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Nobody likes Udina. It’s pretty clear that, even when he’s working on your side, the human ambassador to Mass Effect’s Citadel council is kind of a piece of shit. At one point, Shepard chides him for caring more about the political gains of a mission to save a bunch of human colonists than the lives that mission actually protected. This career bureaucrat might work for humanity’s best interest at times, but he’s also a transactional, ambitious climber who at least has a secondary goal of advancing his own influence. He only gets worse as time goes on.

It’s not just Udina that nobody likes, though. Despite providing Shepard with the unlimited power and near-total lack of accountability of the Spectres, the Citadel Council–a seemingly semi-democratic body comprising the galaxy’s most influential races–are largely an impediment to you getting the job done. On your periodic calls with them to debrief on your mission, which they authorized, they occasionally show frustration at your choices as you unilaterally make decisions that could threaten the whole galaxy or annihilate entire species. If you go Renegade in these moments, you throw it back in their faces. Your Paragon choices are more deferential, but only in an “ask forgiveness” kind of way. And plenty of dialogue options, Paragon or Renegade, express frustration with the Council’s unwillingness to do whatever you ask of them because you had a dream of world-ending monsters.

In fact, no member of civil authority in Mass Effect really seems like they’re that respectable. Playing Mass Effect today, it’s been surprising just how much disdain the game seems to show for the idea of civilian government, institutions, and rules in general. The galaxy of Mass Effect is not an especially democratic place, and when it is, it’s the know-nothing paper pushers who make up the government that put lives in danger. The time it takes to get the Citadel Council to sign off on an action could cost lives. Bureaucrats and their rules prevent you from stopping criminals and terrorists. You’re the only one who understands the real threat, and everyone else just has their head in the sand if they’re unwilling to let you do whatever you want to deal with it.

It generally feels…weird. Mass Effect is a game that spends a lot of time thinking about and discussing the idea of a galactic community, one within which humanity is still finding its place. The Paragon path is largely about finding common ground with members of other species and working closely with them–provided, of course, that they agree with you (and, really, defer to you). You spend a lot of time going out and making friends, finding people who want to protect lives and fight injustice, and working together with them. But they have to listen to you, they don’t get a vote, and ultimately, every call is yours.

To some degree, it has to be said, this is just video game stuff. You’re the hero in a story-based RPG, so what you say goes. You’re the commander of a ship, you’re fighting an unknowable force wielded by a murderous madman, and you’re out on the front lines with more information than literally any other person in the galaxy. Mass Effect is fun because it puts you to choices and makes you think about them, and for that to be interesting, you have to be in the driver’s seat. The game could, at least in theory, lose the immediacy and power that makes it work if you had to poll your crew about their thoughts on dealing with the rachni, or whether you should accept that hanar merchant’s pleas to help him smuggle some stuff through port security.

But more than just leaving decisions in your hands, Mass Effect also constantly positions you against any non-military person with any authority, who are almost criminally unwilling to submit to your obvious superior decision-making ability. You even get a moment at the end of the game where you can decide if it’s worth risking ships and soldiers to protect the lives of the Citadel Council–again, the seemingly only democratic authority you ever interact with–and you can choose to let them die. That decision is definitely informed by how you’ve felt the Council has treated you throughout the game, and again, their role is largely to ignore your pleas for aid or action and second-guess your decisions after the fact. The Council is only effective in that they’ve allowed you the unlimited power to police the galaxy your own way, and if you’re annoyed with them for floating the suggestion of accountability, which is all they ever do, you can let them die for it.

Really, the only authority figures Mass Effect shows much respect for are military ones. There are a lot of moments when you can talk to and laud Captain Anderson, your former commanding officer, who does you the constant service of agreeing with your ideas and methods. Your other big connection to the Alliance, the human space military, is Admiral Hackett, who occasionally asks for help and who defers to your judgment during the endgame’s big military engagement. Anderson and Hackett deserve your respect because they’re soldiers who know a thing or two about how the world actually works. They get their hands dirty. They’re not sitting behind a desk somewhere wondering about how the optics of your choices are going to play out.

