Dreams (PS4)
Media Molecule unveiled the incredibly beautiful and incredibly bizarre PS4-exclusive Dreams during Sony’s stage show at E3 2015, but have been decidedly mum since then. The game’s focus is “play, create, and share,” which is all familiar territory to the developers, as they previously helmed the Tearaway and LittleBigPlanet series.
During last year’s reveal they announced that a beta for the game would be coming in 2016, but so far there’s been incredibly little proof to back that up. Media Molecule recently took to Twitter to explain their absence at the Expo this year, promising that they were hard at work on Dreams. Later they followed that up by telling fans they’ll be “back on your internet screens again on Thursday 30th June at 5pm UK time.” They may have passed out on E3 this time, but it seems certain we’ll know more about this intriguing title soon enough.
Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS4)
The Final Fantasy VII Remake blew minds when it was revealed at E3 last year. Following the exciting tease we were promised an update in December, and Square Enix made good on their promise by showing off gameplay of the opening bombing mission complete with English voice acting at PlayStation Experience.
Since then we have been drip-fed minor updates on the project through various interviews with the game’s director, Tetsuya Nomura. His latest statement is that Final Fantasy VII Remake is still a ways off, but progressing at a steady pace. He also said that when there is new information to share, he will be personally taking the stage to present it. That gameplay footage from PSX was awfully satisfying, so he has definitely earned the pass on E3 this year.
ION (XB1)
ION is a bit of a mysterious creature. During the Xbox stage show last year DayZ creator Dean Hall presented the first trailer for ION, and also announced that it would be coming to the Xbox One Game Preview Program. The trailer doesn’t really give much information on the game, but according to the press release that followed the event, “ION is an emergent narrative massively-multiplayer online game in which players build, live and inevitably die in huge floating galactic constructions, tracing humanity’s first deadly steps towards colonizing the universe.”
The only problem is that unlike Dreams or the Final Fantasy VII Remake, the team behind ION hasn’t exactly been forthcoming with developer updates to assure interested parties that the game is still happening. With zero presence at E3 2016 and no proper social media update since last year’s announcement aside from a job listing, not to mention the fact that Hall’s game studio Rocket Werks released another entirely different game just a few months ago, ION certainly seems to be moving at a snail’s pace, if indeed at all.
Metroid Prime: Federation Force (3DS)
The story of Metroid Prime: Federation Force is not a kind one. Fan reception to the game when Nintendo unveiled it at E3 2015 was not kind, to say the least. Since the trailer was posted to YouTube a year ago it has received just over 10,000 thumbs ups, and nearly 90,000 thumbs down. After years without a proper new Metroid title, Federation Force seemed to be as far from what the fanbase wanted as Nintendo could have gotten.
It was apparent that the development team had a steep hill to climb in terms of soothing irate fans, but when they brought the game to PAX East back in April the game continued to underwhelm. With an August release date set we know it is close to completion, but with such high-profile titles as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Pokémon Sun/Moon on display at E3 2016 it’s no surprise that Nintendo didn’t want to bring everyone down by bringing Federation Force to the party this time.
Shenmue III (PS4)
Half way through Sony’s E3 presser last year we had seen the re-introduction of The Last Guardian, the reveal of Horizon: Zero Dawn, and the bombshell of Final Fantasy VII Remake. The audience was already beside themselves with excitement, so of course they kept the hype train rolling by bringing Shenmue creator Yu Suzuki on stage to present the Kickstarter for another game nobody ever truly expected to happen, Shenmue III. The team easily surpassed the $2 million goal, raising over $6 million by the end of it.
While we haven’t seen a new trailer since the Kickstarter video shown last year, Shenume III has been moving along well enough. There have been regular updates around once a month on Kickstarter, and it certainly appears that progress is being made, slowly but surely. Shenmue may have skipped E3 2016, but rest assured that the project is still on track.
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