Rounding out a busy week for game announcements, Xbox and Bethesda held a showcase yesterday revealing a number of projects from their own studios as well as their partners. Here’s everything we saw.
Starfield
Clearly the biggest game of the showcase, Bethesda Softworks’ Starfield got a whole 45-minute presentation to itself after the end of the showcase going over the upcoming game’s features in excruciating detail. The developers boast of a massive world with over 1000 explorable planets, revamped combat, expansive character and ship customization, and more. Whether the game will be able to live up to this ambition, or to the five years of waiting since its reveal, will be seen when the game releases on September 6.
Avowed
Avowed, the first-person fantasy RPG from developers Obsidian Entertainment, known for fan-favorite RPGs like Fallout: New Vegas and The Outer Worlds, got its first gameplay trailer, showing off magic-infused combat and the sweeping landscapes of the game’s world, the Living Lands. Xbox has also confirmed that the game’s setting exists within the world of Eora, from Obsidian’s Pillars of Eternity series. The game will release in 2024 for Xbox and PC.
Clockwork Revolution
InXile Entertainment, developers of Wasteland 2 and 3, announced Clockwork Revolution, an FPS RPG centering around staging a political revolution in a steampunk world known as Avalon. The game appears to take some inspiration from Bioshock Infinite (though with a decidedly more charitable interpretation of its revolutionaries), and also showcases time travel, which the developers say will factor into the game’s narrative. The trailer ends stating that the game is “coming in due time.”
Fable
The long-awaited follow-up for 2010’s Fable III was finally formally unveiled with a brief cinematic trailer showing an unnamed hero’s encounter with a quirky botanist giant named Dave, played by Richard Ayoade, with the series’ typical tongue-in-cheek humor fully on display.
Forza Motorsport
We got another look at the latest in the Forza series, showing off high-speed racing and a release date: October 10.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024
The next version of Microsoft Flight Simulator was revealed with a slew of new activities and features. The trailer new ways of using aircraft for problem-solving, such as firefighting, search and rescue, and aerial construction, suggesting a high level of interactivity with the world. The game will release next year.
Microsoft Flight Simulator – Dune Expansion
In other Microsoft Flight Simulator news, an expansion to the game based on the Dune movies was surprisingly unveiled. The expansion will allow players to pilot across Dune’s desert planet of Arrakis in the Ornithopter vehicles, with designs based on the newest movies. The expansion will release on November 3 of this year.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2
The sequel to 2017’s dark fantasy darling Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice got another cinematic trailer. Clocking in as one of the longest trailers in the showcase, it lets the game’s creepy atmosphere and disorienting art direction and sound design shine while cryptically alluding to the game’s story. The game comes next year.
South of Midnight
The next game from Compulsion Games, developers of Contrast and We Happy Few, was revealed. Sporting a striking art style, South of Midnight appears to feature magical powers and a fantastical setting somewhere in the deep American South.
Towerborne
Stoic, creators of the Banner Saga series, showed off their next game, co-op action RPG Towerborne. The gameplay features beat-em-up-esque combat, a cel-shaded art style, and vibrant fantasy locales. The game is set to release in 2024
33 Immortals
33 Immortals is a multiplayer roguelike from Spiritfarer developer and indie studio Thunder Lotus. With a hellish setting and vibrant 2D art style reminiscent of games like Hades, this game sets itself apart with absurdly large-scale multiplayer, allowing, as the game’s title might suggest, 33 players to tackle its challenges cooperatively. The game will release in 2024
Cities: Skylines II
The follow-up to the widely celebrated city-builder Cities: Skylines was announced earlier this year, and the Xbox showcase gave us a more in-depth look at the game in action with a gameplay reveal. Cities: Skylines II is coming soon, with a release on October 24
Dungeons of Hinterburg
The debut release from Vienna-based indie developer Microbird games, Dungeons of Hinterberg is an action RPG set in a fantastical version of the Austrian Alps. The reveal trailer showed off a cel-shaded art style, combat against fantasy monsters, and puzzle-solving across the game’s titular dungeons. The game is slated for a release in 2024
Jusant
Jusant, a new game from Life is Strange developers Don’t Nod, was revealed. Described as an “action-puzzle game,” the game features climbing up sheer cliff faces and exploring ancient ruins, with a setting that looks equal parts charming and compelling. Jusant is coming this fall.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
The latest main entry in Sega’s Like a Dragon series, formerly known as Yakuza, got a brief teaser featuring returning protagonist Kasuga Ichiban mysteriously washed up naked on a beach in what appears to be the United States, to the horror of the surrounding beachgoers. We’ll see what exactly is going on here when the game releases early next year.
Persona 3 Reload
In a surprise announcement that fans definitely hadn’t already seen, Atlus officially announced a remake of the classic JRPG Persona 3. The remake features newly-designed UI, improved graphics, remastered voice acting and music, and more features Atlus has teased to be included when the game launches early next year.
Persona 5 Tactica
In another Persona announcement, we got our “first” look at Persona 5 Tactica, a tactics spin-off of Persona 5. The trailer showed off a chibi art style reminiscent of the Persona Q games and gameplay which seems to combine tactics gameplay with traditional Persona and Shin Megami Tensei-style combat. The game will release on November 17.
Metaphor: ReFantazio
Rounding out the trio of announcements from Atlus, they finally formally unveiled a project which had long been known as just Project Re Fantasy as Metaphor: ReFantazio, a fantasy RPG from the developers of Persona 3, 4, and 5. We got to take an early look at the game’s turn-based combat, mysterious fantasy world, and what looks to be Persona-esque social mechanics in the new trailer provided, with a release window for next year.
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess
Capcom revealed Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, an action-strategy game set in a world inspired by traditional Japanese legend. The trailer showed off combat against a variety of unique monsters, powered by Capcom’s proprietary RE Engine.
Payday 3
After a decade wait since Payday 2, the third game in the series finally got a full gameplay reveal, showing off action-filled heists as players plan elaborate crimes and gun down waves of attacking police officers. The game will release on September 21
Star Wars Outlaws
Ubisoft presented a first look at Star Wars Outlaws, the first open-world Star Wars game. The cinematic trailer showed the game’s protagonist, Kay Vess, on the run from the galactic imperial law, with Xbox confirming that the game is set during the time of the original trilogy, between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. No gameplay was shown, but we got a release window of next year.
Still Wakes the Deep
The Chinese Room, developers of numerous narrative-focused games, including Dear Esther and Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, brought a brief teaser for their upcoming horror game Still Wakes the Deep. Set on an oil rig in the European North Sea, the game’s horrors remain shrouded in mystery. It comes out early 2024.
Updates, DLC, and More
A variety of ongoing games got new content announced in the form of DLC, expansions, free updates, and more. Here they all are:
- The Elder Scrolls Online: Necrom (June 20)
- Sea of Thieves: The Legend of Monkey Island (July 20)
- Overwatch 2: Invasion (August 10)
- Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty (September 26)
- Fallout 76: Atlantic City (TBA)
Hardware Announcements
Xbox made two hardware announcements at the show. First, they revealed a new model of the Xbox Series S, coming in black and featuring 1 TB of storage, to be released September 1 for $349.99. Second, during the Starfield Direct, they showed a limited edition controller and headphones based on the game, available now.