Nowadays, there isn’t much point putting stock into video game release dates. With how often games areannounced, only to leave fans in the dark for more than half a decadeor bedelayed and then delayed and then delayed again, it doesn’t do much good to spend my time trying to remember the dates attached to projects that are most likely going to change as we get closer.
We’ve heard news that a remake or remaster was in the works forThe Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivionfor quite some time now, but this week’s showcase for the game wasn’t just exciting because we finally got an official look at Oblivion Remastered, but because Bethesda and Vitruos got to pull the coolest game dev move of all time: shadow dropping a game.
With Oblivion Remastered releasing at the exact same moment it was officially announced, I’ve officially decided that I want every major game to follow in its footsteps.
Shadow Drops Make Me Feel Like A Kid Again
There’s something so fun about a game being shadow dropped. You’re watching a showcase and then, bam, someone says, “and you’ll be able to play insert game heretoday,” right at the end of the show. If you’re watching with someone else, you immediately turn to look at them and your faces light up with glee. That’s what happened for me, at least, whenHi-Fi Rushwas shadow dropped in 2023, and it turned out to be one of the best games of the year in a yearpacked to the brim with incredible releases.
What makes something like Hi-Fi Rush, Oblivion Remastered, oranything else that gets shadow droppedso special is that you kind of feel like you’ve been given a surprise gift, especially if the game in question islaunching on Game Pass. All of a sudden, you’ve got a new game to look forward to whenever you’re done with work or when you’ve got the time to shut the world out and hunker down for the weekend.
Then, when you’re thinking about the game, there’s a layer of anticipation and joy baked into the experience because you got to feel like you weretherefor a fun moment in the games industry. And then you watch every showcase hoping for something similar to happen.
Shadow Drop Everything, Please
We’ve seen shadow drops happen at Xbox Showcases and at a handful of Nintendo Directs with games likeMetroid Prime RemasteredandNinja Gaiden 2 Black, so now no one fully knows what to expect when going into a showcase. There are always pie-in-the-sky hopes that something likeHollow Knight: Silksong will be dropped as a ‘one more thing’’ at the end of a presentation, and I like the excitement that comes with every direct nowadays.
With how little release dates mean anymore thanks to delays and whatnot, part of me thinks we should just do away with them. Why bother with trailers if you can dominate the news for a week or two by launching a game without prior warning?
Obviously, that doesn’t work for every game – most games need at leastsomelevel of marketing – but there’s just something so cool about launching a game like Oblivion Remastered by showing off some footage and saying, ‘we know you want to play this, so why not sit down and do it right now?’
Most first-party releases from Nintendo, Xbox, and PlayStation could pull off a move like that, but Xbox has been the only studio to really lean into doing it. Nintendo seemed to be testing the waters with Metroid Prime Remastered, but we’re still waiting on PlayStation to jump on the shadow drop train. We knowGhost of Yotei is still expected to launch later this year, but we don’t have a release date for it yet. Who knows? Maybe Sony is taking notes and it’ll come out during the next PlayStation showcase. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
