8 Games and Franchises, From 'Star Wars' To 'Resident Evil', We Expect To See At E3

With E3 just around the corner, the rumor mill has been churning and anticipation is high over the surprises that will be announced at this year’s show. Here’s a few things we expect, or hope, to see happen.

Halo 3 Anniversary

As per some leaked footage this week, it’s likely that Microsoft won’t just let Gears of War 4 hog the spotlight for publisher flagships. 2016 marks the 10th anniversary of Halo 3’s debut for the Xbox, so it would make sense that it would follow suit after the original and Halo 2 remakes in 2011 and 2014, respectively.

The footage itself, what appears to be a surreptitious phone recording, is poor quality (and likely to be taken down soon), showing only a title screen reading the name of the game with some ships flying by, but given the fact that Halo gives Microsoft a license to print money, it also doesn’t seem too far-fetched. But will it show up on The Master Chief Collection?

More Star Wars From EA

DICE has announced more Battlefront is coming, but with Episode VII now out of the way, it feels like the time is right to get things moving in full-swing. It may not be time yet to see Amy Hennig’s highly anticipated adventure coming from Visceral Games, which could be either a retooling of defunct Star Wars 1313 or something entirely new, which is tentatively set for a 2018 release.

What’s more likely at the very least is more Battlefront DLC and well as Battlefront VR, which was announced at Sony event at GDC last year. EA’s CFO Blake made it clear the company had plans to release one new Star Wars game a year for the next four years, so perhaps a look at the Battlefront sequel, or possibly Respawns recently announced action game, are in the cards.

Resident Evil and possibly more Capcom horror

Resident Evil 7 will almost undoubtedly make some form of debut during the show for the series 20th anniversary. Capcom has reportedly taken into account the negative feedback over the ludicrous direction of Resident Evil 6 and, if rumors are to be believed, is taking the horror series back to its roots, though how that translates in a modern game remains to be seen. Given the series history with PlayStation, Sonys press conference might be right venue for an introduction.

If we’re lucky, we’ll also get to see the first look at the developer’s remake of Resident Evil 2, which was officially announced last year. The studio has said the game is making steady progress, but much like Resident Evil 7, it’s anyone’s guess if a remade RE2 will go the route of the recent Gamecube remasters or be a more contemporary, post-RE4 recreation.

Finally, Capcom is listed as a confirmed developer on PSVR, and last year’s “Kitchen” tech demo is proof theyre at least experimenting with concepts. A virtual reality title that takes advantage of the Resident Evil team’s strengths would be a great surprise for Sony’s headset. In any case, Resi’s 20th isn’t going to pass uncelebrated.

A huge VR push from Sony (and nothing for Vita)

With the PS4 Neo allegedly looming quite large on the horizon, PSVR is likely to make up a significant part of Sony’s press conference. The new system’s upgraded specs are thought to be integral to making VR really shine on Sony’s hardware, and with the launch of the headset in October, there will no doubt be a lot of new games – particularly indie leaning – to get fans excited. The Vita meanwhile will continue to be left in the dust.

Beyond Good & Evil 2

Chalk this one up to wishful thinking, although Michel Ancel has confirmed the game is still alive as recent as January and Ubisoft registered a new trademark in April. If Assassin’s Creed is really skipping E3, this would be the best possible replacement.

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey

Speaking of Assassin’s Creed, the new game from series creator Patrice Desilets, who has since left Ubisoft and formed his own independent studio, has been missing since last April. Though the brazen ambition of the game raises the question of whether or not it will even be ready this console generation, this year could be the right time to properly introduce audiences. We’ll see.

Nintendo dances around or outright ignores NX

Nintendo recently announced a change of plans for their E3 schedule, expanding it beyond just playable Wii U Zelda to include Pokémon, Dragon Quest VII (whose localization announcement was incredibly easy to miss) and a handful of others. It’s possible that a few surprises might be up Big N’s sleeve, like some unannounced game heading to both the Wii U and NX (Animal Crossing, maybe?), but nothing specific about the company’s new hardware.

No Kojima

Sorry, Ludens. It just hasn’t been long enough for a proper game reveal. My moneys on next year.