Our top 10 most anticipated games coming to E3 2016

E3 is all about the games, at the end of the day. And while we aren't quite sure what surprises are going to happen, we do know that certain big name franchises and releases are coming. We wanted to rank our most anticipated games before the show happens in LA next week, and have only included games that have already been announced or previously shown at an E3 are eligible for this list.

Honorable mentions: Cuphead, Abzu, Wildlands, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Battlefield 1, Final Fantasy XV, Halo Wars 2, Below, Inside, Sea of Thieves, Yooka Laylee, Cyper Punk 2077, Paragon, Lawbreakers, Scalebound, reCore, and Tacoma

10. Gears of War 4

We haven't gotten a proper Gears of War game in years, and it's been a long enough time that we are sort of craving those tasty chainsaw guns again. When we saw this game last year at E3, it had a different tone, a scarier atmosphere, new protagonists, and seemed to leave all of the previous games' history behind, which is refreshing since there are still guns with chainsaws attached to them. And that's really all we need.

9. The Last Guardian

This game has been in development for a decade now, and it's coming this year, which is exciting. Team ICO is finally finished with their vision of an adventure game about a young boy and a monster that aids him, but we still don't know if that thing is a dog or a bird or a dragon or a griffin or what. It has horns, and a beak, but talons and claws, and wings, but whiskers. It's an intriguing and beautiful game, and we're glad it got re-revealed at last year's E3.

8. South Park: The Fractured But Whole

The joke title aside, we were honestly shocked at the reveal of this one last year. It was a total surprise that the minds being South Park wanted to make a follow up game to Stick of Truth, but it was great, and we welcome more South Park RPGs in our lives. The theme this time around is super heroes, which sounds terrific. There is certainly enough material out there to spoof and satirize, so we expect a hilarious unveiling this year from Ubisoft.

7. Crackdown 3

Crackdown 1 was like actual crack to us. We LOVE that game, and wanted a proper sequel to it for years. When we got Crackdown 2, it was more of the same, but almost to a fault. But it looks like 3 will be the step up in graphics, physics, and gunplay that we were looking for. Jumping along rooftops, exploding buildings, and collecting agility orbs is so addicting, this should be the centerpiece of Microsoft's line-up this year for sure. Get ready agents!

6. Horizon: Zero Dawn

We don't know a ton about this game, other than it is made by a developer we know has been waiting to do something new, it has giant dinosaurs in it, and those dinosaurs are made of robots. That is really enough to be excited, but the game is also drop dead gorgeous and we are expecting a full news blow-out and a 2016 release date. This game makes us hype for new franchises more than any other property out there.

5. Mass Effect: Andromeda

The Mass Effect series is one of the biggest, most successful, beloved, and acclaimed franchises in all of gaming, and we aren't sure if the latest entry Andromeda is a prequel, or a sequel, or neither. It's going to be set in the Andromeda galaxy, we know that for certain, but otherwise it's just a totally new space set RPG that will test the limits of what we know about the universe, and Mass Effect. Cannot wait to see more from EA on this one.

4. Dishonored 2

The first Dishonored was a smash hit, and one of the best stealth games we've ever played. It was wholly unique, beautiful, idiosyncratic, and had a rich and engaging world. And a lot of assassinations, which helps. The sequel promises to be bigger, smarter, faster, and better in every way, and now has two selectable protagonists, which leads to two different playstyles and inevitably two playthroughs of the campaign.

3. The Legend of Zelda

This is one of the most anticipated Zelda games in quite some time, mostly because it moved from the Wii U's only Zelda game to now being a launch game for Nintendo's next console in March 2017. We've seen brief glimpses of what it looks like, and we've been told it's the largest and most open-world of all the Zelda games yet, but the mystery of this game still lingers with us after all these years. This will be Nintendo's only game at E3, and we imagine it's going to be a pretty big deal to not only them, but us as well.

2. Kingdom Hearts 3

It's been more than ten years since Kingdom Hearts 2. Can you imagine the wait between games? It's been excruciating, because we absolutely adore the KH games to death. The promise of a new entry in this series was so tantalizing, so necessary, we knew it had to one day exist. Now that we know it's coming, it'll be a long time before we play it but we hope we can get some more gameplay clips and new tie-in reveals at E3. The mix of Final Fantasy and Disney movies is the peanut butter and chocolate of the gaming industry, and we have our fingers crossed for some killer mash-up ideas: Star Wars, Marvel, Zootopia, Wreck-It-Ralph, and Frozen are at the top of our lists.

1. Titanfall 2

Titanfall might still be the best game of this generation, and the sequel is going to be everything we ever wanted and more. The developer, Respawn, has a high pedigree of delivering on big expectations, and with more time to craft a sequel, a bigger budget, more man power, more consoles, more guns, more mechs, and more swords, we are betting large that this turns out to be the best shooter at the show, and the best overall game. We love Titanfall, we cannot get enough of it, and we cannot wait to see what the future has in store for us at this year's E3.