South Park: The Fractured But Whole
Coming to PC? Yes
When's it out? October 17, 2017
The first Obsidian-developed South Park RPG was a very fun but also quite shallow affair, but The Fractured But Whole will reportedly be a more complex outing. And that’s the dream, really: a turn-based RPG in the South Park world that will endure longer than the passing distraction that was its predecessor.
Transference
Coming to PC? Billed as a “VR experience” so most likely
When's it out? Spring 2018
We don't know much about Transference, other than that it's for VR and stars Elijah Wood, and has something to do with exploring digital memories that have been uploaded into a computer. It's billed as a psychological thriller that will "bridge the gap between games and movies" as you "escape a maze-like" puzzle. It does look a bit spooky.
A Plague Tale: Innocence
Coming to PC? Yes
When's it out? The website says "Coming soon" but we don't believe it
All we have for this game is a (pretty gross) teaser trailer dropped on the second day of E3, featuring lots of rats who are apparently ripe with plague. The teaser's description says it's a "supernatural swarm of rats," which is the only thing worse than a normal swarm of rats. Here's the rest of the description, which makes it sound like a form of survival horror: "1349. The plague ravages the Kingdom of France. Amicia and her younger brother Hugo are pursued by the Inquisition through villages devastated by the disease. On their way, they will have to join forces with other orphans and evade swarms of rats using fire and light. Aided only by the link that binds their fates together, the children will face the darkest days of history in their struggle to survive."
Yakuza 6
Coming to PC? No (at least, not yet)
When's it out? Early 2018
The latest in the wonderfully strange Yakuza series, which has found a new surge of popularity in the west recently thanks to Yakuza 0. They're action-adventure games in the vein of Shenmue, with amusing minigames and a lengthy soap opera story that spans half a dozen games. We've long wanted the series to come to PC, and it's sadly still PlayStation exclusive. But an interview we had with Sega at E3 this year gives us hope that we'll see Yakuza on PC in the not-too-distant future.
Hunt: Showdown
Coming to PC? For sure
When's it out? Unknown
One of our favorite games of the show—maybe our favorite—came as a total surprise. In Hunt, five two-player teams set out on the same map to hunt down demons, and maybe each other if there's loot to be stolen. Die, and your character is gone for good, although you can inherit some traits. Just thinking of playing it makes us tense, which is helped by it being one of the most visually arresting games at the show. Read Steven's preview for more.
Definitely not coming to PC
Ubisoft, Sony, and Nintendo brought out the most console exclusives, as usual. Ubisoft announced the physical toy-based Starlink: Battle for Atlas, Just Dance, and the like. On Nintendo’s side, they seem to have partnered with Ubisoft to make Mario XCOM, though the biggest response on Twitch only required two words followed by a number. And then, of course, there’s the new Mario game, called ‘Screw you, Mario is a taxi now.’ Plus, Fire Emblem Warriors, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Kirby, Zelda, Yoshi, Pokemon—the whole cast was there, enjoying its snug platform exclusivity and brand power.
Sony had the weirdest conference of the show, beginning with hanging bodies accompanying a trailer for Days Gone. It didn’t really grab us, though there was some good hiding in bushes, a favorite feature of PlayStation games these days. Speaking of hiding and crouching and whatnot, they showed a Horizon: Zero Dawn expansion and Uncharted: Lost Legacy. And finally, a slate of PSVR games and the news that Shadow of the Colossus is being remade for the PS4. At one time we would’ve thought we’d never be able to play these games on PC, but we might at some point in the future—kind of—with the PlayStation Now streaming service. Though they still wouldn’t technically be running on our PCs, it’s step closer to PC gaming sucking in every interactive thing in the universe.
