There’s just something about Nintendo isn’t there? Despite the world around them seemingly falling apart, they stay steadfast in their joyful passions. It is fitting that the origins of Pikmin come from creator Shigeru Miyamoto watching some ants in his garden and wondering about the fun gaming possibilities. It’s such a quaint story, and befitting of the man and indeed the company as a whole. And now with Pikmin 3 Deluxe arriving on Nintendo Switch, there’s an opportunity for more people to dive into the latest quirky adventure, in more ways than one.

Pikmin 3 Deluxe is doing, on the surface at least, what most re-releases do on future consoles, by bundling together the main game with the DLC that came later. Meaning this time around you’re getting the Mission Modes rolled into one for your money. But it’s when you dig a little deeper into Nintendo’s wondrous garden world you realise there’s much more on offer here to enjoy, and different ways to enjoy it too.

The biggest change for Pikmin 3 Deluxe is the introduction of cooperative play locally. This means you and a friend can team up and take on the main story and many of the other modes together for the first time. And from what I’ve played so far it works very well in practice. The screen is split vertically, with each of you controlling your own camera. My wife and I were free to go about our business as we pleased, splitting the Pikmin between us to do our bidding. The co-op is seamless in the story too, as even if there is only one playable character for story reasons, then you each control a separate version of them, meaning no one is left on the sidelines.

What this does do right off the bat is introduce a teamwork mechanic to proceedings. Whereas before you’d be ordering your crew around to complete certain tasks, you can now divide and conquer organically and that feels great. Helping each other out by chucking the required Pikmin over a gap to where your partner is beavering away at a separate goal is very rewarding. You’ll find yourself nabbing more fruit and making progress quicker than you would solo. This eases the pressure of ensuring you find enough Pikmin and fruit to sustain your exploration from one day to the next.

To counter that point, there’s an argument that this coop play makes Pikmin 3 Deluxe too easy, and that’s a fair comment. Being able to strategise verbally with someone in the same room and control characters independently is much more efficient both for exploration and tackling enemies and bosses. But Nintendo has thought of this too with added difficulty settings for you to choose should you need more of a challenge. Newcomers can opt for the standard difficulty, whereas series veterans can opt for the harder mode, even unlocking a third difficulty should you master that.

Adding to that feeling of accessibility are some options and tweaks to again manage how you want to play Pikmin 3 Deluxe. There’s now a hint system that can be toggled on or off. When active, a press of the D-Pad offers helpful advice for areas you’ve yet to explore or puzzles you’ve yet to overcome. The hints are clear and to the point so should only be used if you’re really in a pinch, because they’re certainly not cryptic. It’s very much a case of “go here and try doing this”. However, I did find it useful for pointing out when the best thing to do is pack up and go and explore another area, because Story progression lies elsewhere. This stops you wandering aimlessly searching for nothing until sunset.

You can also choose to turn on the use of the gyro controls for aiming your Pikmin. There are also options to tweak how and when these gyro controls are used to customise your experience. You can for example use the touch screen to aim, or stick to a control stick depending on your preferences. You can even invert the gyro controls horizontally or vertically as well if you want to, depending on what feels right. Old-man me preferred the normal analogue stick for moving and trigger button lock-on system to aim, but it’s great to see such consideration for other control schemes, and to see the Switch functionality put to good use.

Pikmin 3 Deluxe is shaping up to be a really good package for newcomers or fans of the Wii U original. There’s obviously a core game in here that is still very well polished in terms of design and playability, and it’s been spruced up a bit visually for the Switch too. The added coop feels well integrated so far and gives Pikmin 3 Deluxe a lovely sense of camaraderie akin to that felt between its main crew of characters. The added Missions and Side Stories provide even more content for you to enjoy, encouraging you to spend more time in its lush iconic environments. This is more than just a simple re-release, and should definitely be on your radar when it launches later this month.

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I’m mildly surprised that it’s taken this long for another game to step directly into the ring with Disco Elysium, but at first glance it would appear that Gamedec is doing just that. Using a similar viewpoint and a variety of unique-ish character progression systems, it styles you as a “game detective” in a cyberpunk world where people escape for hours or even days at a time into fully immersive video games.

Although each of these games has its own set of clearly defined rules and regulations, there are nevertheless those who use them to commit crimes. Anything goes in the alternate world of Virtualium, and people can be tempted or coerced into doing things they wouldn’t consider in real life. Bribery, blackmail, extortion, identity theft, fraud, they’re all crimes that can be committed inside games, not to mention good old fashioned theft and murder. A Gamedec’s job is to solve these crimes both inside and outside of Virtualium.

