5 Horror Games I Want to See at E3 2021

E3 is upon us! Ever since I was a young lad, I loved E3. Though it may have diminished over the last few years, I still consider it the biggest gaming event of the year. I remember planting my ass on a couch and watching G4’s coverage of E3 like it was my honor-bound duty. How would I know what games I wanted if I didn’t see them at E3? As the years went on, I moved onto watching the coverage online. It’s still magic to me. This year will be the first year I’ll be covering E3 as a journalist. It’s a dream come true. Every year I think about the games I really want to see. The only difference this year, is I get to write about it.

1. Dead Space 4

Listen. Hey. Listen. Dead Space 4. The first Dead Space was a game changer. You played as Isaac Clarke on a spooky spaceship trying to find your girlfriend. We all kind of know how that ended up. It was followed by Dead Space 2&3. 2 was amazing. The environments, the weapons, the dope space suits – it really was an awesome game. Dead Space 3 was…different. The focus on action setpieces that began in Dead Space 2 was fully realized this time around. There was just no time for creeping dread when everything was exploding all the time. Add on the ill-conceived microtransactions, and it’s focus on co-op above single player scares, and it all added up to an outing that was pretty well-received, but sold badly.

How likely is it?

Well, EA closed Visceral Games in 2017. After their brief stint developing the much-maligned – but very fun in my opinion – Battlefield: Hardline, the Visceral crew was scattered to the four winds and absorbed by other EA studios. Rumors, as always, are everywhere. With the recent release of Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, I think there are actually pretty good odds we might see a Dead Space remaster. Dead Space 4 at E3 2021 though? Wishful thinking.

2. The Evil Within 3

Y’all, I’m a huge Evil Within fan. Shinji Mikami, director of Resident Evil and Dino Crisis, directed The Evil Within under the banner of his company Tango Gameworks. It is amazing. It brings back tense survival horror. We don’t really have to talk about the last 4th of the game, where it got goofy. I kind of, at this point, expect all serious horror games to get goofy near the end. The Evil Within 2 was an improvement in every way. A big, weird, open world. Tons of enemies. Strategic survival horror gameplay. Excellent creature designs. Memorable bosses. It had everything that I wanted in a horror game. Taste is subjective and all, but I cannot think of a better survival horror game than The Evil Within 2. It just hit all the right notes.

How likely is it?

Mikami is currently working on Ghostwire: Tokyo. An action-focused first person game about doing karate to ghosts. I’m not making that up. Combat director Shinichiro Hara (DOOM) has described the combat as “karate meets magic”. While that sounds dope, I really want to get back to the world of The Evil Within. It was published by Bethesda Softworks. As we all know, Bethesda just got bought up by Microsoft. In May of 2021 the trademark on “The Evil Within” was re-upped. This is usually just a maintenance practice by publishers and developers but…hope springs eternal for E3 2021.

3. Condemned 3

I’m on a roll writing about games with divisive sequels. Condemned: Criminal Origins released in 2005 for the Xbox 360. It was a complete repudiation of the first person shooters of the time. It was grimy, gory, and had a focus on improvised melee. You could hit people with pipes and stuff! It told a story about a serial killer killing other serial killers. You played the detective trying to solve the case. It went to some dark places and had some genuinely creepy moments. I maintain that it popularized the “living mannequin” scare. A sequel, Condemned 2: Bloodshot was released in 2008. We played as a much darker, much more down on his luck version of the main character of the first game. Magic was involved. There was a bear chase. It’s one of my personal favorites. A lot of people thought it was too much of a departure from the original.

How likely is it?

In 2015 co-creator of Condemned Jace Hall (who now owns the franchise) gauged public interest via Facebook on whether or not people would want a Condemned 3. Since then…nothing. There’s no news. Hall has had nothing to say about the series. Fans have gotten used to the idea that we’ll never see a Condemned 3. If it were to show up at E3 2021, I’d be astounded, awestruck, and in need of an oxygen tank.

4. Bioshock 4

I’m starting to realize, as I’m writing this, that games that need sequels usually had a divisive final entry. Bioshock Infinite was, of course in my opinion, a good game. It may not have hit the highs of underwater dystopia simulators Bioshock and Bioshock 2. I accept that. It’s a rough way to leave the franchise though. The first game was the first Xbox 360 game I ever played. I bought it, along with a used 360 from a Gamestop in a mall in 2007. The first time I laid eyes on Rapture I was astounded. I remember thinking, “they nailed it. Photorealism.”. Of course it wasn’t photorealistic, and I may have said the same thing about a Madden PS2 demo I saw in a Toys-r-Us when I was 10 years old. Either way, it was revolutionary for me. It was scary, but it had a message. It also had hulking, diving suit monstrosities.

How likely is it?

Good news! Pretty damn likely. In 2019 2K Games announced that development had begun on a new Bioshock title. Cloud Chamber Studios is developing this time, and they say development will take several years. It’s been 2 years or so since the announcement. How about a quick E3 2021 trailer?

5. Fatal Frame Remasters

I love the Fatal Frame series. I’ve even written about it. Fatal Frame released on the PS2, followed by Fatal Frame 2 on the PS2 and OG Xbox. Fatal Frame 3 released on PS2. Fatal Frame 4 was released on the Wii, and only in Japan. Fatal Frame 5 was released on the WiiU physically in Japan, and E-shop only in Europe and North America. Now, wouldn’t it be nice if Koei Tecmo came out at E3 2021 and said, “We’re remastering all of them and they’re coming to PC and consoles.”? These are hard to find games. I keep an original PS3 on hand just to play Fatal Frame 3. Now granted, I also keep a launch PS4 on hand for that sweet, sweet copy of P.T., but we’re not going to get into that.

How likely is it?

Pretty much unthinkable. The last mainline Fatal Frame game was 7 years ago. Interest in the series was never strong in the U.S. and Europe. Like all weird, niche games, there is a devoted fan following. They’re not making the noise required for Koei Tecmo to mess with it. If it was announced, you could take my picture. Because I’d be dead. A ghost. You take pictures of ghosts in Fatal Frame.