That’s because live-service or games-as-a-service or whatever term the industry wants to come up with next recognize the investment potential of a game. People want to spend more time in these universes and feel like that time is being rewarded. They might like a certain style of gameplay and be comfortable doing the same thing for months on end. You would think these would be the ingredients for a perfect video game.

However, over the past few months and with this recent Electronic Entertainment Expo, a new “trend” has been on the rise. It was actually around for quite a long time but more publishers are seemingly coming around to having – gasp – replay value in their titles.

The Outer Worlds isn’t a super long game – it can be completed in roughly 15 to 20 hours – but Obsidian Entertainment is emphasizing player choice and customization to allow for replays. Dying Light 2 is another excellent example – the world can be altered depending on your decisions with different foes, opportunities and objectives opening up as a result. Cyberpunk 2077 will present a number of different build options and outcomes to allow players to have a different experience each time they make a new V (while simultaneously stuffing Night City with things to do for those only playing once).

Calling this a “trend” is facetious though. Numerous titles from Dark Souls and Divinity: Original Sin 2 to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Stellaris to The Binding of Isaac and Dead Cells have emphasized replaying the same “content” in new and interesting ways. Using new weapons, taking no damage, going straight to Hyrule Castle, choosing a new Origins story or constructing a race of Fanatic Purifiers – the list goes on in terms of new experiences that players could potentially have. I’ve said before that an “experience” isn’t necessarily defined by new story content but in new gameplay opportunities and avenues that players could have with existing mechanics and systems.

Why does it seem to be more obvious than ever though? And why are live-service titles on the down-trend as a whole? First, it’s important to understand the current state of several popular live-service titles.

Games like Overwatch, Destiny 2 and The Division 2 may have tons of content with more added each month. However, they each suffer from their own shortcomings which can make that content irrelevant for anyone joining for the the first time. Take Destiny 2 – the Leviathan Raid may have been all well and good when it released but by the time Forsaken’s Last Wish Raid landed, it was relegated to the background. That’s just for an activity that requires you to find other players – matchmaking for certain activities like the Forges from Black Armory can prove even more arduous.

Such is the constraint that all MMO-lite titles face though. Not everyone will be going back to older World of Warcraft raids in their completely unaltered form just for kicks. The Division 2 is a good example of this – once new content arrives and a new meta build is discovered, players will abandon raids like Operation Dark Hours. Heck, such is the end-game state of both Destiny 2 and The Division 2 that there’s very little reason to engage with either end-game. That’s because the effort put in doesn’t necessarily reflect the rewards earned (if you’re lucky enough to get those rewards at all).

Besides, those same live-service players are starting to look beyond just loot and incremental power-ups. They’re seeking memorable experiences. When their game of choice fails to provide anything worth emotionally investing in, whether it’s appealing characters or a deep coherent story, the investment becomes a bit tenuous. It also doesn’t help that all that time and effort put into those overpowered weapons or build is undone with a new balance patch. With Destiny 2, this happens every “season” and can result in weapons like Whisper of the Worm becoming less than worthwhile.

“Do you want to keep using the same weapon and set-up forever?” some one would doubtfully ask. That’s not the problem. The problem is when you work to get a weapon that’s contained in a mission only available on the weekends, that too after triggering the right Public Event, where failing the mission will start this process all over again…and it’s made less useful because a developer thinks it would trivialize future content. Players waited for hours to even get the Public Event to show up, mind you.

The same could be said of The Division 2. Players spent weeks grinding out their favourite builds, only to have them invalidated when the Gear Score was raised with the Tidal Basin update. Ubisoft Massive also went about nerfing every popular skill and changed things up before the Operation Dark Hours raid launch, making it essential to grind out new items again. It’s sense taken to upgrading all the existing skills and thankfully not raising the Gear Score.

Overwatch is still incredibly popular and rakes in profits like crazy but there’s no denying that revenues and player numbers are down from launch. You could blame a stale meta and lack of interesting seasonal events for the same, though Blizzard’s recently announced Role Queue could breathe new life into Competitive Play. But the game’s prime investment drivers just aren’t all that compelling any more. The lore hasn’t seen any significant advancements – all those wonderful characters we’ve grown to like over the years feel like they’re stuck in time, unchanging, repeating the same annoying voice lines.

Collecting cosmetics can only take you so far – those who have already built up a significant collection won’t really be driven to drop cash on more items unless they’re exceedingly incredible. Competitive Play has been underwhelming for a long time now and it feels like too much is out of the player’s control when it comes to climbing the ranks. There’s also no telling how the balance will pan out since Blizzard seems to take its time making small adjustments to certain metas.

You could argue that Fortnite: Battle Royale has a constant stream of updates and content since launch to encourage players to keep coming back. However, the same sets of problems emerge – balancing, the lack of appeal to cosmetic collecting, the lackluster new content, and so on. Don’t even get me started on Anthem which arrived, dropped a single Stronghold, some Elysian Stronghold Caches (which were subsequently removed) and some Legendary versions of existing missions before effectively peacing out. At least, until the underwhelming Cataclysm hits live servers.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey straddles an interesting line. Ubisoft clearly wants players to keep coming back and paying for new cosmetics by incentivizing them with new content like New Game Plus, Lost Tales of Greece missions, the Story Creator and whatnot. It’s not a bad approach but again, the desire to shift weapon balance and economy like a live-service game while not adding substantially different content outside of the paid expansions will ensure that players bounce off fairly quickly.

