E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo is in full swing in Los Angeles. Yesterday, the major conferences concluded with a morning presentation from Nintendo and we now, for the most part, know about all the new titles that are being revealed at the show. While a number of new games have been released since the convention’s start this past weekend, I thought I’d share with you some of the games that will likely appeal more to horror and sci-fi fans. In no particular order, here are my picks.
Sea of Solitude
I won’t go into too much detail on this one since it was one of the first games I covered out of this year’s E3, but at its core Sea of Solitude explores themes of loneliness and the monsters we become when that loneliness manifests itself. While not a true horror game, the imagery of the game is beautiful and the dark monsters that lurk in the oceans and that you, the character become, are really cool looking.
Transference
If you were a fan of the 90’s games that blended cinema with video games like Phantasmagoria, Night Trap, Ripper, or Double Switch then the new collaboration between Elijah Wood’s SpectreVision and Ubisoft might pique your interest. Transference is a “mind-bending psycho-thriller” where players will shift between three perspectives as they try to unravel the mystery of a troubled scientist’s experiment gone wrong. Like the classic games aforementioned, the game appears to blend cinematic footage with traditional video game graphics to tell the story and overall has a super creepy vibe.
Transference is expected to be released this fall on Oculus, Vive, PlaystationVR, PS4, and Xbox One.
Resident Evil 2 Remake
Resident Evil defined survival horror as we know it and while we continue to see new releases like last year’s Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Capcom has been working to reintroduce the original games to new generations of gamers for years, with re-releases on a number of platforms and then the 2015 release of the HD remaster of the original 1996 classic Resident Evil. Now, Capcom has announced Resident Evil 2 Remake, a remastered and updated version of the 1998 classic title that truly established the lore of the Resident Evil franchise.
Resident Evil 2 Remake is scheduled to be released on the PS4 on January 25, 2019.
Overkill’s The Walking Dead
There’s been no shortage of games based on Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead. Since 2012 Telltale Games has released two full seasons of their title based on the series with a third and final season set to be released this August. Additionally, they released two spinoff’s, The Walking Dead – A New Frontier and The Walking Dead: Michonne. Telltales The Walking Dead is a great series, but for many, it was too cartoony and story-driven for their liking. If you’re looking for a title that is a bit more gritty, gory and like the show then Overkill’s The Walking Dead will be the game for you. Set to be released on November 6 for PC, Overkill’s The Walking Dead is a four-player co-op first-person shooter that takes place in a post-apocalyptic Washington D.C. set in The Walking Dead universe and created together with Robert Kirman.
Maneater
If you’re a Jaws fan, or a fan of sharks in general, and you’ve always wanted to play a game where you take on the role of a man-eating shart, there’s finally a game for you. Maneater, from Tripwire Interactive, was announced at this year’s E3 and is an action RPG where you play as a shark and, well, I’ll let the trailer explain the rest…
Maneater will be released on the PC, but does not yet have a set release date.
Dying Light 2
The follow up to the 2015 survival horror action-adventure Dying Light was announced at E3 2018. Set 15 years after the events of the first game, Dying Light 2 takes place in a “modern dark age” where surviving factions of humans are vying for control of the remains of civilization all will dealing with hordes of zombies that emerge in the night. The game builds upon the first game’s concept but adds a new “narrative sandbox” element to the game by having your decisions impact the world around you. Check out one example of this in the gameplay premiere that was showcased at E3.
Dying Light 2 will be released on the Xbox One, but does not yet have a release date.
Twin Mirror
For those of you who are fans of sci-fi thriller’s Twin Mirror, the new title from the makers of Life Is Strange and Vampyr might be of interest.
Sam, a 33-year old man recovering from a recent break-up, returns to his hometown Basswood, West Virginia, for the funeral of his best friend. Understandably depressed and bitter, he feels completely out of sorts and out of place… But when he wakes up in his hotel room with a bloody shirt and no memory of his whereabouts the previous night, he embarks on a twisted investigation to find the truth.
Twin Mirror will be coming to PC, PS4, and Xbox One, however a release date has not yet been announced.
The Sinking City
The Sinking City is a third-person horror detective game from Frogwares, and while the trailer doesn’t give us much to go on this is definitely a dark, moody, Lovecraftian-inspired game that fans of the genrea are sure to be interested in.
The Sinking City is coming to PC, but does not yet have a release date.
Déraciné
From the creators of the game Dark Souls, Déraciné is an all-new title for Playstation VR where you play as a spirit summoned by a young girl at a secluded boarding school. While the game isn’t necessarily horror, it definitely grounds itself in the supernatural. As the spirit, you’ll manipulate the forces of life and time to prove your existence to the students and ultimately change their fate.
One thing that doesn’t totally make sense is that the trailer makes mention of a fairy, however, Playstation describes the player as a spirit. So we’ll have to wait and see what the game is truly about when it is released later this year.
Overall the number of horror and sci-fit titles debuted at this year’s E3 were slim. If you’re looking for some additional titles to explore, some of the other games that I’m looking forward to include:Â Gears of War 5, Fallout 76, Devil May Cry 5, Wolfenstein: Youngblood, Cyberpunk 2077, Halo Infinite, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, The Quiet Man, Metro Exodus, The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit, and Ghost of Tsushima.
