E3 is arriving this weekend with an abundance of new gaming details for us to get excited about over the coming months.

While Sony has completely removed themselves from the iconic Electronic Entertainment Expo for the foreseeable future, there is still a lot to be excited for this year at the premier trade event, which you can watch for free on Twitch. Here are the top five games you should be looking forward to:

Image Credit: Xbox Game Studios

Halo Infinite

Game developers 343 Industries have had a rocky few years with the latest two instalments in the Halo series since Bungie jumped into Activision’s arms and made the Destiny games.

With long-time fans not enjoying the changes made by 343, such as the changes in art style, lack of single player content and a general unawareness of what players want, 4 and 5 were not necessarily received well by the Halo faithful.

However, with recent changes to the formula that take the game back to its artistic roots, more of a focus on series protagonist Master Chief and being the first 343 game to take place on actual Halo Ring, Infinite seems to be faring quite nicely with what fans want from Chief and his story.

Xbox’s conference will be starting at 9pm on Sunday 9 June.

Image Credit: CD Projekt

Cyberpunk 2077

Having a game set in an vast cyberpunk world, where government corruption is rife and crime is running rampant – all of which is being directed by acclaimed development team CD Projekt Red – is a dream come true for Blade Runner fans.

The game is, of course, set in 2077 in an open-world dystopian metropolis called Night City in which you are a mercenary whose sex, hairstyles, face, body type and more can all be changed, just like in an Elder Scrolls game (but more extensive). It will feature a first-person perspective looking through the eyes of the character and have classes that depict what kind of mercenary you want to be.

With the setting, mature themes and gameplay all drawing inspiration from various different inspirational sources such as Judge Dredd, Blade Runner and other video game classics like Grand Theft Auto and The Witcher 3, gamers should be in for a real treat with this one.

Information on when Cyberpunk 2077 will be shown has yet to be released, but the game is predicted to feature as part of Xbox’s conference on Sunday.

Image Credit: Activision

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

Ask someone between the ages of 12-17 what they associate with Call of Duty they’d probably say killstreaks, screaming children in open-lobby chat and an abundance of 360 quick-scopes as highlight reels for trick-shot clans.

Yet, while those stereotypes are definitely the identity of Call of Duty (especially within the recent instalments) the focal point of the games during the Xbox 360 and PS3 era was the single player and iconic characters such as Captain Price, Soap, Frank Woods and Reznov – as well as the multiplayer component of ‘prestiging’ and gaining new titles/emblems, that’s something the recent entries have forgotten.

This new game in the franchise will be rebooting the series where, according to narrative director Taylor Kurosaki, Captain Price will be featured within a retconned narrative “where the events in the previous Modern Warfare timeline have not occurred.” With fan favourites coming back and the gameplay seeming to return to its roots, many fans are very, very excited for what’s in store.

Activision will be giving more details on the new Call of Duty at the E3 Coliseum at 11pm on Tuesday 11 June.

Image Credit: Square Enix

Marvel’s Avengers

Not much is known about the upcoming Marvel game by Square Enix. What we do know is that it’s an Avengers game and could not be releasing anytime between October 2019 and March 2020 due to Enix’s wish to avoid the competitive period, so the launch could be leaning towards the latter.

Even though we don’t know much, it’s still exciting to speculate. Could this be another top-down style team beat ’em up, or could it be something more along the lines of NetherRealm Studios’ Injustice fighting games? Why not an action-adventure game set in the Marvel world where you create a character who works alongside the Avengers?

The potential is great and the possibilities are vast but right now we are just waiting on some juicy information from Square Enix themselves.

Square Enix’s E3 livestream will be starting at 2am on Tuesday 11 June.

Image Credit: The Pokémon Company

Pokémon Sword and Shield

Similarly to Halo’s situation, Pokémon has definitely lost a lot of its fanbase over the past few years with its over-casualisation of recent entries into the “Gotta catch ’em all” franchise.

With Sword & Shield, Nintendo and Gamefreak are taking the series to the Galar region, a narrow yet large expanse of land where the landmarks and landscape seem heavily inspired by Great Britain.

The game will attempt to blend some of the more updated features seen in the Pokémon: Let’s Go games with the core elements from the classic titles to make an experience that is both fresh but also familiar. It will mark the start of the eighth generation of the Pokémon series, with the two games scheduled to be released worldwide on November 15, 2019.

You can learn more about the game and its features at the Nintendo Direct conference at E3 on Tuesday 11 June at 5pm.

By Joe Smalley

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