Ever Oasis is a surprise delight from Nintendo at E3

We really weren’t anticipating all that much from Nintendo at E3 this year. Yep, of course it was going to make a splash with Zelda, and there’s always interest in Pokemon, but we already knew about these games. And who actually needs to see Pokemon in action to know that it’s going to be much like the last Pokemon game, and essential for that?

What we weren’t expecting was surprise announcements or games, but we ended up getting one. Grezzo, the incredibly talented 3DS developer behind the ports of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask, as well as the superb Legend of Legacy, was at E3 showing off its latest game, Ever Oasis. 

This 3DS game looks set to be a light simulation title, mixed with some light action JRPG elements. You’re tasked with building up an oasis town in the middle of the desert, and then heading out on missions to defeat enemy monsters and, once assumes, grab some loot to further build up the town. The game looks like it has a strong multiplayer element to it, with the bigger boss battles looking challenging in a Monster Hunter-lite kind of way. 

What’s immediately pulling us in to this game (beyond the fact that a developer that has never done us wrong is behind it) is the vibrant visuals and charm to the game. It all looks so charming and bright that we can easily see ourselves getting lost within its world. 

Of course, there are a lot of these kinds of games on the 3DS already, so there remains a question mark over whether Grezzo is going to be able to really push out and make something distinctive, but we’re quite excited to see more of it, and it’s great to see that Nintendo ended up having a more robust E3 than people first expected.