The big games of E3 2015

E3 2015 is just days away. Officially, it runs from June 16–18, although developers and publishers don't have to wait for then to start making news. But with so much expected to be announced, how do you keep it all straight? We're here to help.

What follows is a list of the biggest games likely to become even bigger next week.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3

Call of Duty is returning to its most successful sub-franchise this year with developer Treyarch's Black Ops 3. Originally announced for a Nov. 11 release on PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One, it's also coming to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, thanks to developers Beenox and Mercenary Technology. Following in the footsteps of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Black Ops 3 is set in the future, where cybernetics change war.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Developer Eidos Montreal returns to the franchise it's keeping alive. Adam Jensen will return from Deus Ex: Human Revolution, as will the mixture of first-person exploration and third-person stealth in a futuristic world full of augmented human beings, sci-fi technology and horrible people bent on taking over the world with both. Revealed in April, Mankind Divided is headed to PC, PS4 and Xbox One, but we don't yet know when.

Destiny

Destiny will be at E3, but in what form? Developer Bungie already released the game and two expansions, but there's another one to come. A couple of leaks indicate that it'll be called The Taken King and arrive Sept. 15 on PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. We may find out for sure next week.

Disney Infinity 3.0 Edition

The third annual evolution of Disney's toys-to-life franchise will arrive from a galaxy far, far away. We've seen it. We know the famous Star Wars characters will join the Toy Box and we know how they make the toys. We just learned that the cast of the animated series Star Wars Rebels will join the game. What will we learn and see at E3?

The Division

Developer Massive Entertainment's Tom Clancy's The Division returns to E3 with another year under its belt. It was originally slated for a 2015 release, but publisher Ubisoft announced that the massively multiplayer online shooter is now scheduled to be released sometime between January and March of 2016 on PC, PS4 and Xbox One. Ubisoft also recently announced that Ubisoft Annecy is now helping with development.

Doom

Long in development, Doom — that's the name — will appear at E3, almost certainly at Bethesda Softworks' first-ever E3 press conference. What does the future of id Software's first-person shooter franchise hold? We won't have to wait long to find out: The press conference is on Sunday evening. In the meantime, press play above to watch a brief trailer that teases its gameplay reveal.

Fable Legends

The Xbox One game. The Windows 10 game. The free-to-play follow up to Fable 3. The somewhat confusing game. Its marquee feature seems to be its cross-system compatibility with Windows 10. Developer Lionhead Studios held a multiplayer beta last year, and the game's been shown off several times since its 2013 reveal. You can watch the trailer from its appearance at last year's E3 above.

Fallout 4

Yes, it's real. It's really real. Bethesda confirmed that with the trailer above just about a week ago, and that's almost certainly just the beginning. Sunday night should be a bonanza of new information for the post-apocalyptic sequel headed to PC, PS4 and Xbox One and set in Boston.

Fortnite

Another highly anticipated multiplayer online shooter from another well-respected studio. Revealed back in 2012, Fortnite made its most recent public appearance during Apple's WWDC keynote last week, when Epic Games announced that it's headed to the Mac this fall alongside the Windows PC beta. We got our hands on it, so you can learn more in our coverage.

Forza Motorsport 6

We don't know much about the Xbox's next marquee driving game, but we do know that developer Turn 10 Studios is putting the gorgeous Ford GT on its cover. It'll be playable at E3, we learned alongside the announcement.

Gears of War

There are two rumored Gears of War announcements for E3 2015. The first is a remastered version of the original Xbox 360 game. The second is whatever new game that developer The Coalition (formerly known as Black Tusk Studios) is working on. You can see leaked footage of the remastered Gears of War — which might have gotten its leakers banned from Xbox Live — above. The last we heard about The Coalition's Gears work was last December, when head of Xbox Phil Spencer said the studio was making "massive progress."

Guitar Hero Live

Guitar Hero returns to consoles this year with a new guitar and a new vantage point for aspiring rock stars. You can learn all about FreeStyleGames' Guitar Hero Live and its myriad new features — including Guitar Hero TV, a 24-hour music video network that lets players jump into a song and play along with friends over a song's official music video — in Polygon's coverage of its reveal.

