Bethesda like to do things a little differently (again) and make their presentation a more personal affair with a focus on putting the creators in front of their games and let them have fun. But today is all about the games and it didn’t take long for everyone to share their excitement of what was to come.

Rage 2 opened with a musical number from Andrew W.K. which was fine enough and high energy but I think the fans in the auditorium weren’t really sure how to respond which made it an odd match up. This followed up with an extended trailer that showed the game in action. There’s still a lot of the first game’s DNA in here but they’ve upped the ante on the outlandish weapons and abilities. I didn’t mind the first game so this looks good in my eyes.

After Rage 2 there was a bit of news on a couple of games tied to their longest running franchise. First was that The Elder Scrolls Legends in on its way now to Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. Next, The Elder Scrolls Online now has 11 million players so is doing well for itself and will soon have new DLC on the way that will focus on Werewolves and the Argonians.

From the id Software stable, there’s more Doom on the way with Doom: Eternal – even a brief glimpse of a double barreled shotgun so I think we know where this is going and I think it sounds just about right too with everything being turned up to 11. Further details will be at Quakecon. Quake Champions is having a week of free access and if you join during that period you can stay on afterwards as part of the early access program. More champions have been added to the mix too.

A new update for Prey including a New Game Plus mode is arriving plus DLC called Mooncrash that introduces a mode with a lot of replayability due to it randomly spawning enemies and obstacles. You’re expected to die… a lot. The Typhon Hunter expansion will support VR.

June 29 is the day that Wolfenstein II arrives on the Switch. Wolfenstein Youngblood tells the story of BJ Blaskowicz’s twin daughters in the future as they fight their own battles in the Nazi occupied 1980’s. The game will be a fully co-op experience too. As well that there will also be a VR game Wolfenstein Cyberpilot.

When Todd Howard shows up you know that Bethesda’s big guns are about to fire… and yes they did. They did like to poke fun at their own proclivities with Skyrim ports and a short sketch starring Keegan-Michael Key.

Fallout 76 got plenty of time and it was needed. Not only is the game going to be even bigger than Fallout 4 but the world detail once again takes a step up and looks both colourful and packed with stuff to look at. The game is entirely online too – you can still play it solo like previous games but now you can share the experience with other players and their own characters. All progress is tied to your game and not the server so you’ll never be stranded by server outages or updates. Players can even find nukes on the map to take out other players if you’re that way inclined.

The game will be here November 14 but before that they will have a beta to run the system through its paces. If the game really can provide that single player experience but in co-op it might just catch on… not that there’s any doubts this thing will be a big success. For players who like collector’s editions the one for Fallout 76 will include a power armour helmet you can actually wear.

Fallout Shelter out now for Switch and PlayStation 4 which will get another few million players addicted to it. I think the Switch will be perfect for this especially with its combination of touchscreen and controllers. It’s something you can pickup and play for a few moments or a few hours which is just a good fit for a mobile platform.

There’s also a new game for iOS and Android called The Elder Scrolls: Blades that gives a similar exploration experience to its bigger brothers but with combat that looks more like Infinity Blade. Though it’s starting on mobile the intent is for it to go beyond those platforms, including VR. The game will be free and is available for pre-order now.

Last up was the announcement of a new franchise Starfield or as I’ll call it: “Skyrim in Space”. Nothing more was revealed but with Mass Effect on hiatus at EA there’s a big opportunity for a good sci-fi RPG in a similar vein. And just to let you know that they really do hear you all screaming for it, they ended it with a trailer for The Elder Scrolls VI… coming long after Starfield I’d imagine.

The whole presentation wasn’t too bad but didn’t really hit its stride until Todd Howard arrived with the salvo of games from his team. Bethesda have got a big line up of games for sure but this year it’s all going to come down to the one. And though they did finished on the expected high note it’s also likely most people are going to forget everything that happened before Fallout 76.

The full presentation is below via GameSpot’s YouTube channel: