CUPHEAD! This game's had my attention since it was first shown off, and now it's finally coming close to release. While I doubt it will use its style to be as high-concept as The Artful Escape, it's pretty much mathematically impossible not to be charmed by Cuphead. I am very much looking forward to shooting ne'er-do-wells and dealing with the devil this year.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

I'm not familiar with the first Ori, but I've heard good things, and this trailer looks really sick, in a depressing and sad kind of way. If people react the same way to the sequel, then I'll most likely give it a look.

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

Again, I didn't check out the last Wolfenstein game, but the trailer and excitement actually got me to pick it up. Assuming I enjoy it (and I probably will), I will definitely try out the sequel and all of its Nazi-killing, milkshake-drinking, acid-dropping glory. I hear this B.J. is a real character.

Shadow of: The Old Colossus

This just seems like a game I need to play for historical purposes, and the pretty remake will provide a good way to do that. Maybe not the most outlandish or fresh game on the list, but there you go, I guess.

Spider-Man

As someone who played through 3 Arkham games in the past year, I was not exactly thrilled to see the similarities in the new Spider-Man game. However, it's not coming out for some time, meaning the burnout should subside before then, and the webbing stuff is a fresh element to the formula. I love Spider-Man, but I hate Peter Parker. Hopefully there aren't long, arduous sections where you walk around as Peter and press triangle on a bunch of garbage instead of playing the fun game. I trust Insomniac to make a thoroughly enjoyable take on this web-slinging superhero.

Nintendo Stuff

Look, I'll level with you. This was probably Nintendo's best E3 showing since 2014. Why? They had much of the same stuff. A new Kirby, a new Yoshi, and the vague promise of reviving a dormant series (last time it was Star Fox, we all know how that turned out). And to match the Smash/Mario Kart bombshells of that year, we have Mario Odyssey, which everyone is excited about. But I've made a spiteful vow to never purchase any Switch-related items, so I will probably not get around to playing any of this junk (unless, you know, someone gives it all to me for free). Also, Amiibos remain the dumbest thing in the world. Shame, because the games do look nice...

There you have it - a list of stuff to keep me unhealthily glued to my screens for the rest of the year and further into the future. Do you agree? Think I'm stupid? What about your own personal list?