Welcome to the 9to5Toys best of E3 2021 roundup. After a year off in 2020, and with all of the major showcases behind us now, it’s time to catch up on the most exciting announcements from the (virtual) show floor at this year’s E3 conference. While, to some degree, it felt like some of the publishers weren’t quite ready to meet gamers’ demands when it comes to E3-level reveals, it was still quite a notable showing. From The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild 2 and Starfield to our first good look at Elden Ring, the new Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy game, a new 2D Metroid, and the “world’s most powerful” RTX 3080 14-inch laptop from Razer, it was quite an exciting four days’ worth of reveals and announcements. Head below for a full catch-up and our picks for the most anticipated announcements/reveals in the 9to5Toys best of E3 2021 roundup.
9to5Toys best of E3 2021 roundup
It’s not easy to choose which titles, announcements, and game reveals are the best with so many to choose from, and some will inevitably get left off our short list here.
Titles like Starfield, at which we got a very brief look, as well as Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, and the new Metroid Dread, could have easily made this list. And let’s not forget some of the exciting new gear from Razer and Nintendo’s Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda edition collectible console, but if we had to choose just three of the reveals that we are most excited to see more of in the future, head below for a closer look.
The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild 2
The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild is easily one of, if not the best games on the Nintendo Switch platform and is among the best games ever made. So needless to say, its sequel was an easy choice for this list. It was among the most anticipated reveals for this year’s show, and that’s why Nintendo’s exciting, albeit quite brief, “gameplay” footage from The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild 2 tops the 9to5Toys best of E3 2021 list.
The game is still mostly a mystery, but it appears as though we will be returning to (the same?) Hyrule as the first game and more importantly, the skies above it. Judging by the verbiage on the E3 video above and after seeing Link soaring through the clouds, it looks like there will be an entirely new world floating above Hyrule when the The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild 2 (probably releases) in 2022.
The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild 2 pre-order
Elden Ring
FromSoftware titles aren’t for everyone, whether it’s the difficulty, vague nature of the storylines, or overall dark tone, but for those that do like them, the Elden Ring reveal was easily the most exciting of E3 2021. This one gets even more bonus points for its surprise showing at the tail end of Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest showcase — there’s not very many folks that saw that coming — and it was also essentially the first look we have seen of the game outside of extremely brief teaser videos.
It looks like Dark Souls creator Hidetaka Miyazaki is back at it again with another dark take on high-fantasy action, but this time with some help from fantasy novelist George R. R. Martin of Game of Thrones fame. Hundreds of skills, magical abilities, giant and terribly difficult enemies, the ability to jump (plus leap straight up mountains on a horse?), and riding mounts are all confirmed for this one when it’s set to release on January 19, 2022. That’s the official release date right now, but if you ask me, it sounds like it’s already going to slip well beyond that, and I, for one, am happy to wait when it comes to the latest in what will probably be another Soulsborne-like experience.
Elden Ring pre-order
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
And lastly, to just about no one’s surprise (it mostly leaked entirely before the show), Square Enix revealed what Eidos Montreal has been working on since the last Deus Ex game, the new Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Before you freak out, this is not just another take on the Marvel’s Avengers game Square announced previously. In fact, it appears to have learned from those mistakes and has created a single-player action game where players take on the role of Star-Lord, leading the famous group of “legendary misfits.”
The gameplay action looked solid, the interaction between the Guardians seemed on point, and there were a number of actually funny moments in the lengthy gameplay section we got to take a look at. While only time will tell if this one holds up, and even though we almost already knew it was coming, it was an exciting reveal and a great way to show a game off for the very first time — trailer, dev commentary, and full-on 10+ minute gameplay demonstration. It releases on October 26, 2021.
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy pre-order
Official E3 Awards show
We would be remiss not to mention the official E3 Awards show that aired yesterday evening. “Key video game industry media partners” came together to make some “official” top picks for the first-ever, all-digital E3 with Microsoft Game Studios’ Forza Horizon 5 being named the Most Anticipated Game of E3 2021. While Forza Horizon 5 certainly wouldn’t have made my personal list (driving/racing games just aren’t my thing), its E3 showing was quite impressive, with near photorealistic graphics of the Mexican desert, countryside, and shoreline, as well as a lengthy in-game demonstration. The whole thing really made the Microsoft show a little bit more hands-on.
The official E3 Awards show gave Microsoft’s “Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase” the best presentation award, and here are some of the highlights among the rest of the most anticipated game awards from the show:
- Capcom: The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
- Gearbox Entertainment: Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands
- Nintendo: Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2
- PC Gaming Show: Songs of Conquest
- Square Enix: Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
- Ubisoft: Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope
- Xbox/Bethesda: Halo: Infinite
And be sure to catch up on all of the major showcases below:
- Razer E3 2021: ‘World’s most powerful’ RTX 3080 14-inch laptop, 130W USB-C GaN charger, more
- E3 2021 Capcom show starts now! Resident Evil Village, Monster Hunter, Ace Attorney, more
- E3 2021 PC Gaming Show: Dying Light 2, Jurassic World Evolution 2, Ixion, more
- E3 2021 Square Enix show: Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel’s Avengers, much more
- E3 2021 Xbox and Bethesda show: Elder Scrolls 6, Starfield, Halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 5, more
- E3 2021 Ubisoft Forward: Far Cry 6, Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, more
- E3 2021 Summer Game Fest showcase! Elden Ring, Among Us, more
- E3 2021 Gearbox: Borderlands + new movie details, more
- Microsoft’s Summer Game Fest Demo event has 40+ unreleased titles to try out for FREE
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