These trailers were some of the most talked about from E3 2015 (aside from Final Fantasy VII obviously), but some of the best parts the public never got to see! We’re here to give you the scoop on what you missed from The Last Guardian, Uncharted 4, and Horizon.
The Last Guardian
The trailer everyone saw started out with the boy and catbird, named Trico we found out, on a bridge navigating some precarious heights. The trailer press was treated to in Sony’s theater on the floor started out about ten minutes earlier. The boy is navigating some very old ruins when he comes across Trico. The creature isn’t hostile to him, so it’s not clear whether or not the boy and Trico are already friends or not, but even if they weren’t, a quick rub on his face and some reassuring words have the boy on catbird’s good side.
The boy then runs around Trico and climbs on him. By the way, the feathers on Trico are so spot on, it’s incredible. Remember when you first saw LA Noire and were like “Oh god, faces can be that good?” Same thing, but for feathers. The boy notices that catbird’s been really injured, two large spears are embedded in him. Trico’s clearly tried to get them out himself with how splintered they are, but they’re at a weird angle to where he can’t pull them out himself. The boy ends up pulling both of the spears out, with small yelps of pain from our creature friend.
It’s then time for Trico to get up and eat his preferred meal, small barrels of something. Who knows. But Trico’s jonesin’ for the stuff enough that he stands up on his hind legs so the boy can enter a part of the dungeon he can’t in order to retrieve the barrels he wants. It’s very indicative of the symbiotic, caring relationship between the two, and really builds a bond the player’s mind between boy and catbird. After the boy opens the gate, both of them proceed out to the bridge where the press conference trailer picked up.
Though this extended trailer bit wasn’t terribly important, it did a great job of building the bond between the two characters and making you feel for Trico. Considering everyone thought this title was dead a month ago, it’s looking pretty damn good.
Uncharted 4
When Sony’s E3 2015 press conference trailer of Uncharted 4 last left Drake, he was being dragged by a large truck into a pile of wood while hanging off a bridge.. The trailer/gameplay continues from there as Drake is being pulled over the lake, past a pedestrian boat, narrowly avoiding wooden pillars until he finally slams in to dry land as the bridge ends. But that’s not where Drake gives up, oh no. He maintains his grip and is then unceremoniously dragged through the mud behind the truck, trying to avoid hitting things while also trying to pull himself up to the truck WHILE ALSO SHOOTING DUDES. After finally making it up to the truck and punching the hell out of some poor sap, it’s time to crank it up even further, as is tradition with Uncharted. While we’re not clear on the details, the car Drake is on catches on fire. Of course it does. So he’s forced to jump on someone else’s bike, kick off the owner, and keep driving with the caravan to get up to his brother. After two more vehicle hoppings, Drake is in a truck pulling up next to his brother, followed by a ton of troops. They both want the other to get on their vehicle. As brothers do, they start arguing about who will get on who’s vehicle.
Then Drake gets hit by a god damn truck. OF COURSE he gets hit by a god damn truck.
So as he’s getting his bearings in the flipped over vehicle, realizing he isn’t dead (a shock to us too), the damn thing catches on fire. Of course it does. IT’S UNCHARTED. OF COURSE THEY TOOK A BAD THING AND MADE IT WORSE. A few armed thugs comment that there’s no way he could be alive until he bursts the driver side door open and kills them. “Never underestimate a Drake.” He never says that, but in our fan fiction, he totally did.
His brother picks him up on the motorcycle and the chase is back on as the huge military truck is still on their asses. Nate’s shooting behind him, his brother’s driving, death is looming. Finally, they slide the bike under a large block in the road, which the truck hits and explodes. For the first time, Nate, his brother, and the audience all breathe an audible sigh of relief. Even just watching someone play this was stressful, playing it must be intense.
And just as we were ready for the demo to be over, Drake, his brother, and Sully all make it back to their hotel room, confident that they’ve found the location of a hidden treasure. Their excitement is interrupted by Drake’s wife unexpectedly showing up in his hotel room. She asks how the Monaco job is going and why he’s so off course. You can hear how disappointed she is that Drake lied to her about not being a thief anymore. It’s heartbreaking. Then the trailer ends.
GOD WE NEED THIS GAME.
Horizon Zero Dawn
Admittedly, the amount of content differing between the trailer press go to see and what the public saw is minimal. The demo we saw is functionally the same, but with a few more things shown off with combat. Aloy still comes down, hides in the grass, kills a robodino before it sounds an alarm, then shoots some of the grazing robots to take whatever green goop they’re holding. This murderous human, understandable, upsets mama dinosaur as it turns around and starts a huge fight. So in the press conference demo, it wasn’t quite clear why or how they were doing what they were doing and how to win against this huge foe, but in the private theater, they talked through the strategies that went in to it.
