Look, I'm grateful for a PC gaming show, and it was clear that that was the focus, but jesus fucking christ was that ever a long show. Rather then a traditional press conference like the other presenters, PC gamer chose to present their show as an interview format, hosted by Sean "Day9" a streamer from Twitch.
For his part, Day9 did pretty well, actively engaging the guests and knowing when to talk to the audience. He asked questions relevant to the games and wasn't afraid to go beyond the games when necessary.
And there were games, and questions about games. ALMOST THREE HOURS WORTH. Alright, let's do this, I have a lot of work to do, and almost 80 screenshots to get in:
Tripwire
The first guest was Tripwire interactive, talking about Killing Floor 2. I'm a big fan of both Killing Floor and KF2, so it was nice to see them discussing new additions to the game as it continues in Early Access.
The big new additions to KF2 are a new rendering technique that allows for more gorey...gore. Seriously, the footage looked amazingly disgusting. Also announced are two new classes, complete with weapons and perks, and two new maps.
Tripwire also announced the world debut of Rising Storm 2: Vietnam. It's Red Orchestra gameplay set during the Vietnam war, so I'm pretty excited. If I recall there were plans for a Vietnam mod for RO2, so it's unknown if that's been co-opted into this, or if they simply took the idea and made if official.
Star Citizen
Star Citizen showed up to make sure we all remembered they exist, The spoke about something called Squadron 42, which appears to be an infantry component of the game, as well as their pretty graphics.
AMD
AMD was the hardware sponsor for the show, and contributed to the PC that ran the demos during the show. Following their announcement this morning of 9 new GPU cards, AMD came out and discussed the PC gaming world.
The more interesting info was in AMD's second appearance later on in the show, when they showed off the world's most powerful 6" card. It's impressively small, but perhaps that's because I'm used to my hilariously oversized 970.
They also showed off their miniature supercomputer, with teraflops of memory. It was impressive to say the least, and probably costs more then my apartment and the entire building I live in.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Maybe it's because the Square show was so fucking bad, but the information regarding MD looked great. The team spoke about the level in the world, and the game looks amazing so far.
There was also some actual gameplay shown off. It looks very similar to HR, and that's a good thing since, for the most part, HR played like a dream. Here's hoping they fix the issues like boss fights and energy usage.
Total Warhammer
It's technically Total War: Warhammer, but I like this name more. Anyway, it's going to be a Total War game set in the Warhammer fantasy universe. There wasn't any gameplay, but they did discuss things like the new RPG trees for special units.
Microsoft
Microsoft decided to be a good parent this year and talk about PC gaming. They also admitted they suck at PC gaming. Phil Spencer spoke a bit about Windows 10 and bringing Killer Instinct to PC.
The team behind the upcoming Gigantic came out to speak a bit more about their game. It's going to be a 5v5 shooter MOBA where the goal is to protect your guardian, that is an AI controlled mega monster.
Finally from Microsoft was the announcement that Gears of War HD would be returning home once again to the PC. Even better were the host of mentioned graphics options, so that's sure to make people happy.
AMERICAN TRUCK SIM
I DON'T EVEN CARE IT WAS JUST A TRAILER I WANT IT SO BAD IT HURTS.
Eve Valkyrie
Being one of the first games to be built from the ground up is an ambitious claim to fame, but EVE was built on ambition. Valkyrie is a completely stand-alone title where you take on the role of a fighter pilot. Like I said, it's built for VR and it shows, allowing complete freedom of view from inside the cockpit. It looks disorienting as fuck, but also pretty neat.
Dean Hall and ION
While there still wasn't any gameplay shown, Hall did speak more about what ION is. What we know is that it's an isometric multiplayer game about surviving on a space station. We also know it has realistic organ simulation, indicating some pretty deep systems. These systems fall apart when a glitch removes all organs from another player. Hall likened the game to Space Station 13, a game I now want to try out.
Strafe
A kickstater success story, Strafe is a procedurally generated homage to Quake and Doom, and that's sounds awesome. The footage shown looked pretty great, with fast movement, a cool li-fi art style, and tonnes of gore.
Pillars of Eternity: White March
The first of two planned expansions for PoE, another Kickstarter success. Obsidian are promising even more writing and depth then the main game, and that's an impressive promise.
