SUNDAY JUNE 13TH – 10PM – PC GAMING SHOW
The PC Gaming Show wrapped up the E3 2021 Sunday events with all the flare you might expect from the biggest PC gaming event on the calendar. There were 39 announcements, varying from trailers, game reveals and exclusive interviews. All presented from a spaceship. But was it out of this world? You’re the judge of that.
NARAKA: BLADEPOINT
This successful Battle Royale kicked the show off, unveiling an August 12th 2021 release date. But what’s the open beta, I hear you ask?
You can access the Naraka: Bladepoint open beta at 10:00 PT, 13:00 ET, and 18:00 BST on June 16th.
It’s only a limited time demo, so make sure you set your alarms! It’ll end on June 22nd.
DODGEBALL ACADEMIA
Love dodgeball and… Academia? Yeah, me too. We saw the world premiere of Dodgeball Academia, a fun-looking new RPG all about a dodgeball student who wants to be the ultimate dodgeball champion. It’s simple, fun and a classic underdog story, what’s not to love?
CHIVALRY 2
The CEO of Torn Banner Studios, the team behind Chivalry 2, made some big promises at E3 2021. He claims that the game will double in size for free. The team has grand plans to take on different Medieval era periods, meaning there’ll be updates to weapons and armour,
“The game at launch is a foundation. It’s intentionally built to be extended,” he said during the presentation.
RAWMEN at e3 2021
Minds out of the gutter, please. We got a look at this cute multiplayer arena shooter that pits you against 2-8 of your closest taste buds or foes. There’s no release date yet, but it looks like the perfect blend of silly, souper fun.
DYING LIGHT 2 PRE-ORDERS
Big news for fans of zombie games with no zombies in them – Dying Light 2 pre-orders are live now and it’s coming out in December 2021.
HUMANKIND BETA
Amplitude Studios came and said hello during the PC Gaming show. They had a treat for us – the Humankind Closed Beta is now available. It’s set to launch on August 17, 2021.
THEY ALWAYS RUN TRAILER
I’ve said it before in this round-up and I’ll say it again. The pixel aesthetic is my favourite art style. They Always Run is a brutal 2D game that has you chasing your prey as a three armed mutant bounty hunter. There’s no release date, but it’s definitely one to watch.
ORCS MUST DIE 3
Orcs Must Die 3 took up a fair chunk of the showcase, with a new trailer and release date – July 23rd, 2021. It was followed by an interview with design director Jerome Jones.
VAMPIRE THE MASQUERADE: SWAN SONG
This upcoming RPG is a sequel to the Vampire: The Masquerade franchise. We don’t know much, but we do know that you’ll have the option to play as one of three characters. It’s heavy Pathologic vibes – each character’s story is intertwined with the others.
We took a look at one of these characters at this event – Leysha. She’s described as a “tormented young woman”. Honestly, when you’re running on about 10 hours of sleep over four days because of E3 coverage, you really get into the character.
GIGABASH
There are fewer things that bring me as much joy as seeing giant monsters beat each other up. We got a new gameplay trailer for this kaiju beat’em up at the PC Gaming Show. Big monster goes smash. It was very good.
LEMNIS GATE
We’ve called it an FPS meets chess before, this mind-bending four-dimensional battle is certainly one to watch. We saw a brand new trailer, followed by a developer interview with James Anderson, Game Director. He spoke about turn-based combat and all the different game modes we can expect to see. It’s set to release on August 3rd, 2021.
SPACE REBELS TRAILER
If you loved Kerbal Space Program, this rocket sim is one to keep an eye on. It’s releasing in Fall 2021, so not long to wait.
WARTALES TRAILER
Medieval games seemed to be the big thing at the PC Gaming show. You know how frustrating it is to try and write about this genre when an entire generation of gamers grew up with Medievil? Autocorrect is getting sick of me. Anyways, not important. This open-world Medieval RPG was announced for Early Access and there’s a demo coming out next week!
IXION
You might know this as Project Stanford. It’s a fun strategy game being developed by the team behind 2018’s Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus. I say fun, the premise is anything but. It’s set on a harsh world where mankind is trying to escape a dying Earth. Brutal. It’s releasing in 2022, but there’s no firm date yet.
FAR: CHANGING TIDES
We’re swapping sand dunes for ocean waves in this newly-announced sequel to ‘FAR: Lone Sails’. It’s releasing in late 2021, but there’s no update on specifics just yet.
LAKEBURG LEGACIES
The Sims meets Crusader Kings is one hell of a hook, and yep, they got my attention. We got a brand new trailer for the social management game Lakeburg Legacies, a new PC game coming in 2022.
KILLING FLOOR 2: INTERSTELLAR INSANITY
Another genre the PC Gaming show seemed to love, besides medieval games, was space games. We learned more about Killing Floor 2’s Interstellar Insanity event. Call us Dogecoin, because it’s taking us to the moon*
*For the legal team that was a JOKE, GameByte does not endorse investing in any volatile stocks.
The Interstellar Insanity update is free and coming to Killing Floor 2 as a content update on June 22nd, 2021.
MECHWARRIOR 5: MERCENARIES
PC Gaming fans got a second to breathe as Piranha Games’ President Daeron Katz spoke about the combat of MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries. He spoke about the game and an upcoming DLC.
