Definitely a mixed bag this year at the annual gaming expo.

Although E3 seemed an unlikely place to announce it anyway, we are still completely bereft of any kind of news on 'Grand Theft Auto 6'.

Still, that doesn't mean E3 was a complete wash-out. In fact, there was a major chunk of news and announcements from this year's event, with 'Battlefield 2042', the sequel to 'Breath of the Wild', 'Elden Ring', and plenty of reveals along the way.

Let's start off with something we've been tracking for quite some time.

'STARFIELD' TRAILER AND RELEASE DATE CONFIRMED, POSSIBLE PS5 RELEASE?

Since it was first announced back in 2018, 'Starfield' has been an exciting prospect. After all, it's the team behind 'Skyrim' and 'Fallout 4' (never ever mention 'Fallout 74') working on a brand-new IP and with a space-faring vibe to it. What's not to love? Well, if you're a PlayStation 5 owner, congratulations - you're being left out in the cold on this one. Bethesda confirmed that 'Starfield' is going to the Xbox Series X and PC when it's released on November 11th, 2022. Yet, in a separate interview with the Telegraph shortly after Bethesda's E3 announcement, Todd Howard seemed to spring some hope for a PS5 release. "I will just say I want everybody to have the ability to play it in some fashion."

This is an interesting point to note, because Microsoft announced at E3 that they intend to buy up more developer studios in the years ahead. Bethesda didn't specifically state that 'Starfield' is going to platform-exclusive, merely that it will launch with Xbox and PC.

YOU CAN 'ELDEN RING' MY BELL

George RR Martin's foray into the world of gaming got a brand-new trailer and a confirmed release date of January 21st, 2022. Intriguingly, 'Elden Ring' is going to be released on both the PS5 and the Xbox Series X AND will be available on the PS4 and the Xbox One X. FromSoftware is known for making deliciously difficult games like 'Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice' and, of course, 'Dark Souls'. However, they've urged players that 'Elden Ring' will have a much more manageable difficulty and, seeing as it's open world, you'll be able to roll around enemies and anywhere else to your heart's content.

A number of Irish gaming commentators, like Danny O'Dwyer over in Noclip, pointed out that 'Elden Ring' is taking inspiration from Irish mythology. There are very pointed references to Nuada Airgetlám, king of the Tuatha Dé Dannan, the triskelion, giant trees, and lots of other things - so don't be surprised if any of it looks vaguely familiar.

'AVATAR: FRONTIERS OF PANDORA' AND 'RAINBOW SIX EXTRACTION'

Ubisoft Forward saw two big title announcements - one for a new 'Rainbow Six' game and the other being a game based on James Cameron's 'Avatar'. We'll start with 'Rainbow Six: Extraction'. From what we can tell from the trailer and everything else, it looks like it's going to be have a few commonalities with 'Rainbow Six Siege', but will be more like a survival shooter as you're battling aliens this time around. With a release date for September 16th of this year, expect more information on that in the months ahead.

Meanwhile, 'Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora' amounted to a reveal trailer, but no gameplay as of yet. The game's released will most likely sync up with the 'Avatar' sequel due for release in December 2022, as Ubisoft simply had 2022 as its release date for the game. Our guess? It'll probably be something along the lines of 'Far Cry', open-world with RPG elements, first-person, choose to be either a human or one of the Na'vi, build a character and so on.

'BATTLEFIELD 2042' GETS A GIGANTIC GAMEPLAY REVEAL TRAILER

Well, it's 'Battlefield' so you have to expect some kind of trick-shot madness. Not only did the reveal trailer feature a mid-air RPG kill and back onto a jet, the gameplay trailer saw someone driving a scrambler off the roof of a building and into a helicopter in the middle of a storm. So, yeah, it's got a lot going on.

Mercifully, 'Battlefield 2042' is dropping the campaign and going for a pure multiplayer experience without battle royale modes either. Traversal seems to be a big part of the gameplay trailer, with focus on both grappling hooks and wingsuits. Our guess is some of the maps are going to be huge so those methods are going to come in handy. Also, they're ridiculously fun to play with. Play 'Titanfall 2' and you'll have some idea of how much grappling around a map is. Like 'Titanfall 2', the game will also use bots so matches will always be full, and with a release date set for October 22nd of this year, you're going to be able to dive into the action pretty soon.

'BREATH OF THE WILD' GETS A SECOND TRAILER, BUT STILL NO TITLE?

Yes, we're still scratching our heads with this one. Although the Nintendo Direct at E3 confirmed a 2022 release window, there's still nothing on a title for the sequel to 'Breath of the Wild'. However, the trailer did reveal a number of interesting details about the game. First, it looks like the map is going to be bigger - MUCH bigger - than 'Breath of the Wild', as if that were possible. Next, it looks like you'll be able to go skydiving ala 'Skyward Sword' and you'll be able to teleport through rocks? It could be just portals that send you up to the floating parts of the map, but honestly, that's just a guess. Either way, we're absolutely disgusted by how excited we are and we need to go lie down in a darkened room for a few minutes.

'METROID DREAD' ANNOUNCED AFTER 19 YEARS

Yes, you read that headline correctly. Nearly two decades ago, Nintendo was rumoured to be working on a new 'Metroid' game called 'Metroid Dread'. Well, here we are, all those years later, and we've got a gameplay reveal and a damn release date to go along with it. The chase mechanic is a new addition, but overall, it's the same side-scrolling run-and-shoot action you know and love. Get ready to sink hours - no, days - into this.

'MARVEL'S GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY' ANNOUNCED

After the very so-so 'Avengers', SquareEnix are going back at it again with another Marvel property, this time taking on 'Guardians of the Galaxy' in a third-person adventure set for release on October 26th of this year. It does look like it's taking cues from the movie, but given how very meh 'Avengers' was, people's guards are up for this one. Still, Bonnie Tyler's 'Holding Out For A Hero' is going to get you pumped for anything, so maybe this could work?

Like we said, this year's E3 was definitely a mixed bag of treats, but still a lot to look forward to in the months ahead. Yes, we're still holding out hope for a release date or something on 'Grand Theft Auto 6' soon.