On at least two occasions, Hackett asks you to go clean up Alliance messes that seem like they might paint humanity in a bad light in the international community. On one mission, you’re to go find a missing probe that was outfitted with a nuclear bomb. It’s a remnant of the First Contact War, before humanity was part of the galactic community, but the reason you have to deal with it quietly is because the Citadel Council would not look kindly on humanity leaving live nukes out in the galaxy to be found by…whoever. Your goal is to handle the situation before anyone finds out about it, effectively to protect the military from blowback. Another of Hackett’s missions has you disabling a rogue virtual intelligence that has gotten dangerously close to becoming a self-aware artificial intelligence. Hackett denies that the Alliance was trying to make an AI, which is illegal, but he’s still dispatching you to go handle the situation because you can do so off the books. Mass Effect 2 pretty much makes it clear that the rogue VI was actually an AI experiment gone wrong.

Where Mass Effect has plenty of opportunities to chide bureaucrats for their life-costing decisions and overly cautious heel-dragging, there’s not a lot to say about the Alliance carrying out actions that are illegal under galactic law. You just dutifully head out and clean up the human military’s messes, because you’re a soldier and that’s what soldiers do. Sure, the rogue VI might have murdered everyone in Luna base and then attempts to do the same to you when you arrive, but that’s just the cost of protecting the galaxy.

Spend any time with fan favorite character Garrus and you get a huge dose of these anti-government, anti-democratic feelings. Before he joined up with you, Garrus was an officer in C-Sec, the Citadel’s police force. He’s a big-time law-and-order type, but annoyed that the “rules” and “red tape” are always holding him back from getting the bad guys. He talks about how it shouldn’t matter how he takes down a suspect as long as he does, in fact, take them down. He talks about roughing up suspects in interviews. And he tells a lengthy story about a doctor he investigated who was using his employees as incubators for organ harvesting, which ends with Garrus complaining the C-Sec brass wouldn’t let him shoot that guy’s ship down as he was fleeing. This was a ship filled with hostages (who Garrus says were “already dead” thanks to the doctor’s experiments) flying over a populated area, and Garrus thinks the fact he was stopped from blowing it up makes everyone else the asshole.

Garrus likes Shepard because they’re not confined by the rules, and it really sounds like that includes things like respecting the rights of the accused or limiting the possibility of collateral damage. Garrus respects following the law, even that of the ethics-less corporate research haven of Noveria, simply because it is the law. But he sure seems less interested in protecting innocent lives than he does bringing criminals to heel, and he has no respect for any rules that might limit or temper the enforcement of the law, at least as relates to people Garrus has decided are guilty of breaking it.

And even without all these other character moments, it’s impossible to overlook that Shepard is basically Jack Bauer (the terrorist fighter who occasionally employs torture in the TV show 24) in space. Go Renegade and you’re fully Jack Bauer in space, taking an any-means-necessary approach to meeting the goals you’ve decided matter more than anything else. Paragon softens the situation a little by making you more polite and apologetic, but it really doesn’t change the overall situation that much. The very idea of the Spectres is to create operatives who aren’t beholden to answer to anybody but the Citadel Council–they don’t have to follow any laws, and can complete missions however they think they must. The role literally exists to circumvent accountability. No civilian paper-pusher can get in the way of you completing the job–finally.

Looking at Mass Effect now, it’s hard to divorce it from its real-world historical moment. It’s a game mired in the 2000s, fully embracing the War on Terror politics of the time. Shepard is a military officer endowed with the power to Do What Needs To Be Done. They scour the galaxy to locate a powerful but hidden baddie, who wields a brain-washing weapon of mass destruction that can turn regular people into fanatics, and take them down. Shepard needs to do this, because the consequences of inaction, or slowing down, or waiting to gather evidence are just too great, and anybody who suggests otherwise is a coward or a clown. Shepard knows who’s responsible and everyone else is just some idiot who cares more about their own power than Doing What’s Right. Stop me if any of this is starting to sound like things that were happening in the real world between roughly 2001 and 2008.

It makes it tough to reconcile some of what feels like the general idea of Mass Effect from a decade ago with the reality. It’s not nearly as much the hopeful, idealistic conception of the future, in which humanity finds its place among the stars and becomes better for it, as I previously believed. I still enjoy the game’s world and the characters that it brings together, and the way you learn about other cultures, spend time with people of different backgrounds and races, and explore the galaxy. But I wish Mass Effect was more serious about the underlying ideas it espouses of banding together, finding common ground, and appreciating one another’s differences.

Mass Effect’s treatment of everyone who’s not military or in agreement with you makes those ideas feel disingenuous, because as much as it seems to care about unity and diversity, it doesn’t express any trust in other people. And in the era of QAnon, the US capitol riot, and ongoing lies about the rigging of the 2020 US presidential election, Shepard’s side feels like the wrong side to be on.

