E3 2018: The Best New Games That Nobody Talked About

With nine different press conferences plus everything available on the show floor, E3 2018 was busier than ever. If a few titles slipped between the cracks, well, that's no surprise. After all, during E3 week, literally hundreds of new games make their public debut. It's practically impossible to keep track of everything, especially if it's not a sequel, an existing intellectual property, or a big tentpole release.

But don't forget about the little guys. Everyone might be gushing about Fallout 76, Halo Infinite, Battlefield V, The Last of Us Part II, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, but if those don't tickle your fancy, don't worry. The following games may not be tomorrow's big blockbusters, but they're still worth your attention, especially if you're craving something off of the beaten path. At E3, there's something for everyone — you just might have to dig a little deeper to find it.

You want to capture the hearts of video game players around the world? Do what Microsoft did. Drop a video of a polygonal fox hacking and slashing its way through Zelda-like adventures and watch the kudos roll in. Seriously. Listen to the audience gasp with delight when Tunic shows up in Microsoft's E3 2018 press conference. From the very beginning, Microsoft's got everyone in the palm of its hand.

Okay, technically, Tunic isn't brand new (although it's got a brand new title), but E3 2018 is the first time that most of us have ever gotten a good look at it. It won't be the last. With it's isometric camera and sword-based combat, Tunic looks like it's basically a cuter, furrier version of Nintendo's popular dungeon crawler — Tunic's hero even dresses in green, just like The Legend of Zelda's Link. There's nothing wrong with that. You could do worse than build a game on Zelda's rock-solid foundation and, besides, Tunic's bouncy and colorful world should be an excellent palate cleanser between gritty gore-fests like Gears of War 5 and Dying Light 2.

Most impressive, though? Tunic is the product of a one-man development team. In 2015, Canadian developer Andrew Shouldice quit his job to work on what was then known as Secret Legend, a game heavily inspired by "certain classic triangle-seeking games." We're eager to learn much, much more.

Sometimes, you don't want to bother with experience points, crafting, complex storylines, or other players. Sometimes, you just want to shoot things. For those times, Devolver Digital and DeadToast Entertainment are bringing you My Friend Pedro, a side-scroller shooter that's heavy on gunplay and light on everything else.

Judging by My Friend Pedro's E3 trailer, the game is designed to make gunplay a true spectacle. Vault through windows to take the bad guys by surprise. Pick off your foes in slow motion. Dual-wield handguns to become twice as deadly. Blow your enemies' skulls straight out of their heads. Throw pots and pans in the air, then use them to deflect bullets straight into unsuspecting foes. It's all gloriously insane, and My Friend Pedro knows it. The game will ship with a GIF maker so that you can share your craziest moments, while Pedro — y'know, the "friend" who's making you do all this — is a talking banana. Yeah, this is that kind of game.

My Friend Pedro's mix of surreal humor and ridiculously over-the-top violence gives us strong Deadpool vibes (the game's masked hero even looks like Marvel's Merc with a Mouth). While Pedro keeps the superpowers to a minimum, we're hoping that DeadToast's latest captures those movies' sense of subversive fun. Just don't expect My Friend Pedro to arrive too soon. DeadToast is a one-man operation, and the game will be finished when it's ready.

E3 2018 might've been light on content for fans of Japanese role-playing games (although the Nintendo presser had its moments), but there's at least one game on the way that should keep players grinding away for a while. At first glance, Bravery Network Online, one of three new titles from freshly minted game company Untitled Publisher, may not resemble Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, but look a little closer. Underneath those cartoon trappings, you'll find an turn-based RPG-like brawler that's just as crazy as any adventure that's made its way out of Japan.

The Bravery Network Online trailer is brief and filled with strange terminology, but at its core, it looks familiar: you'll choose actions from a menu, your opponent will do the same, and then you'll wail away on each other until one of you is out of hitpoints. Bravery Network Online seems to be some sort of tag-team mechanic — fights seem to be one-on-one affairs, while "Tag Out" is an option for both sides — and while we're not really sure what things like "Flicker Gloves" do, we're eager to find out.

The game's official website says that it takes place in a "post-post-apocalyptic world," which is certainly different, and Bravery Network Online's hand-drawn graphics are awfully attractive. All that, and it's got some kind of Pokémon-style game mechanics, too. No, Bravery Network Online isn't the long-awaited Final Fantasy VII Remake, but it should tide you over until that comes out — assuming that ever actually happens.

Y'know, this whole Rick and Morty thing is kind of a big deal. Just ask McDonalds. As such, we're a little surprised that Trover Saves the Universe isn't getting more attention. Trover may not be an official Rick and Morty spin-off (Pocket Mortys and Virtual Rick-Ality already have that covered), but it's written and voiced by Justin Roiland, one half of Rick and Morty's team of co-creators. Watching Trover's reveal trailer, you can tell, too. Not only does one character sound an awful lot like Morty, but the highlight of the video features the same twisted sense of humor as Roiland's show. Heck, even Trover Saves the Universe's press release is bizarre: it's a comic strip, and not a particularly informative one, either.

Maybe the lack of enthusiasm is due to Trover Saves the Universe's PSVR roots. Maybe it's because, as memorable as the trailer is, the video doesn't do much to explain how the game actually plays. Maybe there's just too much else happening at E3. Whatever the case, if you like Rick and Morty — and we know that many, many of you do — and if you like video games, Trover Saves the Universe should hit you right in the funny bone.

You're not supposed to play Killer Queen at home. The 10-player strategy title started as a real-life field game — you know, the kind of thing that you play outside, without a controller — and later became a limited-edition arcade cabinet that emphasized playing together. Socializing while playing on Killer Queen's unique hardware is the entire point.

That's why Killer Queen Black is a much, much bigger deal than you would guess if you only know it from its brief appearance during Nintendo's E3 presentation. This is the very first time that the arcade game has gotten a home release — kind of, anyway. Killer Queen Black isn't the exact same game that arcade-goers have been enjoying for the past few years. Killer Queen Black has been "redesigned from the ground up" to make living room-based play a little more feasible. Instead of ten players, you'll only need eight. You'll be crowding around a monitor or TV set instead of a long cocktail cabinet.

Still, Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aimé promises that Killer Queen Black will deliver the same type of frantic, convoluted fun as its arcade predecessor. It still might not be as fun as taking on both friends and strangers at your local watering hole, but sometimes you just don't want to leave the house. For those times, Killer Queen Black should have you covered.