Top 8 Biggest Surprises at E3 2019, Ranked From Good to Wow WTF

8. Watch Dogs Legion

It wouldn’t be E3 without something Ubisoft leaking in the build-up, and right on cue that’s exactly what happened with Watch Dogs Legion. Technically, then, the actual announcement of the sequel wasn’t all that surprising for many, but I think what would have been was just how radically different the upcoming game is to its predecessor.

One of the big takeaways from Watch Dogs 2 was the dramatic shift in tone from the original game. Ubisoft wisely distanced themselves from the glum Aiden Pearce and dreary Chicago setting for something much brighter and more vibrant.

The third game, though, isn’t necessarily a continuation of that. It’s colorful, sure, and the trailer has plenty of whimsical moments, but there are darker tones here, a distinctly cyberpunky aesthetic, and most notably, a hugely ambitious new gameplay mechanic that allows players to take control of any NPC in the game.

Overall, it’s great to see the third game finding a balance between the thematic tone of the first and second game. Near-future London looks superb as a location, too, and playable NPC mechanic is exactly the sort of invention that’s been lacking from Ubisoft’s open world games in recent years.

It’s easy to imagine that if Watch Dogs wasn’t on gamers’ radars prior to the E3 showing, it certainly is now.

7. Gods and Monsters Announcement

Something from Ubisoft that didn’t leak was Gods and Monsters, a brand new IP from the same development team behind Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Although we only got an in-engine cinematic trailer, the notion of Ubisoft tackling their own Breath of the Wild-style open world game is enough to have us very excited.

It’s great to see that a major team such as the one behind Odyssey is being given an opportunity to let their hair down and explore something different from just another iteration of one of Ubisoft’s tried and tested IPs.

Details are few and far between so far, but from what we do know it really does sound like Breath of the Wild meets Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Players are to control a custom character, male or female, named Fenx, with the narrative told through the words of the Greek poet Homer.

Gameplay is said to be a mix of exploration, traversal, action combat, and puzzle solving. Freedom of exploration is apparently a central aspect of the experience, and the open world is said to be very large. There’s also a stamina system as in Nintendo’s 2017 classic, and you’ll have special abilities such as telekinesis.

Gods and Monsters is running on Assassins Creed Odyssey’s engine, though the graphical aesthetic has clearly been altered for cel-shaded one.

6. Death Loop Announcement

You couldn’t help but feel sorry for Arkane Studios after their excellent Dishonored 2 didn’t seem to move the needle in terms of sales. Whether or not that prompted the developer’s decision to try something different isn’t clear, but what we do know is that their new project looks very promising.

It’s called Deathloop and its surprising reveal injected some much-needed life into Bethesda’s E3 showcase. The premise is fascinating, too, as the press release describes it:

“DEATHLOOP transports players to the lawless island of Blackreef in an eternal struggle between two extraordinary assassins. Explore stunning environments and meticulously designed levels in an immersive gameplay experience that lets you approach every situation any way you like.

Hunt down targets all over the island in an effort to put an end to the cycle once and for all, and remember, if at first you don’t succeed… die, die again.”

What’s nice to hear is that there’s still the immersive-sim qualities to the gameplay loop that you’d find in a Dishonored game. So many times we see studios abandoning their forte to jump on a new trend after their bread and butter begins going stale. That doesn’t seem to be the case here. Deathloop is classic Arkane but in a sexy new guise, and we couldn’t be more interested.

5. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Coming to Nintendo Switch

Another of the unfortunate pre-E3 leaks, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s release on Switch nonetheless caught us totally off guard. It seemed inconceivable that Switch hardware could run one of the biggest and most technologically impressive open world games of the generation, but developer CD Projekt RED found a way, and the “Switcher” is soon to arrive.

The graphical downgrade is certainly marked, though, running at just 540p in handheld mode and 720p docked. We’ve also no data or impressions on the framerate, which dogged even PS4 and Xbox One consoles.

Even still, the wizardry that’s gone into realizing The Witcher 3 on Switch hardware has us all rethinking what is and isn’t possible on Nintendo’s hybrid console. Surely there’s no excuse now for other developers!

4. Phantasy Star Online 2 Coming to Xbox One & PC

Phantasy Star Online 2’s long-awaited arrival in the west is finally here, and it was definitely not an announcement we expected to hear during Microsoft’s E3 presser. After having been locked to Japan and Asia for years, the game will available on Xbox and PC in 2020.

There’s precious little other information out there right now, but what we can tell you is that it’s a free-to-play experience and will feature all of the updates and content enjoyed by eastern players. 

3. Cyberpunk Release Date

Without a doubt, the moment that drew the biggest roar from any crowd at E3 was Keanu Reeves on-stage presentation of Cyberpunk 2077’s release date. It was a wonderful moment for fans, certainly, but the actual revelation of Cyberpunk’s impending arrival in early 2020 was the real takeaway.

Only 12 months ago, nobody had ever seen a glimpse of Cyberpunk 2077, and even its subsequent gameplay reveal was kept hush-hush with a behind-closed-doors demo. Later released to the public, that 50 or so minutes of an alpha build is still all we’ve ever seen of the game, and now we’re suddenly told it’s coming out in less than a year’s time — it’s sooner than we expected, that’s for sure.

So soon, in fact, that Cyberpunk 2077 won’t even be a cross-generation title, as many had assumed it would be. How will such an ambitious game run on base PS4 and Xbox One, we wonder? Only time will tell, but given CD Projekt RED can get The Witcher 3 running on Nintendo Switch, we’ve every confidence it’s all going to work out fine.

2. Final Fantasy VII Remake Release Date

Technically speaking, Final Fantasy VII Remake’s release date was revealed before E3, during Square Enix’s orchestral concert, but we’re counting it as part of the E3 shenanigans all the same. And how could we not, really? What an incredible surprise this was, and what a massive deal it is.

First revealed way back in 2015, Final Fantasy VII Remake’s development hasn’t been an easy one –which seems to be a bit of a trend for Square Enix over the past decade. After taking back full control of the project a couple of years ago, it seems they’ve gotten their act together and a serious move on with development.

I don’t think many people would have been all that surprised if Remake’s first episode didn’t launch until much later in 2020, possibly as part of the next-generation launch library. But it’s coming much sooner than that, slated for launch March 3.

Of course, we also got a huge blowout of gameplay footage and story cutscenes, which gave us an extended look at the combat system and fan-favorite character Tifa Lockhart.

Now, if we could only get some clarification on how many games this “episodic” series is to comprise…

1: Breath of the Wild Sequel

For us, there was no greater surprise at this year’s E3 than the announcement of a sequel to Breath of the Wild. Showcasing games early in development really isn’t typical of Nintendo, for starters, and it also isn’t often Zelda games get direct sequels. But on both counts, that’s exactly what we’ve been treated to.

The entire Twinfinite staff is now busy theorizing exactly how this is all going to work. Will Hyrule be different from the map we explored in Breath of the Wild? Is Zelda playable, or is there some sort of cooperative aspect to gameplay being teased here? In fact, aside from all of that, how on earth does Nintendo better its efforts this time around?

From the brief trailer, it seems as though Nintendo is taking the sequel in a darker direction. Could this be equivalent of a Majora’s Mask-type follow up –a strange twist on a familiar environment? Perhaps the caves Link and Zelda are exploring hint at underground dungeons in some way, too, which would please those who missed traditional dungeons in Breath of the Wild.

We’ve so many questions and so much excitement about Breath of the Wild’s sequel, and we can only hope that in reusing assets from its predecessor that this next Zelda project won’t keep us waiting too long.