Don’t get me wrong – a game like Destiny 2 has a healthy player base and a major expansion coming in Shadowkeep while The Division 2 will have DLC Episodes for new story missions. But live-service as a whole is trending downwards, as the announcement of only one new paid live-service title in Marvel’s Avengers at E3 2019 has showcased. Competitors like Path of Exile and Warframe continue to subsist thanks to their free to play models, which is a different case altogether.

So what is it about replay value that’s suddenly making companies sit up and take notice? It’s not like the phenomenon of a more compact experience with tons of variables to encourage repeated playthroughs is a new trend. It’s something that rogue-like titles, 4X games and strategy titles have been doing for years now. Dead Cells is fun because of the possibility of different weapons and builds combined with awesome combat (and you can always fine-tune the game if there’s a specific set of items you want). Enter the Gungeon has an insane amount of variety with its weapons which interact with each other in unexpected, cool ways. Both titles don’t have an endless amount of levels or environments. If you’re good enough, they can be completed in an hour or so. But they have oodles of replay value.

On the other end of the spectrum are strategy titles. Games like Total War: Warhammer 2 have a large map with various factions battling over a single objective. Depending on the faction chosen, your starting location, what other factions will do and how you choose to expand – either through conquest, diplomacy, trading or a mixture of all three – each playthrough can be different. The Creative Assembly expands on this by introducing new races with their own mechanics into the fray. Total War: Three Kingdoms has much of the same philosophy with its own setting, characters, story-lines and battle mechanics. However, it will change things up by releasing Chapter Packs which take players to different points of the Three Kingdoms era to experience new stories.

Let’s take a completely different example – Outer Wilds by Mobius Digital. It’s an action adventure game with rogue-like elements but presents a unique hook – explore the system for 20 minutes before it’s inevitably destroyed. It then layers in interesting locations, gameplay mechanics, puzzles, lore and a compelling story to keep players coming back.

Don’t get me wrong. There have been failures like Deus Ex: Mankind Divided which provide all kinds of ways to play but fall short due to other problems like a tacked on Breach mode, technical issues and a lackluster story. And while the market is still very strong for live-service games, it’s been consolidating into a few titles for a while now. The increased emphasis on multiplayer and social interaction – the latter being necessary to incentivize cosmetic microtransactions – is also a factor. Not everyone has the time to experience content as it releases with their friends. Not everyone can just sit down for a raid or some co-op missions and play for hours at a time anymore.

More importantly, a lot of people just don’t want to. They’re seeking experiences and stories. The infinite possibilities that games-as-a-service or live-service titles have presented are being laid bare as fairly limited. In cases like Anthem, they can turn into outright liabilities. On the other hand, when playing a game like Divinity: Original Sin 2, you know there’s a complete experience you can go back to and sink dozens of hours.

When I load up the game, I can choose a completely different class or an Origin character who’s story I have yet to fully explore. I can find new quests, new dialogues, experiment with new spell interactions and have a completely new experience. I know there will be even more excellent voice acting, dialogue and characters awaiting me. Even better, I can install mods to further change up the experience. Will I eventually experience everything the game has to offer? Sure but I’ve have those memorable experiences to look back on fondly.

As noted previously, it’s not like live-service games are infinite either. Developing and supporting them is a massive endeavour that requires multiplayer balancing, server maintenance, creating new art assets, programming new mechanics, marketing new features and cosmetics, and testing to make sure it all doesn’t break immediately. There’s only so much room for memorable experiences and as many games over the past few years have proven, the market for delivering those experiences is still pretty rife with opportunity.

Different developers are looking for their own ways to get around the live-service lull. Fortnite is engaging in more sponsored collaborations to get players to be a part of a “limited time experience” (with cosmetics tied to it of course). Watch Dogs Legion will have 20 different versions of the script so you could play the game twice and not have the same encounters. The ability to recruit and play as anyone in the open world also lends itself to replaying the same content in different ways. However, I can see Ubisoft adding new traits, personalities, character types, skills, occupations and more as a way to freshen up the experience. It’s very akin to rogue-likes which has me incredibly intrigued. Then there are games like Final Fantasy 7 Remake which simply divide the game up into massive sub-games, each offering a vast amount of content to consume in anticipation of the next “episode”.

At the end of the day, I feel that a good game isn’t one that’s necessarily replayable for years and years at a time with bits of content patched in and changes made to my hard-earned items. Value is ultimately subjective – I may not feel a game’s value is defined by the number of hours, mindlessly grinding away or re-running the same activities again and again. But there is room to enjoy that in this industry – it’s one of the reasons that looters are so darn addictive and replayable. We just love the dopamine hit that new, powerful loot provides, feeding into our power fantasy over time.

However, just like TV shows with a never-ending number of seasons, superhero movies with their never-ending sequels or comics with their endless crossovers and issues, there is still room in the gaming industry for meaningful standalone experiences. Maybe you’d want to go through them once, twice, five times, ten times but those are games that will stay with you through the years. It may be a game like Cyberpunk 2077 where you experiment with different origins and decisions. It may be a game like Stellaris where you play as a race of robots that have taken over everything for humanity and are slowly propagating through the universe. It may even be a game like RimWorld where you don’t know what morbid hijinx your colonists will get up to next.

