This year’s E3 was headlined by dozens of noteworthy games. Some games were expected while others came out of nowhere (i’m looking at you Final Fantasy 7 Remake). I for one felt that Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain did not receive the amount of spotlight it deserved. Then again that is my on bias opinion as I am a huge fan of that franchise. Tons of games were announced and I won’t cover them all, I will however provide a short recap for all of the games and content that I myself are incredibly excited for. This will be another list post so it will be easier to navigate.

Halo 5: Guardians 

An absolutely ridiculous amount of Halo content was revealed at this years E3. More details regarding the story mode which is apparently 4 player coop was shown off during an 8 minute gameplay demo. The demo put players in control of Agent Locke (now a Spartan) and the rest of his fireteam called Osiris. The short demo displayed the team work between either AI Spartans or player controlled spartans with each other as they progress through the story mode. The campaign will have two different perspectives. One from Master Chief and Blue Team’s perspective as they search for a way to control or destroy the mysterious Guardians. Meanwhile, Agent Locke and his team are trying to hunt down the Master Chief and his allies. This corroborates previous evidence that the Master Chief is apparently AWOL and Locke is tasked with killing or capturing Chief.

The other noteworthy bit of Guardians that was shown off was the new Warzone gamemode. Essentially this gamemode pits two teams, the Reds & Blues, against each other on a large scale battlefield. The two team will fight each other and other neutral combatants that will be hostile to both teams. Players can guide their own teams marines as well as they attempt to kill Covenant forces and targets to gain points. Which ever team reaches the point limit first wins. Other victory conditions were mentioned that culminate with a final assault on the opposing teams base but this appears to be a secondary objective.

Ghost Recon: Wildlands

Honestly, this one came out of nowhere. It has been a while since gamers have received a Ghost Recon game that wasn’t grounded in uber futuristic tech and gadgets. This iteration however appears to be returning to the franchises roots. This time a team of Ghosts are apparently attempting to eliminate the cruel drug cartels that plague central and southern america. The gameplay featured an open world sandbox environment and teased dozens of hits and targets on members of various cartels.

The gameplay also displayed different approaches to each mission. Tactics ranging from silent assaults at night to straight up ambushes with grenades and heavy weapons were shown to the audience at E3. Though it wasn’t confirmed, the game appeared to be a 4 player coop to a degree. The squad itself comprised of 4 Ghosts that were definitely either Ai or player controlled. Given the history of coop in Ghost Recon games I do not think it is a bad prediction that Wildlands will feature a full coop campaign or at least some form of coop. This game was my favorite surprise of E3, excluding Final Fantasy 7 Remake of course.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

I felt that that Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain deserved more exposure during E3. A unique 5 ish minute trailer edited by Hideo Kojima himself appeared online during E3, yet the game had zero presence at the Sony or Microsoft press conferences. An amazing 40 minute gameplay demo was shown off at Konami‘s booth if I am remembering that correctly. Yet that isn’t the point, this game, due to the shear scale and depth of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain this game should be exposed to a wider audience.

This is due to the fact that this is Hideo Kojima’s last Metal Gear game. After nearly 30 years his piece of this saga is coming to a close. The open world and new gameplay elements which are too many to merely list also add a degree of hype to the game. This game also has an extra degree of hype added to it since Metal Gear is my favorite franchise and this final game from Hideo Kojima will be bitter sweet. None the less, I cannot wait for this game’s September 1st release date.

Horizon Zero Dawn

Pardon my language but where the hell did this game come from? Sure Horizon Zero Dawn is being developed by Guerilla Games, the minds behind Killzone, but the mere idea of this game dumbfounds me. Apparently in the very distant future something causes society as we know it to collapse and humanity is reduced to tribal groups that resemble ancient nomadic groups (Think Ice Age). While this all happened mechanized animals have rose up and now dominate the world as giant beasts. At this point so much time has passed that humanity doesn’t even remember their original heritage and they accept their current situation as the only Earth humanity has known. Though ruins of large cities still remain, humanity hasn’t progress pass the use of bows and arrows.

The idea is quite appealing to myself as a gamer. The game itself looks like it plays as a stealth third person action game. Guerilla Games also stated yesterday that the game will be an open world game as well. The protagonist is also a strong unique female hunter, that aesthetically looks tough and is very handy with a bow and arrow. This is a nice change instead of having some sort of brute viking esque man as the protagonist. Female characters in gaming are nearly always portrayed in a sexual manor and her appearance is unique because she isn’t the typical eye candy female protagonist.

The Last Guardian

Finally, after a long wait, The Last Guardian is finally being released. For those unaware the game was announced in 2008. However, several roadblocks have kept it from being finished. these range from development catastrophes to essential staff leaving the project. I honestly didn’t believe that it was ever going to come out. I mean come on, it was supposed to be a PS3 game! Transferring it from PS3 to PS4 in itself was probably a logistical nightmare.

The plot involves a boy and a giant bird-dog hybrid creature as they journey through an abandoned castle/town, I honestly really don’t know how to describe it. It just looks unique and fun to play. If you don’t believe me go watch a trailer yourself.