If there's one narrative that Microsoft Gaming is unable to shake, it's that the Xbox platform has no games. It's easy to understand why this story has taken hold in the public consciousness – it emerged during a tumultuous time for the Xbox One, and has continued to circulate into the Xbox Series X era thanks to some surprisingly dry release windows (I'm looking at you, 2022). The thing is, it's easy to forget that there are over 10 upcoming Xbox Series X games confirmed to be in development from the Xbox Games Studios division, and that first-party developers like The Coalition, Compulsion Games, id Software, inXile Entertainment, and Roundhouse Studios are yet to reveal what they have cooking behind the scenes.
While we've been treated to drip-feeds of information around a few of these new games – Hellblade 2: Senua's Saga being the standout, with Ninja Theory being fairly open about its development journey – most remain shrouded in secrecy. In fact, there are five titles that we'd like to see given some attention at the Xbox Games Showcase 2023 which were announced all the way back in 2019 and 2020. This presentation marks a fantastic opportunity for Xbox to showcase what's coming beyond Starfield in September, and a fresh look at these five exclusives could help shift the conversation.
Everwild
It's difficult to know what to make of Everwild. Rare announced its next co-op endeavor back in 2019 with a teaser trailer designed to give us a glimpse at the gorgeous artistic direction that the team is shooting for. The studio released another teaser trailer in 2020, this one showcasing the natural and magical world which we will one day explore, though there's been no concrete gameplay details or story information released since. Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty has said that Rare is being given the time to get Everwild right, but I'd still love to see it appear at the upcoming Xbox Games Showcase. Rare has done a fantastic job with Sea of Thieves, but it's time for the studio to send us on a new adventure.
Avowed
The reveal trailer for Avowed has been living rent free in my head since July 2020. Listen, I'll take anything out of Obsidian Entertainment – the studio built a reputation as a genre-crossing hitmaker in the past decade through the likes of Pillars of Eternity, The Outer Wilds, Grounded, and Pentiment. So I'll happily take a return to Eora, albeit this time in the form of an RPG with AAA production values and sensibilities. We know little about Avowed, but that 83 second cinematic ignited the imagination – the historic world of Eora rendered in a first-person perspective, giving us direct manipulation of swords and soul essence. After three years of speculation, some concrete details are long overdue.
Fable
I appreciate Microsoft's need for secrecy on this one. Fable used to be a core pillar of the Xbox platform, at a time where the publisher wielded this RPG – along with exclusive first-person shooter (Halo) and racing (Project Gotham Racing) franchises – to demonstrate that the Xbox and Xbox 360 were the place to play. But the cancellation of Fable Legends in 2016 and subsequent closure of Lionhead left the future of Fable uncertain. Until July 2020 that is. Microsoft announced that Forza Horizon developer Playground Games is working on a reboot of the Fable series with a dazzling cinematic trailer, and has said nothing since. Microsoft needs to get this one right, but after three years, it's time for a real look at the state of Albion.
State of Decay 3
State of Decay 3 is another Xbox Series X exclusive which was given a surprise reveal at the 2020 Xbox Games Showcase before disappearing entirely from view. Undead Labs says that it's aiming to deliver the "new ultimate in zombie survival simulation" but we've yet to see anything more than a cinematic trailer to back up that claim. The studio has continued to deliver updates to State of Decay 2 in the years since, but I'm eager to see how the studio plans on utilizing Unreal Engine 5 to push the foundations of this series even further. After three years of silence, the Xbox Games Showcase at E3 2023 would be the perfect venue to debut gameplay footage of this highly anticipated sequel.
Perfect Dark
Joanna Dark is going to have to break cover at some point. A Perfect Dark reboot was announced at The Game Awards in 2020 with a cinematic trailer showcasing a world in turmoil, although we haven't seen anything since. I always expected this to be a little ways away, given that it's coming from The Initiative – a brand new studio founded to create AAA adventure games for Xbox. It's since been revealed that Perfect Dark is being co-developed by Crystal Dynamics, the studio responsible for the fantastic Tomb Raider reboot, so I'd like to think that the two studios will make an appearance at the Xbox Games Showcase to give some insight into how this first-person spy thriller is coming together.
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