Bethesda’s E3 2018 press conference has come and gone, leaving behind a wide variety of content that many people have been waiting for. Honestly, out of the group of conferences I had to look at, this one was probably my favorite. So, without further ado, let’s dive straight into Bethesda’s E3 2018 show shall we?

First up we get to see an opening from “Quake Champions” (Bethesda had fans of “Quake Champions” know that the game is free from now until June 18th, and that the game will remain free for you if you download it before that date), but the real meat of that presentation comes into play later.

Moving on, Pete Hines, Global Senior Vice President of Bethesda, after making a jab at Walmart of Canada, starts us off with “Rage 2”. That’s just the half of it though, because in-order to introduce “Rage 2”, Andrew WK comes out to entertain the audience with a song which was pretty high energy and exciting for me.

Following the song, we finally get to dive into the game. So we get to know that the world in “Rage 2” had fallen to pieces by, ironically enough, not by the actions and deeds of man, but by an asteroid. The main character is named Walker, the last Ranger of the wasteland.

The mission shown is one in which Walker goes after an artifact to take down the current authority in the wasteland. It’s shown that the world is a seamless open world, with every vehicle in the game being drivable. We get a look at a few weapons, including the standard assault rifle, a sort of throwing weapon that can lift and carry away enemies while doing damage to them, a boomerang, energy grenades, and more. A few mutant creatures can also be seen for some enemy variety. The game is set to come out Spring of next year for PS4, Xbox One and PC.

Next on the list is two Elder Scrolls side-games. The first is “The Elder Scrolls Legends“, which is a strategy card game in the style of those like Gwent. The second is “The Elder Scrolls: Summerset“, which is an add-on to Elder Scrolls Online. It dives into Argonian lore as well in the Black Marsh.

Next up was the one that really surprised me since it doesn’t seem so long ago since the previous entry, but “Doom 4″ now has a sequel, and it’s called “Doom Eternal“. This game has there be a demonic invasion occur on earth, tearing it to ribbons.

The game promises to provide twice as many demons as its previous incarnation. (hell yeah! Twice as much rip and tear!) There will be a premiere involving more content in August at Quake-Con, which I am particularly excited for. The only problem I have with this announcement is the name. In my opinion, it should have been called “Eternal Doom”. Just saying.

As mentioned earlier in my OP (the part about “the real meat of that presentation comes into play later”), the latest “Quake” game (“Quake Champions”) is giving people free access right away and will allow for access to the game long after it promotion ends.

We also get a good look at its cast of characters. Well, there isn’t much that I can say about this title as I’m not very knowledgeable about the “Quake” series. Nevertheless, I have to admit that the “Quake” segment looked pretty good and intriguing.

Up next is “Prey“, which is getting NG+, Survival Mode, and the DLC called “Mooncrash”, which has you escape from the moon. The trick seems to be that if you fail to escape the moon, the game ends and starts over like a simulation. Maybe I didn’t understand the trailer, but that seems to be the truth. “Typhon Hunter” is also coming out, which is a VR Experience for Prey that will be out later this year.

Following up after”Prey” is “Wolfenstein”, which announced “Wolfenstein: Youngblood“, in which the player plays as the two daughters of BJ Blaskowitz. It will be a co-op experience that will release in 2019. Also announced is “Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot“, which is a VR experience in which the player takes control of a hacker who hacks a number of enemy machines to kill Nazis with their own machines.

At this point, the Lord and Savior Todd Howard blesses the audience with his presence. There is a hysterical self-aware joke about Skyrim on Alexa, which is an actual thing for those of you who want to try for yourself, showing that Bethesda are self-aware, and now we can speculate on the possibilities.

We get another look at “Fallout 76”, now learning that it contains six regions with their own style, secrets, rewards, and more. Many things regarding the regions use Folklore of West Virginia to bring the game to life. Each character in-game will be a real person and it will be very much a multiplayer game.

Furthermore, there are now incredible new creatures to match the environment of West Virginia. Players should also know about nuke sites around the map where you can go and launch a nuke to strike down other players at any point in time.

Moreover, players will also be able to play with friends at any point in time, and progress in-game can be done no matter what server you are on, as one would hope. There will be a beta before the game is officially released and a special edition of the game that includes things such as a functioning power armor helmet. “Fallout Shelter” is also now on the console, including the Switch.

We then also found out about an upcoming mobile game called “The Elder Scrolls Blades“, which is a fully functioning “The Elder Scrolls” game on mobile in which you can travel within dungeons, explore them in-depth, fight monsters, collect treasures, and more.

TES: Blades combat is unique to the platform, and is very similar to “Elder Scrolls Arena” with its randomly generated dungeons. Of course, you can create your own character and customize them as you please. You can also play the game in portrait mode for those of you who need to have a hand free (Todd made a joke about this part *cough cough*).

There are also outdoor areas that you can explore, and even a hub town where you can also meet with friends, and fight other players in the Arena. You play as a member of the Blades, an elite warrior. And you get to fix up the hubtown and improve it with money and items you find in the roguelike dungeons.

Well, we are almost at the end of Bethesda’s E3 2018 press conference now. So to everyone’s surprise, a game called “Starfield” gets a teaser image, but not much can be said about it. As it doesn’t really give us much outside of a pretty neat looking image, which includes a planet, a satellite, and some stellar explosion.

The show comes to a close with a single image of the map of the new Elder Scrolls main game, which is currently untitled, and theories are all over the place for where this game will take place. I’m placing my bets on High Rock. As for Bethesda’s E3 2018 press conference, I think that Bethesda did a really good job with their E3 show this year (on all fronts).Especially since they presented a whole lot more than I thought that they would. So in my opinion, Bethesda had the strongest presentation at E3 2018.

Entertainment Value: 4/5
Games: 4/5
Surprises: 4/5

Verdict: 4/5 (B)

All-in-all, considering what Bethesda was going up against, I think they held their own pretty well. I think they surprised me in a few areas, went beyond expectation, and were capable of keeping me entertained despite the long video. I have no problem in saying that Bethesda, in my opinion, had the strongest presentation. Yeah it could still be better. However, I think that comparatively, they held their own the best. It had its problems, but it gave us more than we could ask for.

Credit:
Robin Ek – Editor and co-writer.

Justin Easler
Senior editor
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @masterjayshay

More by Justin Easler:

• “Monster Energy Supercross – The Official Videogame 5” is coming to PC and consoles on March 17th, 2022
• Ubisoft’s E3 2019 press conference – A pretty decent presentation for the most part
• Square Enix E3 2019 press conference – Probably Square Enix’s strongest E3 in a long time
• Bethesda’s E3 2019 press conference – Some pretty awesome games but not so many surprises
• EA’s E3 2019 press conference – More of what you expect, yet still underwhelming

Tags: Bethesda, Doom, E3, E3 2018, Fallout 76, Prey, Quake Champions, Rage 2, The Elder Scrolls 6