The case presented in the demo is called “Twisted & Perverted” which gives an indication of which kind of virtual worlds we’ll be exploring. It focuses on the teenage son of sleazy businessman-slash-criminal Geoffrey Haggis, who has been trapped in Virtualium in an almost permanent state of arousal for four days. Unable to wake his son without risking permanent damage or trauma, Haggis has hired you to pull the lad out of whatever grimy hole he’s got himself stuck in.

Initially you begin by choosing a background and former profession for your Gamedec. Although these choices have futuristic names they have practical applications that will serve you well in one way or another throughout Gamedec. A Glazier, for example, can erect and destroy firewalls and has extensive knowledge of hacking and virtual security, while a Scalpel is a former real-world surgeon, and a Sleeve spent time as a physical enforcer. Throughout the case these “classes” help to unlock different routes through investigations and while exploring the world, as the Gamedec calls upon his expertise to make deductions and inform his questioning.

Your main task is information gathering. The first thing you need to do is program the virtual assistant in your office, who will either be male or female (the latter being a heavily sexualised Cortana-lookalike, obviously) who you can then choose to be intelligent, playful, or flirtatious. What impact this stuff will have going forward I don’t know, because it has zero bearing on events in the demo after leaving your apartment.

Once you reach Haggis’ penthouse suite, the investigation begins. You’ll find his son Fredo still hooked up to the game using a state-of-the-art chair and suit designed to stimulate muscles, mitigate bodily waste, regulate temperature and emulate real-world feelings and experiences. Opposite is a hooker, also still wired up, who has been in Virtualium for seventeen hours. Upon talking to Tommy, Fredo’s friend who’s still waiting Nervously in Haggis’ office, you’ll learn that the boys went into Virtualium looking for some excitement in a world called Paradise Beach, but were soon tempted by the no-limits thrills of Twisted & Perverted, a dark world through which the hooker, Starlett, was to be their guide.

The first leg of the investigation involves talking to a noncompliant Haggis and communicating with Starlett inside Virtualium, whilst also trying to coax info out of Tommy. Some conversations are furnished with a slider that moves right or left based on whether or not you’re getting through to the subject. If you can get them on-side and push the slider all the way right, they’ll open up, giving you clues and info that allow you to make Deductions and further the investigation. You can attempt to wake Starlett and pull her out of the game, but failure to do so will leaver her comatose.

You can also hack secret compartments on Haggis’ office or access his virtual safe and email accounts to dish dirt. You can even “free” his AI assistant if you’re a Glazier, which allows her to roam Virtualium forever. She might even help you out later. Once you have the information you need, you’ll have no choice but to strap into Haggis’s spare chair and go retrieve his son from Twisted & Perverted.

Taking the form of a dingy network of back alleys, T&P features a bunch of fetishists hanging around on street corners. There’s a guy looking for his wife, a dude who died in the real world while under, and has lived in Twisted & Perverted ever since. There’s even a prankster unicorn offering some weird pleasures and trolling everyone he can. To get the info you need you’ll often have to do jobs or favours for the NPCs first.

The more questions you ask, the more deductions you’ll unlock, which mark your route through the case and open up new lines of questioning. At present there’s no voiced dialogue, and while the writing is decent it doesn’t have the same level of quality as its closest rival. It also may purely be down to this particular case, but the content in the demo is very sexually focused. Character portraits look straight out of a fetish club catalogue, which is kind of the point I guess, but right now it’s a little lacking in atmosphere.

There’s also a lot of jargon to get your head around in Gamedec, with terminology for the technology and all its various elements. The full game promises different player characters (or at least skins), and a branching, changeable storyline that reacts to your choices. In the demo the path is a little more rigid, but whether there will be an overarching story and how much bearing it will have on each case remains to be seen.

One cool element is how you can use the rules of Virtualium to your advantage. At one point we got stuck behind a burning car with no way over, but a handy mine in a dumpster killed us so we could respawn on the other side. The presence of the mine in the dumpster was contrived and overly convenient, admittedly, but it was a decent example of how it will work.

We’ve also yet to see how the world looks as a whole. Character interactions were limited in what I played and most of the conversation was a little one-note (I mean, everyone in Twisted & Perverted is pretty much that). Also, the end of the case had some pretty disturbing imagery which simply won’t be easy for some players to watch, even if the level of detail isn’t particularly high.

