The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2018 is the 24th Electronic Entertainment Expo, during which hardware manufacturers, software developers, and publishers from the video game industry
PC Gaming Show is in the fourth year paired up with E3 2018. This show celebrates the magic of PC gaming and all that it has to offer both in mainstream and independent titles. Hosting the show is Sean Plott and Frankie Ward as they showcase many trailers and talk to the various developers.
World Exclusive: Satisfactory (Coffee Stain Studios)
Certainly one for the base builders as you play an engineer sent to an alien planet to build a factory by scavenging resources to build bigger and better machines and tools. This game already promises to allow construction on a huge scale, while you will be able to team up with your friends to only further expand these structures with the first person perspective over the top down perspective being used to add a more personal edge to your exploration.
There will be a closed alpha in coming month. Sign up at satisfactorygame.com
World Exclusive: Neo Cab (Chance Agency)
Mavericks Proving Grounds (Automaton Games)
Battle Royale games are very much the flavor of the moment and if you haven’t already had your fill of them, Automaton Games has another one for you. While boasting the largest lobbies with up to 1000 players, its focus is on depth particularly in the information of the environment which will show traces like foliage disruption and footprints.
Sign up for closed beta mavericks.gg/closed-beta
World Exclusive: The Forgotten City
Certainly one of the more unique aspects of PC gaming is the ability to mod game while at the same time it’s not unusual for the popularity of a mod to see it evolve into its own game as we memorably saw with Counter Strike which started life as a Half Life mod and again this was the case for this game which started life as a Skyrim mod which has now been reimagined into its own game.
Set deep underground in an ancient Roman city, a fragmented community lays dead because someone broke a mysterious law. Now using a portal which leads back into the past, you have to find the person responsible to restore the city.
The Forgotten City is coming out in 2019.
Star Control: Origins (Stardock Entertainment)
A chance for you to live out your Star Trek fantasies in this open universe action RPG which in many ways feels like a re-skinned version of Star Flight as you visit 1000s of planets, meet aliens and engage in space battles. All the while set in a universe which is constantly evolving.The mod opportunities will be high, enabling you to essentially put all your favourite sci-fi vehicles into the game. The game will also offer ship to ship combat called Fleet Battles for both local or online multiplayer experience in a separate game from the main game.
Star Control:Origins will be available on GoG and Steam. It launches on September 20, 2018.
Hunt: Showdown (Crytek)
Hunt:Showdown will have additions to its game, mostly in new weaponry including the vintage crossbow, hand crossbow, throwing knife and sticky bomb.
Archangel: Hellfire (Skydance)
Hellfire is originally a single player narrative game. However, Archangel is a multiplayer experience which will have three destructible maps where you can fight using mechs. There will be free roaming PvP, Brutal Team Deathmatch, along with the choice of 6 mechs and 13 weapons available.
Archangel:Hellfire is currently in Early Access and will come out on July 17, 2018.
The Sinking City (Frogwares)
Frogwares is the developers behind the Sherlock Holmes games. Today, they presented their upcoming open world third person Lovecraftian action investigation game called The Sinking City. In this game, you play as a detective in this supernatural world set in a fictional city in Massachusetts where a terrible disaster has overthrown the city pulling together the citizens of many backgrounds to unite in fear especially with the monsters that have emerged.
Making your own decisions in the investigation is at the core of The Sinking City as they emphasize that there will be no hand holding. The player needs to find clues, interrogate suspects and inspect findings to gather information that will help them deduct where to go and what to do next. At the same time, the character’s sanity is also a key element to take into consideration as stressful, disturbing and uncomfortable decisions will all lower sanity which will cause hallucinations however, this feature is also a hint that something is going wrong.
No doubt The Sinking City is working on forging an immersive investigative experience for players to truly be in an open world experience where they make all the decisions instead of the typical linear experiences. It is an ambitious idea that will hopefully pay off.
Warframe (Digital Extremes)
Warframe is a PC title that has amassed a huge following. As the hosts say, it has only gotten better especially with its annual TennoCon bringing together its community. Their upcoming cinematic adventure, The Sacrifice continues on a tangent from last year’s update and will be releasing this week.
Sega’s Upcoming Games
There is still a slight tinge of sadness to see Sega reduced to a small highlight reels but at the same time It’s great to see Sega getting a highlight spot here with past titles released over last year like Valkyria Chronicles, Bayonetta, Puyopuyo Tetris and Vanquish. Upcoming releases are Shenmue 1 & 2 along with Shining Resonance. And of course, the roundup of world premiere announcements, some of these games already available on consoles but finally making their PC debut: Yakuza Kiwami, Yakuza 0 and Valkyria Chronicles 4. Yakuza 0 will be releasing in early August on Steam.
Killing Floor 2: The Summer Sideshow: Treacherous Skies (Tripwire)
Killing Floor 2 is a fun and out of control multiplayer first person shooter where you defend the base and shoot all kinds of monsters. This year will see four major updates where the first has already been released in March. The upcoming release is available today for their annual Summer Sideshow Event. This year’s is called Treacherous Skies and it is a mix of Steampunk and circus freaks. It will also have 73 weapons and upgrades to make fore more creative loadouts.
This weekend Killing Floor 2 is free to play for PC.
World Exclusive: Maneater (Blindside Games/Tripwire)
Tripwire also announces that they have moved into being a game publisher as well. Aside from upcoming title Road Redemption, they are working with Blindside Games, the minds behind Depth, to create an open world RPG called Maneater, where you play as a shark packed with a full single player campaign and its own shark skill tree. It might look silly but it will fulfill the power fantasy to be the king of the water.
