I’ve had a really, really good week. It’s basically felt like Christmas for the gamer in me. If you don’t already know, it was E3 time of year again, and that meant games, trailers, teasers and more games. It’s like the Fashion Week of the gaming industry, and every single part of me, bar for my wallet, loved it. The only problem I have with E3 every year, other than it being a really clear sign that I just don’t have enough money to finance all of the things in life that my heart desires, is that it becomes kind of overwhelming. Over just a few short days there is just so much that gets announced, and so many people with opinions about everything, that it becomes hard not to find yourself falling behind the constant stream of content coming out.
So what is the solution I’ve come up with to deal with too many E3 posts bogging me down? write my own! I am a genius.
But seriously, E3 can be a lot, so to help create just a little bit of order in the chaos I present to you the first of four E3 articles I have going live which will go live as Sam gets to them (but hopefully in the next few days/weeks) each one focusing on 10 games that I thought would really appeal to you if you were looking for something in particular. If you need to budget up for the year then this piece will make you happy. Here’s my list of E3 titles you’ll love if you’re looking for games to play with your friends!
Super Mario Party
Nintendo Switch – Single and Multiplayer
One of my all-time favorite ‘play with friends’ games from Nintendo has been the Mario Party series, and since the launch of the Switch, I’ve been dying for a new one to come out. The Nintendo Switch is the absolute perfect example of a ‘social’ console. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a lot of fun to play alone, but for me, its true magic comes out when you use it with friends. It’s easy to use, portable and now, it has Super Mario Party on it! If you’ve never played the original Mario Party games, let’s play catchup: basically you and up to 4 of your friends (either in person using one Joy-Con controller per player, by linking separate Switches or by playing online) battle it out against one another in over 80 mini-games to collect the most stars and be the ultimate champion of all champions.
It’s fast paced, easy to get the hang of and a lot of fun:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAuNwjd4O-4
Dying Light 2
PC; Xbox One; PS4 – Single and Multiplayer Co-Op
From light-hearted and wacky, to serious and not at all for the faint-hearted, we finally have a sequel to one of my personal FAVOURITE games to play with my friends, (although the way we shout at each other over Discord when playing would not make you think we were friends) Dying Light 2. Dying Light is, basically, a Zombie slaying game mixed with lots and lots of parkour. It allows me to be the athletic badass that I aspire to be while I sit here eating all of the chocolate. The sequel takes place 15 years after the events of the first game (the game is super story based so you need to play it in order to understand) the Harran Virus has now spread across the world and you are playing through a period of time known only as the ‘Modern Dark Ages’. As with the first instalment, you can go about playing this either as a solo experience or you can choose up to 3 ‘friends’ to drag along on this crazy ride with you.
Rapture Rejects
PC – Single and Multiplayer
Going straight into another ‘apocalyptic’ type game, we have Rapture Rejects, and just as the name would imply the rapture has happened but you didn’t make the cut. This game could not be more different in style from the previous games on this list: set in the universe of the popular webcomic, Cyanide & Happiness, Rapture Rejects is a top-down, isometric, Battle Royale game that focuses heavily on using Dark comedy to set itself apart from its competition. 100 people drop into the world, they run around scavenging for resources and weapons, fight each other to the death, and when there is only one person left? That person gets a ticket to go to heaven. It’s a dark, terrible, funny an absurd twist on an overdone genre… and I can’t wait to play it with friends:
Skull & Bones
PC; Xbox One; PS4 – Single and Multiplayer
It’s not a secret that I don’t share most of the internet’s love for Sea of Thieves, it’s not that I don’t like the idea of it or Pirate games in general, it’s just that I like my Pirates like I like my female leads: strong, serious and badass. Skull & Bones is everything that Sea of Thieves tries to be, it’s an open world Pirate game where you can take to the seas either alone or with a six-man crew – and I’ve never been more excited to set sail with the group of scallywags I call friends before. You get to grab your crew (or don’t), jump aboard your first ship and take to the Indian Ocean. While on the search for treasure you can collect more ships, upgrade them and engage in astoundingly beautiful and intense ship to ship combat. Use your weapons and the wind to your advantage or just use brute force to board and take control of enemy ships, either way, it’s a pirates life for me.
Battletoads
PC; Xbox One -Single and 3 Player Couch Co-Op
There is actually not much that I can say about this game, if I’m being completely honest with you I haven’t ever played a Battletoads game before and because of that I didn’t quite experience the childhood joy that my partner did when he saw this trailer. For those of you who already know the name, you don’t need anything more from me, but for those of you who missed out in your childhood like I apparently did: Battletoads is a beat ’em up game where you and your friends play as one of three toads, Rash, Zitz or Pimple. It’s got a very Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles vibe to it, and that’s all I have for you. But before we move on I can say this: my partner has a Battletoads belt that he wears to work every day, he tells me that Battletoads is pretty damn awesome and that I should be excited, and I think he is pretty awesome – so do with that, and this trailer, what you will.
Wolfenstein: Youngblood
PC; Xbox One; PS4 – Single and Multiplayer Co-Op
Now we get to go back to something that I really am excited for: a new Wolfenstein game. I grew up loving this series. My mom used to play Castle Wolfenstein and can’t even begin to imagine a time where Wolfenstein games weren’t a part of my life. As I’ve grown up though, the series has grown up with me – in the way it looks, plays and the stories it tells, and this instalment is no different. Wolfenstein: Youngblood is a standalone sequel to Wolfenstein II, the story takes place 19 years after it’s predecessor and you find yourself in the 1980s as the newest member (or members) of the Global Resistance against the Nazis, and you are looking for your father, who went missing in Paris. Only this time in the entire the world of Wolfenstein we aren’t taking on the role of a badass guy, instead we get to step into the shoes of either Jess or Soph – two twin girls. I don’t mind which gender I play when I dive into a new game, but it’s rather exciting to play as a female in a game I’ve been playing since I was a little girl sitting on my mom’s lap.
Unravel two
PC; Xbox One; PS4 – Single-player and Multiplayer
Don’t let the art style fool you, Unravel is one of the most challenging games on this list. When I first started my YouTube channel, the first game I actually bought for the purpose of making content was Unravel. It has everything that I love in a game: it’s pretty, it sounds amazing, it has a moving story behind it and it makes you think. It also has something in it that drives me mad, it. is. so. damn. difficult! More than once I turned my single-player experience into a multiplayer one by having anyone and everyone I could find come and see if they could get past the bit where I was currently stuck, so when they announced that Unravel Two would let you play with a friend? It just made so much sense. Unravel Two, like it’s predecessor, is a puzzle platformer. The game puts you in control of a ‘Yarny’ which is a small, animate creature made entirely from a ball of yarn. You use this yarn to help you traverse across the worlds and solve puzzles to progress. Knowing how and when to use your unraveling thread is everything.
Fallout 76
PC; Xbox One; PS4 – Multiplayer
Just because I enjoy giving you whiplash as we jump between bright happy games to dark apocalyptic ones, I present my personal FAVOURITE E3 Multiplayer announcement: Fallout 76. Fallout is one of those funny things in my life. I wouldn’t say I was a crazy Fallout fan but then I look around my house and I see that I own a shocking amount of Fallout collectors editions and merch. Then I’m like ‘oh yes! I am a crazy fan!’ as if this is news to me. As flawed as Fallout 4 was, and in many ways, still is – it is still one of my most played games on Steam and every few months I can’t help but start playing it again. One of the biggest things that I keep looking for in Fallout 4 is multiplayer so that I don’t have to feel like I’m segregated to the wastelands alone, and Fallout 76 is the answer to all of my late night wishes. Fallout 76 is an online, multiplayer prequel to the Fallout series. You have the choice to go into the world alone or to take three of your friends with you – it looks like they’ve taken everything good about Fallout 4 and improved it. The world that you will be adventuring through is modelled after a very real West Virginia and they have recreated many of the area’s more notable attractions such as Camden Park and the State Capitol. They’ve also taken inspiration from West Virginian folklore with a lot of the new monsters you will encounter, monsters such as the fabled Mothmen. The entire world will comprise only of real human players, meaning there won’t be any NPCs – any survivor that you come across will be just like you, real.
Beyond Good and Evil 2
PC; Xbox One; PS4 – Single-player and Multiplayer
This is the second game on this list that I actually can’t tell you too much about, but that’s okay because the trailer tells you everything you need to know anyway: This game is going to be AMAZING! Beyond Good and Evil 2 is a prequel to the original, 2003 game. It takes place a few decades before the start of the first game. For those of you who never got to experience the magic that was Beyond Good and Evil here is the summary of what you missed: You played as an investigative reporter / martial artist named Jade. You work closely with the resistance to reveal an alien conspiracy, kicking ass and taking names as you go. This time around, the game is set in an open, shared world for you to explore and because the world is shared certain events will affect everyone. You will start playing at the bottom of the social system and as you play you will slowly not just work yourself up the ladder but you will also grow your spaceship and your crew along with you. That’s really all that we know about the game so far, so for now, just enjoy the trailer and everything that it promises to be:
Anthem
PC; Xbox One; PS4 – Multiplayer
Games with ‘Shared Worlds’ seemed to be the theme of E3 this year, and I’m not hating it. With Anthem, you can once again choose to either adventure alone or as one of a four-man squad, all of whom will be able to jump from the squad to a single player experience while still remaining where they were in the shared game. From watching the trailers, I can already tell that this is a game that you will want to be in a squad for. Anthem is an action shooter game where you take on the role of a Freelancer, they are part of a group who left civilisation to go explore the ‘unknown’. You wear a fully customisable exosuit, called a Javelin, which gives you superhuman abilities and together with your team (or alone) you explore the world, try to survive shaper storms which alter the world around you, and take on powerful and ruthless beasts and creatures as you uncover the mysteries of the unknown world.
There we go, those were my top 10 picks of games from E3 that I think will be better if played with friends.
Which of these games do you most want to dive into and with who? Tag your ‘four-man squad’ below and all geek out about these upcoming games together. I still have 3 more articles coming, so if your favourite game from E3 wasn’t mentioned here, maybe it’s in one of my other posts but let me know what it is anyway – sharing the games that you love with friends is always better.
