After the unfortunate forced cancellation last year, E3 is back, and you better believe we are embracing it with the most open of arms. Starting on June 12, E3 is the time of year where nearly all of the biggest names in gaming gather ’round to show off the games and tech they’ve been hard at work making for all us adoring players. While we’re simply happy to just have an E3 this year, naturally we do have our own wishlists made of what we hope to see there. While a lot of the games on this list are somewhat likely to make an appearance — as they are all confirmed titles their respective studios are working on — we don’t know everything on this list will be at this year’s E3. But man… wouldn’t that be cool?
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2
Back in 2017, Breath of the Wild revolutionized the Legend of Zelda franchise, and brought a breath of fresh air (see what I did there) into a series that, for better or worse, had become fairly formulaic. Millions of us sunk dozens upon dozens of hours into the gorgeous open-world experience, defeated the Great King of Evil once more, and restored order to Hyrule, all while basking in how different this game felt. It was freeing in a way we hadn’t seen in these games before. It felt exhilarating — endless. However, once players bested every boss and solved every shrine, a collective question arose: where does the 35-year-old series go from here? This question is still lingering in many of our minds, and as someone who enjoyed Breath of the Wild but found myself longing for the temples, bosses, time-related gimmicks, and iconic weapons/tools from previous Zelda titles I loved, I have an extremely vested interest in what happens next. I was incredibly intrigued by the trailer we saw a few years back, and am hoping we see more including a bit of gameplay if we’re lucky. — Jessica Howard
Gotham Knights
I don’t know what Gotham Knights actually promises when it bills itself as an “open-world action RPG” but sure, I’ll chart a skill-tree and accumulate too many quests at once. What I do know is that I can play as Robin. Robin! The other guy! Where the Arkham series’ combat system runs stale after a few hours, Gotham Knights instead lets you suit up as one of four playable characters (that aren’t Batman) with completely different move-sets and abilities. Now if we could also get a little more info on that Suicide Squad game… — AJ Lodge
Halo Infinite
Halo Infinite got off to a bit of a rough start. A perfectly average demo last summer — which was clearly a work in progress — spawned a successful meme (Craig the Brute!) and a less-than-successful reception from fans who were expecting…more, I guess? 343 Industries has since delayed the game well into this year, and been a lot more open about the game’s development and improving on what were already some pretty solid bones. This E3, it’s safe to expect a more impressive showing for Halo Infinite that could change the narrative around the game and remind Xbox fans they did in fact buy their Xbox Series X | S for a reason. Maybe we’ll even get a peek at the multiplayer suite this time around and that battle royale mode that’s been rumored to come with it. — Moises Taveras
Ubisoft’s Star Wars
One of the best decisions Lucas Arts has made with the Stars Wars IP is not keeping it under exclusivity. EA had some success with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order but allowing only one company to work with that universe limited it far too much. Everyone loves Star Wars and it’s a title that we want fresh ideas from everyone on. Ubisoft in particular, with their history of making open-world games, could give us all the huge Star Wars world that we’ve all been wanting to explore since we were kids. There’s endless potential and I’m excited to see Ubisoft try and match it. — Chris Barnewall
Overwatch 2
I swore up and down when Overwatch first came out back in 2016 I was absolutely not going to buy it. As fun as it looked, I told myself and my more persuasive friends there was literally no way I could justify spending $60 on a game that didn’t even have a single-player campaign — a game that, I explained, I would play for 15 hours until everyone stopped playing it in a month. However, within a week, I caved. Against my better judgment, I went to Target and picked up a copy. Little did I know, that game would soon turn into one of my favorite games of all time. Since then, I have put close to 600 hours into Overwatch on PlayStation alone. I’ve mastered the perfectly placed D.Va ult, cheered on SF Shock during their league matches, and bested Dr. Junkenstein year after year. However, over time Overwatch has lost some of its luster. While Blizzard has done a great job keeping up with a five year-old game, I’m ready for a fresh start, some big structural changes, and to be re-captivated by the FPS that stole my heart. — Jessica Howard
Starfield
Starfield is likely coming next year, and it’s beginning to sound like its big debut is finally happening this year at Bethesda and Xbox’s joint E3 conference, so yes I will be allowing myself to get excited for Fallout/Elder Scrolls but in space. The Outer Worlds tried this some years ago on a smaller scale and it was okay, but maybe the scale that only Bethesda can produce is what will make this work for me. Starfield’s supposed to be their biggest game ever so it’s clear they’ll deliver on that at the very least. More than anything, it’ll just be good to see what this game is after talking about it in hushed tones for like half a decade now. — Moises Taveras