Halo 5: Guardians

It wouldn't be an Xbox keynote without a little Halo. But this year, we're likely to get more than a little. And that's on top of the news we just learned about free maps as well as character, campaign and multiplayer details. Halo 5: Guardians is slated for an Oct. 27 release on Xbox One. Despite earlier reports, it will require an Xbox Live Gold account to access multiplayer.

Just Cause 3

The grappling hook is back. Avalanche Studios teased Just Cause 3 a few months ago with the cinematic teaser trailer you can watch above. E3 sounds like the perfect time to flesh out the meat on those bones headed to PC, PS4 and Xbox One.

Lego Dimensions

Not to be outdone by Activision and Disney, Lego and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment are entering the lucrative toys-to-life market with Lego Dimensions, which will include mini figures from franchises like Back to the Future, DC Comics, Ghostbusters and more. You can learn a lot more in our coverage. Dimensions will arrive Sept. 27 for Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and Wii U.

Mario Maker

The promise of Mario Maker is simple: Build your own side-scrolling Mario game levels and share every one that isn't NSFW with the world. Nintendo announced the game at E3 last year, and we're likely to learn more when Nintendo holds its non-traditional — or now traditional for them — Nintendo Direct next Tuesday.

Mad Max

First, the franchise got a theatrical reboot this summer. Next up is Mad Max the video game from Avalanche Studios. You can learn more about its desert combat, pimpable rides and more in our feature-length impressions.

Mass Effect

We know there's another Mass Effect game in the works at BioWare, but we don't know what it's called. We know what it isn't called, though: "Mass Effect 4". For the last few years we've heard many things, like it'll include multiplayer, new species and aliens and the return of the Mako. We're likely to find out more at Electronic Arts' press conference.

Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

Making its 785,223rd appearance at E3, this will be the last for Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, which is set for release Sept. 1 on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and Windows PC, despite recent … confusion about series creator Hideo Kojima and his relationship with Konami. Based on the 12-plus hours we've already played of it, The Phantom Pain feels like the end of an era and a stealth game triumph.

Mirror's Edge: Catalyst

The first Mirror's Edge was a critical darling, but not exactly a commercial success. Fans hoping for a sequel got the news they were waiting for with its E3 2013 tease and a promise to reboot the franchise for a new generation. Just this week, DICE revealed the name. At E3, we're sure to learn more.

Mirror's Edge: Catalyst is set for release on PC, PS4 and Xbox One sometime in early 2016.

No Man's Sky

We know that No Man's Sky is big, beautiful and headed to PlayStation 4. We know it's full of math and — literally — quintillions of worlds to explore, that it's so big that the developers had to build probes to explore it. Also, it has space dinosaurs. What we don't really know is what you do in the game, beyond traveling, some space battles and mining resources. Announced in 2013 at the VGAs, No Man's Sky is in development at Hello Games, the small British team behind the Joe Danger series.

Overkill's The Walking Dead

As the name literally spells out, the team behind Payday: The Heist is creating a game in the undead-filled universe. It will be like Payday, The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman told Polygon, only with more zombies — and also in a bigger world. Publisher Starbreeze Studios said last month that the shooter, which is slated for release sometime next year, will be at E3 this year.

Overwatch

Blizzard Entertainment's team-based shooter is the result of what might have been the developer's biggest failure. Announced last November at BlizzCon with what amounts to a Pixar animated short (that you can watch above), Overwatch is still in development. Over the last several weeks, Blizzard has been introducing each of the game's varied characters in their own videos and continues to introduce new ones.

Project Giant Robot and Project Guard

Nintendo

Nintendo revealed Project Giant Robot and Project Guard last year at E3, and we haven't heard much about them since.

We know that they're two of the three games that Shigeru Miyamoto — the creator of Nintendo things you might have heard about, like, oh, Donkey Kong and Mario — is working on. These along with Star Fox are all in development for Wii U and designed to showcase the console's tablet-like GamePad controller.

