The most impressive thing about the presentation as a whole was the lack of filler. Other than the obligatory, humanising intro video, there wasn't any waffling philosophy. Information was delivered thick and fast, and lengthy gameplay videos made up the majority of the show. It's the most exciting way to deliver news to the audience, but it's also great to see them unafraid to show what they've got so far.
DOOM made for a pretty good opener. It's been just about long enough that a reboot could actually make sense, because the source material and gameplay is so well renowned, and it's got enough clout as an industry classic to whet appetites while we waited for Fallout, the obvious closing gambit. The game itself looks... OK. They are definitely focusing on a faster pace. I don't think there were more than ten seconds between gunfights.
The levels looked pretty, but uninspiring. I mean, if you're going to put HELL in your game, you could make it a bit more fantastical than khaki smoke and fleshy-coloured walls. The frenetic gameplay should make multiplayer real good fun, and the stuff they're doing with map editing and level design is a welcome inclusion - level editors kind of disappeared outside of indie racing games, didn't they?
Battlecry was glazed over rather quickly, and it doesn't really come across all that well at the moment. No real information about it was given, outside of "more news soon". Hopefully it'll get its dues on the showfloor.
In my predictions, I hypothesised we'd get an Elder Scrolls remaster. Bethesda hadn't yet joined the money-printing parade of HD remakes, but they are soon. Dishonored Definitive Edition, oh joy. In fairness, I skipped on it despite some interest when it was first released. The right price might sway me. Dishonored 2's trailer was okay, despite the lack of gameplay. My beyonce tells me the lady in the trailer was in the first game and that it's totally cool that we get to play as her, so there's that. This is pure speculation but the scope of the trailer - tracking the target across the city, breaking into his lair - suggests some sort of open world to me.
I was surprised Bethesda had the balls to bring up Elder Scrolls Online, with the terrible console launch still excluding thousands of players from actually getting Online with it. It went down without much applause. Then came Elder Scrolls Legends, a.k.a. Bethesda gettin' a hunkachunk of dat Hearthstone money. A free-to-play CCC on tablets. The cheap and undescriptive trailer probably indicates they're aware of it.
Aaaaaand finally we got to Fallout. And there was EVEN MORE OF IT than we anticipated. And it looks REALLY GOOD.
The initial trailer didn't really do it for me, but I'm really excited for Fallout 4 now. The show reassured me that Bethesda are making an attempt to evolve the series, not simply making a bigger, prettier version of 3 and New Vegas. There's fully voiced male and female protagonists, an interesting new take on the origin story, and a focus on player customisation not only on weapons and armour but in the gameworld and your hub itself. The fact that they managed to get such rapturous reception whilst showing almost no detail of the plot outside of the game's opening, and very little combat or mission mechanics, shows how impressive these additions looked. It was obvious that we were destined for a 2015 release date the longer the Fallout demo went on. The game just seemed far too finished to suit anything else. November 10th, with a special edition that comes with an actual pip-boy. What a time to be alive.
I'm playing that Fallout Shelter iPad game and it seems pretty neat. I enjoyed the awkward dig at free-to-play mobile games. Shame about the Apple "partnership". Developer quotes flying around on Twitter right now imply some kind of timed exclusivity for both Shelter and ES: Legends.
All in all, that was a great showing. It was meaty, doubling down on a few big games rather than promising the world. The speakers came across as sensible, passionate and understanding of what the audience wants. I think they're definitely going to be welcomed back next time.
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