E3 2021 Wrap-Up: What Actually Stuck With Me
A look back at E3 2021's standout reveals, from Breath of the Wild 2 to Halo Infinite's free-to-play multiplayer.
E3 wrapped on Tuesday, and now that the dust has settled it’s worth sorting the show into what will actually matter versus what was just a nice trailer. Given the circumstances — another all-digital show, no show floor, no crowds — I’d call this one of the stronger E3s in recent memory. The format constraints seem to be pushing publishers toward tighter, more curated presentations instead of the sprawling, filler-heavy conferences we used to sit through.
The moment everyone’s still talking about is the new Breath of the Wild 2 trailer. It’s brooding, moody, light on details, and heavy on atmosphere — floating islands, a corrupted Ganondorf-looking figure, Link’s arm glowing ominously. Nintendo didn’t give a release window beyond “2022,” which at this point feels like the studio’s signature move: tease just enough to keep the conversation going without giving anyone real information to chew on. I don’t mind it. The original Breath of the Wild redefined open-world design, so a little patience is earned.
The bigger surprise for me was Metroid Dread. Nineteen years is an absurd gap for a mainline 2D entry in a franchise this beloved, and I think a lot of fans had quietly given up hope. Seeing Samus back in a proper side-scrolling adventure, developed with MercurySteam, feels like Nintendo finally closing a loop that’s been open since the GBA era. The reveal trailer leaned into stealth and evasion mechanics against a new enemy type, which suggests they’re not just remaking old ideas — they’re trying to push the 2D formula somewhere new.
Square Enix’s Guardians of the Galaxy gameplay debut was the show’s biggest tonal left turn. After the rocky reception to the Avengers game, expectations were low, but the demo leaned hard into banter-driven, single-player storytelling rather than chasing a live-service model. That alone makes it more interesting to me than most licensed superhero games get credit for being.
And then there’s Halo Infinite’s multiplayer reveal — free-to-play, which is a genuinely significant shift for the franchise. Halo has always been a system-seller built around a box price, so turning multiplayer into a free, presumably battle-pass-driven service says a lot about where 343 Industries thinks the audience and the business model are heading. Whether the campaign itself lives up to the redemption arc it needs after last year’s delay is still an open question, but at least the multiplayer plan gives people a reason to stick around and find out.
None of this tells us much about release dates or final quality — E3 rarely does. But as a signal of where the big platform holders are placing their bets for the next year or two, this was a genuinely useful show, pandemic format and all.