Table of Contents

Summer Game Fest 2021
Koch Primetime
IGN Expo Livestream
Guerrilla Collective Day 2
Wholesome Direct 2021
Ubisoft Forward
Devolver Forwarder
Gearbox Entertainment
Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase
Square Enix Presents
PC Gaming Show
Future Games Show
Limited Run Games
Capcom
Nintendo Direct

Square Enix Presents

I was looking forward to Square Enix’s presentation quite a bit, especially since it was confirmed that we’d be seeing Babylon’s Fall and there were all those intriguing Final Fantasy rumors floating around.

Well, they started with Guardians of the Galaxy. And… it went on for a long time. A very long time. So much time was devoted to Guardians of the Galaxy that I started to wonder if it was ever going to end.

But it finally did, with the announcement of the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster series, the rumored re-release of the first 6 Final Fantasy games… for PC and mobile devices only. That decision confuses me. I would have expected Switch or PS4 at the very least to be an obvious choice for them, but apparently not.

It also got only a tiny slice of time in the presentation, followed by another tiny slice of time devoted to the upcoming Legend of Mana remaster.

Then they talked about updates to their Avengers game, and then went through a quick series of trailers for mobile games: the upcoming Hitman mobile game, Nier Reincarnation, Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier, and the latest content coming to Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius.

After that came the moment I was waiting for – Babylon’s Fall! And… my feelings are mixed. On one hand, it looks pretty interesting and the combat seems like it has potential. On the other hand, while you can play solo, it seems to have co-op as a focus. Worse, it’s a live service game. That’s not exactly what I was hoping for.

Life is Strange was the next focus, with them first talking about the upcoming Remastered Collection and then focusing more on the new game, True Colors.

I thought that might be where they would end things, but that other report was fulfilled – Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin was officially announced! This is an action RPG spin-off being developed by Team Ninja, and I’m pretty intrigued. A demo is available now, but only for the PS5 despite the game itself being multiplatform.

And that was it for Square Enix’s show!

It wasn’t as exciting as I’d hoped, but Final Fantasy Origin is intriguing enough to balance my mixed feelings on Babylon’s Fall. Anyway, today’s E3 festivities are far from over, as we still have two showcases left today! Stay tuned!

Table of Contents

Summer Game Fest 2021
Koch Primetime
IGN Expo Livestream
Guerrilla Collective Day 2
Wholesome Direct 2021
Ubisoft Forward
Devolver Forwarder
Gearbox Entertainment
Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase
Square Enix Presents
PC Gaming Show
Future Games Show
Limited Run Games
Capcom
Nintendo Direct

Devolver Forwarder

One of my fondest E3 memories is the first Devolver Digital showcase. I tuned in expecting a normal press conference, and went through many, many emotions as I slowly realized along with the rest of chat that we were watching some form of concentrated madness instead.

Since then, Devolver has found an entertaining balance between parody and actual game announcements, and has become a highlight for me.

This year’s parody was focused on games as a service and monetization, with Devolver presenting “monetization as a service,” a subscription service that gives you access to premium purchases you can make. It was great.

Meanwhile, they showed more gameplay from Shadow Warrior 3, a new sidescrolling action game called Trek to Yomi, another trailer for the multiplayer game Phantom Abyss, and another new multiplayer game called Wizard With a Gun. We also got to see another trailer for Death’s Door, which I really like the looks of.

A deckbuilding puzzle game called Inscryption looks interesting, and they announced a mobile game parody of mobile games called Devolver Tumble Time. Then they announced a physical-only game called Demon Throttle.

As they wrapped up this year’s showcase, they also managed to parody NFTs. I’m not sure what they have left for next year, but I can’t wait to find out.

Gearbox Entertainment

Now, I missed watching Devolver live and initially intended to watch Gearbox and then go back to Devolver later. After a few minutes of Gearbox’s show, I decided to catch up on Devolver’s insanity first. But don’t worry, as soon as I finished, I tuned in to see what Gearbox covered.

Gearbox began with a nice little video introduction about how it was a rough year and we deserve a treat now.

They talked for a while about things like the Borderlands movie, and then moved on to Borderlands Science, which is a mini-game in Borderlands 3. Then they had an itty bitty teaser for Homeworld 3. After that, they showed the trailer for Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands again and talked a bit about the world.

Then Homeworld 3 got another tiny bit of attention.

We got to see Tribes of Midgard again with some more detail, and then they announced a PS4 port of Godfall, along with a new expansion and an update. Then they talked about Homeworld 3 for another few seconds. Then they talked more about the Borderlands movie.

…Why did Gearbox have a showcase?

That wraps up today’s E3 offerings, but don’t worry – tomorrow is filled with showcases, including a couple I’ve been looking forward to quite a bit!