Gamedec has the potential to be deep and repayable, but as it stands it could struggle to find an audience. The writing isn’t brilliant, but the world and concept are intriguing, and the possibilities afforded by Virtualium are many and varied. Some will be turned off by the content of Twisted & Perverted, others will see the funny side of horny unicorns and a guy who can’t keep up with his sexually adventurous wife, but what more will come with the full release we just don’t know. What we do know for sure is that it won’t be predictable, and that can only be a good thing.

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It’s hard to really get a feel for what Star Renegades will be from just the few hours I spent with the demo. Barely lasting past an hour itself, even repeated playthroughs of the two levels shown can only scratch the surface of what promises to be a unique and emergent turn-based RPG. The few missions available are unable to showcase the 45+ playable characters, the extent of the relationship system, or the scope of the procedurally-generated campaign. But I’ll tell you one thing: it’s got my attention.

Set in a galaxy plunged into inter-dimensional war, Star Renegades follows warrior Wynn Syphex, who gets shot down in the opening battle and witnesses her brother killed by the invaders. Wynn is sought out by Professor Zurek, who’s counterpart in another dimension has already witnessed the destruction of her world and sent her robot J5-T1N across dimensions to warn other galaxies.

At present it’s hard to know exactly how divergent the campaign will be, but the missions are dynamic and procedural, and the huge host of characters and classes (there are 13 classes in total) gave me serious flashbacks to Suikoden, one of my favourite JRPG series of all time. What seems likely is the small details will change, but the overall story will flow in the same direction each playthrough; it’ll just break around different obstacles every time.

An enemy hierarchy system seems borrowed from grander titles like Shadow of Mordor, whereby your opponent’s force will shift and change dependant on your successes, failures, and choices. A throneroom view enables you to appraise the enemy, watch its generals get promoted or replaced, and select your primary target. It’s not altogether new, but its inclusion in a turn-based RPG like Star Renegades feels fresh.

Combat follows a Reactive Time Battle System, which is a fancy way of saying you have an initiative meter that your party and opponents are spaced along based on which attacks or abilities you’ve chosen. The cool element in Star Renegades is that you can interrupt your opponents or counter their attacks before they make them, allowing you to disrupt their plans and even move along the meter. For example, if you can get an attack in before an enemy has a chance to launch theirs you haver a high chance of scoring a critical hit and “breaking” them, reducing their armour and forcing them back along the meter.

It’s a system that makes every battle feel different, and makes the composition of your team hugely important. Fill your squad with slow, heavy-hitters and you may well deal damage, but you’ll rarely get the chance to land crits or interrupt the enemy. Likewise, only specific characters can restore health or shields, while some can damage multiple enemies at once or use buffs and debuffs to influence the battlefield.

Beyond the combat, exploration and enemy evolution, interpersonal relationships may also be different for each player. Characters who fight together and interact during downtime between missions will form bonds. These bonds not only unlock combo attacks that can be executed once per fight for devastating damage, but can also lead to deeper relationships and children who, when grown, will become playable characters too because Star Renegades’ story spans multiple generations.

So, sure, it’s hard to appreciate or predict the ultimate scope of Star Renegades based on such a short demo, but everything about it feels ambitious and interesting. The animation is gorgeous, the muted pallet and inventive characters creating an art style that feels oddly familiar but somehow unique at the same time. It’s battle system is not the easiest to get to grips with, but it won’t take long to understand its intricacies. And I should say right away that the dialogue at this point isn’t voiced, so that’s lots of reading if it stays this way. But while some of the writing is a little on the cheesy side, it has a sense of light-hearted camaraderie and space-age derring-do about that will endear a lot of people – particularly fans of anime sci-fi.

Although I played the demo on Steam, Star Renegades is coming to consoles too, including the Nintendo Switch. I’ve got to be honest: that’s where I’m most excited to play it. Regardless of platform, though, Star Renegades is guaranteed to turn heads when it’s released later this year.

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The New Game Plus Expo digital showcase is currently being shown on Twitch featuring announcements and gameplay from many publishers including Sega, Atlus, NIS America, Koei Tecmo America, Aksys Games, and more. Aksys Games’ announcements and reveals for the event include release windows for the many otome games for Nintendo Switch, Tin and Kuna, the reveal of Pretty Princess Party for Nintendo Switch, and more.