The expansion will also feature new companions, new classes, and a higher level cap. Personally, more PoE is great PoE.
Planet Coasters
Roller Coaster Tycoon, from the people making Elite: Dangerous. Isn't a fourth Roller Coaster Tycoon already in development?
Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns
GUILD HALLS GUILDS GUILD HALLS GUILDS GUILD HALLS GUILDS GUILD HALLS GUILDS GUILD HALLS GUILDS GUILD HALLS GUILDS GUILD HALLS GUILDS GUILD HALLS GUILDS.
Seriously, those words lost all meaning. Anyway, it's an expansion for Guild Wars 2 that adds Guild Halls, places that Guilds can claim and upgrade.
Hitman
Making his third appearance at E3, I:O interactive spoke a little more about their plans for December 8's Hitman. The idea is that Hitman is going to be a content delivery system for them, allowing constant updates to the players. Whether these will be free or not remains to be seen.
They also spoke more about the gameplay, and it's got me intrigued. The big focus is returning to the sandbox style of Blood Money (the best Hitman Game) and creating an open simulation for the player. The most interesting reveal is the idea of 300 individual NPCs on a map. We'll see later this year if their claims hold up.
ARMA 3
Bohemia came out to discuss ARMA 3's new upcoming expansion. Having put well over 100 hours into ARMA 3 I'm rather excited about this, and for good reason. The new landmass is a pacific island chain, meaning water plays a much more important part in the gameplay. It's supposed to be 100km square and features beaches and jungles.
More importantly was the announcement that ARMA 3 is moving to Direct X 12. As someone that struggles to get ARMA 3 to play well this is definitely great news, as it hopefully means better optimization and GPU usage.
Beyond Eyes
I mentioned before that Beyond Eyes looks like a great idea for a game, by making the player character blind. The creator spoke a little more about using the other senses, and how the character generates the world based on how she perceives it. I'm interested enough to pay attention, and I dig the art style.
Dirty Bomb
It exists. There's some stuff planned. It's free and on Steam now.
Tacoma
Much as I hate discussing Gone Home any more then I need to, I will admit it looks like there's actually something to Tacoma. It sees you exploring a space station finding out what happened. I'm not willing to write it off just yet, and thanks to Steam's refund policy I might never have to legitimately pay for this game to review it.
Soma
Switching from the heavens to the depths of the ocean we finally got some info on Soma, the follow-up to Amnesia and the Penumbra series. It looks scary as hell.
DayZ and Take on Mars
DayZ continues to rot on Early Access, so it was nice to see some planned content from the developers. Upcoming features include single player, new vehicles, full Workshop integration, and private servers. They also tentatively announced moving into Beta by the end of the year.
Also shown was some footage for Take on Mars, another ARMA engine game. It looks like a more limited Space Engineers, and is also out on Early Access.
Cliffy B and Enter the Gungeon
Cliffy B came out and talked about being a developer, and not being a developer. He teased his upcoming 5v5 shooter Blue Streak, but that's about it.
Then DodgeRoll games came on stage to give a live demo of their upcoming dungeon crawler bullet hell Enter the Dungeon. It looks like if Binding of Isaac was made in Japan, and the promise of proceduarally generated floors and 200 weapons, combined with the tough as hell nature put this game on my list.
Blizzard
Blizzard, in a rare E3 showing, came out to talk about Heroes of the Storm, their IP-spanning MOBA and it's first expansion Eternal Conflict. EC will add in the Monk, Crusader and King Leoric from Diablo 3, all with special abilities. It will also bring back the Treasure Goblin from Diablo 3.
Blizzard also revealed the free pack of Star Craft 2: Legacy of the Void missions called Whispers of Oblivion. These three missions will bridge the gap between the last Star Craft 2 expansion as a preparation for LotV later.
No Man's Sky
The last part of an overly long show was worth the wait, as No Man's Sky was finally confirmed for PC. The developer has said they wanted the game on PC since the start, but it was nice to finally see it.
It will launch at the same time as the PS4 version, whenever that is.
That's it for the PC gaming show, and all of the conferences. Check in tomorrow for my end of show wrap up.
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