Jonathan Ferguson, a weapons expert and Keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armouries, breaks down the weaponry of Resident Evil Village, including the M1851 Wolfsbane revolver, the F2 Rifle, and the Gyrojet-inspired Rocket Pistol.

By Dave Jewitt and Adam Mason on May 29, 2021 at 7:00AM PDT

For many of us, headphones have become one of our everyday carry essentials, and we need to check them off the list before leaving home. After all, what would we do without our favorite music playlists and weekly podcasts? Whether it’s for your commute, a hard workout, or just a walk around your neighborhood, a great set of headphones is a must-have. But it can be hard to find a great set of headphones you love. Some don’t deliver the audio quality you need, and some can set you back hundreds of dollars.

Thankfully, there are options that bridge the gap between incredible quality and an incredible deal. The ComfoBuds Pro True Wireless Headphones offer just that, providing stellar quality and retailing for only $105. That’s a great price for the quality, but even better is that they’re currently on sale for only $89.99 (a savings of 14%).

These headphones boast a ton of great features that rival wireless headphones costing hundreds of dollars more. They offer proprietary technology called QuietMax, the driving force of their active noise canceling. Three separate microphones listen to you, your music, and the world around you, amplifying what you want to hear and eliminating what you don’t.

The noise cancellation can be set to eliminate all ambient noise so you can enjoy your tunes with no distractions, or it can be set to minimize ambient sounds so you can still remain alert. That ambient noise reduction also makes for crystal-clear phone calls, diminishing even the effects of the wind. The ComfoBuds Pro’s features and outstanding value even earned it a spot as a 2021 CES Innovation Awards Honoree.

Get the most out of your music and take your on-the-go tunes to the next level with a high-quality and high-tech set of headphones like the ComfoBuds Pro True Wireless Headphones for $89.99

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Developer Platinum Games’ style is instantly recognizable–flashy, fast-paced action that oozes with personality and flair. World of Demons brings that signature style to Apple Arcade, giving you control of a samurai named Onimaru and thrusting you into, well, a world of demons. That successful Platinum formula translates well to iOS devices, with simple touch controls and quick action that looks and feels great on the smaller screen. There are some issues lying underneath–mostly in the camera system–but those problems aren’t enough to derail this otherwise solid action experience.

World of Demons follows Onimaru, a lone samurai fighting against an army of vicious demons called yokai. Our hero is building an army of his own, however, as every enemy he defeats will join him in the fight against the game’s main antagonist, the demon king Shuten Doji. Onimaru himself controls exactly like a Platinum Games protagonist, deftly running around stages while slashing with his massive katana. Consecutive presses on the attack button will result in stylish combos, with better rewards given for higher combos at the end of a skirmish. Holding down the button will slow attacks down, making strikes more powerful but making you vulnerable to enemy counterattacks.

The yokai Onimaru battle comes in all shapes and sizes, from small bean farmers to massive pink blobs, each with its own attack abilities. Each yokai is assigned a color (red, blue, or green), with each color having strengths and weaknesses over the other in a rock-paper-scissors system. Defeating a yokai adds it to your collection, and before each chapter you’ll be able to equip two yokai for the following mission. Other yokai defeated during the chapter are added to a “deck” and disappear after one use.

Allowing you to have two yokai you can always depend on, while also adding more throughout a mission, creates a dynamic battle system that really shines. Paying attention to each enemy’s health bar and attacking with corresponding yokai adds a layer of complexity to each battle that feels natural and fun, making the yokai more than just glorified summons. You’ll never know which yokai you’ll encounter in a mission, but the rock-paper-scissors element mitigates any detriments caused by that instability.

Mixing Onimaru’s sword attacks in with the supporting yokai gives you plenty of options in combat, encouraging strategizing before every enemy. Boss fights in particular require this approach, as you need to gauge when you can switch from quick sword strikes to the more powerful blows while also using yokai to inflict more damage. It’s fast and it’s frantic, but most importantly, it’s a lot of fun, emulating that signature Platinum Games style impressively well.