The otome games shown at the event include Collar X Malice Unlimited which is the follow up to Collar X Malice. Collar X Malice unlimited releases this August for Nintendo Switch bringing new play modes, content, and more to the world of Collar X Malice. This is the first time Collar X Malice Unlimited is releasing in English.

Piofiore: Fated Memories for Nintendo Switch arrives this October. The otomate developed game features Liliana Adoronato who is in the middle of three criminal organizations in the city. This is another otome game never released before in English that will see a release in the West on Nintendo Switch.

Tin and Kuna is a 3D puzzle exploration game for PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC arriving in October from blackriver studios in a colourful world. Originally set for just Fall 2020, Tin and Kuna arrives this October on all platforms. Watch the trailer below:

Cafe Enchante is the final otome game showcased at the event and it has you inheriting your grandfather’s cafe in Tokyo where you meet beings from different worlds including the king of demons. Cafe Enchante arrives on Nintendo Switch this November.

Pretty Princess Party is a new game set for Nintendo Switch release this December. It is a simulation game from Nippon Columbia and Aksys Games with more than a thousand items to use to decorate the caste’s various rooms.

What was your favourite reveal from the New Game Plus Expo today?

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Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night from ArtPlay and 505 Games, was released recently on Xbox One, PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch. You can check out our review of it here, in which I said:

“Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is an incredibly well-made adventure, and a heartfelt ode to games long past. More than that though, it feels like a potential gateway to a new era of Castlevania games that could cherry pick elements from half a dozen other genres and present themselves with a modern sheen to appeal to a broad spectrum of ages and skill levels. While it at times struggles to keep up with itself and there are elements of frustration here and there, the overall package is immensely playable and lovingly made.”

Or checkout the video review here:

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Now that the dust has settled on another year of big announcements, CGI trailers, nice surprises and not-so-nice disappointments, the internet has had its say on E3 2019. The verdict? Lacklustre, apparently.

Although I’m inclined to agree, at least as far as some of the biggest names go, I couldn’t help but be drawn into the hype and the fun of the whole show. It’s the same every year and you know what? I bloody love it. I love the build-up, as we all throw our hats into the ring, trying to predict what will be shown and when that big game will finally arrive. This year’s pre-show was even better, with several games announced before the conferences even got underway. We had Death Stranding’s release date arriving with that almighty, eight-minute-long trailer that still managed to give nothing away. We had the surprise of the Darksiders Genesis reveal, brought to us by some of the series’ original creators at Airship Syndicate. We even got the long-awaited news that the creator of the stunning Divinity: Original Sin 2, Larian Studios, is making Baldur’s Gate 3! It might not be arriving anytime in the near future, but it’s still darned exciting.

When the show’s conferences began, or lack thereof in the case of this year’s EA Play, we finally got to see the gameplay for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, which looks like it takes plenty of cues from The Force Unleashed, something I can certainly get behind. Yes, I’d still prefer a protagonist that wasn’t your usual human dude, but the post-Order 66 Star Wars era has so much potential and I hope Respawn does it justice. Those folks know what they’re doing when it comes to action games, so I’m quietly confident Fallen Order will deliver when it launches in November.

You know what else I love? The pre-Xbox chatter. Every year, before the Xbox, Nintendo and Sony (well, not them this year) shows, the social medias are buzzing with excitement for what the “big three” will announce. Yes okay, there are still an uncomfortably large number of people that still subscribe to the whole “console wars” thing, and love nothing more than to take shots at their perceived “enemies,” despite some of them declaring that they’re not fanboys of one particular console or another, but thankfully almost all of the people on my Twitter feed are decent folk who simply love games and want to be excited by them.

Deep down, I want to believe that most people enjoy the excitement and promise of what each first party might show, and I’m very rarely disappointed on that front. So when Xbox began announcing games left, right and centre, it was great to see the buzz online. Games like Minecraft Dungeons (still amazing to think that Microsoft is making multiplatform games) and Spiritfarer, both drawing “oohs” and “ahhs” like a circus performance; the almost unbearably delightful announcement of Forza Horizon 4’s LEGO DLC that had me grinning like a little kid, and last year’s acquisition, Ninja Theory, announcing its new PvP hero title Bleeding Edge. Okay, that one was leaked beforehand and honestly, it was disappointing to see a studio renowned for its storytelling moving away from that to pursue multiplayer stuff. Still, it’s always great to see Ninja Theory’s new games and it’s yet more proof that it’s a developer constantly pushing itself to try new things. You have to respect and admire that.

