After years of being the presentation in the morning that was forgotten by the end of the day, Microsoft finally decided to move its press conference up one day to give its announcements time to breathe before Sony’s event, and it worked beautifully.

Prior to the show, they boasted that you would get to see 50 games during their presentation, which is a complete 180 from the last conference prior to Phil Spencer. In 2013, the XBOX event focused on everything the One could do except play games and helped give Sony the opening to get the jump start in sales on the next console cycle. It was a hole that Microsoft has been digging out of ever since. This presentation marks the end of a long journey back from that day, and Microsoft seems to have gotten its swagger back.

Below is my breakdown of the good, the bad and the AMAZING of the Microsoft’s E3 Press Conference.

Good

Cyberpunk 2077

HO-LY SHIT! It always feels good when a game you are eagerly anticipating is looking better than you expected. If you enjoyed Blade Runner or any story set in a cyberpunk dystopia, you will instantly fall in love with this trailer.

We Happy Few

It is rare that a game can release in early access and be as disappointing as We Happy Few and still pique my interest. But everything I’ve read about the final release puts it closer to what I thought this game was and not the previous version. I hope I’m not let down again.

The Entire Presentation

Every year under Phil Spencer this event has been getting better and better, and this year is no different. After EA’s lackluster showing on Saturday, Microsoft finally made it feel like E3 has actually begun. Bravo, Microsoft!

Forza Horizon 4

The closer this gets to Burnout Paradise, the more likely I will finally play it. And thanks to Game Pass, I will have the chance without wasting $60. If it’s as fun as it looks, I may finally have a new driving game to play, and hopefully, another song other than “Girlfriend” to listen to while doing it.

Dying Light 2

I love ambitious games, and Dying Light 2 looks like it could be the Mona Lisa of ambitious games. According to the narrative director, Chris Avellone, every decision you make in the game will affect the world. Not just a few, but hundreds of them. This will either be groundbreaking or laughingly bad; there really isn’t a middle ground.

Tales of Vesperia Remaster

I’m really glad that I will finally get to play the best Tales Of game on the current consoles. These RPGs may not be for everyone but the active combat and crazy stories definitely make them cult classics.

Devil May Cry 5

It has been 10 years since the last traditional Devil May Cry game, which is a lot longer than I thought, and also means I haven’t subscribed to Game Fly in over a decade.  If this is a mashup of DMC and Bayonetta, it may be one of the best games of the year.

Cuphead DLC

Cuphead is great; you should play Cuphead. This just adds to the amazing aesthetic, and I will still be terrible at it.

Tunic

I am a sucker for Zelda clones and this one feels the closest to that type of game. Plus, you play as a cute fox; what else could you ask for?

Bad

Gears Pop

Its a Gears of War mobile game where the characters look like their Funko Pop equivalent, and it looks awful.

Battletoads

Battletoads is an okay game, so I don’t think it has the nostalgia to warrant this release. It has the same reputation as the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game, and no one wants an update of that tragedy.

AMAZING

Jeff Gerstmann’s Reaction To Gears Pop

Gerstmann is at his best when he overreacts sarcastically toward something incredibly dumb, and this reaction was a perfect example of that.

Cyberpunk 2077’s “Hacking”

It was slightly cheesy, but it was the perfect way to drop this trailer.

Terry Crews

While Crackdown 3 doesn’t look great, I would buy it if Microsoft would guarantee me that Crews would be yelling the entire time. Because that is the only thing that would make this interesting to me. Also, this proves that Terry Crews never half-asses anything.

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Our schedule for the press conference articles is as follows:

Sunday — EA; Tuesday — Sony; Wednesday — Nintendo; Thursday — Bethesda; Friday — Square Enix; Saturday — Ubisoft.

We will have a full E3 wrap-up article on Monday, June 18th and on the Main Damie Podcast. If you have any questions that you would like us to answer, please tweet us @themaindamie with the #VGCornerE3. We will answer your questions on the podcast!