Ah yes, we have once again arrived at the eve of my favorite week of the year. The week where I get overly excited about CGI trailers that look nothing like the final game I will never play. The week that is an instant shot of serotonin straight to my dick because god-DAMN there’s nothing like E3 week.
Which, unfortunately for the 3rd year in a row, is not really “E3” week. It’s a bunch of independent online showcases by some of the biggest names in gaming, but there isn’t that perfect 3-4 day stretch of hour after hour of game reveals and showcases.
But you know what? I’m still excited. The last 3 years (hell, the last 3 months even) have been miserable and I’m gonna take this time to enjoy a few days of fun before returning to the hellscape that is Earth in 2022.
As such, it only seems right that I drop my thoughts on what we might see over the next few days of gaming news. I don’t have a ton of inside information anymore, but for weeks I’ve been listening to people’s predictions and reasonings and I have a few of my own.
Will I likely be completely wrong? Yes. Do I care? Not a bit.
So as Doja Cat would say, let’s get into it, yuh?
Disclaimer: PlayStation and Nintendo do not have scheduled pressers this week so most of these predictions will have to do with the Xbox showcase and Summer Games Fest.
Starfield Gameplay Will Open Xbox’s Showcase
I think it’s fair to say the biggest event of the weekend will be Xbox’s showcase on Sunday. They’re the biggest name with a scheduled presser this weekend and for the past 3 years, they’ve been teasing us with titles like Avowed, the Fable reboot, and Hellblade 2.
But their big game for 2022 was supposed to be Starfield, the next entry in Bethesda’s open-world (or in this case, open galaxy) RPG repertoire. Then it got delayed to Q1 2023. Fucking shit.
So here’s my thought process: why end the show with a game people are kinda frustrated they have to wait even longer for? Why not open with the first-ever world premiere gameplay reveal of your badass space RPG and then say “that’s coming next year, why don’t we talk about something coming…a bit sooner.” Then BOOM, more Hellblade 2 gameplay, and a November release date. Sounds like a banger opening to a gaming showcase, right???
I Think We Will See More MW2 In The Xbox Showcase Than Wednesday’s “Reveal”
My reasoning for this is pretty simple: Xbox bought Activision, Activision sucks at literally everything, so Xbox is gonna force them to save the only thing they actually seem to do well (hype up the next game) for their big Sunday showcase.
It makes sense right? Why blow your entire load at 1pm on a Wednesday when you’re guaranteed to have 200k viewers on Sunday?
I’m not sure we’ll get the full deep dive like Treyarch did for Black Ops Cold War on Sunday; I think they still save that for closer to release in August or something. But whatever we see from MW2 on Sunday will be much meatier than whatever trailer we’re hoping will drop later this afternoon.
The Outlast Trials Will Remerge And Release In October 2022
Is it finally time for this game to come out? It was first announced in 2020 and seems likely to release this fall but we really haven’t heard much about it. Personally, I’m very excited about this game. As games like Phasmophobia and Dead by Daylight have shown, there is a lot of fun to be had in the co-op horror genre, and Outlast is one of the best modern horror series out there.
My guess is we’ll hear about The Outlast Trials and its release date during Summer Games Fest on Thursday.
Cuphead Will Be Added To Game Pass During The Event
The highly-anticipated D.L.C. to one of the best Xbox exclusives of 2019 is finally dropping later this month. As such, it makes sense for this game to finally be added to the Game Pass library. It gives anyone that hasn’t played the game a chance to beat it before the new content drops, and it gives others like me a chance to relive the pain all over again.
Yes, I Think We Finally Hear About Hollow Knight Silksong This Year
Did you know this is the 2nd most wishlisted game on Steam right now? That’s right, the indie sequel about a bunch of dark but cute bugs is one of the most anticipated games in the world right now over numerous AAA exclusives. It quickly took the place of the “Elden Ring news when” memes for every gaming presser and we have been waiting for way too long for a follow up to the gameplay trailer revealed 3 years ago.
Well, I think it’s time. This game has to be getting close to completion and I think we will finally see a release date trailer for Hollow Knight Silksong at Summer Games Fest, with a Q1/Q2 2023 release date.
Rapid Fire Random Thoughts
- We haven’t heard anything about the Fable reboot since 2020 so we’re probably due for at least an update, maybe like 10 seconds of gameplay.
- I think we’ll get a 2022 release date (September?) for A Plague Tale: Requiem, which I think will have some of the best graphics we’ve seen to date in gaming.
- The sequel to Bendy and the Ink Machine should be getting close to releasing this year as well, possibly this October.
- I do NOT think we hear about Elden Ring DLC this week. It’s too close to the release of the base game. It will most likely be announced in December at The Game Awards.
- Halo Infinite will have some disappointing segment during the Xbox Showcase. They’ll probably announce the next week-long event which will suck absolute dong like everything else in that game.
- Finally, I think we hear something about Avowed. It’s been 2 years which likely means we won’t see gameplay but maybe we’ll get some hint at the story?
