During E3 2018, mxdwn Games brought you some of the best titles that were available at the convention. With newcomer indie games to highly anticipated sequels, E3 2018 was an exciting year for gaming all around. Those of us from mxdwn Games that went to E3 2018 have compiled a list of our personal favorite games at E3 for your consideration.
We present to you from our personal experiences: The Top 10 Games at E3 2018
10. Kaisuo
Kaisuo is a new VR title that takes players into beautiful sceneries after solving difficult Chinese box puzzles. The puzzles are very intuitive and keep you guessing just as soon as you solve one step. A lot of thought and effort was put into making these boxes but when they are completed players will be awarded with a dramatic transition to different environments.
Fractured lands is a post-apocalyptic take on the battle royale genre. With heavy influences from Mad Max, Fractured Lands brings combat outside of standard gun play, and it introduces some exhilarating car combat. Being able to customize your own car, and having your own car in general, felt awesome. The title has all of the usual battle royale aspects: you loot, shoot on sight, and aim to be the last one standing. With the addition of everyone having a car, it really does open up the world, and it allows for some awesome moments and plays to happen. It also eliminates the cheap feeling of dying from the shrinking map. There are many items to loot to help you along your way, and quite a few really show why Mad Max is such a heavy inspiration for the title. The gunplay also feels solid, and all around, Fractured Lands was a fun experience that has the potential to continue to deliver time after time.
8. The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit
Plenty of fans are hungry for Life is Strange 2, and Dontnod Entertainment is preparing for it by expanding the game’s universe as a whole. The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit is Dontnod’s surprise title, totally free to play when it launches in just a few days. While Captain Spirit isn’t the next LiS, it’s an interesting entry into the universe—and totally endearing. The game combines all the mechanics and storytelling devices we enjoyed in Life is Strange, and delivers them inside the story of a young boy with a huge imagination. Gameplay revolves around Chris’ ability to walk between worlds—the real world, and the one inside his head. At its most compelling, the game delivers a warm wave of nostalgia to all of us who remember seeing the world with such childlike wonder, and as a free-to-download title, it’s well worth checking out.
7. Earthfall
Earthfall is reminiscent of the Left 4 Dead era of gaming with its co-op survival elements. You and three friends can team up together to defend yourselves against the alien invaders that are hell bent on eradicating the human race. The alien setting is a nice touch, and everything is fast paced, so frantically trying to stay alive brings back memories of gaming with Left 4 Dead buddies. What really separates this from L4D, however, is its addition of many different weapons and items to utilize as well as multiple mini-bosses to fight. Earthfall gives you many tools to help you set up your own defenses when a swarm of aliens come to stop you in your tracks. Since it isn’t zombies that you’re fighting this time, the aliens are tougher, and there are a lot of different special aliens that will impede your progress further. Things like barricades, automatic personal turrets, and specialty weapons really make the gameplay that much more exciting and frantic. Also, the chance to encounter more than one type of boss was an awesome feeling. It adds a whole new type of exciting dread to when you are forced to fight different powerful enemies while already in a bad position.
While still in alpha, Warhammer Mechanicus is already shaping up to be one of the most exciting, deepest tactical RPGs of the year. The experience might not have been hands-on, but what was shown was more than enough to get me on board with the whole idea. Players take control of acolytes of Adeptus Mechanicus. What was awesome is that, although you get to customize special units, you technically aren’t playing as these characters. You are, instead, playing as a god that gives these characters commands, and you are viewing the battlefield from a hologram. Little touches like that really brought the surreal world to life. Combat looked simple at first, but new mechanics introduced opened up a more unique, and awesome looking, way to do battle. Each level has randomized rooms, but each room has been hand-crafted to ensure that things are challenging but fair. There are also a ton of different ways to build a character, for there are 6 different classes that you can spec into right from the get go (and each unlocks its own unique traits and abilities), and you can spec into as many classes as you want to. While not everything was implemented as of yet, the potential for an absurd amount of content during gameplay presentation was overwhelming in the best of ways.
You may not be aware of this one with all the big stuff coming out, but Daedalic Entertainment’s upcoming RPG State of Mind is shaping up to tackle some pretty impressive narrative ideas. The game crosses physical and digital boundaries, encouraging players to solve a mystery through the eyes of six different player characters. To give you an idea, State of Mind is a bit like The Truman Show meets a futuristic sci-fi utopia, with a stylized low-poly look and dialogue-heavy gameplay. If you’re into puzzle games, State of Mind also delivers on that; tests of skill and digging around for clues are big parts of the game. All in all, State of Mind looks like an entertaining approach to the deeply philosophical topic of transhumanism.
4. Control
Control is a fairly new project that is still heavily within development but the game is already shaping up to be a very impressive. The telekinetic powers combined with the other worldly weapons and enemies make for an interesting narrative and gameplay experience. Also the supporting characters and side story missions really give the game some emotional depth as each character will have extremely different personas.
Despite still being a year out from launch, this game is looking quite promising already. With a distinct and well-designed Lovecraftian aesthetic, The Sinking City combines otherworldly gloom with an eerily familiar historical setting in the 1920s. The game is aiming to have mainly investigation-based gameplay combined with an open world, which is an interesting change from most of the open exploration games we’re seeing today. In Frogwares’ E3 demo, we got a taste of the strange creatures and stories populating the world. Players fill the shoes of amnesiac private investigator, whose decisions and morality with each case create ripples in the world around him. We’re really hoping these next few months of polish pay off, because The Sinking City’s narrative was definitely one worth exploring.
2. Hitman 2
Hitman 2 is near the top of this list due to the fact that the game gave so many options. There were a wide variety of ways to go after my goal. Some of them were really stealthy and seriously deadly. Others approaches were more on the humorous side which gave the game a nice touch. The assassination’s themselves are very dramatic and rewarding no matter which way the player may choose to take out their target.
1. Metro Exodus
While the demo for Metro Exodus felt short, it was only because of how engaging and expansive the world currently is. While I was only given 40 minutes to try out the demo, there was hours worth of content put into the demo. Because of this, the world felt expansive and deep. The world is a bit different this time around, with some places in the world having breathable air. This really allows for a much bigger world to be explored, and it also contextualizes why an open world is possible now. There is also a new crafting system, similar to that of The Last of Us, where you can create things such as air canisters and med kits from spare parts you find from enemies, rubble, and secrets scattered throughout the world. Also, you can scrap parts of enemy guns to add to your own, and this can be done on the fly, which adds another layer of fun and experimentation to be had.
The game also looks absolutely gorgeous. While still a few months away from being officially shipped out, everything was a spectacle to behold. The minute details of a candle, the flow of water, and just the general detail of character models and particle effects made things vibrant. Although the surface of Earth is still a wasteland, it manages to retain its beauty of regrowth and perseverance, much like how humanity is trying to adapt to this lifestyle. For this, Metro Exodus gains our top spot as the best experience at E3 2018.
This year’s E3 was impressive as it was exciting. We hope that you enjoyed our coverage of the biggest gaming event of the year. We can’t wait to report back to you with all of the exciting stuff that E3 2019 will have.