E3 2021 is going strong this year in its digital format, with the latest presentation being from Square Enix. The Japanese publisher has had a presence at the last couple of E3 events, showcasing new games and announcements, and this year is no different with the Guardians of the Galaxy game reveal. 

This year, Square Enix, like the other publishers and developers who hosted their game presentation, opted for a digital format that was held online on Sunday, June 13. This was just one of the many E3 press conferences held by different companies in the industry. 

Though the Square Enix press conference was a bit light in general when it comes to the number of games and announcements that were made there, it did impress in a couple of areas. With a presentation that was around 45 minutes long or so, it spent a hefty amount of time talking about its main lineup. 

Unfortunately, before we dive too deep into our recap of Guardians of the Galaxy game, the new entry in the Final Fantasy series, and the return of some golden age JRPG classics, it is worth mentioning that some notable titles were missing from this presentation. 

Perhaps because this E3 press conference was held in the middle of the night for Japan time, a large portion of the conference was devoted mostly to the western announcements from the non-Japanese studios that Square Enix owns, plus some other JRPG announcements that will do well over here. 

This means no details, unsurprisingly, for Final Fantasy XVI, Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, Forspoken, Dragon Quest XIII, whatever the next Nier game is likely to be, and the other major games that the massive RPG publisher likely has in the pipeline right now. 

The conference started with its strongest hit, without a doubt, in the Guardians of the Galaxy game. The rumors are true, after all, as Square Enix revealed that it has partnered up once more with Marvel Games to develop yet another superhero title in games. 

This time around, though, it has the potential to be much better than Marvel’s Avengers game that has been controversial and mixed in its reception from the community. But, on the other hand, it seems that the Guardians of the Galaxy game checks all of the major boxes that players would want from this title. 

The rumored game has you step into the shoes of Peter Quill himself as you lead the Guardians through an adventure through the galaxy with his four companions. Of course, you will see the familiar and beloved characters from the superhero space team, including Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot. 

Guardians of the Galaxy game does make up that Avengers was not a singleplayer title and was not well-received by some. Fortunately, this game is singleplayer-only and will be a third-person action-adventure bringing together action-packed gameplay with a story-driven experience. 

Unfortunately, one of the key parts of this game is its potentially most disappointing one: you will only be playing as Starlord for the duration of the journey, based on what we know and we have heard thus far about the singleplayer title. 

Weirdly, you have an entire group of superheroes who are traversing the galaxy together and going on this exciting journey, but you only get to play as one of them. Fortunately, though, the gameplay does look great and the story interesting.

Better yet, the Guardians of the Galaxy game is coming out this year at the same time for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, S, Xbox One, PC, and streaming via the GeForce Now service. As a result, those platforms will see the title’s launch on current and last-gen systems on Oct. 26. 

Developed by Eidos-Montreal, this is yet another Marvel game in that the MCU does not directly connect it, but you can feel the tone of the Guardian movies in this experience. The goofy and slapstick comedy writing is all here, with the characters at the forefront. 

The characters’ designs are Eidos’ take on the superhero team, so they do not all look like their MCU counterparts. Unfortunately, that also means that they do not necessarily sound like their cinematic versions, either, as the voice actors are different from the AAA actors, like Chris Pratt. 

The presentation showed off the cinematic trailer for the new Guardians of the Galaxy game and a snippet of a mission from the game to get a feel for combat. For the most part, I think that the characters sound pretty good, but from what we saw, Star-Lord and Gamora’s acting do fall flat some, but Raccoon is amazing. 

The graphics are great and show colorful planets and environments that are visited. The demo started with the team on their ship, with some fun conversations going on between them. After that, the player had the chance to take sides and choose how to go about their mission objectives, like using Rocket as a distraction or Groot, which slightly shapes the experience. 

As for the combat, it is flashy third-person action combat with an emphasis on shooting mechanics from what we can see, given that you are playing as Star-Lord, after all. While you cannot play as the other heroes, from what we can tell, each of the four companions is mapped to a button, and you can call on them to use a special attack at times. 

There also seem to be glimpses of a leveling system and experience after the first encounter, indicating that there may be RPG elements of leveling up and customizing your abilities in some way. The game will also feature a soundtrack complete with 1980s tracks and other original music. 

