People who believe in Gentleman Gaming may have come off of this e3 feeling terribly disappointed (beyond the all-around terrible press conferences). Indeed, games that focus on original experiences, rewarding intelligence, substantial gameplay, non-linear approaches, creative control for the players and good level design seems to have been mostly replaced by this bullshit “cinematic” games plaguing our industry. You know what I’m talking about, those games which seem to play itself, putting an emphasis on set-pieces, quick-time-events and sections that reduce gameplay to following on-screen prompts. Those games follow the Michael Bay school of design designed for ADHD audiences totally loses faith that gamers could want even a tiny-bit of challenges or intelligent designs that makes us think for at least a couple of seconds.

But I digress. There is no reason to throw the gaming towel just yet, for there are still plenty of games to be excited about, even if they weren’t the top headlines of the mainstream convention (or even at e3 at all). Unfortunately we don’t have that much information on some of these games, but they are definitely worth to keep an eye out.

Dishonored

Dishonored presented itself as a modern day thief. That alone should leave us with plenty to be excited about. Even if the game features a sort-of unpolished presentation with graphics that don’t compare to the best current-gen consoles have to offer, that’s no big deal because it is the gameplay potential that makes this title such a stand-out. The developers showed us a game with wide-open areas with multiple pathways and multiples powers to open up your path however you like, as well as the freedom to mix them in such a way that two gamers will never have the same experience. Dishonored has you hiding bodies, teleporting, stopping time, controlling animals, and much more in order to get to your target. It is a game that rewards originality, combining powers and thinking outside the box, and that’s why it is at its core a Gentleman’s Game.

In a generation that made popular Assassins creed, it’s comforting to know that the developers didn’t feel the need to copy its open-world system to instead focus on the much better suited levels system. This game will show Ubisoft how to make an assassination game that actually has deep gameplay. And even if the graphics aren’t amazing at a technical level, you have to give points to a well done sense of style with the steampunk vibe that seem to be a good mix of Half Life 2 and Bioshock.

Company of Heroes 2

Company of Heroes offered us one of the most original and coolest gameplay in a Real Time Strategy campaign that we have seen in a long time. The CoH formula mixes new ways to approach strategy games that emphasis tactical control of your units alongside beautiful graphics. Not much is known about this sequel so far, but details can’t come soon enough.

Hitman Absolution

It’s probably pretty easy to forget about Hitman Absolution in the midst of other big e3 titles such as Watch Dogs. But while Watch Dogs showed a lot of promise, it had a “target demo” kind of feeling to it with a lot of questions remaining regarding how the game will actually be designed.

Hitman, on the contrary, showed us a less ambitious but a more polished and genuine experience. The Hitman games have always been about freedom, plenty of ways to be creative, and carefully constructed quality level design. The latest entry seems to take everything that works about Hitman and polish  it a notch-further. The demo showed us a look at the amazing Chinatown level which looks fantastic on a technical and artistic side, and that also feels like a vibrant city. It doesn’t only look great, but it also has all the nook and crannies we like of this franchise with multiple ways to assassinate, each depending on how you approach each mission and affecting the outcome.

In summary, it looks like a great next-gen addition to a genuinely good and smart title. And its worth to keep in mind that every Hitman game has been better than the last.

Professor Layton versus Phoenix Wright

Not much is known so far about this mind-bending crossover which may seem weird at first but makes more and more sense the more you think about it. What we do know is that both of this series offer great puzzles and exciting stories which always have the fans wanting more. Sure, there is a little bit of fan-service involved, but the possibilities of mixing Layton’s detective work with Wright’s logical argumentation gives us plenty to be excited about. Well, that and the fact that each respective series have always been excellent.

The Last of Us

There is probably a lot of people out there excited for The Last of Us. But, while certain gamers may act like this is the second coming of jesus because of its incredible graphics and animation, or because they liked Uncharted and this looks like its natural successor.

In truth, the most exciting element of TLoU isn’t its graphics or its pedigree, but the actual gameplay ideas behind the title. Combining dynamic AI behaviors and multiple ways to approach each situation seems like an amazing way to push game design forward. The ammo conservation, the AI cooperation and the way to gather material to build a variety of tools really adds a welcomed sense of strategy to the game.

But one of the most amazing elements of the E3 demo was how it managed to create tension. Let’s take a moment to remember how most of the shameful E3 presentations went: pretty much everything was a series of high speed action scenes, explosions and QTE’s. Even games in franchises which weren’t about that like Resident Evil or Splinter Cell. This Michael Bay syndrome of gaming, brought to us thanks to the ADHD Gee gamers of our generation, needs to throw as much shit as possible in our screen in order to grab our attention. In the end, everything was so similar that it got boring really quickly.

What’s ironic about it is that without any explosions, or high speed action sequence, Naughty Dog managed to make us feel tense just by having a more relatable scenario where we knew the limitations of the player and felt like we could actually control it (even though we weren’t actually playing it), and we also knew that every bullet wasted meant that the odds just got tougher. Oddly enough, TLoU gives us all the elements that made survival horror games great.

Cyberpunk (..and other cool RPGs..)

A lot of hardcore RPG fans may feel a little bit disappointed this generation as the biggest RPG companies and franchises have began a process of masification and casualization. Oddly enough, this last part of the generation of consoles actually promises to bring forth some pretty cool games from independent developers (Dead State), return of classic developers (Divinity: Original Sin, Wasteland 2, Shadowrun Returns) and new promises (such as The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk from CDPR).

One of the RPG’s I’m most excited about is (unsurprisingly) Cyberpunk. The Witcher 2 nor The Witcher 1 were perfect games, but they were games that really displayed passion and talent. There were gameplay imperfections, but there was also some an attempt to really shine in the most important aspects of hardcore RPGs: level design, a mature storyline and actual choices and consequences. In addition, they have also really learned a lot from each game to the next (The Witcher EE fixed most of the things from TW1 which could have been fixed, TW2 took everything which made TW1 and made it even better, and the TW2 EE fixed some of the annoyances). They weren’t afraid of having complex mechanics or a storyline that treated the player intelligently, and managed to do so as a full-fledged game and succeed.

Now Cyberpunk promises a truly hardcore RPG in a not-so-futuristic setting. While not many details have been revealed, we do know that it will take what made previous title good and offer more complex gameplay ideas based upon the PnP RPG. We know this includes plenty of weapons, customization, neuro-implant enhancements and several character classes with an emphasis on skills and abilities over stats.

Let’s not forget to mention, CDPR are the biggest bro developers of gaming offering DRM-free games, free content updates and the amazing GoG service.

ZombiU

It may be easy to quickly classify ZombiU as the WiiU equivalent of Red Steel, as in a shovelware title that Ubisoft is putting at the launch of a Nintendo console to capitalize on early adopters and the lack of other core titles. However, unlike Red Steel, there seems to be a lot of original gameplay ideas thrown into this title as well as some very hopeful early hands-on impressions. ZombiU is also not your typical zombie games we are so accustomed to. It’s focus is on the survival aspect of horror, something which seems to have been long forgotten by the industry giants such as Resident Evil or Dead Space. This game has you scavenging bullets, features no regenerating health and has the unique premise of no continues and no game overs. This means that you will have an infinite number of survivors to try to make it through the game, but if any of their health drops to zero, then they are dead forever and your items are lost until you retrieve them. This roguelike mechanism is something that just isn’t present in mainstream console experiences, and it has potential for some interesting possibilities if married with good level designs, enemies and challenges.

All of these elements make it looks like it could be a very unique horror title. Approach with certain skepticism, though.

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