With E3 2019 rushing towards us, it's time for us to fatten up on tasty rumours, even if it might spoil the main course. We've got a good idea of what to expect and a lot of confirmed appearances and announcements, and we've also made our own E3 predictions, but read on for the PC rumours so far.
Co-op spin-off Rainbow Six Quarantine might be announced
Ubisoft—I know, yet again—will announce a new Rainbow Six co-op shooter at E3, according to reports. Nothing else is known about beyond an apparent PvE focus, though the name suggests it could have something to do with Siege's Outbreak mode.
Watch Dogs Legion is set in a 'post-Brexit' London
Watch Dogs Legion will be at E3, Ubisoft has confirmed. "God Save the NPCs," reads the tweet. This follows its brief appearance on Amazon, where details like the post-Brexit London setting were revealed. The listing also mentioned the ability to "play as anyone", letting you take over NPCs.
"Every individual you meet in the open world, has a full set of animations, voice over, character traits and visuals that are generated and guided by gameplay systems."
While Ubisoft hasn't outright confirmed the other details, we can be pretty confident about what it will be revealing at E3. It will make a nice change from all the American cities we spend so much time in, though I suspect five minutes in miserable post-Brexit London will send me running back to Watch Dogs 2's San Francisco.
A new Alien game could be coming
After the disappointment of Alien Isolation getting mobile spin-off instead of a sequel, we've got a craving for Alien news around these parts. A tweet from an ex-Obsidian writer with a screenshot from Aliens has got the rumour mill churning again. "Soon," it says. And what's coming soon? E3, of course. The account is new and unverified, however, so take it with more than a pinch of salt.
George R. R. Martin and From Software are collaborating
The Song of Ice and Fire author recently reignited rumours about a collaboration with From Software. In a blog post marking the conclusion of Game of Thrones, he mentioned that he'd been consulting on a Japanese game, and while he didn't provide other details, there have been multiple reports suggesting that it's an open world game from the Sekiro studio. According to these reports, it will be revealed at this year's E3, specifically at the Microsoft conference.
Ubisoft will announce a Rocket League-style game
Ubisoft will announce an online roller derby game similar to Psyonix's Rocket League. Teams of skaters will duke it out on a track, chasing and battering each other for possession of a ball, unlike real roller derby where there's no ball at all. You'll be able to customise your skater, while the art suggests you'll have abilities like rocket jumping.
Fable 4 might be announced by Microsoft
Playground Games is rumoured to be working on Fable's resurrection, so Fable 4's appearance on Mixer recently fanned the flames of speculation. The Mixer database doesn't get its information direct from the likes of Microsoft, though, instead using a database that's mostly crowdsourced. The entry even lists Lionhead as the developer, which hasn't existed since 2016. It's unlikely to show up at E3, then, but we'll probably be hearing more about it eventually.
Another alleged leak has provided some intriguing but unverified details, including a big change in setting. Apparently the world was largely destroyed, but civilisation has picked itself back up and is now at a medieval level. Building towns, multiplayer, time travel, different planets—there's a lot going on. The video has since been deleted.
Ubisoft's getting a subscription service
A placeholder for "Ubisoft Pass Premium" and a subscription category appeared on the Ubisoft Store recently, before being removed. It seems like Ubisoft's decided to take a page out of EA's book and offer a subscription-based service like Origin Access. Given the leak's proximity to E3, an announcement during the show seems plausible.
The Simpsons will be at E3
We already know the producers and writers of The Simpsons will be part of an E3 Coliseum panel, discussing "30 years of video games and jokes about video games", but maybe there will be a game announcement in there, too. Would that even be a good thing? We'll find out on June 11.
THQ Nordic is announcing three new games (confirmed!)
The games are Darksiders: Genesis, Destroy All Humans! and SpongeBob Squarepants: The Battle for Bikini Bottom.
THQ Nordic has a lot of games in the works right now, including 50 that haven't been announced. Three of them are going to be announced ahead of E3, starting on June 5. The publisher has acquired a lot of studios and games over the last few years, so there's a lot these announcements could be.
One leak, posted when THQ Nordic disastrously held an 8chan AMA, listed multiple games allegedly in development, including a new Darksiders game and the return of Destroy All Humans. Despite a lukewarm critical reception, Darksiders 3 was considered a success by THQ Nordic and the series will apparently continue.
Destiny 2's expansion is going back to the Moon (confirmed!)
Destiny 2 is indeed going to the Moon. Bungie unveiled Shadowkeep after several leaks, confirming that we'll be teaming up with Eris Morn in a new zone on the Moon. It due out on September 17.
Destiny 2's next expansion will take a trip back to the Moon, according to datamined details. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep will send players into a mysterious enemy citadel where they can become a "slayer of nightmares". Spooky stuff!
Bungie is revealing the next chapter of Destiny 2 this week, on June 6, so we'll find out more about Shadowkeep then.
Baldur's Gate 3 could be a thing (confirmed!)
Baldur's Gate 3 was revealed at the Stadia event. Larian Studios will be bringing us back to the city and other parts of the Forgotten Realms in a new adventure featuring the gruesome, brain-munching mind flayers.
Divinity: Original Sin 2 developer Larian Studios teased what at first appeared to be Original Sin 3 last week. Following up its immensely popular RPG would make sense, except that there are references to Baldur's Gate 3 and Wizards of the Coast in the metadata. Larian hasn't commented on the rumour.
Beamdog, the studio behind the Baldur's Gate: Enhanced remasters has also long been keen to make the third entry in the series. The team did create a new Baldur's Gate expansion, Siege of Dragonspear, but denied rumours it was working on a proper sequel when asked last year.
