Bethesda E3 2017 Impressions: Rating Bethesda’s Press Conference

So Bethesda descended from the Heavens to give us a plethora of great games. While it was mostly updates to games we already played, there was still more than enough to get us all excited.

Those kids, though. At the beginning of the conference, Bethesda showed a video in which kids try to describe the jobs of their parents who all work at Bethesda. Sure it may be kind of cynical to use kids to sell your games (especially since most of them are M-rated), but it’s good to remind people of the human element behind games.

Doom VFR (which I can only assume is meant to mean Doom Virtual F*&$ing Reality) looks impressive from a technical standpoint and I can only imagine how fun it will be to act like the Doom Guy ripping and tearing demons. But for such a fast-paced game requiring quick movement to weave in and out of enemy fire and get up close for takedowns, having to stand still to shoot and warp around the environment from place to place may be a bit of a pain and upset the flow of the original game.

Fallout 4 looks amazing in VR. Plus, unlike Doom VFR, you’ll be able to move freely instead of warping around. It might just even enhance the gameplay, allowing you to directly place objects for base building and point directly to things as you command allies instead of using analogue controls. And for a world as immersive as Fallout 4 despite its flaws, it seems like the perfect fit for VR.

The Morrowind expansion for Elder Scrolls Online looks promising, with a bunch of cool characters and locations. I don’t play that game, but I’m happy for those that do as they’re going to get a bunch of cool content. Same goes for the expansion for the Legends game.

I wasn’t too terribly excited for Skyrim on the Nintendo Switch when it was first announced, but the new trailer does give me a few more reasons to consider a purchase. Not only do you get motion controls for combat, but you also get new content with Amiibo figures on Switch. Add to that the enhancements of the Special Edition as well as the possibility of mod support, and you have an easy sell. My only concern is how effective the motion controls will be, but we always have analogue controls. I also am hoping that we can use more Amiibo figures to unlock content and not just the Breath of the Wild Link Amiibo.

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, the new DLC for Dishonored 2, looks cool despite not as much info revealed for it. It definitely seems like more Dishonored 2, which really isn’t a bad thing.

What immediately impressed me about Quake: Champions is how fast it is – much faster than even the multiplayer of Doom (2016). It’s definitely in keeping with the spirit of the original Quake games, but with the added twist of different champions each with their own abilities. Also, I hope more Id Software characters other than just B.J. from Wolfenstein make an appearance, like Doom Guy or even Commander Keen.

The Evil Within 2 gave me goosebumps. The trailer gave off a surreal quality similar to that of Death Stranding. It looks like it will continue the action-horror seen in the first game but with even more surreal twists. I just hope that it isn’t filled with too many tropes. That part where the chair suddenly slides back had me groan a bit. But despite that, it shows a lot of promise and I can’t wait to play it. Also, the October, Friday the 13th release date is a lovely touch.

Creation Club looks promising. Bethesda has more and more embraced the modding community and this is just a natural extension of that, working directly with external developers and creators to create new content for Skyrim and Fallout 4. Honestly, I’m just amazed that those games are even still getting mods at all. I’ll be interesting to see how pricing works out. I just hope it’s not limited on PS4, though.

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is my favorite game to come out of the conference. The trailer gave us everything we needed to know about it with the Lassie parody. I loved the goofy sense of humor seen throughout the trailer, which is the perfect backdrop to all of the Nazi slaughter. It looks to be more of the shooting and stealth that was offered in The New Order, and that’s not a bad thing at all. The game just exudes confidence in its ridiculousness while also retaining the dark edge you expect from something based around the Nazi regime, and it just looks so darn fun to play.

So overall, Bethesda’s conference was very well put together. The conference itself was very polished and fun with its “Bethesdaland” aesthetic and its snappy pacing. My only disappointment with the conference is that it’s mostly just updates or new editions of games we already played, and the new things that were shown were just sequels. But I still got excited in spite of that from the energetic presentation and the genuine promise of what was shown.

Again, it was just more of what we love, and how is that a bad thing?

Rating: Four Adorable Kids Out of Five