Luigi's Mansion 3 is surprisingly one of the best E3 games to look forward to this year, and it's a perfect reminder that mid-tier titles still have a place in the gaming industry. Nowadays, if a developer isn't making a triple-A single-player game, a live-service multiplayer title, or the next best indie sensation, they're doing something wrong. But that's why Nintendo publishing over 2,000 titles for the Switch (according to Nintendo PR sage Andrew Collins) is precisely what makes the console great; there's a little bit for everybody.
Even though it's called Luigi's Mansion 3, which is done in order to maintain continuity with the previous installments, this year's game actually takes place inside a hotel of all places. Doing so allowed the developers to open up the levels, with regards to design, scope, and verticality. And all of this was quite evident in our hands-on demo with Luigi's Mansion 3 at E3 2019. We were given the opportunity to play through a mission, culminating in the defeat of a boss, an armored knight, at the end. (Funny thing is, we were told that we were the second outlet to beat the boss up until that point, at least in Nintendo's press area.)
Defeating ghosts, especially bosses, isn't as simple as it once was, though it's still not as complicated as it may seem from the get-go. As long as players can spend a few moments getting used to the controls, which include a handful of new mechanics, they shouldn't have too much a problem beating the bosses. And that's partly what's great about Luigi's Mansion 3: its accessibility. From the outside, the controls may appear complex, but each one represents a specific functionality that can be strung together in order to beat the ghosts... in surprisingly violent ways. While Luigi's Mansion 2 was great and is fondly remembered by those who played it, looking back, there were some control issues. Thankfully, Luigi's Mansion 3 contains numerous quality of life upgrades that make the control system all the better.
In addition to the upgraded control system and obvious jump in visuals from when the second game hit store shelves, Luigi's Mansion 3 also features brand-new co-op. Since Luigi is no longer exploring a mansion but a hotel, he'll need some help to move around specific traps, and that's where Gooigi comes in. Using Gooigi solo is required at times - such as using Gooigi's to suction a rope to lower an elevator that Luigi is standing in - and may actually be more entertaining for players, but his inclusion in Luigi's Mansion 3 is to allow for co-op play. Based on our brief hands-on demo at E3, Gooigi is so far the highlight of this new game.
From speaking to Nintendo during our hands-on demo, studying the gameplay mechanics, and hearing what the developers had to say during their presentations, we were able to glean additional information about Luigi's Mansion 3:
- Luigi's vacuum, the Poltergust G-00, comes equipped with multiple new functions in Luigi's Mansion 3, including being able to shoot out a burst of air from the Poltergust in order to repel ghosts away. Using the suction feature, though, Luigi builds up a meter by aiming the thumbstick away from the ghost while trying to suck the ghosts in; once the meter is filled, players can freely slam the ghosts all over the place, even into other ghosts, until the meter runs out.
- Furthermore, there's a suction shot feature that shoots out a plunger. Using this is vital to disarming bosses, as players can using the Poltergust to suction in the plunger, thus removing the equipment from the ghosts.
- The multiplayer mode in Luigi's Mansion 3, ScareScraper, is Nintendo's play on a tower defense mode. In ScareScraper, players can play with up to seven other people - locally or online - and then clear several floors of the hotel of ghosts.
- Luigi's Mansion 3 fully incorporates Metroidvania aspects. In our hands-on demo, we discovered more than one secret area. Part of the sequel's allure is exploring each level in its entirety. Sometimes that may mean coming into contact with more enemies, but it's all part of the fun.
- From what we played, it seems the levels in Luigi's Mansion 3 will be less restrained, thus allowing players to tackle the objective how they see fit. Giving players more freedom feels right, creatively, since they are being dropped into a hotel this time around instead of a mansion. This also removes the vibe of Luigi's Mansion being an on-rails game. While it never was that way to begin with, the freedom that players will have in Luigi's Mansion 3 wasn't there either.
We weren't given a release date for Luigi's Mansion 3, but Nintendo did promise that it's coming out later this year. Of course, there was quite a bit that Nintendo chose not to show off at E3 2019, such as the aforementioned multiplayer mode, ScareScraper, but from what we did see, there's enough here in Next Level Games' Luigi's Mansion 3 to impress both franchise fans and newcomers alike. Whether it maintains this quality upon release remains to be seen, though.