Unlike previous E3s, giant AAA games weren't the only ones soaking up the limelight.
Instead, indies and other hidden gems like the retro-futuristic action game Replaced got its fair share of stardom, standing toe-to-toe with some of the loudest titles like Arkane Studios' upcoming Redfall.
E3 2021 may not have delivered on all fronts for a lot of players who've been eagerly awaiting that next big look at Perfect Dark, God of War Raganarok, or Metroid Prime 4. But what it did deliver on was giving us a taste of something we didn't know we wanted, and that taste is something fresh, new, and unexpecting, with each game offering something drastically different.
Soup Pot is a chaotic cooking simulator with over a 100 real recipes to learn; Tinykin is a colorful and animated take on Pikmin; Replaced offers a gritty, and refreshing take on the cyberpunk genre, giving 2D pixel art a cinematic flare rarely seen attempted; El Paso, Elsewhere is a spiritual successor to Max Payne, featuring a prominent black lead. It felt like there was something for everyone.
So while you may not have gotten the big update you were hoping for on Diablo 4, or Avowed, here's 23 hidden gems to keep an eye on in the meantime.