Call me crazy, but I never go into E3 with any typical list of “Most Anticipated” games, the ones that tend to just list the standard already-announced big names and sequels (Breath of the Wild 2, Halo Infinite, etc). That’s not to say I don’t have my own anticipated big guns or anything (I was pretty much ready to pounce on even the mere hint ofa Psychonauts 2 release date), but be it E3, PAX or Gamescom, I’m always more interested in the next big thing, the surprises that seemingly come out of nowhere, the new IPs that could suggest unique worlds and bold new directions.
As such, I found myself particularly interested in the Xbox/Bethesda showcase at this year’s E3, as in the last few years, Xbox has typically been the best source for these kinds of surprises, be it through ID@Xbox, Xbox Game Studios or even just notable indies coming to Game Pass. It always says a lot that Microsoft isn’t afraid to showcase these types of games along the more heavy-hitter triple-A titles. And while things did feel a bit light this year (we didn’t get the standard montage of ID@Xbox games), there were notable highlights with the proper debut of the sci-fi adventureSomerville,the snowboarding action ofShredders,andReplaced,the retro-futurist cinematic platformer that seems to have stunned of everyone (and for good reason).
But for me, the biggest surprise – and the most welcome one – came at the very end. It was time for the standard “one more thing” we had all come to know and expect. What big franchise would appear this time around? The answer was…none of them. Instead, Xbox decided to use the big finale of their their showcase to feature something completely new, something from Bethesda and Arkane Austin. That would be Redfall, an open-world co-op FPS about battling vampires created by scientific experiments gone wrong on a Massachusetts island. Yes, it was a cinematic trailer, so there was no gameplay, but the trailer still showcased the personalities of our four main characters nicely, as well as gave us some hints towards the unique skills that players can use. It was just a nice and stylish gem of a trailer, one that got me excited for a unique vampire-battling twist on Borderlands-style gameplay.
But more importantly, it felt like a huge vote of confidence. Microsoft could have chose to end the show on one of their big-name franchises that could be considered more safe and reliable, but instead they decided to put their faith not just a new IP, but one of the first major games that would be coming from Bethesda since their acquisition. As seen inour news article on the game’s announcement,I wasted no time in deciding to basically call this a rather baller move for Xbox. And sure, you could argue that this all might be due to a lot of Microsoft’s biggest titlesapparently not being expected until 2023,thus leaving 2022 still open to a lot, but I still see it as the type of announcement we should all tuning into E3 for: looks into the what could be the future of hit new video game in various ways.
Sadly, that doesn’t seem to be what certain people wanted, having assumed Redfall would actually be the sixth Elder Scrolls game, or expecting info on something like another Gears title. So the game received a lot of negative attention and downvotes for the trailer over that alongside…other forms of cynicism, let’s just leave it at that. But I don’t care, what I saw looked like a blast of joy, something that could be a clever take on vampire fiction and make for an action-packed shooter, all while giving us a brand new face in the world of gaming franchises. And so I applaud Xbox for making Redfall their surprise grand finale, I hope they continue to invest in new IPs even further, and I can’t want to hear more about this vampire battler up until it comes out next Summer. For now, we can at least check out Marcus' preview as well (and consider that a vote of confidence back from us that two writers here chose to cover this as Xbox’s biggest highlight).
