To say that Square Enix has been busy would be an understatement, and fans need look no farther than the recent Square Enix Presents to see why. Over the course of this approximately 40 minute presentation, a wide variety of games were shown, each appealing to a different audience. It's likely that there was something cool in the presentation for everyone, but for those that missed it, this recap should help players get caught back up to speed. Due to the sheer volume of titles showcased, each one will only be touched on briefly, and interested fans should watch the full presentation below. There's also another Square Enix Presents coming this Summer.
This March, Square Enix held a digital event called Square Enix Presents. During this showcase, the company took the opportunity to show off some of its upcoming games and talk about future plans for many existing ones. The presentation as a whole was about 40 minutes long, but it was packed full with great information about some great games. From highly anticipated titles like Life is Strange: True Colors to more obscure ones such as Bubble Bobble, this presentation checked off just about all of the boxes.
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Outriders was the first game shown at the presentation, and it received a formidable amount of screen time as well. From this showing, players now have a much better understanding of the hostile world of Enoch and the playable character classes that they'll be making use of. For those players interested in Outriders, there's no better place to get all the latest information about it than this video here, as it goes in detail about loot systems, end game content, story, and more. Outriders is set to release on April 1st of 2021, but there is a demo available for play now.
In terms of iconic video game characters, Tomb Raider's Lara Croft is up there. Since 1996, Lara Croft has been influential to gaming as a whole, so it makes sense that Square Enix would celebrate her now. After talking about multiple collaborations and the upcoming Tomb Raider TV show and movie, Square Enix returns to the world of gaming to show off the Tomb Raider Definitive Survivor Trilogy. This trilogy will let players experience all three Tomb Raider reboot games in one package. There's also mention of Tomb Raider crossing over with other games like Fortnite, Final Fantasy Brave Exvius: War of the Visions, and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Cross Point.
The next segment of Square Enix Presents focused on a slew of mobile games that are coming soon. The first of these is Just Cause Mobile, which will feature both singleplayer and multiplayer action. Up next, Hitman Sniper Assassins (working title) was revealed with a release date of 2021, and the next game was somewhat shocking. After a lengthy and nostalgic showcase of Space Invaders, it was revealed that the franchise is getting an AR mobile game in the near future. It's still unclear how this will work exactly.
The aforementioned AR Space Invaders game is made in collaboration with Taito, and Square Enix also presented a number of other games by the company. Starting with TouHou Spell Bubble, players will be getting new content to explore. This portion of the presentation also shows off Darius: Cozmic Revelation, a sci-fi bullet hell game. This game is available now for both PS4 and Nintendo Switch, and is actually a compilation of many games from the Darius franchise. Finally, Bubble Bobble makes a return with Bubble Bobble 4 Friends, and looks just as hectic as ever.
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Marvel's Avengers also received a good deal of screen time during the event, with Square Enix being keen to show how far the game has come. Players get a glimpse at Hawkeye's gameplay and story, as well as some of the upgrades coming to the game in the next generation version. New endgame content is being added, and most excitingly, the next DLC character was revealed. Soon, players will be able to take control of Black Panther and experience the War for Wakanda expansion.
In stark contrast to some of the games that are more serious in tone, Balan Wonderworld looks much more whimsical. The new trailer shows off elements of co-op gameplay, as well as a few of the boss type enemies that players can expect to encounter. This game is releasing very soon, as players will be able to experience it for themselves on March 26th. Players will need to combine their powers and work together in order to overcome challenges and solve a variety of puzzles in this mind bending platformer.
The moment that many were waiting for came towards the end of the presentation, but eventually fans finally got a glimpse at the next game in the Life is Strange franchise. Life is Strange: True Colors focuses on telling Alex's story, a gifted woman with empathic abilities. In her attempts to solve the mystery of her brother's death, players will need to use these empathic abiltiies to read the emotions of those around them without letting those emotions become too overwhelming. Life is Strange: True Colors is ditching its episodic format, and players will be able to go through its undoubtedly heart wrenching story on September 10th.
Previously known as Project Athia, players finally know that the game's actual title is Forspoken. To close out the presentation, players get to meet the game's main character, Frey Holland, as well as her motion capture and voice actress, Ella Balinska. After this, a very short story cutscene shows off Frey coming face to face with an intimidating dragon, and then short snippets of gameplay show accross the screen. At the moment, there is still a lot of unknowns about Forspoken, but hopefully more information will come along soon.
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