Square Enix Showed Many Sequels And Some New IP At E3

Square Enix was just one of three overlapping press conferences keeping us busy today. Much of the conferences were spent showing the many sequels the company has arriving in the coming year, but there were some new titles revealed as well.

Just Cause 3

The presentation opened up with Just Cause 3. This is an action-packed open world game with more destruction than you can imagine. Practically everything is destructible, and there are explosives all over the place. All destruction is based on physics.

The latest version of Just Cause will feature a wingsuit as well as a more stable parachute that lets you operate dual-handed weapons while in the air. The grappling hook is back but with improvements of its own. You'll now be able to use multiple grapples to tether even more objects together. The grapple will also have the ability to control the tension and feature manual retract.

It takes place on a 400 square mile island, with 80 land, sea and air vehicles, each featuring crumple zones.

Just Cause 3 will be available December 1, 2015 and can be pre-ordered now.

NieR

Production has begun on a new installment of NieR. The game is being produced by Platinum Games under the director of the original creator. Not much was said about the game other than the announcement, though more information has been promised to be revealed in December.

Tomb Raider

Rise of the Tomb Raider was shown, and emphasis was put on the effort made to make Lara look even more realistic. Body scans were used to get the proportions correct, and much work has been put into showing the environmental details on her skin and clothing. Dirt, snow and blood will cover Lara's body and clothes. Scars on her skin will remain.

Brian Horton, the game's director, also made a point to declare tombs are back in Tomb Raider, and a small glimpse of one was shown in the trailer.

Rise of the Tomb Raider will be available November 10, and pre-orders are open now.

Another entry to the Tomb Raider franchise was also revealed. Tomb Raider Go is described as a triple-A turn-based smartphone game, with challenging game play, and it will be similar to Hitman Go.

Kingdom Hearts

Kingdom Hearts Unchained Key was announced for North American release. The game will be released on smartphones and ties to the story of Kingdom Hearts 3.

Kingdom Hearts 3 was talked about briefly followed by a trailer of the game. The trailer opens up with two characters who resemble Sora and Roxas talking about a Keyblade war centuries in the past. The game play shown had Sora, Donald Duck and Goofy.

Final Fantasy

The Final Fantasy 7 remake for PS4 was revealed at the Playstation event yesterday. No new information was given at this time -- simply the trailer was played again. Square Enix said more information is coming in December, but to tide you over an iOS version will be released over the summer. The PC version, which was promised for spring of 2015, has been delayed until December of this year.

World of Final Fantasy has also been revealed. The game will feature a completely new universe from the rest of the stories. The developers set out to make a game that would appeal to a wider audience. World of Final Fantasy has been built to be played by anyone, young or old, whether they have played a Final Fantasy title or not. The company said the gameplay is both simple and deep at the same time.

Hitman

A new Hitman game has been announced, simply named Hitman. The developers said this game sets the foundation for the series going forward. It features a huge sandbox world, where you can travel the globe to take on jobs.

The game features full freedom of approach. How you take out a target is not important; that is up to you. Some jobs are set for a limited time and never appear again. New jobs will appear all the time, and players will have the ability to set their own targets.

The game is set for a digital release on December 8, and new updates with locations and missions will be added regularly.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Eidos Interactive's latest installment of Deus Ex was shown in a little more detail. The new game is set two years after the events of Human Revolution, where mechanically-augmented people are feared and branded as terrorists.

Adam Jensen has some new weapons, and the game is built on a new version of the Dawn Engine, but the really interesting news is that the actions you take affect the outcome of the game. Similar to Mass Effect, the game's story will change depending on the choices you make as it unfolds. These actions are said to change the outcome of the end of the game.

StarOcean And Project Setsuna

StarOcean: Integrity and Faithlessness is a new J-RPG with smooth transitions between battles and the adventure. The lack of cut-scenes is the feature that was being focused on. Little else is known about the game at this time.

The game is set for release this winter in Japan and sometime in 2016 for North America and Europe.

Project Setsuna was also announced, along with the new development company behind it. Tokyo RPG Factory is a new company dedicated specifically to making Japanese RPGs. The full name of the game has not yet been revealed, but we're told we'll hear more details later this year. The game is currently planned for a global release in 2016.

Update, 6/16/15, 9:25pm PT: Adjusted a heading to fix an error.

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 Kevin Carbotte is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware who primarily covers VR and AR hardware. He has been writing for us for more than four years. 

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  • jimmysmitty
    "I never asked for this......."
    Reply
  • jferdog
    "two characters who resemble Sora and Roxas"
    Yeaaaaaah no. That's Xehanort and Eraqus in their youth.
    Reply
  • w1zz4
    StarOcean a new IP? First StarOcean game has been release in 1993, it's one of the oldest Square franchise...

    Reply
  • Kazhi
    StarOcean a new IP? First StarOcean game has been release in 1993, it's one of the oldest Square franchise...
    I was thinking the same thing about that statement from the article. Based on the description it sounds like the same series to me. The new game is even mentioned on the wiki for it, taken with a grain of salt of course.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Ocean
    Reply
  • dstarr3
    Sigh. Open-world Hitman? Can we please stop converting games to open-world? More often than not, it just doesn't add anything. Just make "Blood Money 2" or something. That worked, and no one else is doing it.
    Reply
  • kcarbotte
    StarOcean a new IP? First StarOcean game has been release in 1993, it's one of the oldest Square franchise...
    I was thinking the same thing about that statement from the article. Based on the description it sounds like the same series to me. The new game is even mentioned on the wiki for it, taken with a grain of salt of course.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Ocean


    My mistake.
    I did not catch anyone mention it being a remake or a squel in the presentation.
    StarOcean is very new to me, so my apologies.

    Thank you for pointing it out.
    Reply
  • kenjitamura
    and emphasis was put on the effort made to make Lara look even more realistic. Body scans were used to get the proportions correct
    Wow, how'd they get Angelina Jolie to consent to that?
    Reply
  • RedJaron
    16068140 said:
    and emphasis was put on the effort made to make Lara look even more realistic. Body scans were used to get the proportions correct
    Wow, how'd they get Angelina Jolie to consent to that?
    Probably just bribed the TSA for their records. ;)
    Reply
  • rdc85
    "...The Final Fantasy 7 remake ....."

    Yes, Finally, Hurayyy..

    ".... The game will feature a completely new universe from the rest of the stories.."

    Heck no, wth... why changing such iconic game...
    I doubt adding this and that will make it better, if not worse...
    Reply
  • jimmysmitty
    16068767 said:
    "...The Final Fantasy 7 remake ....."

    Yes, Finally, Hurayyy..

    ".... The game will feature a completely new universe from the rest of the stories.."

    Heck no, wth... why changing such iconic game...
    I doubt adding this and that will make it better, if not worse...

    To this day I feel 7 is over hyped. I enjoyed it but I liked 6 much more. Felt like it was a more fun story to start with a much more disastrous outcome. Hell in the end no one really won. The planet was screwed from Kefka, people died and the Espers were pretty much gone.

    Would much rather them do a full 3D remake of that with voices and release it on PC too.
    Reply