https://www.pcgamesn.com/sites/default/files/Bethesdaland.jpg
Commence troll section of post in 3...2...1...
...Bethesda, you maniacal geniuses, I see through your strategy! Bethesdaland is the vault that contains the multiverse!
Don't believe me? How can you not see, when we have Vault Boy standing at the door, smiling as ever, beckoning us into your domain? And what a domain it is! I see how the champions of the elder gods are to the immediate right, while bordering the domain of Hell. I see the Ranger and the Doom Slayer, in their respective domains, no doubt ready to travel across the stars, to find monsters to slay. Hell and Lovecraft in unholy union - what madness is this?
And not only that, but we have earth and sky welded together as well - Prey above Dishonoured? Are not the citizens of Dunwall oppressed enough? Must they stay in their own hell, while the heavens are above them? Heavens that are under invasion by demons...sorry, aliens, granted, but still...
And at the top of it all, at the back of the vault, the denizens of the Elder Scrolls. Gods, demons, all. Tyrants, I say! Tyrants!
Okay, now that my attempt at being funny has come and gone, I do have some observations that'll hardly be groundbreaking, but, well, we'll see...
-I have a sneaking suspicion that the fact that Quake and Doom are bordering each other is intentional - both are developed by Id, both are FPS games, both deal with a lone space marine taking on demons/strogg/monster things by themselves, and so on. Going by Quake III, Doom and Quake do appear to take place in the same overall multiverse, so I wouldn't be surprised if Doomguy/Phobos/whatever is revealed for Quake Champions. Not counting on anything Doom-related though - maybe singleplayer DLC, but that's about it. Because multiplayer-wise...well, let's just say I wasn't a fan of Doom 2016's multiplayer, and from what I can tell, this is a common sentiment.
-I also notice that likewise, Prey and Dishonoured are grouped together, likely because they're both developed by Arkane, and likewise, as far as I can tell, they're the 'slower' IPs in this quartet so far. As in, Quake and Doom are about maniacs running around shooting things, while these IPs are more about stealth/survival. But if anything, this does seem to confirm that the 'land' concept isn't necessarily representative of E3 reveals, only that it seems to be reinforcing Bethesda's IP clout.
-Which does raise an interesting question, as to whether there are "Bethesda fans" (and I'm genuinely curious here). The 'land idea' kind of reminds me of something that Nintendo or Blizzard might do, as both developers tend to have fans that are invested in their products. Thing is, at something like BlizzCon, there'd in theory be six such 'lands' (Warcraft, Hearthstone, Diablo, Heroes of the Storm, StarCraft, Overwatch), for six genres (MMO, CCG, ARPG, ARTS, RTS, FPS). There's some overlap there, but the Bethesda equivalent has five 'lands' and a representative of a sixth - three of which are FPS (with different focuses admittedly), two of which are open world RPGs/MMOs), and Dishonoured, which is first-person stealth. And with the other two 'lands' under construction, and with the likelihood of another Wolfenstein game...well, I'm left to ask, is it just me, or is Bethesda trying to establish itself in the cultural gestalt? The idea of cultivating a cross-IP fanbase? Because they wouldn't be the only publisher/developer to succeed in doing so, but is the genre-saminess a benefit or a hinderance?
Or, most importantly, am I just reading too much into a piece of artwork that's riffing off Disneyland more than anything else?
Commence troll section of post in 3...2...1...
...Bethesda, you maniacal geniuses, I see through your strategy! Bethesdaland is the vault that contains the multiverse!
Don't believe me? How can you not see, when we have Vault Boy standing at the door, smiling as ever, beckoning us into your domain? And what a domain it is! I see how the champions of the elder gods are to the immediate right, while bordering the domain of Hell. I see the Ranger and the Doom Slayer, in their respective domains, no doubt ready to travel across the stars, to find monsters to slay. Hell and Lovecraft in unholy union - what madness is this?
And not only that, but we have earth and sky welded together as well - Prey above Dishonoured? Are not the citizens of Dunwall oppressed enough? Must they stay in their own hell, while the heavens are above them? Heavens that are under invasion by demons...sorry, aliens, granted, but still...
And at the top of it all, at the back of the vault, the denizens of the Elder Scrolls. Gods, demons, all. Tyrants, I say! Tyrants!
Okay, now that my attempt at being funny has come and gone, I do have some observations that'll hardly be groundbreaking, but, well, we'll see...
-I have a sneaking suspicion that the fact that Quake and Doom are bordering each other is intentional - both are developed by Id, both are FPS games, both deal with a lone space marine taking on demons/strogg/monster things by themselves, and so on. Going by Quake III, Doom and Quake do appear to take place in the same overall multiverse, so I wouldn't be surprised if Doomguy/Phobos/whatever is revealed for Quake Champions. Not counting on anything Doom-related though - maybe singleplayer DLC, but that's about it. Because multiplayer-wise...well, let's just say I wasn't a fan of Doom 2016's multiplayer, and from what I can tell, this is a common sentiment.
-I also notice that likewise, Prey and Dishonoured are grouped together, likely because they're both developed by Arkane, and likewise, as far as I can tell, they're the 'slower' IPs in this quartet so far. As in, Quake and Doom are about maniacs running around shooting things, while these IPs are more about stealth/survival. But if anything, this does seem to confirm that the 'land' concept isn't necessarily representative of E3 reveals, only that it seems to be reinforcing Bethesda's IP clout.
-Which does raise an interesting question, as to whether there are "Bethesda fans" (and I'm genuinely curious here). The 'land idea' kind of reminds me of something that Nintendo or Blizzard might do, as both developers tend to have fans that are invested in their products. Thing is, at something like BlizzCon, there'd in theory be six such 'lands' (Warcraft, Hearthstone, Diablo, Heroes of the Storm, StarCraft, Overwatch), for six genres (MMO, CCG, ARPG, ARTS, RTS, FPS). There's some overlap there, but the Bethesda equivalent has five 'lands' and a representative of a sixth - three of which are FPS (with different focuses admittedly), two of which are open world RPGs/MMOs), and Dishonoured, which is first-person stealth. And with the other two 'lands' under construction, and with the likelihood of another Wolfenstein game...well, I'm left to ask, is it just me, or is Bethesda trying to establish itself in the cultural gestalt? The idea of cultivating a cross-IP fanbase? Because they wouldn't be the only publisher/developer to succeed in doing so, but is the genre-saminess a benefit or a hinderance?
Or, most importantly, am I just reading too much into a piece of artwork that's riffing off Disneyland more than anything else?
