E3

When we sat down with Sledgehammer Games before E3 officially began, it was to get a glimpse at Call of Duty: WWII's story. The development team is taking the duty of relaying the deadliness and heroism of the world's greatest conflict quite seriously, and everything we saw of it rang true with Sledgehammer's earnestness. The campaigns aren't what people traditionally come to Call of Duty for these days, and Sledgehammer hasn't forgotten about multiplayer. While it won't be quite as authentic and sobering as the story, Call of Duty: WWII's new multiplayer elements will make for some interesting online sessions.

I honestly didn't know how badly I wanted to see one of Jack Kirby's Celestials in Lego form until I played Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2. It was amazing to see such an iconic design rendered in the block form Lego is known for without losing any of that Kirby aesthetic. Just the opening moments of the demo at E3 left me in awe, and for that reason alone I'm excited to play more Lego Super Heroes 2. Good for this game, there are plenty more reasons to be excited too.

What if I told you there was a whole new continent out there filled with monsters of every shape and size, and they were all wild game there for the taking? Of course, these great beasts aren't exactly going to go down easy as another trophy for your wall, and they're going to fight back as hard as they can. Only the best and most courageous hunters will have what it takes to survive this dangerous ecosystem, and they'll be legends among the rest of Monster Hunter World.

Dontnod Entertainment surprised just about everyone with Life is Strange in 2015. The episodic mystery covered a range of topics from regret, sexual assault, mental health and suicide, bullying, and most of all, trying to survive as teenage girls in a modern high school. While the dialogue could be clunky at times, the overall package was one that won Dontnod a lot of fans, and the support to craft a sequel. While the French developers were moving forward, Square Enix tapped Deck Nine Games to look at Life is Strange's past. We got our first look at the prequel, Life is Strange: Before the Storm, last week, and it looks like it has the same heart even though it's a different developer.

There are three things that define Mario as an icon. The first is his mustache, the second is his overalls, and the third is that bright red cap. Over the years, Mario's worn a number of different outfits, but the mustache and the hat have always been a central part of identifying Nintendo's star mascot. With Super Mario Odyssey, Nintendo is finally giving the hat a bit more of a purpose, and a personality. By making Mario's chapeau a living, breathing character with its own abilities, Super Mario Odyssey opens a range of possibilities that are a lot of fun to explore.

Last year, Spider-Man fans were delighted to see Insomniac Games had taken up the charge on a new web-slinging adventure for the PlayStation 4, Marvel's Spider-Man. At the time, all we got was a brief teaser hinting at the possibilities, but at this year's E3, Insomniac unveiled the first actual gameplay from its upcoming action title. We got to see Spider-Man in action like we hadn't seen before, and learned a bit more about Insomniac's vision for what's sure to be one of 2018's most spectacular games.

Nine-hundred and ninety-nine feet below the surface of Donut County, there is a group of people gathered around a camp fire. Everyone there knows exactly how they each came to be in this strange new place, but none of them can agree on the reason. Could it be snakes? Perhaps it was the devious raccoons? All anyone can say for certain is Mira, the owner of the local donut shop, seems to be at the center of it all. We know better though. We know "a hole" lot better.

11 Bit Studios caught the attention of the gaming masses a few years ago with the release of This War of Mine. The survival sim tasked players with setting up shop in a war-torn Sarajevo, trying to stay alive as long as possible and managing whatever it took to do so. The complexities and moral quandaries raised by This War of Mine are what helped set the game apart from a deluge of survival sims, and its those same societal challenges that 11 Bit hopes will aid its upcoming city-management sim Frostpunk stand out from the competition.

Announced earlier this year, Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite looked like nothing more than another sequel to the wildly successful and popular crossover fighting franchise. It wasn't until we got to go hands-on with the upcoming fourth entry in the series that many of it differences became obvious. Most importantly, Marvel vs Capcom Infinite introduces new elements to lower the barrier for entry, while still keeping that trademark Capcom fighting system depth longtime fans and players have come to know and love.

For a franchise built on the back of Mecha-Hitler, what Machine Games did with the Wolfenstein franchise in 2014 was exceptional — and that was before modern-day America had a Nazi problem. Three years doesn't seem like a long enough time for the cultural climate to have shifted as much as it has between 2014 and 2017, but Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is releasing in a very strange time. There's more than a bit of catharsis in continuing BJ Blazkowicz's quest to rid the world of Nazis, but it would be meaningless without Machine Games' excellent gameplay and witty, frightening story holding it all together.