You can find more info at maneatergame.com
World Exclusive: Bravery Network Online (Gloam Collective)
Morning Star
Overwhelm (Ruari O’Sullivan)
Available now.
Jurassic World: Evolution
A lot of Jurassic World games are being released seemingly timed with this month’s movie release of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. We recently looked at Jurassic World Alive which gives a prehistoric twist to Pokemon Go. You can find our review here.
Boasting a control and development system similar to Zoo Tycoon or Planet Coaster this looks set to be a much more in depth experience than expected more so when you have to work in the potential legal costs when one of your dinos escapes. If you ever dreamed to run your own Jurassic Park, this is your chance and it is out on June 12th.
Stormland (Insomniac Games)
Insomniac Games has released some impressive titles in the last while especially with Marvel’s Spider-Man being one of the highlights at the Playstation Media Showcase this year. However, for this show, they are sharing their upcoming open world VR game, Stormland where you play as an Android gardener who needs to travel around to repair yourself and the devastated land. The open world itself rearranges itself and brings in new discoveries constantly. Stormland will be an Oculus Rift experience.
World Exclusive: Night Call (Raw Fury)
Probably one of the more stylish games to be revealed at this year’s show is Raw Fury’s upcoming game, Night Call. Black and white with a cool art style, this game shows heavy narrative and choice-based dialogue in its teaser trailer.
Sable (Raw Fury)
Raw Fury seems to be gathering up all the cool artsy stylish games as they reveal Sable, an upcoming open world desert exploration. Rightfully so, as their art choice and game is inspired by French and Belgium comics and Studio Ghibli movies. Sable is not about combat but rather solitude as we play a girl called Sable who leaves home and discovers a land full of monuments and has to learn about the people and its culture.
World Exclusive: Star Citizen
Making an appearance after its announcement back in the first PC Gaming Show four years ago, Star Citizen delivers a new trailer announcing an Alpha 3.2 coming up.
Genesis: Alpha One
Don’t Starve: Hamlet (Klei Entertainment)
Don’t Starve has another update called Hamlet. It is really nice to see that after so many years and through Klei Entertainment’s other projects, Don’t Starve still gets a lot of love. This update is coming in December 2018.
World Exclusive: The Walking Dead (Overkill)
While we have gotten a few seasons of Telltale Games version of The Walking Dead, Overkill’s version is a first person action experience. It was truly a teaser trailer but this looks like a more “realistic” experience as we look at the visuals. The game releases in North and South America on November 6 and on Europe on November 8.
The Walking Dead: The Final Season (Telltale Games)
There was no doubt that Telltale Games would also share their Final Season of The Walking Dead. Probably being well aware of how Telltale Games has lacked innovation in its last few titles, the emphasis was on keeping its core values of creating narrative choice-based experiences while the changes in this upcoming title are the addition of unscripted combat mechanics and an orbital camera to help explore surrounding environments.
In terms of story, The Final Season takes us on an adventure with Clementine as she travels with an orphan boy and discover a potential home at a secluded school. The Walking Dead: The Final Season launches on August 14, 2018.
Noita (Nolla Games)
Noita is an upcoming action rogue-lite game full of retro charm. The twist here is that every pixel is simulated.
Two Point Hospital (Two Point Studios)
Two Point Hospital is introduced as a spiritual successor of Theme Hospital. This game takes its own silly version with unique illnesses like Turtle Head and hilarious cures to match. It also features different activities like research and training as well as the hospital in different regions yielding having a change in effect. Two Point Hospital will launch later in 2018.
Realm Royale (Hi-Rez Studios)
The next battle royale game to appear in the show is Realm Royale. Its uniqueness from other games is that players get to choose their class before they start. The classes include Mage, Hunter, Assassin, Engineer.Each class comes with its own set of abilities and play style. At the same time, the weapon crafting differs on having to forge weapons with the collected shards.
You can play Realm Royale for free now on Steam.
Ooblets (Glumberland)
We saw Ooblets last year at both Xbox and the PC Gaming Show. Ooblets is an upcoming farming and creature collecting game inspired by Pokemon and Harvest Moon. It is coming to PC & Xbox One eventually however, still without a release date.
Anno 1800 (Ubisoft)
Anno 1800 is a real-time strategy game set in the 19th century. Its takes the city building genre to another level while giving a vast amount of area to explore.
World Exclusive: Rapture Rejects (Tiny Build)
The final battle royale game revealed is a rather comical one called Rapture Rejects. Literally because it is a Cyanide & Happiness game. It takes a top down approach.The more humorous aspect is the backstory that Judgement Day arrives and it ends up beaming up all the bad guys so inevitably the good turn bad.
You can sign up for alpha at rapturerejects.com
Hitman 2 (IO Interactive)
Promising six new locations including Miami the return of Agent 47 which this time will also include a multiplayer element Sniper Assassin mode that features cooperative multiplayer for two players. Storywise this time Agent 47 sets out to eliminate the elusive Shadow Client and unravel his militia, but when 47 learns his target’s true identity and the truth about his past, it changes everything. Boasting some brand new mechanics and assassination techniques it’s yet to be revealed if they will manage to top the contract to kill Gary Busey in the previous game. But needless to say if you enjoyed the previous game you will no doubt get a kick out of this one as well. It will release on November 13, 2018.
While it might not be one of the big draw conferences of E3, it was certainly a stacked one and a great platform for the more indie titles to get recognised much like what we saw at the Microsoft conference.