PC gaming at E3 2017: The 11 best announcements

Monday’s pre-E3 hoopla kicked-off with a deep dive into PC games at the PC Gaming Show.

The show delivered details on a slew of updates and even some previously unannounced games. Below you’ll find a quick summary on the biggest news to come out of the PC Game Show at E3 2017.

Firaxis Games

XCOM 2 is getting a massive new expansion

XCOM 2 War of the Chosen introduces three champions — an assassin, a hunter and a warlock — of the alien army designed to take down XCOM. The new expansion is easily two times bigger than any previous expansion for the turn-based strategy game. The expansion, which hits Aug. 29 on PC, PS4 and Xbox One, also introduces new weapons, recruitable factions, and a storyline.

Age of Empires Definitive Edition will deliver 4K graphics and other updates

My personal favorite of the PC Gaming Show was news that we’re getting another edition of real-time strategy mainstay Age of Empires. Every asset in the original game has been improved. Pathing has been improved, as has AI and a lot of the other learnings from the sequels have been added to the game. Also, it supports online multiplayer. The game hits later this year and a multiplayer beta is coming.

Total War: Warhammer 2 will have four factions, hits Sept. 28

We only know about three of them so far — high elves, lizardmen and dark elves — but a fourth will be detailed at some point later. In today’s presentation we caught a glimpse of a quest battle for the Fallen Gates which pitted the lizardmen against the high elves. The game hits Sept. 28. That quest battle is playable at E3 this week as well.

BattleTech’s single-player campaign gets some facetime

A new trailer for BattleTech, currently in closed beta, showed off the game’s single-player mercenary campaign. The game will also have a single-player skirmish mode and a multiplayer skirmish mode. The campaign will have you fighting across multiple star systems, taking on jobs from petty dictators as well as lords and ladies of noble houses.

PlayerUnknown’s Battleground is getting climbing, vaulting, weather

New updates coming to immensely popular PC (and soon to be Xbox One) battle-royale shooter PlayerUnknown’s Battleground include the addition of climbing and vaulting obstacles as well as weather that changes. Modding will be coming down the line to the game as well as two maps — one in Peru and another in the Adriatic — but mostly the developer’s focus is on creating a stable environment.

Bohemia Interactive

The folks behind ARMA are making a light-hearted island survival game

Ylands is a polygonal crafting, exploration and survival sandbox game that has a decidedly humorous tone. Of course, Bohemia Interactive made sure that Ylands will support in-game modding with an in-game editor. The alpha version of the game is available as part of the developer’s incubator program, and it will hit Steam Early Access soon.

The creator of Don’t Starve and Mark of the Ninja has a new RPG

Klei Entertainment showed off their next game, Griftlands, a cartoon-like role-playing game packed with morality choices. Griftlands is set for release in late 2017 or early 2018.

Lawbreakers gets two more betas, release date and price

Low-gravity, fast-paced shooter Lawbreakers gets its final closed beta June 28 and an open access beta on June 30. The game, developed by the studio founded by former Epic Games design director Cliff Bleszinski, hits PC and PlayStation on Aug. 8 for $29.99.

Andrew Shouldice/Finji

Tunic is adorable and features an even more adorable fox

One of the video cutaways from the show introduced us to isometric, pixelated creation, Tunic. The action adventure game is set to launch in 2018 on Mac, Windows and consoles.

Middle-earth: Shadow of War gets Altariel DLC campaign

The show premiered a new story-driven cut-scene introduce the game’s first DLC: The Blade of Galadriel. The DLC will include a mini-campaign with a playable female elf named Altariel.

Killing Floor 2 gets Summer Sideshow content this week

The free expansion includes new challenges modes, weapons, minigames, skins, and some really frightening enemies like Strong Pound, The Bearded Lady, Pukey the Clown and The Monkey Man — who has a chainsaw. There’s also rides like a rollercoaster, Tunnel of Love and others. The Summer Sideshow hits June 13 and only lasts for a month.

Also, all of these games (and more) have trailers which are are absolutely worth your time to check out right here.

E3 2017 begins on June 13, with press conferences starting June 10. For the big announcements, make sure to check out our one-stop shop for the show's streams.

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