Forget your fancy pants virtual reality headsets, your Windows 10, your UI updates and your software patches: E3 is all about the games. Those sweet, sweet video games that we all love, that distract us from the futility of life and, for a few fleeting hours, allow us to live our lives as someone else. Someone else who probably owns a gun, or is incredibly adept at hand-to-hand combat or, in the case of Nintendo games, is pretty nifty with a paint roller.
While there are likely going to be a smattering of games unveiled at E3 2015 that we couldn’t possibly predict, bear in mind that the following top 10 list of our most anticipated games are either dead certs to appear at the expo, or are the examples of us indulging in some wishful thinking. It should also be noted that the list may exclude some particularly high-profile releases from the major gaming companies (see: Uncharted 4 and Halo 5 ), but their absence is not necessarily due to us not caring about them, but because we’ve been inundated with plenty of details about them already and we want to see more of games we know less about. In other words, don’t be mad at us, Uncharted and Halo fans: it’s not you, it’s us.
Here are our top 10 most anticipated video games we’ll (hopefully) be seeing a lot more of at E3 2015:
E3 2015: Top 10 Most Anticipated Games
10: Mirror's Edge: Catalyst
The newly renamed Mirror's Edge: Catalyst is a sequel to a game that few bought upon release but managed to garner a dedicated following nonetheless, but since its unveiling at E3 2013 we haven't heard much about it.
This is likely set to change at E3 2015 what with the game set for release in early 2016, and we're looking forward to seeing what developer EA Digital Illusions has in store for us. Unfortunately, early reports suggest that the sequel is set to be much more gun-heavy, even though the shooting sections were arguably the first game's greatest weakness.
Hopefully this isn't the case and Catalyst will still remain indebted to providing us with the free-running action that made the vocal minority fall in love with it in the first place.
9: Dishonored 2
It's uncertain whether or not Dishonored 2 will actually make an appearance at E3 this year, but if it does show up during Bethesda's pre-E3 press conference then there are going to be a LOT of smiling faces.
Dishonored took the oft-forgotten stealth genre into a whole 'nother direction, not only catering those who prefer to take their virtual assassinations slowly, but also leaving the door wide open for speed-runners to step in and take down armies of enemies with well-timed special abilities and silent-but-deadly melee attacks.
A sequel has been rumored for a long time now but thus far we haven't received any details regarding the game outside of a few rumors instigated by "anonymous sources." Maybe this will change at E3 2015.
8: Persona 5
The sequel to the game that kept us holding onto our Vita for far longer than was acceptable considering its dearth of software, Persona 5 will see the series venturing to the PS4 for the very first time in what producer Katsura Hashino has said is "a darker tale with a greater emphasis on personal freedom."
If Persona 4 Golden kept the Vita from gathering dust despite Sony having all but given up on it within a couple of years, then Persona 5 should also prove to be a game that will be on heavy rotation in PS4 gamers' libraries.
7: Doom
With Doom 3 having released way back in 2004, fans of the revolutionary FPS series are excited to see more of id Software's return to the franchise that propelled them into the annals of gaming history at E3 2015.
Outside of an incredibly short teaser trailer, little is known about Doom at this point outside of the fact it'll feature at least one monstrous creature shooting rockets from its back. Hopefully we'll see more of them next week at the expo.
6: Rainbox Six Siege
Rainbow Six is back and it looks to add some serious competition into the CoD/Battlefield dominated world of competitive multiplayer shooters.
While many are eagerly anticipating more information regarding the other Tom Clancy game set to be highlighted at E3, The Division , Rainbow Six Siege is firmly on our radar thanks to the countless hours we piled into the likes of the original game, Rainbow Six Rogue Spear and, of course, Rainbow Six Vegas .
Pitting a SWAT team against a band of hostage holders, the little we've seen from Siege so far already has us salivating at the prospect of getting our hands on it, so at E3 2015 we expect to be foaming at the mouth when we get a look at more footage from Ubisoft's tactical shooter.
5: Star Wars Battlefront
Following the announcement from EA that a few features seen in previous Battlefront games would be cut in DICE's take on the team-based shooter series, there has been a lot of negativity circling this upcoming release. However, with us not having seen any true gameplay footage yet, we can't possibly pass judgement until we've seen it in action.
In an ideal world we'd see a stellar Star Wars Battlefront game followed by the release of JJ Abrams' Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens , making 2015 truly the Year of Star Wars, but this isn't an ideal world so we remain a little skeptical of both the upcoming game and film.
With that being said, it's impossible to not be excited for Battlefront as a Star Wars fan. We've been looking forward to a new entry in the series for years, and we hope it takes full advantage of the capabilities of the PS4 and Xbox One hardware.
4: The Last Guardian
Yes, The Last Guardian now seems like a faded dream given the immense amount of delays and the radio silence from Sony, but there are rumors that we'll finally see the near-mythical game rear its head at E3 2015.
If that is to be the case, it'll be a huge deal for Sony. One of the company's hottest upcoming IPs when it was first announced way back in the days of yore (2009), there were murmurings that developers Team Ico had moved its development to the PS4, but all comments made by Sony regarding its future seemed insincere given how long we've waited for any further details regarding the game.
We hope that The Last Guardian will finally step from out of the shadows at E3, and if not then I guess there's always E3 2016, right? RIGHT?!
3: The Legend of Zelda
Aside from Shigeru Miyamoto's Star Fox and a potential new Metroid game, The Legend of Zelda could potentially be one of the Wii U's last major releases, if the reports that the company is developing a successor to the console are to be believed.
With the game's release pushed back to 2016 in order to get it just right , we expect great things from what will surely be one of the best games to grace the underrated system. Nintendo will likely feature it heavily during their E3 digital event, and we can't wait to get a further look at its gorgeous open-world environment.
2: Dark Souls 3
Dark Souls 3 is E3's worst kept secret, given that screenshots and concept art of the game have now been released into the wild prior to its showing at the expo.
While many anticipated a sequel to Bloodborne (and definitely didn't expect a new Souls game to come out so soon following the release of the PS4 exclusive and Dark Souls 2 ), it looks like we'll be getting a third release in the Dark Soul s trilogy instead.
While we were skeptical of Bloodborne 's release so closely following that of Dark Souls 2 's, it went far beyond our expectations and ended up becoming the PS4's best game yet. With series creator Hidetaka Miyazaki back on board after taking a backseat role in the development of the underwhelming Dark Souls 2 , we expect Dark Souls 3 to be a true return to form.
1: Fallout 4
How could this not be our number one pick for E3 2015? Though there might be more exciting games announced during the expo, in terms of games we already know exist and will be making an appearance during the event, Fallout 4 tops them all.
We piled countless hours into Fallout 3 and, even though it was a little disappointing when compared with its predecessor, we still gave Fallout: New Vegas a great deal of our time, so Fallout 4 is certainly the game which we're most looking forward to seeing more of come this E3. As far as post-apocalyptic wastlelands go, none are more inviting than those featured in the Fallout series. We can't wait.