Whatever the case may be, one thing is for certain: Live-service and games-as-a-service titles may still dominate headlines and digital revenue for a select few companies. But much like battle royale titles, MOBAs, MMORPGs and so on, the industry has taken to correcting itself, leaving only a few major competitors standing. What everyone else decides to do is ultimately up to them. So why not make some complete games with reasons to play them? It could be a good change of pace, even if the monthly active user count isn’t exactly bonkers. Oh and the market for singular experiences like Ys IX: Monstrum Nox and The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky is still viable. So that’s pretty nice.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Promising a fully customizable and interchangeable character class system, you can design your character to fit your preferred play style and edit him or her exactly how you want along the way. With so many unanswered questions still out there about Cyberpunk 2077, we had a chance to sit down with CD Projekt RED’s Quest Director Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz to figure out what answers we could uncover about their next big game.

"We are trying to take the experience from The Witcher 3 in order to create the same quality of quests – in terms of side quests and main quests. We are still sticking to choices and consequences, handcrafted designs and so on. On top of that we’re adding this element that brings more quality and more interesting outcomes to specific quests."

It’s been about a year since we saw Cyberpunk 2077. What can you tell us about the improvements CD Projekt Red have made to the game since then?

I think the biggest improvement we’ve made so far, and the one we wanted to highlight with this specific demo was introducing this layer of gameplay narrative to the game. This is what we showed in the mall in Pacifica. We show you that the different skills you develop can impact the way you play through these levels — through these missions in a very heavy way.

For example, you can choose to shoot your way through with heavy weapons, with light weapons, you can stealth through, you can hack different devices, you can use specific skills to open new passages. Like, if you invest heavily into strength, you can open specific passages that would otherwise be not available to you. I think this is one big thing we didn’t show last year.

How deep are you into development?

There are a number of systems we are still working on. For example, the driving mode, and the shooting, and so on. We are iterating on those. We are still working on assets, the game is still being published, and so on.

Let’s talk about quests and side quests. The Witcher 3 has better written side quests than most games manage even for their main campaigns. They were quite long too. How will Cyberpunk 2077 top that?

First of all, we are trying to take the experience from The Witcher 3 in order to create the same quality of quests – in terms of side quests and main quests. We are still sticking to choices and consequences, handcrafted designs and so on. On top of that we’re adding this element that brings more quality and more interesting outcomes to specific quests. Because in The Witcher, when you reached the combat it ended one way, right? You defeated your enemies by sword, bombs, or signs. This time around [in Cyberpunk 2077] you can avoid combat altogether, you can find different passages. You utilize the skills that you develop in your character the way you want the game to be played.

Speaking on the moments you’ve mentioned about completing the game without killing anyone, are there any advantages or disadvantages to that? Is there any sort of moral system for those types of accomplishments?

We don’t have a moral system per se. However, to complete it non-lethally you have to be very good at stealth. Invest in points that allow you to stealth better, use weapons that will allow you to incapacitate the enemy instead of killing them, to make the moral choices that will allow you to avoid killing people throughout the game.

"It’s a huge challenge. We’ve got some big shoes to fill. It’s a big game to follow up, right? The Witcher 3 was so popular and so beloved by the fans. So of course, a lot of people had thoughts about this. We want to deliver a game better than just on-par."

How did development feel going from the art direction of The Witcher 3 to such a drastic change that appears in Cyberpunk 2077?

It took us multiple years to figure out how we wanted to approach the game. At first, we started somewhere by the time The Witcher 3 was already in development. We created a smaller team that started working on the setting itself. How does it relate to the original [Cyberpunk] 2020; how the architecture and art style should be, and so on. It was a long process that took multiple years between the writers, between the concept artists, between the artists from The Witcher 3 project, and so on. It was a lot of work and a huge challenge since it was a new setting for us. But I think we’ve reached something very special and something truly interesting.

The Witcher 3 is one of the greatest games of this generation. Do you feel nervous that all your games will be compared to it in terms of expectations?

Of course. It’s a huge challenge. We’ve got some big shoes to fill. It’s a big game to follow up, right? The Witcher 3 was so popular and so beloved by the fans. So of course, a lot of people had thoughts about this. We want to deliver a game better than just on-par. It is a different game, for sure. But at the same time we wanted to take our experiences from previous games in building this game.

How many different kinds of weapons will this game have? Also, can you talk about their customization?

You can customize the weapons in a number of ways. You can attach scopes, you can attach silencers, things like those. It’s based, of course, on a specific weapon and how many slots for improvements do they have. As for how many types of weapons we have— I remember just a number of them. But we have quite many of them. So there are melee weapons: katana, hammer, knife, Nanowire — which is basically these wires that you can use to fight. But you can also use them if you’re a Netrunner to hack remotely into people or devices. On top of that we have a number of ranged weapons: we have heavy guns, light guns, light machine guns, revolvers, sniper rifles.

How has the augmentation system evolved in the last year?

The augmentation system works in a way that you can replace different body parts. So you can replace your legs, arms, chest, nervous system, and so on. The amount of customization is quite vast. Once you, for example, replace your legs with cyberware legs you can double jump. Which gives you access to specific new places you wouldn’t have otherwise. On top of that you can also upgrade what you’ve already installed. For example, the double jump legs. You can upgrade them with silence for running to help with stealth. We were working on the designs for cyberware for quite a while. Thinking of different things we could do with it. I think the designers by now have a pretty cool design of what they want to have in the game. It is in development.