So what do we know? Project Giant Robot puts players in the mechanical shoes of a giant robot. The goal will be to knock down other skyscraper-sized mechanized beats. Project Guard lets players controls a series of security cameras, which they'll use to monitor and defend a base.

Last year, Nintendo said both games were in early in development. Maybe this is the year we learn more about them.

Rise of the Tomb Raider

The sequel to 2013's Tomb Raider, developer Crystal Dynamics' Rise of the Tomb Raider is headed to Xbox 360 and Xbox One, exclusively — at least for a while — with Microsoft Studios serving as the publisher.

"In her first adventure, Lara Croft was forged into a true survivor, but she glimpsed a deeper, secret world," the game's announcement reads. "In the next chapter of her journey, Lara must use her survival skills and wits, learn to trust new friends, and ultimately accept her destiny as the Tomb Raider."

The companies revealed Rise of the Tomb Raider at Microsoft's E3 2014 press conference, so we wouldn't be surprised to see it reappear next week.

Rock Band 4

The year of resurrected rhythm games continues with Rock Band 4. Developer Harmonix Music Systems and controller maker Mad Catz are collaborating again and, as Harmonix said at the game's reveal, it's bringing it back to basics on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

"Rock Band 4 will focus on the core experience and the roots of the franchise — guitar, bass, drums, and vocals," the game's announcement said. "There will be no Pro Guitar or key support in Rock Band 4. We will continue to support 'Pro' mode for Drums."

Star Fox Wii U

Announced — but not shown — during E3 last year, Star Fox is one of three games being designed to take advantage of the Wii U's tablet-like GamePad controller. Designer Shigeru Miyamoto said in January that Star Fox would be playable at E3.

You can find out more about the other two projects above in our coverage of Project Giant Robot and Project Guard.

Star Wars Battlefront

Star Wars Battlefront is alive, thanks to EA DICE. The next game in the series is scheduled for a Nov. 17 release on PC, PS4 and Xbox One.

Star Wars from Visceral Games

We don't know what Visceral's Star Wars game is, but we know who's working on it: Amy Hennig, the former Naughty Dog creative director responsible for so many well-received Uncharted games. She joined Visceral, the studio behind the Dead Space series and the recent Battlefield Hardline, in April 2014.

Visceral's parent company, Electronic Arts, signed an exclusive, multi-year deal for development of certain Star Wars games just about a year earlier, in May 2013. The announcement highlighted two studios: DICE, which is making Star Wars Battlefront, and Visceral, which is at work on something else set in a galaxy far, far away.

Skylanders SuperChargers

The latest entry in publisher Activision's enormously successful toys-to-life line of action figures and video games just made its debut early this month. The biggest change to the franchise is the addition of vehicles.

Tearaway Unfolded

Developer Media Molecule announced last year at Gamescom that Tearaway Unfolded was in development and headed to PS4. The expanded version of the original PlayStation Vita title will include many upgrades, including 1080p, 60 fps gameplay and new capabilities, thanks to the DualShock 4 controller. It will be released Sept. 8.

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

Announced in November 2013, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End was supposed to arrive on PlayStation 4 in 2015, but developer Naughty Dog delayed the game to spring 2016.

When the fourth game in the PlayStation-exclusive series arrives on PS4, it will unite video games' two biggest actors: Troy Baker and Nolan North. The last entry in the series was 2011's Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception on PlayStation 3. That, and its predecessors, will hit PS4 in a remastered collection Oct. 9.

XCOM 2

Developer Firaxis Games just revealed XCOM 2, the sequel to 2012's XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Unlike its predecessor, it's headed exclusively to PC this November. One advantage of that, Firaxis explained, is that XCOM 2 and its team of guerrilla operators will support modding.

Yoshi's Woolly World

Yoshi's Woolly World turns Nintendo's (mostly) green dinosaur into a ball of adorable yarn.

Nintendo and Good-Feel Company slated Yoshi's Woolly World for release this year, though time's running out on its "first part" estimate. When it does arrive, the platformer will include two game modes — Classic and Mellow — and the cutest amiibo ever.

Follow along with all of Polygon's E3 2015 coverage in our E3 hub right here.