Join us as we take a quick look at everything announced during this year’s Bethesdaland 2017.
Bethesda VR
Bethesda wasted no time digging into the announcements, with two virtual reality games listed for release in 2017. Up first, Doom VFR, for Virtual … Frickin’ … Reality, in tune with the game’s brash attitude.
To much less surprise, Bethesda’s VR wing also officially announced Fallout VR, a game teased at E3 last year and shown in limited bursts. Both systems are clearly designed for HTC Vive, with the headset and controllers appearing prominently in both trailers.
Beyond that, we still don’t know much about Bethesda’s virtual reality ports. They’re clearly ambitious titles that are intended to be more than just simple display and input changes.
Creation Club
In what appears to be an attempt to bring back the infamous and short-lived mod monetization introduced for Skyrim a few years ago. Bethesda has worked with some of the best mod developers for both Fallout 4 and Skyrim to produce mods and cosmetic items that won’t affect save files or game integration. The Creation Club website is already live, and the service should begin rolling out this summer.
Elder Scrolls: Legends
Next up, Elder Scrolls: Legends will be rolling into the Skyrim universe, with the Heroes of Skyrim expansion. It will bring in new cards, and of course new quests to complete, to coincide with the adventures into everyone’s favorite dragon-ridden land. If that sounds up your alley, the expansion will be available on June 29th.
Skyrim Switch
We still may not have a release date for Skyrim on the Nintendo Switch, but that didn’t stop Bethesda from showing off an early build of the ported RPG for Switch. Of note, the game apparently includes Amiibo support, allowing users to scan their Breath of the Wild amiibo for unique armor, and even the Master Sword, in Skyrim. It also supports motion controls, allowing users to raise a shield and swing a sword without pressing a button.
Dishonored 2: Death of the Outsider
In a twist-filled Dishonored 2 DLC announcement trailer, Bethesda showed off a new campaign for the stealthy adventure title. In the brief cinematic, a friendly NPC from the main game stalks enemies, and eventually rescues a character featured in the other Dishonored 2 DLC, Knife of Dunwall. The name of this DLC is intrguing, as well, since The Outsider is the source of the mystical powers featured in Dishonored.
Quake: Champions
Bethesda’s frantic FPS is in full-scale comeback mode, and the company made two big announcements regarding that return to prominence. The first is the re-introduction of BJ Blazkowicz, the Nazi-slaying protagonist of the Wolfenstein series, who will be a playable character class in Quake: Champions.
There’s also the Quake World Championships, which will take place at Quakecon this summer. Teams will compete in the new game for a $1 million prize pool. Still no word on an official release date, but with a huge tournament on the line, Bethesda will want to officially release sooner than later.
The Evil Within 2
Well dang, this game looks scary. We got to see the recently-rumored reveal for the sequel to 2014’s heavily haunted psychological thriller. This time around, our protagonist Sebastian Castellanos must once again suffer a horrific, unnatural world, this time to save his daughter by diving into the world of STEM. This particularly spooky game will be available on October 13 of this year.
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
Last but not least, Bethesda officially announced Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, a sequel to the popular Nazi-slaying games that was teased last year in the company’s press conference intro. BJ Blazkowicz is back, waking up in a hospital having apparently lost the use of his legs. Eventually, we see him donning a futuristic, bulletproof suit and meeting up with a resistance team planning a revolution against the fascist state. That game will be available starting October 27th.