The presentation then continued after the huge focus on the Guardians of the Galaxy game with a brief look at the Final Fantasy pixel remastered series. This is a series of the original Final Fantasy games brought back in a remastered way that is more true to their pixel forms. 

Rather than the more controversial remakes that we saw in the past on PC and mobile, this is a more faithful collection of games, including the first six mainline Final Fantasy titles. I-VI will be sold this way, with their remastered versions of how they originally looked back in the day on the NES and SNES. 

Not many details were revealed other than the platforms that the games will be coming to. No release date was even given for the games other than that they are coming soon. The first Final Fantasy games will be sold individually, rather than in a massive bundle, to let players pick up which ones they want. 

Every game is pretty much a brand new starting point as they are not that connected with one another, other than the general graphics, gameplay, and Final Fantasy themes. We did not even get to look too much at the remastered pixel looks as the trailer was extremely brief. 

We know that the most disappointing part is that the pixel series is only coming to PC and mobile for now. No other platforms were revealed, but there is still the chance that console versions could be announced later, if I had to guess. 

Next up were the latest details about Deck Nine Games’ Life is Strange True Colors, the next game from the developers behind Before the Storm. First, we got a new trailer and a bit of gameplay shown from the title, revolving around Alex Chen, the new protagonist who players will take the role of. 

Her superpower is that she has a psychic power of empathy that she can use to solve a mystery in her small town of Haven Springs. After her brother died in a suspicious accident, it is up to Alex to use her powers to investigate and find out the truth. 

In the new trailer, we had the chance to see more of Alex’s powers in action as she was able to read the character’s aura and find out more about them. Furthermore, we saw some of the choices at play in dealing with a tough situation and the consequences of those choices. 

Life is Strange: True Colors is coming out on Sept. 10 for the PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, S, PC, and Google Stadia. We also saw a quick glimpse at the Life is Strange Remastered game that will be coming out soon. 

After that, we saw the long-awaited return of Babylon’s Fall. The next game in the partnership between Square Enix and fabled hack-and-slash developer Platinum Games, Babylon’s Fall, had more of a deep dive into what this fluid action game will be. 

For some, though, the reveal was a bit disappointing as the details revealed that this title is a co-op live service game coming to PS5, PS4, and Steam. Parties of up to four players can join together to tackle dungeons together in this online-only experience. 

In Babylon’s Fall, players are bonded with special Gideon Coffins that give them the power to equip up to four weapons at once. In addition, there are different weapon styles that the player can use in this game to give a more freeing style to this hack-and-slash title. 

While you can play the game fully by yourself if you want, it will require internet to play. There will be some closed betas in the future leading up to the launch of the title. Furthermore, more content is planned to be released for it after the game comes out. While the game looks fine in action, it is not the best follow-up we could have gotten, in my opinion, after the amazing Nier: Automata. 

And last but not least, the leaked reveal was correct, with Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin being announced. The oddly named title is seemingly a possible remake or reimagining of the original Final Fantasy I but with a nice aesthetic and gameplay style. 

Developed by Team Ninja and in collaboration with Koei Tecmo, this is an action RPG with the stylings of Dark Souls mixed with the Final Fantasy universe. However, the actual graphics and tone seem more like Devil May Cry mixed with Dark Souls interestingly.

The game follows Jack, Ash, and Jed as they attempt to open the Chaos Shrine gates to defeat Chaos. The gameplay looks more action-packed and aggressive than most Final Fantasy games but still employs the usual job classes and magical powers. 

While many of the fans did not like the reveal of Final Fantasy Origin, I was not too disappointed with it. The graphics do look very un-Final Fantasy-like. The characters are some of the worst designed yet (perhaps hinting at a character creation of some kind), but the gameplay looks solid. 

It is coming to PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, S, Xbox One, and PC in 2022, but there is a demo coming out for it soon. It is scheduled to launch today, Sunday, June 13, for PS5 only and will be available until June 24 at 7:59 pm PT. 

There will be a survey available to those who check out the demo, so this is a good sign. Square Enix has been great in the past with games like Bravely Default 2 and Octopath Traveler at offering demos/surveys that helped both of those games improve significantly. Hopefully, this will do the same for the newly announced Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin.