Every year, Microsoft’s E3 show gets bigger by the sheer fact that the Xbox division itself gets bigger and bigger. Although it is titled the Xbox & Bethesda showcase, Microsoft brought a fairly full force of its entire weight to their gaming initiative this year. If you didn’t get a chance to check it out yourself, we have a full rundown with trailers below.
- Redfall opens the show immediately out the gate with its first gameplay showcase, a fairly lengthy presentation. The game is a first-person shooter with co-op elements against hordes of vampires. It will launch in 2023 with Game Pass day one.
- For the first time in a long time, we see Hollow Knight: Silksong, the incredibly anticipated indie sequel to 2018’s Hollow Knight. No release date was given, but the Xbox port was previously unannounced, and the game will be on Game Pass.
- Squanch Games, the developer behind Trover Saves the Universe, reveals High on Life. It’s a first-person shooter where the gun talks to you and makes jokes and generally tries not to make you feel bad about all the killing you’re doing. MASSIVE DISCLAIMER: Me, the writer of this roundup, Imran, was working at Squanch Games during the development of High on Life. I do not, beyond this roundup, intend to cover the game at all.
- Sarah Bond, wearing one of the coolest dresses I’ve ever seen, reveals that everything in this showcase is coming the next 12 months.
- A Riot Game section begins where Riot’s general portfolio of games — including Valorant, Teamfight Tactics, and more — will be coming to PC and mobile Game Pass with special versions that have all the unlockables already unlocked.
- The upcoming game from Focus Entertainment and Asobo Studio is Plague Tale Requiem, which looks generally stupendous as it always does. But, BUT, the rats are upsetting. I have no problems with hordes of zombies or whatever, but rats. Eugh. Plague Tale Requiem is coming in 2022 to PC and Xbox Game Pass.
- Forza Motorsport makes its gameplay debut after being talked about openly for quite a while. The game is hitting in Spring 2023. Turn10’s developers come out to talk about the game and show off the tech.
- We get raw gameplay and, well, folks, it looks good. I’m not sure that comes as a galloping shock to anyone that a Forza game looks good, but they show off some real-time graphics with dynamic lighting and weather that really make things pop. I wonder if, once upon a time, Turn10 took the criticism of Forza’s standee cutout audience personally, because this is really above and beyond. It looks like a time-lapse video.
- There’s realtime ray tracing and extensive car damage. Turn10 says that even individual scratches will be visible.
- We’re back to Flight Simulator, which Microsoft points out is their longest running franchise. We have more small planes, more big planes, helicopters, and apparently we can now fly over the Windows XP wallpaper. Or it’s some other very green place. The new update also features a ship from Halo that can apparently go into space.
- Next up is Overwatch 2, which will soon be under Microsoft’s portfolio. It is the first real trailer since the debut, shows a new female character named Junker Queen who works with Junkrat and Roadhog and has been repeatedly referenced in the lore. Early access is October 4 2022.
- Oxide Games comes in with a world premiere called Ara: History Untold. It will be Day One on Game Pass.
- Pete Hines, the face of Bethesda, is here to talk about the various Bethesda goings-on starting with Redfall. After that is Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle. It comes out on June 21, 2022.
- So every so often I think about an Elder Scrolls Online presentation from a Bethesda show years ago where a woman in the audience was fucking losing it because she was so happy. I hope she’s still as enthusiastic about it today. Happy for her, genuinely.
- Fallout 76 is next, a game that is way more popular than anyone really thinks despite its initial first few, uh, years. The newest expansion is called The Pitt, which both recalls the Fallout 3 DLC called The Pit but also refers to Pittsburgh.
- Now we’re on to Forza Horizon 5, We get ours first look at the Hot Wheels DLC, which puts Hotwheels cars and bright-orange tracks all over. It’ll be available July 19.
- We have a console launch exclusive running on Unreal Engine 5. We once again see Vin Diesel as the CG spokesman for Ark II, coming in 2023.
- Another console launch exclusive, Scorn, is shown. It’s gross, but also it’s a horror game, so it’s supposed to be. It’ll be launching on Game Pass on October 21.
- New Zealand developer A44, known for Ashen, shows Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn once again. The title looks like a combination between God of War and Ashen. It’ll launch in early 2023.