It’s not a perfect translation however, as I found one major annoyance during my run with the game: the camera. As World of Demons uses a touchscreen control scheme, character movement and camera movement are assigned to the screen itself. The left half of the screen controls character movement, while the right controls camera movement. The problem with this is the camera half of the screen is obstructed by the rest of the touch controls, giving you only half the amount of screen for camera movement that you have for moving Onimaru. This makes the camera awkward and confusing both in and out of battle. An auto-targeting system tries to counter this by zeroing in whichever enemy you’re attacking. This works to a point, but the camera is easily the most frustrating part of what is otherwise a solid game.

World of Demons looks wonderful, with every stage looking like it was taken straight from a ukiyo-e wood print (most reminiscent of a game like Okami). Each area jumps off the screen with color and beauty, and even darker stages feature personality, with blue waves crashing in the background or swelling dark clouds blocking your path in the distance.

You’ll have the opportunity to take in the sights, too, as the game encourages checking every nook and cranny for items and loot. Each map is divided into sections, with each section featuring a certain number of battles to fight and treasure to find. Once everything in a section is completed it will turn gold on your map with a red “Complete!” stamp, letting you know there’s nothing left to find.

This map format does lead to one minor complaint, however; missions can sometimes feel repetitive, with the game’s only variety being found in the yokai that appear during battles. When you start a mission, you’ll see a purple cloud marking your first battle point. You’ll approach the cloud, and a dramatic two-second pause occurs before yokai appear. You’ll fight the yokai and a statistics screen pops up to give you a grade for the battle. Once that goes away you can continue to the next point, and rinse and repeat until the final battle of the chapter. There’s some exploration thrown in, but the bulk of each chapter follows this exact same structure, and after a few extended gameplay sessions, it starts to feel a little stale.

One feature that I truly appreciate is the ease in which World of Demons allows you to get back into the game in between play sessions. Say you’re trying to explore an area but your attention is pulled elsewhere, forcing you to close the game and quit playing. When you load back up you’ll be in the exact spot where you left off, and the map will even pop onto the screen to remind you what you’ve explored so far. Being able to trust this game to take me right back where I left off is a huge relief, and something I wish more mobile games would do with such precision.

World of Demons proves that Platinum Games’ trademark action can flourish on small phone screens. The yokai mechanics are smartly implemented, while boss battles are intense and rife with adrenaline. The camera issues can be annoying, but they’re not enough to ruin the thrilling experience onscreen. A Platinum Games title working well on iOS sounds like a long shot, but World of Demons is not only a fun mobile action game, but a solid title regardless of what platform it’s on.

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We’ve once again entered E3 season–that magical time of the year when the industry’s biggest companies and developers unveil their latest games. While this year’s festivities consist of digital-only events, that doesn’t mean there won’t be some exciting news coming. As we await what’s in store, the GameSpot team compiled their biggest predictions and wishes for E3 2021 and all its surrounding events. Below you can find what we dearly hope will get announced at the show, whether it’s realistic or a complete pipedream.

For more about the upcoming festivities, be sure to check out our E3 2021 schedule feature, which details when it’s happening, where to watch all the streams, and who’s participating this year. And stay tuned all month long for Play For All, GameSpot’s event that will feature coverage of E3, other summer events, and a charity effort to raise money for AbleGamers.

From Software Finally Shows Elden Ring

I don’t think I need to remind any From Software fan reading this about how long it’s been since we last had major Elden Ring news. (Nearly two years since it was announced, but who’s counting?) Since then, we’ve had virtually no news about the game… and that’s okay. Personally, I would far prefer a game be given the time it needs to be the best experience possible, and have fewer game-breaking bugs. Between Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro, Hidetaka Miyazaki, at this point, has proven himself to be a true auteur of incredible gaming experiences–and that certainly deserves our patience and understanding. Well, from me, at least.

But as E3 2021 will mark two years since the first teaser trailer we saw, I feel like we can finally raise our hopes that we’ll actually hear something about this long-awaited game. And, personally, I couldn’t be more excited for that prospect. — Dave Klein, Video Producer

A Teaser For Spider-Man 2

Insomniac has built up some incredible momentum over the last few years. Jumping off the success of Marvel’s Spider-Man, it helped usher in the new generation with both a cross-gen Miles Morales spin-off and the upcoming PS5 exclusive Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. With the studio juggling so many projects, it’s probably too early to expect a full follow-up to the 2018 Spider-Man so soon, but now would be a great time to start teasing it.