On a much more personal note, despite not really being an advocate for the next generation just yet, the Project Scarlett news and in particular that beautiful Halo: Infinite trailer and announcement that it would be a launch title for Microsoft’s next Xbox in Holiday 2020, really got me. The idea that I may get a new Xbox with a very shiny new Halo game (and probably a new Forza) was a sudden and surprisingly exciting prospect. I mean, that Halo trailer. Chills. Excuse me a moment while I go watch it again.

Of course, without Sony it was a strange E3, like something was missing. Still, Nintendo certainly didn’t skimp on the games and surprises, helping to fill the void of PlayStation’s absence. My Twitter feed was going crazy at the first appearance of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and rightly so. Tom Nook will once again own our asses in March 2020. I know we wanted it this year, but with a more invigorated team under less pressure, I think we can all appreciate what Nintendo is doing and we certainly know that we’re going to buy Animal Crossing on the Switch, regardless of when it arrives. It’s Animal Crossing, for goodness sake.

I love how Nintendo brings out the child in all of us, how we all made heart-eyes at the sight of that adorable Link’s Awakening Amiibo, and seeing Gooigi had us smiling until our cheeks hurt. The Duck Hunt dog’s appearance, before fan favourites Banjo-Kazooie pulled the old switcheroo, announcing their appearance in Smash Bros., was masterful. But in the same Nintendo Direct, CD Projekt RED’s phenomenal The Witcher 3 was revealed to be coming to Nintendo’s hybrid console, in a move that makes us all wonder just what (s)witchcraft is being performed to get it running on hardware that seems rather underpowered. What little we saw, however, made it look surprisingly good!

Speaking of CD Projekt RED, how about Keanu Reeves announcing Cyberpunk 2077’s release date, as well as his appearance in the game? A breathtaking move, you might say. Normally, celebrity appearances are a bit cringey to say the least, but Keanu’s recent re-emergence into the spotlight and his genuinely nice personality earned him the most memorable moment of the entire show. He had fun on Microsoft’s stage, the crowd loved it, and it brought a real warmth to the evening. That warmth continued, with Tango Gameworks’ Ikumi Nakamura capturing the hearts of everyone watching the otherwise dull Bethesda show, as she enthusiastically announced her new game Ghostwire Tokyo. Ubisoft got in on the action too, with Jon Bernthal bringing his dog Bam Bam onto the stage during his Ghost Recon: Breakpoint appearance. Bam Bam was a very good boy, upstaging the whole Ubisoft show.

Ubisoft was arguably one of the biggest disappointments of E3 2019, showing a bunch of brown shooters and CGI trailers, not to mention a strange mashup mobile game featuring Sam Fisher, which didn’t go down too well with Splinter Cell fans whose patience is wearing very thin at this point. I also have a huge problem with Rainbow Six: Quarantine, as it strays well away from Tom Clancy’s original vision. Yes, it’s an expansion of the limited-time event from Rainbow Six: Siege, but could have easily been made into a new IP instead of once again relying on the Tom Clancy name.

Still, in a bid to keep this positive, Ubisoft did start strong with its extended gameplay debut of the impressive-looking Watch_Dogs Legion, and ended with the tantalising tease of Gods and Monsters, the stylised new mythology-based game from the team that gave us Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey. I cannot wait to get more info on that.

This article wasn’t meant to be a look back at the show, but there were so many great games shown that I needed to talk about them a little bit. But that’s the point, isn’t it? We all talked about them, as we do every year. We get excited about the big AAA games like Halo, and we remain passionate about the games that disappoint us, sometimes by their absence (I’m looking at you, Ubisoft). We love the big surprises and some of the fun talking points like Keanu Reeves. We love publishers like Devolver Digital and their insane branding, all the while bringing genuinely brilliant-looking games into the spotlight, usually by small developers that deserve to be seen.

E3 is certainly going through some changes, with EA’s reduced appearance and Sony’s total absence this year, and 2019 especially felt a little like a transition as we wait for the concrete announcements of next generation consoles. That said, this year’s release schedule now looks a whole lot more enticing and the beginning of 2020 looks like it’s going to have a bigger Q1-2 than ever. Before the show, I was in a bit of a gaming funk, as we all go through now and again, unable to really find any interest in anything. I went back to older games, as new stuff didn’t bother me and while I looked forward to E3, I couldn’t see much beyond that for me to care about. Thankfully, while many saw E3 2019 as a disappointment, I still revelled in its bombast – and my faith in 2019’s games was restored.

