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E3 2017 has come and gone and these are what I think were the best announcements made or games shown at this year's conference.

Monster Hunter World

Monster Hunter is one of my favourite franchises of all time so I could not be more excited to see it return to consoles. My first Monster Hunter game was actually Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate on the Wii U and it is still the highest resolution Monster Hunter game I have played. Don't get me wrong I loved the portability of the 3DS but it has been pretty obvious for a couple releases now that Capcom is limited by the hardware. Look at this report by Digital Foundry. That is running at 240p! While it is amazing what Capcom has done with such a low resolution and underpowered hardware (especially the particle effects) I cannot wait to play Monster Hunter at 1440p and 60 FPS.

Combine that with the fact that this is being made by the same team who made Monster Hunter 3 and 4 and I have extremely high hopes for this game. It is not going to be some one and done, flash in the pan spin-off. This is the next evolution of Monster Hunter.s

XCOM 2: War of the Chosen

XCOM 2 was my second favourite game of 2016 (beaten only by Monster Hunter Generations) so of course I am chomping at the bit to get my hands on the latest XCOM 2 DLC.

Everything I have heard makes this sound more like a total conversion mod than typical DLC. The game has been completely rebalanced and dozens of new mechanics have been added: new hero classes, rebel factions you can curry favour with, bonds between soldiers increasing (or decreasing) their fighting prowess, soldier become fatigued. And of course the Chosen are the main part of the DLC, three enemies specifically crafted by the Ethereals to hunt down the Commander. The each have their own unique powers (like the Alien Rulers from the Alien Hunters DLC) but they will level up as your game progresses and constantly be harassing you and referencing past events.

Firaxis even said that this could have been XCOM 3 but they decided to release it as DLC so I bet there is so much more in the pipe that we don't know about. August 29th can't come soon enough.

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle

My love for XCOM perfectly segues into this next game, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle. Some insane Italian, Davide Soliani, thought "what would happen if I took Ubisoft's Rabbids mixed them with the Super Mario universe and used XCOM's game mechanics?" Well Davide, you get a pretty fucking kickass game is what you get.

This game looks absolutely bonkers. The announcement trailer sets the tone for how kooky this game is going to be (Rabbids taking selfies, Mario with a gun) and this boss battle gives you an idea of how incredibly deep the strategy in this game could go. Honestly, the only problem with this game is that it comes out on the exact same day as XCOM 2: War of the Chosen. Maybe I need to take a staycation that week?

Anthem

Bioware finally revealed Anthem and holy shit does it look good. It seems like Bioware's take on Destiny which is something I thought I would never say. The gameplay looks way beyond what you would expect from a narrative driven studio like Bioware. I am very much interested in hearing what the story is and how it integrates into the gameplay we saw. This is Bioware after all so I cannot imagine them making a game that doesn't focus heavily on the story.

Super Mario Odyssey

The main gameplay mechanic of Super Mario Odyssey was finally revealed and it is that Mario can possess nearly anything by throwing his hat at it. I love the potential that this brings. Nintendo can now deviate so far from the standard Mario power-ups. He possessed both a tank and a t-rex in that trailer for fucks sake! I was already pretty interested in Super Mario Odyssey but I was not expecting something like this. The original reveal trailer looked very pretty but gameplay seemed fairly standard, which isn't a bad thing. I'm sure that kind of Mario game would still be fun because of the polish Nintendo would have put into it. But with this possession mechanic they can literally do anything. Entire mini-games that we would never expect to see in a Mario game are now possible.

Spider-Man

While I was expecting a Spider-Man reveal I was not expecting that level of polish. The combat looked fun, the traversal looked fluid and the story had an amazing cinematic feel. I honestly was not expecting much from Insomniac going into this but they have gained my attention.

A Way Out

I love the idea of story driven game that HAS to be played co-op. It is a bold idea and I am interested in seeing how it plays out in practice. Playing a pair of prisoners who have to work together to escape from jail is also an amazing backdrop for a game like this.

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

The original Wolfenstein slipped under my radar but I hope that won't happen with the second one. That trailer gives me a lot of hope for the writing and characters of this game. Looks like a great mix of action und comedy and with the id Tech engine I'm sure the gunplay is going to be spot on.

Dragon Ball FighterZ

I am a huge fan of the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai series so I thought my eyes were deceiving me when a trailer came on during the Microsoft conference for another Dragon Ball Z fighting game that wasn't 3D. Holy shit does this game looks amazing. It truly looks like you are playing the anime and when you watch gameplay like this or this you realize that they truly have done it.

Metroid: Samus Returns

This was such a strange reveal. Nintendo chose to not show this in their presentation and instead just drop it casually during their Treehouse stream. Apparently it is a remake of Metroid II: Return of Samus. I am a big fan of side-scrolling Metroid games but dear god the 3DS visuals are really rough. I honestly think it being a more stylized 2D game would have been better than this low-res 3D version.

Middle-earth: Shadow of War

I feel kinda guilty putting Middle-earth: Shadow of War on this list because it got a lot of press before the show but fuck it I am so hyped for this game. I want to make sure everyone hears about it because it is undoubtably going to be competing for my game of the year.

Xbox One X

Microsoft announced another $500 console. Did Vaas never tell them the definition of insanity?