Another year, another E3, and another round of gamers scratching their heads thinking “oh yeah, whatever happened to that one thing?” E3's importance as a mega news week seems to be slowly dwindling thanks to companies holding their own smaller shows more frequently, but it's still the place for some of the year's biggest announcements. And sometimes, an announcement is all we get for an entire year, or ever, as games quietly disappear or wind up canceled by the time June rolls back 'round.
We've rounded up the games that have been surprisingly silent since last year’s E3 below. For more on this year's show, here's our guide to the E3 press conference schedules and what's coming at the PC Gaming Show this year.
Babylon's Fall
Platinum’s next game was officially announced on June 11 (with a real lore dump of a trailer), but few people remember that less than two week’s prior, they were hinting that they may never work with outside publishers again. Apparently, the reason we haven’t seen another Scalebound (RIP) or MadWorld is because those rights (and others) are tied up with their partners. When Scalebound was canceled, if it hadn't been for the impressive success of Nier: Automata, Platinum could've been facing financial bankruptcy. So Platinum has some solo projects in the works, which leaves us wondering what's going on with Babylon's Fall, published by Square Enix. Maybe we get another trailer at E3 2019, but I’d say it’s still a longshot it releases this year.
Maneater
We got the chance to do a big interview with Tripwire about their “shark-PG” last year, but things have been pretty quiet since then. It was announced as an Epic Store exclusive last year, so we’ve got to wonder if that caused a slight delay. Summer would be a great time to release a game about eating clueless beachgoers.
Gears Tactics
It was a little overshadowed by Gears 5 getting announced right alongside it, but we got a super brief glimpse of gameplay for Gears Tactics, a strategy spin-off, back in 2018. It seems to blend some typical XCOM-style isometric strategy tropes with all the Locust and COG imagery we’re familiar with. You’ll build a squad 12 years before the events of the first Gears of War game, and it’s all coming from the team at Splash Damage, known for their frequent collaboration on the franchise (they also made Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory way back in the day).
Gears 5
Of course it wouldn’t be a Gears announcement without a core entry in the franchise. According to a super recent report from our friends at GamesRadar, Gears 5 may come out by September 10 this year, thanks to a leak from a Taiwanese ratings board. The one trailer we got last year showed us Kait investigating her family’s ties to the Locust, and you know old man Marcus Fenix will be there. Since then, nada: The Coalition is playing this sequel close to the vest. This one is pretty much a shoo-in for E3 2019.
Dying Light 2
It’s been a year since game writing wizard Chris Avellone introduced us to the next step in the undead parkour franchise, and it looks pretty dang good. It’s just a shame news on it has been quieter than a zombie missing its larynx. Developer Techland tweeted we’re definitely getting another look at this year’s E3, so expect to perhaps see more RPG elements, some night time gameplay, and maybe some actual zombies.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
We got a good dose of gameplay footage at last year’s E3, and it sure did look like some painterly Ori-style platforming. It’s been teased ever since E3 2017, when we first got that trailer with a very sad baby bird and the skeletons of its dead parents, so here’s hoping this is the year we get a simple and sweet release date trailer.
Battletoads
Look, I know the pedigree is at least slightly more competent, but I’m really hoping we don’t get another Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back when the Battletoads revival comes around. Newsweek of all outlets reported back in February that co-developer Dlala Studios (alongside Rare) was hiring a full-time programmer to possibly work on the game, so...yeah. Rare seems busy correcting course on Sea of Thieves, and they’re doing a pretty good job of it by most accounts, so that may be sapping some resources from the Toads' big comeback.
Halo Infinite
A fancy (yet vague) trailer left us with plenty to ponder about Halo Infinite. Admittedly, the detail drip on Halo Infinite has been slow, but steady, so it hasn't been entirely absent this past year. We've heard there will be no battle royale mode, that Master Chief is our main character again, and that a new engine developed by 343 Industries is behind its new art style. But we've seen nothing new since that trailer. Rumors abound that Microsoft intends to make Halo Infinite a launch title for its next console in 2020, so Chief’s going to be waiting just a little longer, it sounds.
Metal Wolf Chaos XD
In Metal Wolf Chaos XD, a remake of the original From Software game, the American President pilots a giant mech to get revenge on the Vice President, who is also driving a mech. In 2019, that’s actually a little less bizarre and horrifying than the actual political climate we’ve got, but we can always make do with big robots here at PC Gamer. Last E3, we got a teaser trailer showing off some brief glimpses at the revamped graphics, alongside the original (and super goofy) dialogue, but like an actual Secretary of Defense, it’s been suspiciously absent for a while now.
Honorable mention: Nioh 2
Nioh 2 was all set to be on this list, but then, boom: just a couple weeks before E3, we got a new trailer and news of an alpha test. Nioh 2 got a one minute cinematic reveal last E3 and promptly vanished until this footage. It's been described as “not a dramatic departure” from its predecessor, though you can scour the trailer above for new stuff. One big change we know about, though, is there will be a character creator in place of Nioh 1’s protagonist William.
Honorable mention: Sea of Solitude
Part of the EA Originals indie game program, Sea of Solitude was given some valuable stage time during EA’s 2018 press conference. It’s a peculiar tale of a young woman who’s been corrupted by some unknown force (there’s some lore about humans being so lonely they turn into massive, deadly monsters), and lots of boating and exploring around a partially sunken city. It reminds me a lot of Submerged, which was merely alright in my opinion, but with way more character and polish, at least from what we’ve seen. The E3 2018 trailer said it was due in early 2019, so it’s a little behind schedule, and we almost made it to E3 again this year with no word. But just this week, we heard Sea of Solitude is coming in July.
