E3 2017 is just around the corner, which means this is the perfect time for us to make stir up some rumors and draw out the leaks. And this time, it’s Bethesda on the spotlight.
We love Bethesda because they’re one unpredictable piece of meat. We still haven’t gotten over the hundreds of fun we spent on Bethesda’s iconic Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, a legendary title that has transcended its software and console life by dragging the franchise even six years into its release. We still also haven’t recovered quite yet from the shock of the Fallout 4 release in E3 2015 when Bethesda dropped the bomb on us like bird poop dropping on your car’s windshield.
This is why we’re very hopeful about the E3 2017 presentation of Bethesda, which will surely pop everyone’s heads.
Starfield
If the word Starfield sounds familiar to you, it’s because Bethesda has been rumored to be working on this title for years now. Comicbook reports that Starfield will be Bethesda’s new IP announcement at the E3 2017. This leak comes by the way of a leaker of 4chan named Salulard.
According to the leak, Starfield has been in development for years, starting as early as the Fallout 3 release. While it took years for Bethesda to work on Starfield, the completion of Fallout 4 and its DLCs has finally paved the way for Bethesda to focus all its efforts on the development of Starfield in time for E3 2017.
The Starfield leak (whose transcript we procured from NeoGAF ) read:
Onto Starfield . The game has actually been in conceptual stages since around Fallout 3 ‘s release. It went into pre production officially very low tier pre production after Skyrim’s Release. After Fallout 4 ‘s release it went into full pre production and after all the DLC was out they sped into full development.
The game is going to be a sci fi open world RPG in typical bethesda first person fashion. Its going to feature 5-10 races there’s still some debate on what should and shouldn’t go in and takes place in the Fallout universe just so far in the future and far away from earth that it’ll only be mentioned in hints. This is part of an ongoing planned interconnected universe of every Bethesda franchise. They gave hints of this by implying the Brotherhood of Steel created nirnroot in Fallout 4 . They’re getting a little wacky with the lore and using “Elder Scrolls time wounds” to justify lore inconsistencies.
The game will feature space travel and hub worlds aswell as RNG worlds. Its meant to be a test into more sandboxy/minecraft ish AAA thing but with Bethesda gameplay and still actual designed worlds/quests/etc.
And speaking of an interconnected Bethesda universe (a la Marvel or DC extended universe), the E3 2017 Bethesda leak claims that the universe will list Fallout as the beginning of the timeline, Starfield in the middle, right before Elder Scrolls in the future.
If you ask us, however, of course, the most logical universe for these three is to put Elder Scrolls one step ahead of the two, with Elder Scrolls in the middle and Starfield set in the future. But that’s beside the E3 2017 point, anyway. At this moment, what makes us believe this rather fishy 4chan leak?
Well, Game Rant has been repeatedly covering leaks about Starfield ever since Bethesa filed the mysterious Starfield trademark three E3s ago. And what gives us even more hope that Starfield will be making it to E3 2017 is that Bethesda parent company ZeniMax has filed a new trademark application for Starfield with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on April 11. So for three years, leading to this year’s E3 2017 presentation, Starfield could have been in secret development.
Basically, Starfield will be another open-world first person RPG, this time set on the sci-fi realm similar to Mass Effect. If you’re skeptic about the plausibility of releasing another AAA title—a completely new IP, at that—too suddenly at the E3 2017, we invite you to look at Fallout 4 and tell us Bethesda isn’t crazy.
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR
Virtual Reality relaunches for Fallout 4 and DOOM have already been teased by Bethesda, having already provided sample playable material for these two VR titles.
But if we’re talking VR already, it is impossible for Bethesda to skip out on one of its biggest franchise yet— Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
The 4chan leak writes about Skyrim VR to debut at the Bethesda E3 2017 stage:
They are working on Skyrim VR aswell but they aren’t sure if they are going to show it yet since they don’t want to take the light away from Fallout 4 VR or Starfield.
As early as 2015, we’ve seen people taking modding and Skyrim to the next level by launching a mod that makes Skyrim compatible with VR gear Oculus and HTC Vive. In fact, one Skyrim fan at the Reddit forums is helping people setup the Skyrim VR mod.
The fact that normal people could easily (or not so easily) mod Skyrim to be VR compatible only gives credence to the fact that Bethesda could just as easily work this out.
Is a Skyrim VR worth it? Well, Bethesda has exhausted all its efforts to prolong Skyrim ‘s life. Another VR push wouldn’t be so bad, in time for E3 2017.
Do you think Starfield and Skyrim VR would make it to E3 2017? Well, take a look at the “Bethesdaland” invite that Pete Hines released in April.
Invites have gone out for the Bethesda E3 Showcase. Stay tuned for your chance to win tickets to join us at Bethesdaland on Sunday, June 11. pic.twitter.com/0Nu0qt1qJr
— Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) April 28, 2017
Point to postulate after looking at the invite: what’s the point in including all Bethesda games like Skyrim and Fallout on the creative E3 2017 invite if Bethesda is not planning something grand for each of its titles come E3 2017? That means we’re definitely expecting something for each of the Bethesda titles, plus two more exciting new releases that Bethesda has so teasingly included as “under construction” on its invite.
Daily Star reports that Bethesda will be holding its E3 2017 presentation on June 11, Sunday, 10:00 p.m. EST. Let’s stay tuned together to check out the Skyrim VR and Starfield rumors for ourselves.
[Featured Image by Bethesda]