It doesn’t get any bigger than E3. Gaming’s most important convention of the year is the source of the biggest announcements and reveals in the industry. And E3 2021 is the busiest show of all, featuring more live streams and publisher presentations than ever before. Together, these shows will shed light on the future of the Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
This year’s show consists of presentations from many of the biggest publishers in gaming, including Microsoft, Bethesda, Square Enix, Capcom, Bandai Namco, Nintendo, Take-Two Interactive, Warner Bros. Games, Ubisoft, and many more. You can find a full schedule of E3 2021 conferences here.
Below, you’ll find all the biggest news, reveals, and trailers from E3 2021 Week, including a few announcements from Summer Game Fest, IGN Expo, and Netflix Geeked Week:
Elden Ring Trailer and Release Date Revealed
Few games are more highly anticipated than FromSoftware’s Elden Ring, a new Action RPG collaboration with Game of Thrones creator George R. R. Martin, who crafted the lore for this fantasy open-world. Fans hoping to finally learn more about the game at E3 2021 after two years of radio silence were rewarded for their patience at Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest Kickoff Live event.
A new trailer gives fans a much better look at what they should expect from the game. There are flying mounts, giant enemies, and the epic scale we’ve come to expect from both FromSoftware and Martin. Most importantly, the trailer finally gives us a release date.
Watch the trailer below:
Elden Ring hits shelves on January 21, 2022 for last-gen and current-gen consoles as well as PC.
Death Stranding: Director’s Cut Coming to PS5
There will likely be no troll as amazing as the trailer for Death Stranding: Director’s Cut, an expanded and enhanced edition of Hideo Kojima’s 2019 maximalist open-world adventure starring Norman Reedus. We don’t want to spoil it for you. Just watch it:
After the announcement, we spent a few minutes trying to figure out what Kojima could have possibly cut from a game with such a massive scope. Here’s what we came up with.
Kojima Productions will have more to share about this new edition of Death Stranding soon. No release date has been announced.
Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands Is Fantasy Borderlands
Although the game was leaked ahead of E3, it was still nice to see Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands finally make its debut at Summer Game Fest. What exactly is the game? It’s a fantasy loot shooter in the style of Borderlands with some familiar characters as well as a whole roster of new ones.
“For me, bringing actual Borderlands guns to fight dragons, skeletons, goblins, and more in an original fantasy world imagined by the galaxy’s deadliest 13-year-old, Tiny Tina, as a new, full-featured AAA video game is a dream come true,” Gearbox president Randy Pitchford said in a statement.
Check out the zany trailer below:
The game will be release in early 2022 for last-gen and current-gen consoles as well as PC.
Battlefield 2042 Takes the Franchise Back to the Future
The Battlefield series is going back to the future with its latest installment. In Battlefield 2042, you must fight for control of a planet ravaged by climate change, where a superstorm can completely change the course of a battle. The game will feature a mix of modern and futuristic weapons as well as a dynamic weather system that should add a bit of chaos to the gameplay. We’re not in World War II anymore.
In another departure, Battlefield 2042 will skip the story campaign in favor of an increased focus on multiplayer gameplay. The two major modes, Breakthrough and Conquest, will emphasize massive battles on next-gen consoles, putting up to 128 on one of the game’s many giant maps.
The debut cinematic trailer should give you a good idea of what the game’s all about:
Battlefront 2042 releases on Oct. 22.
Call of Duty Goes Back to WWII in Vanguard
While Activision didn’t plan to reveal this year’s Call of Duty game during E3 2021, Video Games Chronicle beat the publisher to the announcement with a huge scoop: the next installment in the shooter franchise is called Call of Duty: Vanguard. The game is reportedly set in the European and Pacific theatres of World War II, and will feature a campaign, multiplayer, and a Zombies mode.
Vanguard will also introduce big changes to Warzone, including a new map set in the Pacific theater that is “significantly larger” than Verdansk. The report didn’t include any info on the types of weapons and operators that will come to Warzone when Vanguard launches, but VGC did confirm new vehicles will be introduced to the battle royale mode.
Sledgehammer Games, along with the help of every other internal studio at Activision, is working on the game, which is currently scheduled for a November release on current and last-gen consoles as well as PC. An official announcement is reportedly planned at a later date. Meanwhile, Activision will unveil what’s coming in Warzone Season 4 during Summer Game Fest this week. Season 4 is said to be scheduled to start on June 16.
New Castlevania Animated Series in the Works at Netflix
Season 4 of Netflix’s epic Castlevania anime series ended on a bit of a cliffhanger: Trevor and Sypha are expecting a baby, the future of the Belmont clan of monster hunters. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, that Netflix has already green lit a sequel series starring a new Belmont.
Set during the French Revolution, the new Castlevania anime will star video game protagonist Richter Belmont (Castlevania: Rondo of Blood), one of Trevor and Sypha’s descendants, and Maria Renard, a young vampire hunter.
No release date has been set for the new series.
Splinter Cell Animated Series: First Look
There’s no new Splinter Cell game in sight, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t getting more Sam Fisher in other ways. Netflix is working with Ubisoft to adapt the fan-favorite stealth franchise into an animated series. The project is being helmed by John Wick creator Derek Kolstad. And, that’s all we know about this project at the moment.
There’s no release date. You probably shouldn’t expect this one for a long while.
Resident Evil Netflix Series Casts Albert Wesker
There are a few Resident Evil projects in the works right now. There’s the new anime series coming to Netflix as well as the new movie reboot destined for the big screen. That’s not enough, though. Netflix is also working on a live-action series about the inner workings of the Umbrella Corporation. It focuses on Albert Wesker and his children across two timelines.
According to the official synopsis from Netflix (via Polygon), “In the first timeline, 14-year-old sisters Jade and Billie Wesker are moved to New Raccoon City. A manufactured, corporate town, forced on them right as adolescence is in full swing. But the more time they spend there, the more they come to realize that the town is more than it seems and their father may be concealing dark secrets. Secrets that could destroy the world.
“The second, more than a decade into the future sees less than 15 million people left on Earth. And more than 6 billion monsters — people and animals infected with the T-virus. Jade, now 30, struggles to survive in this new world, while the secrets from her past — about her sister, her father, and herself — continue to haunt her.”
Netflix has announced the cast for the series: Ella Balinska, Tamara Smart, Siena Agudong, Adeline Rudolph, and Paola Nuñez are all playing mystery roles. The real showstopper is Lance Reddick (Fringe) as Albert Wesker. That absolutely rules!
The first season will comprise of eight episodes. No release date as of yet.
The Witcher Season 2 Teaser
The Witcher season 2 is coming later this year, so Netflix is ready to start teasing some things about what’s coming up on the show. During Geeked Week, the streamer announced that fans will meet Ciri in the second season.
Here’s a very brief teaser:
Fans will be able to learn more about The Witcher season 2 at the first Witchercon, hosted by Netflix and CD Projekt Red, on July 9.
We’ll keep updated this article as more E3 2021 news comes in!