The first game was too successful not to start production on a follow-up immediately, and the plot left enough lingering threads that I can’t wait to see what comes next. Spider-Man: Miles Morales was a nice way to revisit the world and establish Miles as his own hero who can fight alongside Peter Parker, but as a cross-gen game it could only push the limit so far. If what we’ve seen from Ratchet is any indication, Insomniac is capable of much more when dedicated to the new generation. Showing us a hint of what’s to come, even if not until holiday 2022, would be a big, bold move from Sony. — Steve Watts, Associate Editor

Confirmation Of An Indie-Packed Second Half Of 2021

2021 has seen some great indies so far–I’m currently obsessed with Knockout City, but games like Loop Hero, Good Lookin’ Home Cookin’, and Little Nightmares II have also stolen my heart. And I’m pretty sure these good times will keep on rollin’ since indie teams, given their traditionally small size and working-from-home setups, were able to weather the storm that was 2020 a little bit better than their AAA counterparts.

So throughout E3 2021, I predict that we’ll finally get some release dates for those upcoming indie games currently slated to come out “soon” or “2021.”

I’d love to finally see actual dates for 12 Minutes, Death’s Door, Dustborn, Gestalt: Steam & Cinder, Grime, Harold Halibut, Lake, Open Roads, The Outlast Trials, Oxenfree II: Lost Signals, Road 96, Soup Pot, and Sifu (I could go on, but I’m being told these entries have a word limit).

Normally, I’d predict Hollow Knight: Silksong news, but Matthew Griffin (who handles marketing for Team Cherry) has already broken my heart by saying that Silksong will not be at E3. So yeah, E3, you can make this right by giving us more indie game release dates instead. — Jordan Ramée, Associate Editor

The Return Of Advance Wars

Advance Wars has been dormant for well over a decade now despite each entry on DS and GBA being a solid, well-received tactical strategy game. Aside from the references in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (which are nice but don’t count for much given how widely Nintendo cast that net), it’s been a rough period for fans of Intelligent Systems’ franchise.

At the time of this writing, we don’t yet know if Nintendo will even host an E3 press conference, but if it decides to make announcements in June, I’m hoping an Advance Wars revival is among them. A remastered collection of the existing games with online multiplayer would be nice, but I’m more interested in a brand-new entry that continues to build on the established framework. We’ve seen other games (like Wargroove) do a commendable job on this front in lieu of anything from Nintendo, but I’d welcome that Intelligent Systems touch–and a return of those catchy soundtracks. — Chris Pereira, Senior Editor

A New Splinter Cell Game That Doesn’t Use Every Ubisoft Trope

It has become something of a joke each E3–a sad, disheartening joke. I wait with bated breath as Ubisoft holds its yearly press conference, announcing new IP, the latest in series like Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry, and new expansions for long-running multiplayer games.

And no Splinter Cell.

2021 is the year that has to change. It has been nearly eight years since the last one, and though an Oculus-exclusive VR game is in the works, Ubisoft has to realize how much fans want a new, full-length Splinter Cell game. My only concern is that this game would fall victim to some of Ubisoft’s recent design tropes, including an exceedingly large world, needless RPG mechanics, and a focus on live-service or always-online elements. Sam Fisher doesn’t need to follow trends. He just needs to stay in the dark with his trusty trifocal goggles, karambit knife, and silenced Five-SeveN pistol. — Gabe Gurwin, Associate SEO Editor

Halo Infinite Brings The Goods

After a year-long delay, Halo Infinite is finally releasing this holiday, and E3 2021 should be a massive event for the game. Multiplayer is the bread and butter of Halo, and to date, we’ve seen precisely zero non-campaign gameplay footage. So I’m hoping to see 343 go big and offer a deep-dive look at Halo Infinite multiplayer across the standard, expected Slayer modes, as well as whatever exciting new innovations the studio no doubt has in the works. I’d also like to hear 343 talk about why Halo Infinite is going for free-to-play multiplayer this time and how the game will avoid becoming pay-to-win or bogged down by microtransactions.

On the campaign side, 343 needs to show everyone that last year’s poorly received campaign demo was a one-off. We need to see more of what makes the grappling hook exciting and new, and perhaps more notably, I’m hoping the game simply looks better to match those stunning PC screens that the studio shared earlier this year.

