June 10, 2018, 6:30 PM PT
Los Angeles, CA
After several megaton years, Bethesda's showing this year was a bit more subdued. While it certainly didn't have a weak lineup, it felt like a deep breath before upcoming years give us the high-end announcements that were promised at the end of the show. Rage 2 and Fallout 76 were the stars this year, but we also got plenty of promises of support for existing games and tantalizing hints of what is to come in Bethesda's future.
Rage 2
The Bethesda show opened up with the worst-kept secret of the year, Rage 2. The long-awaited sequel to last generation's postapocalyptic title Rage, the sequel puts players in the shoes of Walker, the last ranger in the badlands. His goal is to clean out the scum of the dead world and bring some peace to himself and the war-torn wasteland.
The combat in Rage 2 looks fast and frantic. There are a lot of explosions, mobility and super powers on display. In the brief demo, we see Walker dart around, throw glowing grenades that dragged together enemies, and use a shatter ability that allows him to throw enemies around like they're made of paper. It's clear Rage 2 is aiming for a more frantic and violent style of gameplay than the previous one. Despite the dark setting, it seems like the focus is on excessive violence that's more akin to something like Bulletstorm or Doom.
There's also an emphasis on vehicle combat, which looks to be particularly exceptional. We saw a running battle between Walker's tricked-out tank and more unfortunate no-name vehicles that were torn apart by the myriad of explosives equipped by Walker's vehicle. The combat looked smooth and kinetic, with a lot of interesting style.
Elder Scrolls Legends
The recent F2P Elder Scrolls card game, Elder Scrolls Legends, has been released to noteworthy success. Bethesda has made it clear that it intends to continue supporting the game, including offering console versions and new unspecified updates to the features.
Elder Scrolls Online
Similar to Legends, Elder Scrolls Online is trucking along successfully. A new expansion, Sommerset, was released earlier this month. In addition, two new expansion packs are coming soon, including Wolfhunter, which focuses on werewolves, and Murkmire, which delves into the Argonian race's history and culture.
Doom Eternal
In the wake of the runaway success of the excellent reboot of Doom, it was just a matter of time until a sequel hit. Doom Eternal looks to be a remake of Doom II: Hell On Earth in the same way that Doom 2016 was a remake of the original. We're promised twice as many demons, more guns, more violence, and more ripping and tearing than ever before. More of the game will be shown at Quakecon this year.
Prey
Spiritual System Shock successor Prey was one of the highlights of Bethesda's recent output, so it's not a surprise that the game is getting post-release support. There will be a free update that adds New Game+ and a survival mode for those seeking an extra challenge. Future updates will also have a random arcade-style challenge mode called Moon Crash in addition to a competitive multiplayer mode, where five mimics team up to kill one human player. VR support will also be added for this new mode.
Wolfenstein Youngblood
After the events of The New Colossus, the next game in the Wolfenstein series takes a significant leap forward in time. It will change focus from series hero BJ Blazkowicz to his twin daughters, who are fighting Nazis in the alternate 1980s. New to the franchise will be a co-op mode where two players can play as the sisters and kill Nazis together. Isn't family bonding wonderful? In addition, there will also be a VR-exclusive game called Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot, where you play a hacker who turns Nazi war machines against their owners.
Fallout 76
The latest game in the Fallout franchise is going in a different direction from the traditional RPG adventures. The next game is a multiplayer offering, although Bethesda was quick to specify that it can be played single-player if you choose. It follows the inhabitants of Vault 76 as they are freed into the Wasteland not many years after the original apocalypse. They are the first generation of settlers of this postapocalyptic world and have to tame the wild.
The information we saw suggests a different kind of Fallout game. Players will be dropped into an open world that's four times the size of Fallout 4's world and given free rein to build, destroy, loot or do whatever they please. It won't be a MMORPG. There will be dozens, not hundreds, of people in the same instance. There will be persistent leveling, and players can join their friends to hunt down rare monsters or just to be jerks to one another.
The emphasis appears to be on community play. This can mean anything from cooperative base-building to working together to raid other settlements. The big star of the show was the nuclear missiles. Players can find launch codes scattered throughout the land, and either by teaming up to share a code or by killing players and taking their codes, you can access your own nuclear missile that can be dropped anywhere on the map. Not only is this a very impolite thing to do to someone who bothered you, but it also gives you potential access to rare materials that you couldn't get otherwise.
All in all, Fallout 76 looks like a bit of a gamble for the franchise. Players who loved Fallout 4 for its ability to build housing, explore a huge open world, and were deep into the gameplay should be quite happy. Players who were more into the story and talking will have to wait and see how 76 develops in that area when the game hits Nov. 14 this year.
The Elder Scrolls: Blades
The Elder Scrolls: Blades is perhaps the most ambitious game shown by Bethesda this year, though not necessarily in the expected way. It's an attempt to create a full "true" Elder Scrolls experience as a mobile game. It's easily one of the best-looking mobile games we've ever seen, with graphics that look head and shoulders above most releases. The gameplay looked like a somewhat stripped-down version of traditional Elder Scrolls gameplay, including melee combat, exploration and magic. While the game is designed for the iPhone, we're told that they'll be aiming to support it on other devices as well as PC and console.
Coming Soon
The show ended with two big announcements, though neither had anything more than the barest of trailers. The first original IP from the Skyrim team in a while, Starfield is a space-based game that's a departure from the medieval fantasy. Fortunately, those who aren't in the deep inky blackness of space also can look forward to Elder Scrolls VI, which is coming after Starfield.