Square Enix Preparing Its Own Digital Showcase For March 18
Nintendo does it. Sony does it. Microsoft does it. Square Enix figured “why don’t WE do it?” The Japanese games publisher announced today they’ll be streaming their own Digital Showcase a week from now, March 18, and will reveal a lot of projects through it.
What can we expect? Apparently Life Is Strange 3, if what they’re implying is accurate. We really, truly don’t know what to expect from that since games 1 and 2 were handled by different studios and starred a separate set of characters (though a prequel was released that used the characters from Game 1). The third one, as expected, will have “a new protagonist with a fascinating new power.” But also on the list are…
Outriders: Square’s upcoming looter-shooter has a free demo available for most modern systems, and so far, folks are pleased with it. The game will be released two weeks after the digital showcase, so we expect to hear a lot about additional content not revealed in the demo.
Tomb Raider 25th Anniversary: No idea what this could be. Is it a new game? It feels like an eternity since Lara was last active in something, so we hope so. But it could also be an announcement for anything from a mobile gacha to a new suite of merchandise.
Balan Wonderworld: A 3D platformer from Sonic Team, it too has its own demo out….and woof, it is rough. The framerate is terrible, the gameplay is bland, and it’s not always clear what to do. This game needs a lot of work, and we feel releasing it this year may not be realistic.
Marvel’s Avengers: Speaking of rough things…this co-op game has been mostly a failure for the company, and the recent decision to make it more grindy isn’t helping. The livestream is hitting on the same day that the PS5 and XBox Series X versions launch, so it has to be mentioned at some point, for all the good it will do.
Rounding out the presentation will be a focus on upcoming phone titles like Just Cause Mobile and “announcements from the award-winning Square Enix Montréal studio,” whatever they may be…plus, a few unrevealed games from Square’s sister company Taito. Tune in next Thursday at 10 AM Pacific / 1 PM Eastern on Square’s Twitch and YouTube channels.