E3 this year was absolutely packed with game announcements, many of which were highly anticipated by fans over the years. Among many sequels, Cyberpunk 2077 reveal that easily stole the show, and games we won’t get to play for a good few years, E3 2018 also included some really strange games. Either their design idea is out of the ordinary, or the setting these games take place in is unlike anything normal we have seen in the past, making them stand out from the crowd. A few of these games feature totally absurd ideas to make them really oddball from the E3 lineup, which I’ve put together in this list. Whether these titles have potential to surprise us, or simply give players an interesting concept to explore, they each deserve a spot on this list for doing something new and are still worth looking forward to.

My Friend Pedro

In My Friend Pedro, you engage in a crazy stunt bullet-time massacre, only because a banana told you so. The premise is hilariously over the top, and provides a backdrop for a fun platformer that somewhat feels like Max Payne if that ever released in 2D. Players will slow down time to execute brutal weapon kills, flipping through the air as if they were in a Deadpool movie. My Friend Pedro will feature diverse weapons, including a frying pan to ricochet bullets back at enemies, which you can then kick at whoever is left standing. The game’s idea looks silly on paper, but the gameplay shown in its trailer certainly showcases a fun run-and-gun platformer. My Friend Pedro will be very entertaining, and from the looks of it, is going to win over platforming fans.

 

Maneater

The trailer for Maneater set off to show a peaceful vacation resort where people can enjoy countless amenities offered by their surroundings, which swiftly was replaced by a shark attacking anything it sees. Thing is: you get to play as the said shark, on a path of revenge against all the humans at the resort, making for an odd choice of game concept. Maneater will be a sandbox game, where you attack and kill people on the beach, fishermen, tourists on boats, and smaller sharks standing in your way. The title will also offer a skill system whereby you level up and empower your shark with different attributes, all the while growing your hunger for more killing. Maneater is about as odd as it gets, and could potentially spark some controversy around it, although the concepts sounds fairly interesting to shake up the usual slate of releases. Besides, did we not already get a simulator where you play as an angry goat that messes everything up?

 

Fallout 76

Fallout 76 may be the least oddball title on this list, however the fact that it is a multiplayer game has many scratching their heads. Bethesda Studios, known for immersive single player RPGs are definitely stepping out of their comfort zone here, and to a big extent. Fallout 76 is set to be located in west virginia, and will be a shared world multiplayer release, meaning players will definitely interact with each other. The game comes fairly soon following Fallout 4, as the studio took generally over 4 years to develop their titles, and it is incredibly hard to imagine a Fallout title as a multiplayer experience. Players will explore a map four times larger than that of Fallout 4, and can potentially find nukes to play around with. Based on the trailer, the game will faithfully recreate the Fallout universe, however will be populated by other players aside from NPCs. The strange move to a multiplayer title makes me wonder if the game will ultimately end up being any good, but players will find out on November 14, 2018.

 

Control

From the developer Remedy Games, comes another time-bending title with Control, which looks surreal in its trailer. In the game, you would attempt to ‘control’ a world overtaken by a strange threat, where environments are shifting and humans are literally hanging off from the ceiling. Players would use diverse loadouts and play around with a range of supernatural powers to make for an interesting experience. The main character will be able to levitate through  game levels and has a shape-shifting gun, which leads to expect some weird elements. The screenshots for Control certainly look very odd, but we will have to see how the game plays in the end. Based on Remedy’s past catalogue with Alan Wake and Quantum Break however, expect to see some interesting design choices. Whether they will follow up the movie-like structure of Quantum Break or return to more conventional gaming design, Remedy will let us do strange things in Control.

 

Death Stranding

At this point, we shouldn’t really be surprised by another strange game from Hideo Kojima, who brought us the weird but beloved Metal Gear Solid series. Death Stranding is by far his most oddball effort, however, with its trailer showcasing a strange world filled with ghost creatures. Starring Norman Reedus from the Walking Dead, whom we take control of as a delivery man, the game will have many supernatural elements from the looks of it. Death Stranding will likely be an open world game, although it is hard to tell whether it is an adventure or a survival title at this point, but it looks very detailed to begin with. One thing for sure: we can trust Hideo Kojima to deliver a very strange experience with his new game, as the game director always incorporated weird elements into Metal Gear Solid. Time will tell how the game will shape up, but Death Stranding looks very promising to give us a glimpse of a strange supernatural world.

 

A Plague Tale: Innocence

In a trailer filled to the edge with swarms of rats, A Plague Tale: Innocence looks as weird as it can come for a game title following the strangest simulators that have come to populate Steam releases. The game will follow a tale of two children trying to survive in a war-torn world completely infested with vermin as they try to uncover a dark secret about that place. Gameplay details are scarce, and I’d be interested in finding out how the title’s gameplay will revolve around facing the dangers of rat swarms, but so far the concept sounds really strange indeed. While there’s plenty of games around to survive against the nature’s elements, this is perhaps the deadliest by far, and if it sticks to a true horror concept, will be quite unsettling. At this point, we can only see how the game shapes up toward its final release.

 

Satisfactory

At the PC Gaming Show, Coffee Stain Studios showed a new game, which happened to be a weird building sim set in a sci-fi universe. These are the people who brought you Goat Simulator by the way, so it is no big surprise the game happens to be an odd one, although I can see plenty of resemblance to Sanctum 2 which they developed also. Remember the strangle blend of FPS and tower defense in that one? Maybe not, but Satisfactory takes design ideas from the studio’s previous sci-fi outing with a first-person building perspective tasking players to create massive factories in wild environments. Satisfactory appears to be a blend of survival and a limitless sci-fi builder, although we may potentially have unlimited resources at our disposal to build away. Its trailer showed a massive array of factories linked together to produce stuff, although it is unknown what exactly the purpose of all this is. We’ll find out in the final release, but expect the game to be pretty strange nonetheless.