E3 2021 ended this week, and there were a lot of interesting new titles. We saw Starfield, Forza Horizon 5, and Guardians of the Galaxy. Mario fans were thrilled to see Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope at Ubisoft’s E3 presentation. On the Xbox and Bethesda showcase, Microsoft also gave us a peek at the free-to-play multiplayer mode of Halo: Infinite – the next version of the popular first-person shooter game for Xbox and Windows.
In this week’s Orbital Gadgets 360 podcast, host Akhil Arora is joined by Deputy Video Head Cyrus John and Chief Sub-Editor Shayak Majumder to talk about all the key announcements from E3 2021.
I am tall! We start with our favorite games, including Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy – a new action-adventure game based on the crazy superheroes of the Marvel universe. It was showcased by Square Enix and had Star-Lord as the lead character. However, the game won’t offer multiplayer support, which could disappoint Marvel fans who want to play with characters like Groot and Rocket.
Xbox E3 2021: Forza Horizon 5, Starfield, Free Halo Infinite, and more
Microsoft surprised us with Forza Horizon 5, a new arcade racing title coming in November. It allows you to form a co-op convoy, participate in mini-games and challenge other players in Horizon Arcade. The game will be available in 1080p at 30fps on Xbox Series S and 4K at 30fps on Xbox Series X, with an optional 60fps performance mode.
Bethesda Softworks, acquired by Microsoft last year, showed up at this year’s E3 event with many new titles. Starfield is the pinnacle, with the sci-fi role-playing game revealed to be exclusive to Xbox Series S/X and PC.
The Halo: Infinite multiplayer trailer showed promise, but funnily enough, Microsoft wouldn’t give us an exact release date – it’s just holiday 2021 – although we do have precise dates for Xbox’s 2022 titles, including Starfield (coming November 11, 2022 – exactly 11 years to the day since Bethesda launched Skyrim).
For those looking to build and wage war on new civilizations, E3 2021 brought yet another trailer for Age of Empires IV, which will be out at the end of October. Developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Xbox Game Studios, the game revealed two new civilizations – France, with the returning Joan of Arc and the Abbasid dynasty – and the concept of naval battles. Hopefully, Age of Empires IV will last more after the beloved Age of Empires II and not the much less precious Age of Empires III.
Everything was announced at Ubisoft E3 2021: Rainbow Six Extraction, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Far Cry 6, and more.
This year’s E3 also looked at Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, which will be released in 2022. The first-person game will be available on various platforms: Windows PCs, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, Google Stadia, and Amazon Luna. As you can see, it’s a pure next-generation adventure.
Gamers on Nintendo Switch will get Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope and the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The first is the successor to the original Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle launched in 2017. It unites Mario, Peach, Luigi, and their Rabbid counterparts. You also have toy guns to kill enemies during the adventure. On the other hand, the new Legend of Zelda title transports gamers to the shadowy world above Hyrule. The trailer for the new Zelda segment featured an Easter Egg embedded in the music track.
That’s not all in this week’s episode. We also discuss the expected Nintendo Switch Pro console and some more interesting games coming in the future.
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