2021 is the 20th anniversary of Xbox and the Halo brand, and I’m hoping and expecting that Microsoft goes big to use E3 to showcase why the world should care about Halo once again. It’s never a good idea to bet against the Master Chief. — Eddie Makuch, Associate Editor

(Almost) Anything About Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 2

After years of waiting, Final Fantasy VII Remake finally made its big appearance last year, and more than lived up to my expectations. Honestly, I was expecting to find a return to FF7 to be a cringey look back at my teen years as a devoted Squaresoft JRPG fan, but Remake did a phenomenal job of preserving what was great about FF7 and updating a lot of what wasn’t, and I wound up having a blast playing it. Now, however, we’re in the hangover fog of waiting for a huge game to slowly roll out in pieces, and it sucks. I’m excited for the upcoming Intergrade DLC, but let’s be honest–there’s no way that’ll do anything but remind me I’m stuck waiting for the next full part of FF7 Remake.

So it would be very nice if Square Enix would at least do the courtesy of dropping some new Remake information during E3. Like some screenshots. Or a video. Or a release date. It’d really be nice not to have to wait years to hear more about how the story will continue, and more importantly, when it’ll continue–although given Square Enix’s past track record in that regard, I’m not exactly holding my breath in anticipation of much new information. — Phil Hornshaw, Editor

Remedy’s Next Thing

Alan Wake lives. It was clear in the vanilla version of Control that Remedy Entertainment’s cult classic novelist protagonist was not only linked to that world but potentially on his way to a comeback–and the AWE expansion released after the game’s launch removed all doubt. Control is a game that lives in my brain, sprouting out of my subconscious like an unknowable and possibly sentient office building hiding in the middle of New York, and I’m never far from stray thoughts about the weird and fascinating world Remedy has built. The world of Alan Wake is one I’ve wanted to see more of since it was released way back in 2010, and I love Remedy’s take on psychological and supernatural horror. That the two things could be the same place, and their best elements mixed together, sounds like something aimed directly at me personally.

So I am extremely keyed up to hear what Remedy is working on next. We’re now nearly two years out from Control’s launch, which means it might be about time to find out what’s next for Remedy. The studio is one of my favorites, and it has set the table for an incredibly intriguing continuation of two favorites. Hopefully it’s time for an appetizer that’ll let us know what’s coming next. — Phil Hornshaw, Editor

An Appearance From Metal Gear Solid

Nothing has hurt more than being a Metal Gear Solid fan these past several years. It’s a franchise I’ve adored for decades that’s effectively dead at the moment–a reality that’s honestly depressing. Seriously, how is it that publisher Konami can allow such renowned IP to be absent for so long? It astounds me, but I can’t help but be optimistic that Konami is planning something big to redeem these years of general inactivity.

After the drama of MGS developer Hideo Kojima’s departure, Konami took some big hits to its public image and has undergone massive internal changes. But with the games industry continually growing, I can’t imagine the company is genuinely staying its hand from AAA game development, especially when it’s sitting on a franchise as big as MGS alongside several other historically relevant IPs that garner immense passion from the gaming community. That much has been clear from its recent behavior, initially announcing that it would participate at E3 2021 to showcase its latest projects before inevitably pulling out.

Despite not participating at E3 2021, I’m thinking Konami will still be using the occasion to let the world know its true intentions. In a bid to win back public approval and get back into making higher-profile games more consistently, I hope that Konami will announce that it’s bringing MGS back, but with the help of Sony. And my hope is that we’ll be told about this collaboration by Sony during its big summer PS5 press conference. Already there have been numerous rumors about a Metal Gear Solid 1 remake floating around, which seems like a perfect way for Konami to bring back the series while also getting fans back on its side. There have also been rumors that Konami could be working with Sony on reviving an old franchise, so what better than MGS to start with? All this is hearsay at the moment, but I won’t let that stop me from dreaming!

I have a strong feeling that Konami intends to collaborate with Sony because I doubt it’s in a position to spearhead such a project alone. Konami has made good on supporting re-releases of its old back catalog in recent years, but when it comes to the herculean effort required to bring back MGS, Sony seems like the most likely candidate to help it do that. — Matt Espineli, Editor

Shin Megami Tensei V Gameplay And Release Date

I love Shin Megami Tensei. The mainline series’ surreal style and bleak, post-apocalyptic settings have always stuck with me more than the interpersonal drama of Persona. So that’s why I’m especially hoping that Atlus will use whatever Direct presentation that Nintendo plans around E3 2021 to debut gameplay for Shin Megami Tensei V and announce a release date.