SILT at e3 2021
This stylish black and white game got a world premiere trailer. It’s described as “an exploration game set in a surreal oceanic void”, so certainly not one for those who have Thalassophobia. It’s the first game from Bristol-based indie developer Spiral Circus, with the goal of bringing surreal art to life.
HELLO NEIGHBOR 2
Hello Neighbor 2 got a creepy new clip at E3, which saw you sneaking around the neighbor’s home, setting traps, and using tools.
JURASSIC WORLD: EVOLUTION 2
First introduced by none other than Jeff Goldblum at the Summer Games Kick Off Festival, we got some more info on Jurassic World: Evolution 2. Game director Rich Newbold called it “the most authentic ‘Jurassic’ experience yet”. It’s set for a 2021 release, but we have no dates yet.
GLOOMWOOD
New Blood is known for their unique comedy style and the discussion with CEO Dave Oshry had us in stitches! They released a summary of their games, as well as a discussion on their upcoming game, Gloomwood.
SOULSTICE
We got a chance to check out the world premiere trailer of Soulstice and it’s fair to say we’re excited! There was no information about a release window, but keep your eyes peeled.
CHAOS GATE: DAEMONHUNTERS
Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters is a new Warhammer 40,000 sequel that’s coming nearly 25 years after the last one. It looks like a fast-paced turn-based RPG that we’ve come to expect from Frontier Foundry and Complex Games. There’s no release date yet, but it’s coming to PC in 2022.
PIONEER
If you love shooters like Metro, the gameplay trailer of Pioneer might be of interest to you. We saw a gritty, dystopian world packed with creepy tentacles (behave yourselves, they WERE creepy).
EVE ONLINE
Okay, I’ll bite. Eve Online is one of those games that I like the sound of, but have never played. The dense world and lore behind it just leaves me stuck on where to start. Now I don’t have an excuse – we saw a trailer of Eve Academy, a system designed to help introduce new players into the world. You can be a industrialist, enforcer, explorer, or Soldier of Fortune.
LUMBERHILL
Lumberhill is a cute little indie game that sees you chopping trees down and raising a herd of dinosaurs. It’s available now!
ARBORIA
Arboria is an action-roguelike that feels kinda similar to Pokemon in the fact that you’re evolving a character. It’s currently in Early Access, with a release month of August 2021
TINYKIN
Remember Pikmin? Tinykin is a more existential version of that. We only got a short look at the world premiere trailer, but it showed a boy searching for more like him. It’s coming in 2022.
CHERNOBYLITE
Did you watch the HBO Chernobyl series? I didn’t, but I heard it was really good. Anyways, this dark little game is based on a fictional nuclear disaster. It looks really fun – you can build a team, organise equipment and build a safe house. It’s coming out on 28th July 2021 but you can find it on Steam now.
SACRIFIRE
Another win for pixel art fans. I’m so glad this style is making a return. Sacrifire combines turn based combat with real time strategy. It looked a bit like Lemnis Gate, just without the time twistiness. Most importantly, it looks stunning. If you want to show your support, the game is coming to Kickstarter soon. Save them a fiver, because it looks worth it.
ICARUS
The latest game from the creator of DayZ, Icarus, this survival game looks brutal. If you’re very clever, you might remember we saw this game back in April. There’s a release date now – it’s launching August 11th, 2021.
MECHAJAMMER
Some love for tabletop games, finally. This open-world Cyberpunk pixel RPG is basically an isometric Deus Ex, which is a strong hook if I ever heard one.
THE WANDERING VILLAGE
Did you ever watch the Detective Pikachu movie? Remember the Torterras that were bloody HUGE? The big boys. This is Giant Torterra: The Game. We saw a bit of The Wandering Village at Day of the Dev, but we got another look at it at the PC Gaming show.
DEATH TRASH
We got another trailer for the upcoming game Death Trash. It was very dark – packed with humans both alive and dead, as well as a cthulu tree and a giant head crying tears of blood. It’s coming to Steam Early Access on August 5th 2021.
SONGS OF CONQUEST
We got a first look at the gameplay of Songs of Conques which involves the city building side of the game, including things like the troop deployment and building mechanics. We also got a look at the hex grid combat system. It’s coming out early 2022, but there’s no confirmed date yet.
CITIZEN SLEEPER
This game gives me big Dungeons and Dragons vibes. Roll a dice to determine your outcome and impact the story. You can also use dice to upgrade your character and repair/steal items. It looks like a lot of fun. It’s out in 2022.
PROJECT WARLOCK 2
Wrapping up the show at E3 2021, we got a taste of the retro gun-wielding gameplay of Project Warlock II. If you like DOOM, this is one for you! We saw zombies, blood-thirsty demons and big boss fights.
Phew! That was a lot. Of course, the PC Gaming Show was interspersed with a lot of tech announcements and demos, all of which were very cool. We’ll update you on the tech side of things once the silicone shortage is over and you can actually get your hands on stuff. The show concluded with a huge human vs. robot war, but we’ll have to wait until E3 2022 for an update on who won. Forget the cool gaming news, I’m here for Overlord Devbot.