The Last time Square-Enix had a Press conference was in 2015. At that time, we got word on Kingdom Hearts 3, Just Cause 3, Nier:Automata, and the remake of Final Fantasy 7. Three years later, Square makes a return and with the help of Keith David, we got announcements for games coming from Square-Enix. While many were expecting big announcements, there was a mix of games we already knew and games that were strangely missing in action. Before we talk about that though, let’s do a quick recap of the announcements at Square’s showcase.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider



The third game in the rebooted Tomb Raider series drops off Lara (literally) into the deadly jungle. She must overcome dangerous tombs and race to save the world from a Mayan Apocalypse as this will lead to Lara Croft’s defining moment. As you can imagine after two games, Lara has become rather adequate in stealth and can take down mercenaries in rather violent ways.

In the gameplay demonstration, we can see that Lara can turn her enemies against each other through fear tactics. She can even hang them by their necks by using rope arrows or leaps from high distances to stab them in the neck with a knife. Shadow of the Tomb Raider will drop in on September 14 on Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

Final Fantasy XIV



The latest patch of FFXIV is coming soon in the form of Under The Moonlight. This will be a story expansion that will cover the arrival of imperial envoys in the land of Doma to purpose peace. Where there wasn’t much else to the trailer, we got a surprise announcement in the form of a Palico from Monster Hunter World and the Rathalos. The update arrives in summer 2018.

The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit



As apart of the Life is Strange universe, we follow 10-year-old Chris as he wishes to become a superhero. It is a touching and heart-warming, story that isn’t necessarily a sequel, but rather a build-up to the next game in the series. If you played the other games in the series, you know that there will be much more to this game than what was shared with us. Be on the lookout for Captain Spirit when the game comes out on June 26, 2018.

Babylon’s Fall and The Quiet Man

On the front of brand new titles, we saw teasers for two new games.

The first of these of Babylon’s Fall. While it was difficult to say the premise of the game itself, we do know that Platinum games will be making it and will arrive in 2019. The second was The Quiet Man, which had a man beat up a few thugs in a back alley. Said to be a story-driven cinematic action experience that will seamlessly blend high-production live action, realistic CG and pulse-pounding action gameplay. Two interesting titles coming up, but no additional details are known at this time outside of additional details for The Quiet Man coming in August.

Just Cause 4



Rico Rodriguez is back and is off on another over the top adventure in Just Cause 4. Set in the fictional South American world of Solis, the game takes its destruction to a whole new level with the introduction of extreme weather events. The most prominent example being the giant tornado that can destroy bridges like nothing. There will also be violent thunderstorms, sandstorm, and blizzards that can make a big impact on gameplay. Just Cause 4 brings the thunder on December 4.

NieR: Automata- Become As Gods Edition



As revealed yesterday during the Microsoft Conference, NieR:Automata is coming to Xbox One on June 26. With this edition, it will include the full game and all DLC content. It will be incredible to see how this game runs on the Xbox One and Xbox One X.

Kingdom Hearts 3



For as easy as it would be to write off the trailer we had today we did see a few minor differences from what was shown during Microsoft’s conference. One example being that Remy from Ratatouille helping Sora cook by yanking his hair. There was also a bigger focus on the “not Disney” parts that includes the organization and even a small scene at the end with Lea and Kairi. Quite a bit to look forward to, but definitely will be one of the games to look out for next year. Kingdom Hearts 3 drops in on January 29, 2019.

Overall Thoughts: 30-minute Showcase leaves many asking for more.

While it was nice to see the games Square-Enix is working on, there is no doubt that many are asking if that was really it. We also got word on games like Dragon Quest 11 and Octopath Traveler, but no additional details for the games were shown. Meanwhile many were likely expecting to get details on the Final Fantasy VII Remake, Final Fantasy XV‘s second season, or Dissidia just to name a few games.

It wasn’t that what was shared with us wasn’t good, but there was plenty of games that we either saw yesterday during Microsoft’s conference or had a good understanding that it is coming soon. The strange thing is that in some ways, things we saw this year were almost like things we saw three years ago. Still, we have another conference later this evening, so there’s a good chance a few surprises might still come up. Until that time though, Square’s short showcase still did what it had to do, but left us wanting just a little bit more.

So what do you think?

Were you happy with what Square had today? Did you think they could have shared more information with us? Leave your thoughts down below and be sure to follow us here at Culture of Gaming for more games at E3 2018.