E3 2018: Bethesda brings back the big guns, new titles in almost all their franchises

The Bethesda press conference was a knockout, plain and simple. Like the one from a few years back, the publisher showcased a stunning amount of triple-A games.

Bethesda brought out the biggest guns

There was no sight of Dishonored at this E3, but that might be the only one of Bethesda’s major franchises that didn’t appear. Seriously, everything else was there and in fine form, including multiple Elder Scrolls titles, and some new stuff for games that you already have.

So what all appeared? Let’s take a look…

Rage 2

First up is a game that we all knew was coming – Rage 2. Explosive, expansive, and flat-out gorgeous, this game casts you as Walker, the last Ranger (not kidding) of the Wasteland. This game combines the talents of both iD and Avalanche, and will offer a collector’s edition that includes a severed (yet still living) mutant head that you can mount on your wall. The best (?) part? It can sing to you and tell you stories… and it’s voiced by Andrew W.K.

Rage 2 arrives in 2019.

The Elder Scrolls

There’s no denying it, the Elder Scrolls had the biggest presence of any other series at Bethesda’s E3 showcase. Tamriel loomed large, with a total of four games shown off. Well, five if you count the joke one (they were kidding right?).

The Elder Scrolls Legends

The Elder Scrolls Online – Summerset

While those two might be a little underwhelming, the next two aren’t. Bethesda announced that they are indeed working hard on The Elder Scrolls 6, and that it will be a monster of a game.

The Elder Scrolls 6

And the last game? That would be The Elder Scrolls Blades. Blades is a whole new animal for the publisher, a game that will be running on consoles, the PC, VR, and mobile phones. And all of it will be identical, meaning it’s the same game no matter what platform you’re playing on.

Bethesda showed off a good deal of the gameplay, and it’s definitely TES through and through. No cheating out here, except perhaps in that some of the dungeons will be procedural. Oh, and you can play with or against other players across all platforms. And it’s free. Yup.

No trailer yet for this, but if you check out the complete stream at the end of this article you can check it out.

Doom Eternal

Well, here’s my game of the event last night. Doom’s first full-on sequel looks like it’ll be bringing hell to Earth in spectacular fashion. Though for the life of me, I can’t figure out why iD and Bethesda didn’t just go back to the classic Doom II and swipe that “Hell on Earth” subtitle for this one. That would have been all kinds of awesome.

Anyway, here’s an all too brief look at Doom II: Hell on Ea- I mean Doom Eternal.

Watch for Doom Eternal to get a full reveal, with new demons and a way more powerful Doomslayer (!) at QuakeCon this August the 10th.

Quake, Prey, Wolfenstein, and something new

Quake Champions was also talked up a bit at the show, though it’s still the same online multiplayer title that you know and love. What’s pretty cool though is that it’s totally free to play through the 17th of this month. And if you download and login, you can stay playing for free, even after the demo days conclude.

There was no sequel to Prey talked about, yet anyway. But what we did get was a look at a fresh expansion, and some other additions to the paranoia-driven action title.

Next up is the all-new Wolfenstein Youngblood. A brand new game set in the 1980s, Youngblood stars BJ’s twin daughters as heroes in the war-torn streets of France. Yes, that means there’s co-op.

Wolfenstein Youngblood lands in 2019.

And then there was Starfield.

A brand new IP for Bethesda, Starfield got about as much exposition as TES6 did. That’s to say, it really didn’t get any. What we do know though, is that Bethesda has been working on this one for years, and it’s being touted as a next-gen title. It’s definitely sci-fi in nature too, and is a single player affair. That’s especially worth nothing for those who like to talk about the death of solo games.

Fallout 76

All done with everything else? Then you’ll want to know about Fallout 76. Bethesda’s biggest game of the night looks, well, big. This title is four times bigger than Fallout 4, and is set in West Virginia before any f the past Fallout adventures. Yes, it’s a prequel. It’s also multiplayer only. Sort of.

The game’s servers will be limited in scope, meaning that dozens of other players will be inhabiting every play experience. Yes, dozens – not hundreds or thousands. Bethesda’s Holland explained that this is a design decision based on the idea that Fallout is taking place in the apocalypse, and there aren’t meant to be that many other Vault-dwellers around.

It of course, looks spectacular.

Did I mention that there’s a Collector’s Edition that will come with a Power Armor helmet? Did I also mention that it’s got lights and a voice modulator? Well, I did now.

I might have also forgotten to mention that Fallout Shelter is hitting the PS4 and Nintendo Switch. And that it’s probably out… now.

That’s all folks

And that, finally, is it from Bethesda. The publisher brought the goods, and there was pretty much something for everyone presented at the event. My personal picks are Doom Eternal, Rage 2, and Wolfenstein Youngblood, with a special mention for The Elder Scrolls Blades. If that actually gets pulled off well, it’ll be incredible.

Want to watch the whole presentation, complete with all the facts you can stand, straight from Beth? Hit play below.