"The city of course, is not only the landmass, but also the buildings."

Is there any one cool feature that you guys are doing for the very first time in Cyberpunk 2077?

A number of them actually. Since we worked on fantasy games before we never did driving cars. We never did gun play. We never did the skill checks — which I’m really excited about. That’s one of the things we showed in the demo. Now we have the system of life path that leads to additional dialogue options, that can push the narrative in specific quests in different directions. For example, if you have a corporal background when you’re talking to other agents, you have more knowledge of how they operate and how to talk to them to reach your goals. As a street kid you wouldn’t have that knowledge. But you use that knowledge [of being a street kid] on the gangs, right?

How dense will the game world be and will there be an abundance of things to explore and find?

The game is quite big in terms of content. There are six main districts in the city, divided into subdistricts. We like to call them different biomes. Meaning that they have different architecture, they have different groups— like gangs. It feels like totally different worlds to me, personally. There are differences you might expect between the districts. On top of that we have the badlands, which are the areas around the city. This kind of wasteland is where the nomads sometimes tread, and people from the city don’t actually go there. A lot of these areas have their own points of interest, side quests, things to find. So there’s a lot to do. We’re looking forward to it.

What can you tell us about the vertical elements in the game?

The city of course, is not only the landmass, but also the buildings. There is a number of them that you can enter. Not all of them, but a number of them you can enter that we have prepared content for. They have levels, and you can traverse these levels in different ways. This adds a lot of space to the city, I would say.

Will there be any romantic relationship systems within the game?

We have a number of romances throughout the game that you could participate in. You can form relationships as you make choices in the narrative. The exact amount I would rather not divulge at this point. I don’t want to spoil the story. But we do have relationships.

The Witcher 3 was announced to release on Nintendo Switch here at E3. Is there a chance Cyberpunk 2077 can make it in there, or is it too big for the system to support?

Right now we are focusing on only three platforms: PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4.

"I’m really excited about this game. I was excited to be introduced to the game to improve the role-playing experience for the player. I’m really excited that we can have these features in the game."

Are there any plans for post-launch DLC?

At this moment we are focusing on the content for the main game. We still have work to do. We have a release date as you know. That’s what we’re focusing on right now.

The game looks visually stunning. We’re at the end of this generation with Xbox Scarlett having been announced for a holiday 2020 release. Is Cyberpunk 2077 possibly a cross-gen game?

Right now we’re focusing on these three platforms that I mentioned. And that’s what we’re putting all our efforts into right now.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

I’m really excited about this game. I was excited to be introduced to the game to improve the role-playing experience for the player. I’m really excited that we can have these features in the game.

Obsidian Entertainment’s The Outer Worlds, published by Private Division, will be coming to the Nintendo Switch. Yes, that’s right – the first person RPG that’s the closest to a spiritual successor to Fallout: New Vegas as we’ll get is coming to Nintendo’s handheld. Check out the announcement trailer below (though it doesn’t represent how the Switch version will look).

The Outer Worlds takes place in the distant future, where megacorporations rule on different planets. As a stranger from a colony ship, the player investigates these planets. Depending on the choices made, the story will change, and the player character will become established as either a do-gooder, bad guy, or outright psychopath.

Releasing on October 25th for Xbox One, PS4, and PC (with the Switch version coming later), The Outer Worlds attracted controversy for the PC version’s timed exclusivity to the Epic Games Store. Nevertheless, the gameplay is looking pretty good – check out a full mission here, or some shenanigans in Byzantium City here. The Outer Worlds will also be coming to Xbox Game Pass at launch.

343 Industries revealed Halo Infinite at Microsoft’s E3 2019 presser but didn’t really present any gameplay. Instead, we got the “Discover Hope” cinematic trailer which showcased Master Chief’s rescue and revival. However, at one point in the trailer, a strange symbol resembling a stretched QR code was seen.

Xepyal on Twitter took to reconstructing the symbol into an actual QR code. When scanned, it leads to an audio clip where footsteps can audibly be heard. Suddenly, a voice that seems to be Cortana speaks out, saying, “This… This is part of me. I don’t know why… I don’t know how… But it is me.”

Take it for what it’s worth, but Frank O’Connor, the franchise development director for Halo, responded with a tweet that simply said, “hmmm.” So while the validity of the clip hasn’t been confirmed, it hasn’t been denied either. This wouldn’t be the first time that the series has played around with trans-media promotion.

Halo 2 was famously promoted by an alternate reality game called “I Love Bees.” It quickly went viral and garnered numerous awards for its innovation. Whether this ends up having the same impact for Halo Infinite or is simply the start of 343 Industries’ marketing rabbit hole for the game remains to be seen.

Either way, Halo Infinite will be releasing in Holiday 2020 on Xbox One, Project Scarlett (where it will be a launch title), and Windows 10 PC.

https://twitter.com/xepyal/status/1155847752678551552

hmmm.

— Frank (@franklez) July 29, 2019

But one thing that I feel like is salient and therefore worth noting is Sony’s pervasiveness at E3 this year. Which, you know, is surprising- Sony wasn’t at E3 this year. Famously, they chose to skip out on the show in its entirety, not even having a showfloor presence. And yet, in spite of that, you’d have been hard pressed to know that, with the number of PlayStation games, even PlayStation exclusives, that were on show.

