Last week, Square Enix announced that it would be putting on its first Nintendo Direct-like showcase called ‘Square Enix Presents’ which just finished up. The 40-minute presentation mostly focused on upcoming 2021 releases like Life is Strange: True Colors, Balan Wonderworld and much more. The Spring showcase featured some updates on Marvel’s Avengers and the Tomb Raider 25th anniversary, as well as reveals some newly announced games the publisher is working on.
The pre-recorded Square Enix Presents kicked off with a trailer by focusing on the upcoming release of Outriders. Afterward, Square Enix Presents host, Matt Mercer officially welcomed everyone to the Square Enix Presents showcase and now we officially dive into the show. The first game on docket is more Outriders in a full deep dive of what players can expect from the game like the story, mechanics and much more when it launches on PC, PS4, PS5. Xbox One/Series(via Xbox Game Pass), Switch & Stadia on April 1st.
Up next Square Enix delves into how the company is celebrating the 25th anniversary of Tomb Raider, which includes the newly announced Netflix anime and the next live-action movie starring Alicia Vikander. As well as crossovers with Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Breakpoint and War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, an upcoming figure statute and even a cookbook. As far as game announcements go, the publisher announced that Crystal Dynamics’ Tomb Raider Trilogy is getting a digital bundle called the Tomb Raider Definitive Survivor trilogy which is available now on the PlayStation Store and Xbox Store at a discounted $26.79 CAD price tag until April 2nd.
The anniversary has also found its way into Fortnite with the Lara Croft character currently available. That’s not all as the Croft Manor from the Tomb Raider series will also be coming to Fortnite Creative as a playable adventure, learn more about it on March 23rd.
Get ready to explore Croft Manor inside @FNCreate built by @fn_alliance on March 23 at 10 AM ET. pic.twitter.com/BweH0FoHpQ
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) March 18, 2021
Up next is a segment dedicated to Mobile games that feature Square Enix bring some of their popular characters to smart devices. The first game shown off cinematically is Just Cause Mobile which is ‘explosively’ coming soon to iOS and Android devices. Up next is the working title of Hitman Sniper Assassins which puts you in the shoes of Agent 426 that has to work together with other agents, the mobile Hitman adventure is hitting iOS and Android devices sometime in 2021.
The beloved Space Invaders series is getting reimagined in AR, the title is Square Enix Montreal and Taito mobile game collaboration. Before moving the presentation dives into already released games Taito is publishing like Arcade game with visual novel aspects, Tohou Spellbubble – which is releasing the ‘Side Story Pack Sanae Arc’ on March 25th, Darius: Cozmic Revelation and Bubble Bobble 4 Friends.
Now it’s time to shift our attention to something completely different, that being Marvel’s Avengers which is releasing its upcoming Hawkeye expansion and its next-gen version today. The segment features extended gameplay on Hawkeye’s operations and some story beats to expect when you play the game yourself. The publisher gives us a slight roadmap of what events to expect in the future, coming this spring is Tachyon Anomaly and Red Room takeover. As for after we have an idea that the Project Omega and Wasteland is coming sometime in Summer and beyond. Update to the game will feature an increased level cap, allow players to replay the campaign and much more.
One last thing for Marvel’s Avengers, the publisher officially announced the next expansion which will feature a new character that is Black Panther in the expansion, Marvel’s Avengers: Black Panther – War for Wakanda coming sometime later this year on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series and Stadia.
Up next the publisher focus on next week’s release of Balan Wonderworld and what players can expect when they get their hands on the game on March 26th on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series and Switch.
Now it’s time for the official Square Enix Presents reveal of the next entry in the Life is Strange franchise, Life is Strange: True Colours which was leaked a bit before the show. The reveal was presented by musical artist and social media star, mxmtoon, players will get to play as Alex Chen, voiced by Erika Mori, who uses her psychic abilities as an empath to “experience, absorb, and manipulate the strong emotions of others, which she sees as blazing, coloured auras.”
The game takes place in the mountainous town of Haven Springs, Alex moves to the town to live with her brother Gabe, who hasn’t seen him in eight years. Alex will use her powers to discover what happened to her brother, who died in rather mysterious circumstances. The game has been in development since 2017 by Life is Strange: Before the Storm developer, Deck Nine and is releasing on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series and Stadia on September 10th.
When it launches, which you can pre-order, the game will feature an Ultimate Edition which includes a remastered version of Life is Strange and Life is Strange: Before the Storm, which is coming this fall and will feature improved visuals and animations of the last-gen released game. Additionally, the Deluxe Edition earns you the option to play as Steph in the all-new story, Wavelengths.
Oh and one last thing to end the show, it’s time to talk about the game formerly known as Project Athia, the game was presented by actor, Ella Balinska who will play the lead character, Frey. The game is a brand new IP from Final Fantasy XV developer, Luminous Productions and tells the story of a young woman in a beautiful yet threatening world.
While we didn’t get a full deep dive into the game, we did however get a brand new scene of what players can expect from the game cinematically with a bit of gameplay sprinkled in. The scene features Frey’s almost encounter with a dragon that has her react like ‘is that motherfuckin’ dragon?’ which is probably a line you’d never hear in a Final Fantasy game, which showcases the amount of freedom the developers and the international team of writers have to play with.
I said ‘formerly known’ because the game has an official name which is Forspoken which is set to come out sometime in 2022 on PC and PS5 platforms. That’s it for this Spring presentation but it was announced that Square Enix will out on another ‘Square Enix Presents’ event in the Summer.