- Mojang, the company behind Minecraft in conjunction with Hatsune Miku, is revealing a new game. It’s not wildly outside their wheelhouse, as it looks built on the building blocks (heh) of Minecraft. But rather than being the exact same thing, Minecraft Adventures appears to be an action strategy title. Think more Dragon Quest Builders — which itself was inspired by Minecraft — than just straight Minecraft.
- Lightyear Frontier, a space-based co-op world-building game is shown. Spring 2023, on Game Pass day one.
- We see Gunfire Reborn, a four-player co-op shooter roguelite with cute little animal characters. Coming October, also one Game Pass.
- Next up is The Last Case of Benedict Fox, a sidescrolling narrative thriller with some heavy Lovecrafting vibes. It’ll hit in Spring 2023, also on Game Pass.
- Interior/Night is here to show As Dusk Falls, which has been previously announced. The interactive narrative is about two families across thirty years in Arizona. We get a trailer setting up the story. Coming July 19 and, of course, is on Game Pass.
- Introduced as a console launch exclusive, Naraka: Bladepoint is coming to consoles. The free-to-play action battle royale game is fairly popular on PC and will be coming to Xbox with cross-play and a new campaign mode on June 23.
- Next is Pentiment, a game from Fallout: New Vegas writer Josh Sawyer. It’s a narrative title that evokes 16th century art and is set in period Bavaria. Coming November 2022. I don’t think I even need to say it’s on Game Pass. You already knew that, even for newly announced games.
- Grounded from Obsidian is shown, finally launching into 1.0 in September. A fun reminder: this game has an option to make spiders look like blobs instead, if you hate playing games with terrifying spiders.
- A new world premiere and a console launch exclusive, from Raw Fury and Baby Robot comes Ereban. The trailer shows a character sliding through the shadows — literally, through the shadows — to stealth past and through a number of guard robots. It kind of seems like a cyberpunk Tenchu. Coming 2023.
- The next trailer is for Diablo IV, specifically the Necromancer. Rod Fergusson, who used to work on the Gears of War series, comes out to talk about Diablo. For the first time, we get gameplay, which has been captured on a Series X.
- The game has “robust character customization” for any class you’re playing.
- Full cross-play between PC and console.
- The game launches on Xbox Consoles and PC in 2023.
- A new Sea of Thieves update is shown, which includes features like naming your ship. Season 7 launches on July 21.
- Another world premiere, this time a game from Cococucumber, developers of Riverbond and Planet of the Eyes. The new game is called Ravenlok and is coming in 2023.
- A new game from Annapurna and the lead gameplay designer of Inside and Limbo, Cocoon is an isometric adventure game starring a little bug guy. It is coming in 2023.
- Koei Tecmo introduces a new game from Team Ninja called Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. It looks, well, exactly like Nioh. Phil Spencer says afterward that the game is coming to Game Pass day one.
- Phil Spencer then introduces Atlus, which is bringing Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4 Golden, and Persona 5 Royal. The first title is Persona 5 Royal coming in October, all on Game Pass.
- Spencer introduces Hideo Kojima, who is working with Xbox Game Studios on an as-of-yet unannounced title. Rumors suggest it is a horror title named Overdose, but that has not yet been confirmed.
- Spencer shows a list of games coming in the next 12 months, which included everything at the conference except Hollow Knight: Silksong. I would maybe chalk that up to the fact that Team Cherry themselves probably don’t know when it’s coming out.
- We’re ending on an extended first look at Bethesda Games’ Starfield, which was recently delayed from a November 11 2022 date to 2023. It is, as you would expect, a Bethesda Games Studio-looking game but in space. There’s future cities, interplanetary travel, jetpacks, and those same weird Bethesda talking faces. The fidelity is better, for sure, but you can tell the lineage.
- Some of the later trailer shows things like third-person combat, large alien creatures, fighting in zero gravity, and more. It almost evokes more Mass Effect than Skyrim.
- The character creator is shown with extensive customization, even including your character’s gait while walking.
- There are over 1000 planets in the game to explore. A reel of the different environments showed a fair bit of variety.
- Starfield is coming in 2023. They did not commit to a specific date, but after last time, I can see why not. It is coming day one to Game Pass.
Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase is part of Fanbyte’s Hot Game Summer coverage, where we’re bringing you recaps and commentary on this summer’s game presentations like Xbox’s showcase, the PC Gaming Show, and the all-encompassing Summer Game Fest hosted by Geoff Keighley. If you’re interested in seeing all Fanbyte’s coverage, check out our Hot Game Summer 2022 hub.
