EA Play Live 2021 Recap

Electronic Arts brought out the big guns for their EA Play Live 2021 presentation Thursday, announcing a plethora of new titles, release dates and content seasons, as well as Battlefield's brand-new sandbox experience. Here's a rundown of all the details revealed through the 40-minute show's trailers and developer interviews, hosted by WWE star Xavier Woods from Los Angeles, CA.

GRID Legends

Up to bat first was British video game developer Codemasters, whose world-premiere trailer announced their next racing title coming in 2022, GRID Legends. Joining Woods on the show, senior game designer Becky Crossdale gave as much details as authorized on everything from storytelling in an extended reality made possible by the XR tech similarly used in The Mandalorian, mixed-class racing, new modes, new locations and more.

Apex Legends: Emergence

Continuing the luminary theme was the Apex Legends segment, which showed off a new trailer narrated by Seer for its upcoming 10th season, Emergence. Players now know what to expect from Seer's kit come Aug. 3 thanks to a briefing by Respawn Entertainment Game Director Chad Grenier. In addition to breaking down the new legend's stealthy, tracking-focused abilities, Grenier made it a point of emphasis to voice how appreciative Respawn is of the fan reception given to Arenas in its first season. Beyond Arenas' built-from-scratch ranked system coming in the Emergence update, Grenier said there are also new 3v3 maps already in the works, as well as a ton of other stuff planned for the mode. Lastly, spectators were given an update on the competitive Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) scene as Year 2 will kick off in September with a new, regional Pro League format that invites console players to compete for the first time.

Lost in Random

Speaking of gaming in the fall, the upcoming action RPG from the makers of 2018's Fe, Lost in Random, had its release date confirmed for Sept. 10, 2021. Zoink creative director Olov Redmalm joined Woods from Sweden to talk about the title inspired by his love for “dark fairy tales” and stop-motion animated features while growing up. Blending real-time action with turn-based tactics, Lost in Random's Dice Battle combat was shown off in full force.

Knockout City Season 2: Fight at the Movies

The CEO of Velan Studios, Karthik Bala, made his appearance at EA Play Live 2021 to announce the second season of Knockout City—Fight at the Movies. Dropping in on Tuesday, July 27, the new season aims to deliver on the indie team's launch-day promise of continued feature and content updates in the form of a new map, new gear, a new soda ball, new playlists, new rewards and more.

Battlefield Portal

The main event of the showcase was the big reveal of what was pinned a "brand-new Battlefield 2042 experience." DICE General Manager Oskar Gabrielson revealed what is set to be the third and final of three "epic" experiences promised in Battlefield 2042—Battlefield Portal. The brain child of the dev team for over a decade, Portal is a community-driven experience designed to give players an extensive slate of customization options, as well as the logic editor and tools previously only available to the franchise's designers. Inviting players to get "pretty wild" with what they can accomplish, Battlefield Portal allows the community to create new game modes to their hearts' desires with content from past series titles, from guns and vehicles, to weather effects and more. The new level editor/sandbox mode comes with a sharing platform that will be also be available on day one at the launch of Battlefield 2042 with a handful of pre-made modes ready for players to dive into.

Dead Space Remake

Just when the show was thought to be over, Woods walked off the set and directed the camera to an ominous pitch black room in the studio for one last reveal. As the live viewers "entered" the room, an orange light, a deserted spaceship and blood-written text that read "cut off their limbs" all led up to the moment revealing that a Dead Space remake is officially in development exclusively for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.