No matter what others see in the show, it always manages to excite me. Which is exactly why I still love E3.

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This year’s E3 has been an odd one, hasn’t it? The big conferences were a mixed bag, with Microsoft and Nintendo delivering a lot of fan favourites and just tonnes of games, but the likes of Bethesda and Ubisoft being big disappointments. In amongst it all, there were a few gems from smaller studios that may have got lost in the melee. A few of them came via the PC Gaming Show, which often gets a bit overlooked, so you may have missed them.

If you’ve been following our E3 2019 coverage, you’ll have seen some wonderful opinion pieces by the Chrises, Mick and some from the returning Calvin. I chose not to focus on the biggest games and publishers however, deciding instead to focus my energies on some of the smaller titles that debuted at this year’s show.

Here are six of those games…

Unexplored 2: The Wayfarer’s Legacy – by Ludomotion (PC)

Quite honestly, I suspect you’ve not heard of Unexplored. I hadn’t. But when the trailer ran during the PC Gaming Show, the sort of low-poly, cel shaded visual style and the top-down, pulled-back camera is something I really like (it was the first thing that drew me to that original Below reveal) and I was well into the look of Unexplored 2.

A roguelike adventure, with a Legacy system that will see the game changing for each adventurer. Like Rogue Legacy and Swords of Ditto, death in Unexplored 2 will see a new adventurer continuing the quest to destroy the Staff of Yendor. The decisions and actions of their predecessor however, will affect the world for the next adventurer. Killing hostile wildlife may allow a village to expand, or a conquering army may ravage areas and make the game harder in later playthroughs.

Okay, it has survival elements (why do games insist on adding these?) that may eventually turn me off the game, but right now I’m really intrigued by this. Definitely one to watch.

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout – by Mediatonic (PS4, PC)

I used to love Takeshi’s Castle. The absolute insanity of its setting and the ridiculously entertaining games, not to mention the almost slapstick nature of the comic violence when someone slams into a wall or does the splits during the stepping stone game, with a misstep. I also love Devolver Digital, as the publisher seems to always bring incredibly fun games to us, while never being predictable.

Thus, Mediatonic’s Fall Guys does something that I’m surprised hasn’t really been done before, bringing the Takeshi’s Castle formula to us via the Battle Royale genre. Going through various stages, each reducing the player count further during mad games, and all using a physics-based system like Gang Beasts and Human Fall Flat, for maximum hilarity.

Fall Guys looks like it could be the colourful, non-shooter game that the Battle Royale genre sorely needs.

Circuit Superstars – by Original Fire Games (PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC)

Racing games are totally my thing. As you may recall from earlier in this article, so is the top-down perspective. Circuit Superstars, revealed during the PC Gaming Show, combines the two, bringing a surprisingly sim-like physics model along for the ride.

There will be motorsport disciplines from different ages, with classic and modern GT cars shown off in the trailer, complete with strategic pit stops, and I am incredibly excited by the prospect of Circuit Superstars. There may not be much known so far, but this one was easily one of the nicest surprises of the show.

Conan Chop Chop – by Mighty Kingdom (PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC)

Another nice surprise, especially after Funcom showed yet another strange take on the Conan universe in its RTS Conan Unconquered, was that its apparent April Fool’s joke, Conan Chop Chop, was actually real all along!

A one-to-four player action-adventure, Conan Chop Chop combines stick figures and roguelike elements to create a comically ultraviolent hack and slasher that looks extremely entertaining. Okay, so it’s not exactly in keeping with the licence, but it does look fun.

Chivalry II – by Torn Banner (PC)

The original Chivalry was ace. It was also criminally overlooked, especially as it brought something a little different to the competitive multiplayer arena. It wasn’t full of guns and killstreaks, or heroes and special abilities, instead it simply gave you a choice of classes and sent you out to hack your way to victory in pitched medieval battles.

Chivalry II, currently only slated for release on PC via the Epic Games Store, looks to turn up the intensity and scale, with the trailer showing off sieges and the newly-added horses. I’m incredibly excited to see Chivalry making its return, and I’ll be keeping my eye on its development. I just hope my PC can handle it, or that a console version is announced, though that’s unlikely.

