1-Up After Dark: Bethesda's E3 Conference Breakdown and Trailers

Let's face it. E3 is a great event but for many people in the world (see also "outside of the Pacific time zone and especially across the various ponds"), the times of the conferences can be a little bit taxing if this isn't your full-time job.

Add in the Pittsburgh Penguisn' Stanley Cup clinching game Sunday evening and watching the Bethesda conference - as much as I genuinely love the gang at Bethesda - unfortunately had to take a momentary backseat. But that delay ended when a continuing bout with poison ivy which prematurely ended my slumber.

So let's break this show down, shall we?

Doom VFR

Bethesda's opening act wasn't really a surprise as they brought out Doom VFR which clearly means Doom Virtual Effing Reality if you haven't figured it out yet.

I'm not big into the VR world yet but this looks like a pretty solid entry. The trailer gave us what we would need to see and hear (that soundtrack, yo) from a Doom title without revealing the fact that - SPOILER ALERT - poison ivy has taken over Hell and is the final boss of this one.

Fallout 4 VR

I liked Fallout 4 a lot for what it was and despite its numerous flaws. I can certainly see the appeal to the diehard fans of this game and VR in general. My own feelings, based in part due to burnout from spending so much time in the Commonwealth already, are that I'm far more interested in diving into the similarly-themed Metro: Exodus which was revealed in the earlier XBox Briefing.

But if VR is your thing and Bethesda's charming/disarming bugs are your thing, this could very likely your thing, too.

The Elder Scrolls Online - Morrowind

"Don't poke the bear." That's what you learn fairly early on as Bethesda announces that the next expansion to their popular MMO The Elder Scrolls Online will feature Morrowind, the setting for one of their most popular titles in the franchise. A big deal for the millions who play the game.

Creation Club

We like Clubs.

Bethesda's Creation Club was built for modders and people who enjoy that aspect of gaming. For now, the focus is on Fallout 4 and Skyrim, as it should be. Nothing says that they can't expand in the future. But if they create a Hitchhiker's Guide set of mods for Fallout 4 that includes a Marvin the Paranoid Android Power Armor suit, I'm back into that game tomorrow guaranteed.

Elder Scrolls: Legends - Heroes of Skyrim (DLC)

More Elder Scrolls. Not ground-breaking by any means but it's a solid strategy by Bethesda to keep feeding what keeps them fed. The new content for the mobile card-based game will feature characters and monsters from Skyrim. Not much else to say, really.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for Switch

Hey, look at that! It's Skyrim. For Switch. A great move that Nintendo must feel elated about because A) Skyrim is immensely popular B) they didn't have to make it themselves and C) IT'S NOW POSSIBLE TO SEARCH FOR YOUR MISSING SWEET ROLL AS FREAKIN' LINK!

The fun thing to watch will be how the Switch handles this load both in terms of memory and portable battery life. And also to see how Link's death is animated should you get burnt to a crisp by a dragon or mutilated by a Daedric priest.

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

Dishonored II is a beautiful game and it gets new DLC come mid-September. Have you noticed that a lot of what Bethesda has presented thusfar seems to be filler? Do you think that maybe they're working on something big elsewhere?

Just me? Okay, then.

Quake Champions

Bethesda clearly wants a slice of the eSports pie. If you're into Quake, now is the time to jump into the beta to prepare yourself for the chance to win $1 million with the addition of new characters, maps and the like. I'll just watch.

The Evil Within 2

I missed the first game in this franchise and this trailer made me instantly regret that. The Evil Within 2 seems to offer up what I felt Hideo Kojima's Death Stranding would at Sony's conference on Monday before the plug was pulled on that possibility. Dire straights, massive amounts of regret and a feeling of peril are evident throughout this trailer and that makes the survival horror fan in me very happy, indeed.

Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus

Again, not a huge surprise as everybody expected to see the latest entry in the Nazi-dominated alternate reality series. This gmae looks polished. It looks sharp. It looks fun.

If there's one thing Bethesda really excels at, it's imagining how society would be changed by their alternate realities and applying that to their presentations of games. They did it so well with the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. teaser films for Fallout 4 and again with their 60s sitcom style clips for this game. Wolfenstein 2 provided a strong finish for Bethesda's slightly underwhelming effort this year.



Be sure to check out more coverage of E3 2017 here at The 1-Up Club throughout the week.