In the past, we’ve only gotten cryptic trailers with brief glimpses of its main protagonist and the demonic forces that are pulling them into the conflict at hand. But I want to see how this game actually plays and what it’s like to explore its various locales. I want to learn more about its supporting cast and what exactly I’m up against this time around. If I can get even a sliver of raw, uninterrupted gameplay with a bit of story details, I’ll be happy.

Please, Atlus. Show us more SMT V, and tell us when it’s coming out. You owe it to us now that you’ve re-exposed the world to the brilliance of Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne. Oh, and while you’re at it, please remaster the Raidou Kuzunoha Devil Summoner games! You know you want to! — Matt Espineli, Editor

A New Metroid Game For Switch

Although it doesn’t have the same mass-market appeal as the Legend of Zelda series, Metroid is also celebrating its 35th anniversary this year, and I’m hoping Nintendo will have some kind of Metroid-related announcement in store for E3 2021 to commemorate the occasion. After all, it’s been far too long since the company has released a new Metroid title; the last one to arrive was 2017’s Metroid: Samus Returns, and as excellent as that turned out to be, the fact that it was on 3DS rather than the more powerful Switch hardware was undoubtedly disappointing.

Of course, we know Metroid Prime 4 is on the way, but given that Nintendo completely restarted its development back in January 2019, that game is still likely quite a ways away from release. If Nintendo were to announce some other kind of Metroid game in the interim, such as a remaster of Metroid Prime Trilogy or a new 2D installment, it would make the wait for Metroid Prime 4 much more bearable. The signs are all there, so let’s make it happen, Nintendo! — Kevin Knezevic, Associate Editor

Nintendo Opens Up The N64 Vaults

As to whether or not Nintendo will do anything at E3–or its own separate Nintendo Direct–at this time is unknown. However, a manchild can dream, can’t he? And in my dreams, I imagine a world where Nintendo tells everyone to come on down and play some Nintendo 64 games. And what better place to bring them to than Nintendo Switch Online?

Whether people want to relive yelling “No Oddjob” at their friends during a game of GoldenEye or feeling the pure frustration of being hit by a car on Toad’s Turnpike in Mario 64, there’s been a demand to be able to replay N64 games for years. And now the time feels right–especially to boost what Nintendo Switch Online offers its subscribers. Recent additions to the NES and SNES collections have been less than ideal for some, and while it’s probably really out of the question in this dream scenario, I’d love to be able to replay the WCW and WWF THQ games again or even Shadows of the Empire. Those specific games, including GoldenEye, may be tough to bring to Switch Online because of rights but opening the door to N64 games for subscribers is something Switch owners are clamoring for. But mostly, give me those WCW/WWF games ASAP.– Mat Elfring, Entertainment News Editor

An Actual Good-Looking WWE Game

After the debacle known as WWE 2K20, 2K took a year off from the long-running series with a promise of coming back better than ever. Now, the marketing push for WWE 2K22 has begun. What we need, though, is concrete evidence that the new game will actually “hit different” like the teaser promised it would. Even 2K19, arguably the best wrestling title of the last decade, felt stale due to the franchise’s unwillingness to evolve.

Now, after a year off and upcoming competition from AEW, 2K needs to put its best foot forward, and there’s no better place to do it than E3. It’s time to start showing off some footage of a game that is genuinely a step forward for the franchise. Give fans who have lost confidence–like myself–the incentive to actually shell out money for yet another WWE title. It also wouldn’t hurt to announce it’ll be available on the current generation of consoles. — Chris E. Hayner, Entertainment Editor

Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ 2.0 Update

It’s been more than a year since Animal Crossing: New Horizons launched, and while we’ve been getting a steady stream of updates in that time, the most recent one left much to be desired. Rather than ushering the game’s second year in with new events or features to keep the experience fresh, the 1.10 update merely made some slight tweaks to last year’s events, which felt very underwhelming for those of us who’ve been playing since the beginning.

Of course, the fact that update was named version 1.10 rather than version 2.0 suggests Nintendo still has bigger changes in store for the game, and that would be the perfect thing to highlight if the company airs a new Nintendo Direct for E3 2021. As for what the 2.0 update would entail, that’s up in the air, but New Horizons is still missing many staple Animal Crossing features and characters. Brewster’s cafe is still MIA, for example, and we haven’t seen any glimpse of Kap’n or Gracie or even the fortune teller Katrina. Any of these would make a welcome return, and I’m hoping we see some of them–plus whatever other new game features Nintendo is working on–next month. — Kevin Knezevic, Associate Editor