Unless you all start buying and playing the original on PS4 and Xbox One…

Spiritfarer – by Thunder Lotus (PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC)

Alright, so you probably did see this one. It was unveiled during the Xbox briefing, after all. The latest from the studio that gave us Jotun and Sundered, Spiritfarer looks to eschew the difficulty of its other games in favour of something a little more sedate and emotional.

Spiritfarer does exactly what it says on the tin, as you ferry the dead into the afterlife. But you’ll also be able to explore the world, finding resources that will allow you build your ferry into a floating town, and meeting new faces and welcoming them aboard your vessel.

I like the idea of forging relationships with these characters, learning all about them, only to have to say goodbye to them when they pass into their next life. I like the idea of exploring a rich and vibrant world, building a community and following the stories within. Not sure I’m keen on being made to cry by cartoon animals (I still haven’t recovered from The Lion King), but I can’t help but be drawn to Thunder Lotus’ games.

This may have been a bit of a strange E3, but it’s also been incredibly exciting at times. We’ve had some huge announcements and the next year is now packed full of games, from big and small names alike, which can only be a good thing.

Were there any hidden gems that you’ve seen, that aren’t on this list? Let us know!

The post 6 games you may have missed at E3 appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

It was about 9 months ago, when I was covering the latest Nintendo Direct with Gary Bailey. When Isobel from Animal Crossing appeared on screen we both assumed the obvious: this was the long-awaited announcement of Animal Crossing on Switch, surely. So you can imagine our collective dismay when Isobel went on to announce her involvement in the upcoming Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. We were both surprised, a bit angry and more than a little sheepish that we’d let ourselves jump aboard the hype train that so often ends up calling at the station of disappointment.

But, Nintendo – as is becoming abundantly clear – are wily old dogs when it comes to these announcements. It turned out that Isobel’s appearance wasn’t just to reveal her inclusion in Smash Ultimate, but was, as Gary and I had predicted, to reveal the new Animal Crossing title. A game incidentally that we now know is coming March 20, 2020 in the shape of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Cue the second feeling of sheepishness as we’d been fooled twice in two minutes.

Fast-forward to this year’s E3, and I reluctantly admit that it happened again, although in my defence, Nintendo have clearly upped their game. Thankfully I saw through the “Banjo-Kazooie in Smash” reveal misdirection (because fool me twice, shame on me after the King K. Rool reveal shenanigans). That blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Jiggy hurtling across the screen was enough for me to give off an involuntary whelp of excitement. That and the satisfaction that I’d seen through their ruse this time around. No amount of Duck Hunt dancing was going to throw me off the scent.

Oh, how naïve I was. Nintendo always has the last laugh, it seems.

Nintendo’s holding pattern for Directs is to save a big reveal for the end, a crescendo, a final flourish, with the aim of keeping tongues wagging long after that final logo animation and click soundbite. So with updates on Animal Crossing and Luigi’s Mansion 3, my mind was racing as to what it could be. Would it be Bayonetta 3? Could it even be a first look at Metroid Prime 4? Would it be a new Star Fox or even an F-Zero title? (Yes, I know I’m probably the last one who wants it at this point, but a man can dream!)

Aa the camera panned out from some mystical green goo, it became apparent that this was looking incredibly similar to Breath of the Wild. And no sooner had I thought it, than two characters looking very much like Link and Zelda were there snooping around. The logical part of my brain assumed the obvious. “Oh, some meaty DLC content for Breath of the Wild?” I thought. My mind was awash with how clever this was given most people, despite spending maybe 100s of hours with the game, had probably bounced off it to other things, and this would bring them back. How this would satisfy those who were maybe bemoaning that the latest Zelda offering was a remake of a game that was over 25 years old. It looked a lot darker in tone as well, compared to the original (if you can call wholesale devastation “light”), so this felt like it would feel significantly different to what had come before.

In reality, it was all of these things and more. As the screen faded to black and simple text dropped a gaming bombshell, I was gobsmacked, completely blindsided by the words in front of me. Not DLC, but, crazily, a direct sequel to the best-selling game in the series. On that fact alone it’s not a ridiculous announcement, but a game on the scale of Breath of the Wild felt years away (and, in all likelihood, still is) hence why a reveal like this was so surprising.