That’s the point I want to focus on today- just how pervasive PlayStation 4 has become. It’s become the default, go-to console. Back in its day, the PlayStation 2 was the default system– everyone who was making games put their titles on it if they could. In today’s day and age, with PC gaming being as far reaching as it is, and the absolute market penetration of mobile gaming, as well as the decline of the Japanese gaming market,that kind of de facto status for a console is impossible, and the PS4 doesn’t achieve that. But in context of the console market? The PS4 is the go-to. It’s the standard. It’s the default to such a degree that even when Sony themselves are not attending a show, there will be so many games announced for it, multiplatform and exclusive alike, that it hardly makes a difference.

So, for example, take E3 this year. Most of the notable games announced are hitting PS4. DOOM Eternal? PS4. Cyberpunk? PS4. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order? PS4. Tales of Arise? PS4. Eldin Ring? PS4. Avengers? PS4. Watch Dogs Legion? PS4.

Some of the games that were announced are, in fact, only hitting PS4- for example, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, arguably the best game shown off at the event, is PS4 only, at least at launch (again, remember this whole discussion is only in the context of the console market). Most of the games Microsoft showed off at their event are coming to the PS4; every game third parties showed off is coming to the PS4. Given that that is literally all of E3 barring Nintendo, that means the PS4 had an overwhelmingly dominant presence at E3 this year, even in the absence of Sony themselves being there. This is the kind of de facto standard a console hasn’t enjoyed since the very early days of the Xbox 360, when it was flying high, and the PS3 was struggling, and the Wii was something different entirely.

It’s a mark of how spectacularly the PS4 has succeeded, and how it has maintained its dominance through the generation. Again, this is the sort of thing the Xbox 360 actually achieved in its early days, though eventually it had to share the spotlight with the PS3, which means the focus was split. It also means Sony is squarely in the driver’s seat right now, because going into the next generation, they are coming off of an utterly dominant console, and benefiting from the ecosystem lock-in and network effect that will entice people to upgrade to a PS5 from a PS4, rather than switching camps.

That last part, when coupled with the PS4’s domination, is what makes it such a potent combination- the PS2 was, as already mentioned, even more dominant, but it lacked the ecosystem lock-in and network effect the PS4 has, because ecosystems and networks themselves weren’t as much of a thing back then. The Xbox 360 absolutely benefited from network effect and ecosystem lock ins, except it didn’t maintain its dominance through the generation, plus Microsoft put a wrench in things when they reset their own ecosystem by not having backward compatibility at launch, and messed up their messaging spectacularly.

The PS4 is the first time we are seeing this happen, and that might mean Sony retains its lead comfortably going into the PS5, in turn, leading to that console also becoming a de facto standard, in turn leading to its lead being further cemented, and so on. In a sense, it would now require a spectacular failure on Sony’s part – like $599 spectacular – for them to leave a meaningful opening.

All of which is to say that this E3, in a very perverse way, actually marked the extent of Sony’s domination and victory this generation- because this was the year that Sony pulled out from the show completely, and had absolutely zero official presence there, and yet, this was the year their system still had most of the headlining announcements and showings; not just with multiplatform games, but even exclusives. When Sony wasn’t even there. The year Sony backed out of E3, they somehow managed to flex their muscle more than ever before. It’s actually incredible.

The question now is whether or not Sony will maintain this level of dominance with the PS5. Of course, no one can tell the future- but as I mentioned, based off of the PS4’s pervasiveness, and the network effect going into next gen, I fully expect that to happen. Sony still could mess up, and announce a $699 console with the PS5, which makes people flock to Microsoft and the Xbox instead. Or they could put out a machine that’s inherently unappealing, which, in turn, pushes people to the Xbox. Or they could fail in ways we can’t even think of yet.

But based on what we know, if we project further into the future, it’s hard to see how Sony could mess this up. And what solidifies that notion, more than anything, is just how pervasive their console was, even in this generation’s twilight years, when they themselves chose to skip E3 entirely.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

For this presentation, the player chose a male character to show off preset stealth augmentation mechanics. CDPR made it very clear that there are many different character configurations to go about presetting your character with attribute points and skills before you begin (think Fallout’s S.P.E.C.I.A.L. feature). For presentation’s sake the part of the game sequence after character customization that was previewed was quite a way past the beginning.

Cyberpunk 2077 takes place in a location called Night City – a fictional town south of San Francisco, in Northern California. Night City is made up of six distinctly different districts to explore, with each area having its own unique look, flair and style. Night City is a very vertical world where exploring certain open building towers will have its advantages. Like last year, the world of Cyberpunk is dirtier than ever – it’s not exactly the utopia of the future. Decrepit streets run like veins through crumbling towers filled with people trying to live by any means necessary. You never know who you’re going to run in to on these streets, what kind of favors they’ll ask. These ideas were major components for capitalizing on Cyberpunk 2077’s first-person perspective; it’s a visceral experience that forces you to be a part of Night City’s world, where you’re forced to survive.

With an open narrative, V finds himself in search of a contact who has the most important currency in Night City: Information. Information that will help with V’s biochip in his head – a chip that is said to hold the key to immortality.

Afterall, V is a mercenary, more specifically a Net Runner-class hacker and this also brings a certain level of street cred along the way. V eventually finds his contact, the leader of the Voodoo Boys, Placide, in a dilapidated building filled with hordes of people, he methodically works his way through, shuffling between NPCs, hearing conversations between them in the backdrop, and feeling how lively this place really is.