First off, Aloy has many different types of ammo with her bow. There’s explosive, electric, and armor piercing, among others, and they all have their place. First, after rolling around and dodging attacks, you slow down time to get a good shot with the armor piercing arrows to one of the mounted guns on the side, knocking it off. Then that weapon is used to knock off more of the armor plating around the dino’s weak point, somewhere around its upper thigh. This process is repeated for the other size, then you shoot cables to tie the beast down to get in a good shot and hit the weak point with an explosive shot. Boom, creature’s down.
Though it may not have been radically different, it’s at least interesting to get a peek into how Horizon Zero Dawn’s combat will function after its intriguing world roped us all in.
The Last Guardian
Could you start a press conference any bigger than by showing off a demo of a game people assumed was dead? The Last Guardian has been one of the most highly anticipated, hotly debated, oft mourned games of the past five years. Now, we finally get to see what they’ve been working on, and it looks beautiful. The mechanics are of a symbiotic relationship between a boy and his creature friend that resembles something like a mix of a cat and a bird. The two friends have to progress through ruins together, helping each other through areas, and often out of danger. In this short video, you can really feel the growing bond between these two and it strikes a chord due in no small part to the very familiar mannerisms of the creature. At times acting like a dog, at times acting like a cat, but always acting like an animal and never acting out of place. It’s beautifully executed and this game is at the top of my list for anticipated titles in 2016.
Horizon: Zero Dawn
A new action adventure IP made its debut in a really impressive way. Horizon takes place after the apocalypse when the remnants of mankind are living in a world controlled by nature and animal-like robots. We take control of Aloy, one of the few huntresses of the robots to gain resources. Using a boy with different types of arrows and cunning, Aloy sneaks through tall plants, surprises robots, and kills them to take their resources. Clearly a bigger robot has a problem with that and is keen to fight. Aloy’s more than willing to oblige. The combat system is smooth, arrow switching is quick, and the ability to slow down time seems well placed. You can shoot parts off the robots to use against them. In this case, a blade shooter is procured to slice off protective parts of the robot’s armor to expose it’s core, then get taken down by explosive arrows. This looks to be a really interesting, beautiful game and something new to the post-apocalyptic game setting. Keep an eye on Horizon: Zero Dawn, it’s one of the most promising new IPs this year.
No Man’s Sky
This demo was probably my favorite, if only because the dev was so candid. He was upfront about how much time he had and what he wanted to show, so he briefly touched on space combat, then dove right in to exploration. He showed the scope of the universe and it’s definitely hard to grasp. Almost infinite, like our own universe. A countable, but difficult to imagine number of planets all with their own unique stuff. The dev even went to a random planet live on stage. That shows a lot of confidence. He showed off categorizing flora and fauna as well as the destructible environments that exist on all planets. No solid release date, but he says there will be one soon. Color us excited!
Dreams
Media Molecule, the studio behind Little Big Planet and Tearaway, are back with a new concept, and an ambitious one at that. Dreams has you interacting with and creating dreams with players. From adding elements and characters to the environment to animating your creations, they give you the tools create and bring dreams to life. It’s an incredibly ambitious project and there aren’t many details, but we trust you, Media Molecule. Can’t wait to see the tools and what the community does with them!
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Even writing the title to this section made me well up inside. And the sly devils revealed it so slyly. A quick showing of some machinery. Some soldiers. A girl sliding down a slide. Wait, don’t I know that slide?… Some more machinery. Cut to yellow flowers on the ground. Wait, that’s not… Cut to the slums, pan down to a group walking. Large man with a gun for his right arm. OH NO. ARE YOU SERIOUS. Blonde man with buster sword. THEY’RE DOING IT? Final Fantasy VII meteor logo. THEY’RE DOING IT!!!
That’s what happened. There’s no more information on it, but there doesn’t have to be. Square Enix is making dreams come true today. Suddenly, everything is possible, even the most far fetched things…like.
Shenmue 3
Exactly like Shenmue 3. Fans have been begging for this game for over ten years now and hope had all but died out. However, Sony already showed this is not a press conference to take lightly. It’s one to make dreams happen.
The creator has been wanting to make Shenmue 3 for years, but didn’t want to without the proper budget. Now, thanks to crowd funding, Shenmue 3 is in the hands of its fans. Shenmue 2 left fans wanting more, and 14 years later, they’re now given the opportunity to grab victory. As of writing this, Shenmue 3 has nearly $2.9 million on Kickstarter. that’s almost a million dollars over the asking budget and only in 24 hours. Simply incredible. Fans have wanted this game, the creator has wanted this game, and now thanks to Kickstarter, it’s happening. It’s all happening.