Hogwarts Legacy
I won’t pretend to know my Dracos from my Snape-os, but even I know that Slytherin’s aren’t supposed to be as excited as I am to spend $69.99 on a video game for someone else’s enjoyment. My fiancée has been desperately waiting for a full-fledged Harry Potter video game experience (forcing me to take the sorting hat test is probably the closest thing she has right now) and boy, does Hogwarts Legacy look like it’s gonna scratch that itch. I think she deserves it. I think the fandom deserves it. And I, who has a newfound joy for backseat gaming, also deserve it? — AJ Lodge
Bayonetta 3
Bayonetta 3 was first teased all the way back in 2017 and we’ve heard nothing about it since. What we all initially believed to be something close to a launch title for the Nintendo Switch has instead become a mystery. Where is it? What’s it about? One thing I know for certain is I’m ready for another crazy action game featuring everyone’s favorite heel gun hero. What’s also going to be fun is the potential for Easter eggs and secrets. Bayonetta has always been great about having fun little easter eggs and since Bayontetta 3 should be a Nintendo exclusive that means they have a whole history of great IP’s to pull from. — Chris Barnewall
Indiana Jones
Set photos from the latest Indiana Jones film broke (a section of) the internet over the weekend, making it all the more clear that we’re getting at least one more chance to watch Harrison Ford play his signature role (sorry Star Wars fans). But what happens next? Will Disney pass the torch to another actor to go back to Indy’s prime Nazi punching days in the ’40s? That might be one of Hollywood’s most compelling questions, but for video games, we already have a sense that that’s where we’re going with the previously announced Bethesda-made Indiana Jones game. The only question is will this also be the start of an all-new franchise and, more importantly, how is the studio going to both pay tribute to the films and build on their legacy? Is Ford going to be involved in some way? And what kind of experience are we going to get? There can be a “good enough” effect with pre-established IP games. They know you’ve been pining for it, so the levels of innovation and the foundation for more don’t need to be as high or strong. But with the Indiana Jones film franchise somewhat in flux, there’s all the more reason for Bethesda to establish something profoundly fun and interesting here that carves its own path. So gimme some confirmation of that or, at least, a slick-looking trailer that talks money out of my wallet. — Jason Tabrys
Final Fantasy XVI
Long before Magitek armor, blitzball, and cross-country road trips, Final Fantasy had crystals. Crystals have served as magical catalysts for many if not most of the series’ stories, and based on what we’ve seen in the Final Fantasy XVI trailer, they’re coming back in an extremely big way — a way that leans significantly more into the fantasy side of things than we’ve seen in many of the single-player games recently. For those who enjoy the series more fantasy-driven titles — titles like IV, IX, and even the side game , Final Fantasy Tactics — this game appears to tread the familiar terrain of royal family drama, politics, and magic given to the land through powerful crystals. With XVI, I am expecting a hard pivot away from a lot of the modernity we’ve come to embrace in the series as of late and I’m incredibly excited by the prospect and to see more of what’s to come. — Jessica Howard
Dragon Age (And Mass Effect)
I love two things: Big RPGs and games with long tails, apparently. The next Dragon Age game seems like the perfect crossover of these interests and the next big thing coming from BioWare based on how willing they’ve been to talk about and tease it over the last few years. Considering it’s now been about seven years since the last Dragon Age game, it feels about time to begin landing this one. But Bioware is a house built on two big RPGs, and last year they did tease a new Mass Effect that looks a long way out, though that certainly didn’t stop them from announcing it so who’s to say we won’t see more of it. — Moises Taveras
Marvel XCOM
Personally, I’m surprised this hasn’t happened sooner. The XCOM formula has been one that we know works and we know for certain is popular. It’s the perfect formula for spin-off licensed titles. Nintendo/Ubisoft ripped it off years ago with Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle to great success. It’s stunning that we haven’t seen more of that and if Marvel XCOM does it, well then we might see even more spin-offs following that formula. There’s also some fun potential here for exclusive features on separate consoles. Since Sony owns Spider-Man for example, he might be a secret PlayStation only character. It would also be cool if we could see more of the X-Men since they’ve been pretty absent from Marvel media for quite some time now. — Chris Barnewall
Elden Ring
It’s been literal years, Miyazaki-san. Please. Since the tease at E3 2019 two years ago, we’ve gotten nothing (official at least) on Elden Ring, and yet we all continue pining for this collaboration from the studio that brought us Dark Souls and George R.R Martin, the author behind the A Song of Ice and Fire series. All I want from this game and franchise is for it to look like a successor to Dark Souls. But I also want it to have more of the awesome warrior lady with the detachable arm from the initial teaser, please. She’s metal as hell. — Moises Taveras