Placide isn’t the sort of man you’d like to get tangled up with. He’s large, covered in muscles and looks like he’s seen a few fights in his day. What augmentations does he have in him? This is just one type of question that raced through my mind, knowing that V could be walking into a trap. It’s that filthy level of uncomfortable-ness that keeps you on the edge of your seat at times. When Placide asks that V be jacked into Placide’s terminal, there’s immense hesitation and second-thoughts of being here. In Cyberpunk, humans are no longer just human, they’re cybernetic. You can trade in your legs or arms or other parts for a more customized character. Depending on your level of skill, these new upgradable parts will determine how challenging gameplay is, as well as how far you can make it – or by helping you find a new path you couldn’t previously attain.

Naturally, one of the biggest rules in the Cyberpunk world is to never allow anyone you don’t know to jack into you. At that point your body and brain become their property and there’s no limit on what they can do to you. However, in order to progress this particular story forward, certain questionable decisions are necessary to accept to get farther in the game. V has no choice and allows Placide’s terminal to jack into his body through a connection port. In doing this Placide uploaded part of himself into V, and is now capable of knowing what V is doing at all times. This added a level of intensity that really made me feel uncomfortable, as though there’s another living parasite crawling around inside me, doing what it wishes.

Moving on, we all know, Keanu Reeves plays what CDPR says is a significant part in Cyberpunk 2077. His character is known as Johnny Silverhand, and he appears to have implanted an AI of sorts inside V’s head. Johnny often stands around in the backdrop lending a few words here and there on V’s travels.

Placide instructs V to make his way to the Grand Imperial Mall, where a gang called the Animals resides and figure out exactly what they’re up to. Outside, V hops on the motorcycle. It’s equipped with a radio station of selectable music – similar to that in the GTA series. The motorcycle’s design looks and feels like something from the world of Akira. This is a dirty world, so it’s not as sleek, colorful or functionable as that found in the manga or anime.

Here, we get to witness Night City for only a short distance and unlike last year’s demo, there are no car chases to be seen, no takeover or enemies to run down. It’s not as flashy or thematic or beautiful because of the nature of the demo. But we do witness the dingy streets therein on a much less vast scale than last year. One of the best highlights of this demo was the way players can traverse the entire city, both in and out of buildings, and along distant locations without a single load screen.

Much of the presentation was setup and designed to showcase how brutal and ruthless, or intense the combat can be throughout the entire experience. Now at the mall with V’s stealth class variation, the player silently takes out the Animals without being caught. We hack into cameras and gym equipment with mini games. Unfortunately, the mini games themselves were a bit underwhelming and bland looking. Hopefully there will be better ones as we progress through the game. One of the funny moments was hacking the bench press and seeing one of the Animals lifting weights then getting crushed when V turned up the weights.

V can choke out enemies, or use his Nanowire – which is a glowing orange whip of sorts used for both hacking or attacking. It’s important to point out that you can play through Cyberpunk 2077 without killing a single person, according to CDPR. Especially as a Net Runner who isn’t as viable as a melee or gun specialist, and doesn’t have the strength. But you can change all that later on; mixing up what attributes you want to use in the game to let it fit your style.

It was at this time CDPR changed characters to a female version of V preset with superhuman strength attributes and augmentations, to give us a feel of how fighting your way through groups of enemies with hostility can totally change the combat’s look and feel. In a really cool sequence, we got to see her rip apart a door to get to the next room, since hacking it open like male V would have done isn’t an option with her chosen attributes. Guns weren’t used much, but what they showed look solid and flexible.

Back to male V. Using the nanowire, the player can hack into enemies and control their actions but to what limit you have the control is still not entire known. It can help turn the tides of battle when you are facing against a horde of enemies. There are also various melee weapons and numerous guns that can change your battle style at a moment’s notice. Just because you choose stealth doesn’t mean you have to stick with it. You can change your abilities later on, as well. For presentation and time, these styles were experienced by going back and forth between the male and female V presets.

Fluidity in battle looked well balanced and plays off of enemies who appear to contain a good amount of intelligence in their programming. This isn’t a “headshot kills” sort of game, but an RPG that allows enemies to take several hits before going down.

Soon after V hacks a few enemies and cracks a few skulls we see a very large woman who is this quest’s boss of sorts. She has incredible strength and massive defense abilities. But she also has a a glowing tank along her back – a weak point. CDPR tells us this device can be used to amp her skills but can be destroyed to make her easier to kill (or not kill).

Overall, the 2019 E3 presentation was spectacular, but it wasn’t as surprising or jaw-dropping as it was last year because we didn’t see much outside of combat and talking with characters. So those moments of sheer excitement of seeing Night City for the first time were held at bay… for now. Nonetheless, I was extremely pleased with what was presented and I can’t wait to go hands on with the final version when Cyberpunk 2077 launches next year.

To my surprise, Codemasters have finally listened to its fans’ feedback and complains. F1 2019 will finally feature Formula 2 cars and races which should make the game beefier than it already is. For those who are unaware, F2 cars are usually slower than their F1 counterparts, have less power and aren’t as flashy.

Your placing in the F2 series will determine your positioning when you move up to F1 later on. Of course this isn’t a game for the faint of heart, so you’ll want to perform relatively well if you want to have a better spot when being placed in the F1 series.

