E3 Bethesda: An Ode To Fans With PvP ‘The Elder Scrolls: Blades’ and ‘Fallout 76’ Updates

When Bethesda hosted a convention for their fans at E3, the fans were treated to a surprising spectacle of the company’s most prized IPs and new ones to come.

Below, are some of the highlights of the exciting games and software announced at Bethesda’s 2019 E3 conference:

The Elder Scrolls: Blades

Mobile game The Elder Scrolls: Blades started off the conference with free downloadable updates. Available tonight, the new download comes with Solo Arena battles, custom jewelry systems, and a new Dragon questline.

However, in the fall, the world of Blades will expand and feel more like a community with player vs. player (pvp), guilds, and the ability to visit friends’ towns. Additionally, Blades will be coming to the Nintendo Switch in the fall 2019. Cross play and carry over progress will be available.

Finally, Apple and Google players can get special E3 rewards between 6/10-6/17.

Fallout 76

Bethesda nowadays has become more known for the messiness of the Fallout 76 launch than their previously sterling reputation. But even Fallout 76 has earned its fans as the company continued to listen to and develop based on player feedback.

Continuing off of this current trend, Bethesda aimed to offer several free gameplay options for the Fallout 76 community. For starters, the new game event Wastelanders is set to fundamentally change how the game is experienced. Not only will Human NPCs (non-playable characters) return, there will also be more quests, new rewards and full dialogue trees that will affect the game world. A free trial will be available between 6/10-6/17 while the full event will come Fall 2019.

Secondly, battle royale fever has found its ways to the wastelands of Fallout 76 with the new mode Nuclear Winter. Players will compete against others to be the overseer of Vault 51 using the game’s specific mechanics, items and more. Playing this mode will unlock exclusive benefits, but the mode itself will only be available as a preview the week of E3.

Finally, Bethesda is offering a free trial of the game this week only.

Orion

As streaming has become more popularized, the need for systems to support streaming has become even more important. Orion is Bethesda’s proprietary streaming technology made to optimize game engines for performance in the cloud. Unlike other systems, Orion is incorporated at the engine level, meaning that the game itself will be optimized for streaming.

Bethesda claims that Orion can stream 20x faster per frame, with 40% lower bandwidth, and is easy to integrate into the engine on the developer’s side. As part of their presentation, they were able to play Doom (2016) in 4K and 60 FPS.

Other games mentioned:

• GhostWire: Tokyo is an action adventure game set in Tokyo where the citizens have suddenly disappeared. You’re tasked to rid the city of the supernatural beings and find out why these disappearances have been happening.

• The Elder Scrolls: Online showcased more of the lore from Elsweyr and mentioned the next two DLC expansions, Dragonhold and Scalebreaker.
• The Elder Scrolls: Legends next expansion Moons of Elsweyr will be available later this summer.
• Commander Keen is a throwback to the original Commander Keen series, but now on mobile. Join the two protagonists in either story or battle mode, the former following new and old story elements while the latter being a real time player-vs.-player raise to control checkpoints.
• Rage 2 will have a new expansion, Rise of the Ghosts. New features include: enemies/enemy factions, vehicles including a pilotable mech, gameplay modes, and cheats, powers and skills.
• Wolfenstein Cyberpilot will be a VR Wolfenstein available in July.
• Wolfenstein Youngblood will be a co-op version of Wolfenstein as you play as two sisters entering Nazi territory to find their father. This will be available July 26.
• Deathloop is a new IP following two skilled assassins constantly fighting each other to break or maintain time loop they are stuck in.
• Doom Eternal received a November 22^nd release date. Bethesda spent time just showcasing more gameplay like “Battlemode” where you can take on either the role of the demons or the slayer, fighting the other until one wins.

Overall, Bethesda played favor to its passionate fanbase, truly focusing its presentation on the games and experiences that its players. New expansions on favorite titles look amazing while the uncharted territories of Bethesda’s new IPs are definitely enticing.