The look of disbelief on my face became one of abject shock. It evolved from simple surprise at an announcement I most definitely wasn’t expecting to the growing realisation that I’d been tricked again. Nintendo had done me once more, by subverting my expectations, making me assume one thing only to reveal another. You’d think after all these years of following their Directs and E3 presentations that I’d be used to this by now, an expert at spotting the big twist. But I’m clearly not, and to be honest I’m glad of that. It keeps the magic alive, and is why I still tune into their Directs (particularly E3) with a sense of wonder. In that respect, Nintendo, please don’t ever change, keep us guessing always. That, and maybe a new F-Zero game OK?

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Let’s face it, you generally know what you’re getting into before you even boot up a From Software game. It’s going to be punishingly hard, it’s going to be semi-roguelike, you’re going to die a lot and you’re going to swear so much you’ll invent new cuss words without even trying.

It’s such a masochistically popular sub-genre that it’s no wonder many other developers have tried to ape the core mechanics in an attempt to get a slice of that rage-inducing pie. But determining which are worth your time and money, and which are just pretenders is tricky, so we’ve rounded up 5 of the best examples available today.

5: IMMORTAL UNCHAINED
Toadman Interactive | 2018

Developed by indie studio Toadman Interactive, Immortal Unchained is a far-future sci-fi that attempted to subvert our expectations of a Souls game by adding guns to the mix.

Despite some technical difficulties and the challenge of working with a low budget, Toadman have done a decent job here, managing to inject some real atmosphere – as well as a few cool ideas.

Sadly, its challenge comes as much from iffy balancing as from design, resulting in a slightly uneven experience. Still, Toadman’s recent updates, as well its overall likeability, mean it’s worth picking up if you’re a fan of the genre. Besides, who doesn’t want to run around like a ‘roided-up techno-freak for a few hours?

4: THE SURGE
Deck 13 | Focus Home Interactive | 2017

The Surge is a game about a bunch of really angry robots getting upset about essentially being slaves to squishy humies, and going uniformally nuts. As a result, it’s probably the most grounded game on the list, if you ignore the endlessly respawning enemies and homemade mech suits, that is.

While it’s easy to doubt the efficacy of a human smashing robots to death with bits of scavenged iron and steel, The Surge is actually a pretty polished experience – barring a few rare bugs that will kill your progress completely, if course.

As sci-fi action games go, it’s certainly an enjoyable enough romp; it just doesn’t quite capture the magic of the titles it’s aiming to replicate.

3: LORDS OF THE FALLEN
Deck 13 | City Interactive | 2014

City Interactive was one of the first studios brave enough to attempt to dip their toes in From’s pool, as it were, with Lords of the Fallen, a pitch-dark fantasy about Harkyn, a man with all of his crimes tattooed on his burly body as a reminder of his tragic quest for redemption.

He’s a miserable bastard for sure, but also pretty handy, as you can spec him in three very different skills that genuinely make you play differently. Although too short and not as clever or nuanced as From’s games, Lords did come close to the crown for a little while.

Minor gameplay tweaks like being able to “bank” your XP, so you keep it on death but earn less as a result switched up the dynamic just a little, and God, some of it looked really nice.

2: SALT & SANCTUARY
Ska Studios | 2016

Being a 2D action platformer reminiscent of something like Super Ghouls ‘n’ Ghosts, Ska Studios indie darling had everyone fooled – until its release, when we all realised just how Souls-like it really is.

Shipwrecked on a mysterious island and shit out of luck, your protagonist must make their way through the shadowed under-belly and across the monster-haunted surface, braving dark forests, deep catacombs and trap filled dungeons in an effort to, well, survive.

But it became apparent in mere moments that Salt & Sanctuary is every inch a Souls-like, even down to the respawning enemies, dropping XP and currency on death, and the timing-based combat. It was one of the best games available for the PlayStation Vita, may it rest in peace, and the perfect example of an indie studio playing to its strengths.

1: NIOH
Team Ninja | Sony/Tecmo Koei | 2017

Doing “Dark Souls in Japan” before Sekiro was an itch in From’s jockstrap, Nioh remains the best available Soulslike not actually developed by the progenitors.

The story of Westerner William lost in the shadows of an ancient, horror-story version of Japan, Nioh features copious amounts of Oni, lots of supernatural goings – on, spirit animals and, of course, that old familiar death mechanic.

If you’re a fan of the genre at all, you really should have played Nioh – it’s worth checking out for its incredible combat, often bonkers art design, and undeniably confident swagger.

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