When starting up my E3 demo, the first thing I noticed, and what I think most everyone will notice is the beauty of being behind the wheel of this magnificent race car I found myself sitting in. Talking about the game itself, F1 2019 looks same as F1 2018. I didn’t notice any drastic graphical changes or modifications to the looks of the cars, tracks, or environments. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. F1 2018 was a gorgeous racer that still looks wonderful. F1 2019 looks just as stellar, but to really notice any major improvements is going to be a difficult job even for the best eyes. Let’s face it, we’re at the end of this console generation. It’s going to be hard to siphon out what few drops are still left in the bottoms of these game engines to really make anything appear better than they already do. The backdrops of the realistic environments, the glares and reflections off of the cars is still a sign of artistry from the developers.

From a gameplay perspective, I can say that F1 feels just as fresh as ever before. For some players, F1 cars are overly maneuverable due to their slender frames and light weight designs. However in F1 2019, the handling of these cars is superb and the traction feels incredible stable. You can feel the give and pull of the asphalt below your wheels as you make that sharp turn, or cut ahead of another driver in the straightaway. There’s almost a surreal variation of how I’d imagine real life driving inside an F1 racer would feel, and it matched up to my ideals almost instinctively.

What improvements have been made over the driving this year as opposed to 2018 is, again, another tough call. Without being assisted or being told what new features are built into each car, the average player likely wouldn’t be able to feel a whole lot that’s changed. This is specially harder if you are coming off from F1 2018 since the driving there was exceptional.

While driving on course,  I was following along the augmented guidelines that laid over the track, minding my own business. I was slowing when the guides turned red at each sharp turn, accelerating when they went from red to yellow to green. Eventually I found myself near the front of the pack. That was until I began to violently spin around and veer into the dirt field against a fence just outside the track. Turns out, an AI racer wasn’t happy with my position and I was blocking his path to victory. He purposely rear-ended me in a successful attempt at taking my spot near the front. It’s a strategy that feels a bit dirty, but it happens in real life.

One of the big features F1 2019 touts over other games in the genre is its dramatized story mode. No, I’m not just talking about racing from track to track and trying to become the best racer. I’m talking drama off the track. Similar to last year, F1 2019 features a story mode that lets you have a chance to show the racing world what type of person you are. The E3 demo had me interviewed by a news reporter to try and get a feel of what my attitude was going into or coming from a race. You have a few options of dialog to choose from, and each selection reflects who your character is in the game. You can answer in a few different ways that will either make you look like a good sportsman, or a poor sportsman. These answers will also determine who would like to sponsor you and who thinks you’re worth it to represent them.

I wasn’t able to get into this feature for more than a few minutes, but it looked and felt refreshing to see something new being added into the racing genre. Besides, it gives some great moments to see character designs outside of your own and how much dedication these developers put into making F1 2019 the best looking game it could be.

Overall, F1 2019 is shaping up to be another great racer, and we can’t wait to go hands on with it later this month.

We already know that the recent E3 2019 gameplay demo for Cyberpunk 2077 was running on PC. While the footage will be released online in August for PAX West, CD Projekt RED did reveal the specifications of the system running the demo to Spieltimes. Long story short, they’re pretty hefty.

Along with an Intel i7-8700K CPU clocked at 3.7 Ghz, the set-up utilized an Nvidia Titan RTX GPU. The motherboard was an ASUS ROG STRIX Z370-I GAMING with 32 GB of RAM clocked at 3,000 MHz. It was all running off of a Samsung 960 Pro 512 GB M.2 PCIe solid state drive with a Corsair SF600 600W as the PSU.

Though these are some pretty hefty specs, we’re still nearly a year off from release. Further optimization still needs to be done, though don’t be surprised if this is the kind of hardware needed to run the game with ray-tracing enabled. Cyberpunk 2077 is out on April 16th 2020 and will be coming to the Xbox One and PS4, as well as PC.

Special update on those flying cars seen till now: You can’t drive them. But your own car can be summoned like The Witcher 3’s Roach.

TACTICAL MODE

Final Fantasy 7 was, of course, originally a turn based RPG, but turn based combat systems have become a rarity in today’s day and age (I mean, unless you’re Pokemon or Persona). But while Final Fantasy 7 Remake is a game with real time combat instead of turn based, it still smartly integrates systems to keep the command-based flow of battles in the original intact. It does that through Tactical Mode. Tactical Mode is what you enter when you access menus in the middle of combat. In Tactical Mode, time slows to a crawl, and gives you the time to select commands for using your spells and abilities.

ATB

Remake sheds the original’s turn based battles, but the ATB gauge isn’t going anywhere. You can switch between characters during battles at any time with the press of a button to play as them, and each character has ATB meters. You build up your ATB meters to get ATB charges by landing regular attacks, which is done in real time- this happens fairly fast, encouraging you to make use of your ATB charges at a fast and steady clip. ATB charges are what you use to use special attacks and to land magic spells- every one of these moves uses up an ATB charge. 

REGULAR ATTACKS

We’ve spoken plenty about the command based aspect of combat in Final Fantasy 7 Remake- but what about the real time aspects? When you’re not in Tactical Mode, Final Fantasy 7 Remake plays as an action RPG. You land attacks by repeatedly pressing (or holding, depending on which character you’re controlling) the attack button. Each of these attacks, however, does very little damage. Their purpose isn’t to be used to take down bosses and larger enemies- instead, you use these to build up your ATB charges, which is what you use to dish out attacks that do the real damage. During battles, characters can also block or evade attacks. Meanwhile, if you’re the sort of player who prefers real time action instead of command-based tactics, you can also assign special abilities and spells to shortcuts, a la Kingdom Hearts, so that you don’t have to enter Tactical Mode.

STAGGERING AND LIMIT BREAKS

Enemies also gradually build up stagger gauges, and this system works about the way you’d expect it to. Once an enemy has been staggered, it, well, staggers, and is opened up to greater damage. All attacks you deal on a staggered enemy are stronger, but those that an enemy is weak to become especially deadly, and will likely be a key element in strategies for many a boss battle. There’s Limit Breaks too, of course- yep, they’re returning. The Limit gauge fills up as much more slowly than, say your ATB charges, and are thus not meant to be used all too frequently- which makes sense, because these are really heavy hitting attacks, and are going to be most effective as finishing moves or boss killers.

OUTSIDE OF COMBAT

We’ve spoken plenty about the combat in Final Fantasy 7 Remake, but what about everything outside of combat. Well, we don’t know much in that regard- the E3 showing was focused on combat and its intricacies quite a bit. But we do know a bit. There’s NPCs to talk to and areas to explore, of course, while players can also find treasure chests scattered throughout the world, which is about what you’d expect. 

TIFA

Tifa is perhaps one of the most beloved characters, not just in Final Fantasy 7, but probably the entire series. So how the remake handles her character and her design is something that a lot of people were equal parts curious and worried about. Well, during their E3 showing of the upcoming remake, Square Enix finally showed Tifa, and it’s safe to say that fans won’t be disappointed. Her design is very similar to what we saw in Advent Children. We also got to see her in combat here and there, and though we didn’t see nearly enough, it does seem like she’ll be a lot more nimble and agile than the likes of Cloud and Barret.

CONTENT

All those years ago, when Square Enix confirmed that Final Fantasy 7 Remake would be an episodic release, the announcement was met with a healthy dose of criticism and skepticism. With its recent re-reveal Square confirmed that that hadn’t changed- that it’s still going to be a multi-part title. But it seems that might actually end up being a good thing. Square are promising that each part of the remake will be a full fledged game in and of itself. In fact, the first part, which is launching next year, is going to have so much content, it’ll be shipped on two Blu-Ray discs.

FUTURE PARTS

So then what about the future of the remake? After the first part is out, how long do we wait for the next one? How many parts are there going to be? What parts of the original release will they cover? As it turns out, right now, it’s all pretty much up in the air. Square Enix are working on the release of the first part, while simultaneously, production on the next one is also ongoing. But they haven’t yet decided how many parts there will be in total, or how much of a gap there will be between each part.

EXPANDED STORY

This is automatically implied when you consider that the original game is being split in multiple parts, with each part being a full release in and of itself- but the story of the original game is being heavily expanded, with Square using the new technologies and techniques that were not available to them during the days of the PS1 to tell FF7’s story properly. As per the devs, while they’re going to try and keep the main plot points and central character arcs intact, they will be expanding upon the stories of many side characters – such as some fan favourite ones that may not have been too important in the original game.

MIDGAR

So how much of the PS1 Final Fantasy 7 is Remake going to cover? The first part is set entirely in Midgar, and will focus on the conflict between Shinra Electric Power Company and Avalanche. Midgar was not a very substantial part of the original game, all things considered, which makes the fact that Square Enix are making an entire full-fledged game out of it that much more impressive.

EDITIONS

Beyond the standard edition release, those purchasing the game will, of course, have the option to splash some extra cash and get better packages. There’s the Deluxe Edition, which includes a hardback art book, a mini-soundtrack CD, a Cactuar Summon Materia, and a Sephiroth Steelbook Case. There’s also the Collector’s Edition, which will come with all the contents of the Deluxe Edition, on top of a Carbuncle Summon Materia, a Play Arts Kai Cloud Strife, and a Hardy Daytona figure.

LAUNCH

And when exactly is Final Fantasy 7 Remake coming out (or the first part, at any rate)? It launches sooner than we would have expected- it’ll be out exclusively for the PS4 on March 3, 2020. 

Bandai Namco’s Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, developed by CyberConnect2, may look awfully familiar to your average fan. That’s because the story of Goku and his battle against enemies like Vegeta and Frieza has been captured numerous times since the series’ inception. The action RPG will be going a lot further though, promising the most intense recreation of Goku’s adventures yet.

That means featuring the same enormous areas that Goku and friends usually fight in. However, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot won’t have an open world per se. Speaking to DualShockers, producer Hara Ryosuke and director Kimoto Kazuki said the world is divided into several “very large” areas. They’ll become available as the story progresses.

“I kind of want to mention I don’t think this is a true open world in the way we’ve kind of come to understand the definition of an open world today,” said Ryosuke. “There are several very large and wide expansive areas or zones if you will where you can experience different sagas of the Goku story. They’ll be unlocked as you progress through the narrative.

“To kind of give you a visual sense of how this is going to work; when you played the demo you saw that one area that Goku was interacting and progressing the story in. If you continue to ascend you’ll zoom out into this world map interface. From which point you choose an area and dive into that. So that’s how the areas and zones are connected.”

The lack of an open world may help the game, since the series is known more for its memorable fights. This approach provides a large world to explore, while keeping a stronger focus on story aspects (like new character interactions) and combat. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is scheduled to release in early 2020 for Xbox One, PS4, and PC.