Today, June 9, 2024, Xbox took to the stage to show off a ton of games over the course of its nearly one-and-half-hour-long event. It was a healthy selection of games that featured a wide variety of genres and the return of a certain chainsaw-gun-wielding, bandana-wearing dude who’s ready to take it to the Locusts.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Don’t you just love hearing George H.W. Bush? No? Well, okay, maybe you just like shooters? Xbox opened its event up with an action-packed trailer for the latest CoD, Black Ops 6, and its filled with all the espionage, explosions, helicopters, shooting, and more shooting that you’d expect, as well as least one NPC saying, “Are you out of your mind?”
Black Ops 6 will also be the first Call of Duty game to arrive on Game Pass day one.
Doom: The Dark Ages
Time to rip and tear for a third time in the modern Doom saga, albeit this time the setting is rather less modern, having more of a dark fantasy vibe. This time, Doomguy also gets a shield, a friggin’ mace, and a frakin’ dragon to ride. Nuts!
State of Decay 3
Oh, hey, it’s State of Decay. The third entry in Microsoft’s exclusive zombie-slaying, apocalypse-surviving series got a bloody cinematic trailer during today’s event with some hints of HUD-less gameplay.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
One thing’s for sure, Kotaku’s Kenneth Shepard was certainly excited about today’s trailer for Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Seriously, he wants to tell you all about it here. Featuring tavern brawls, chases down fantasy-city streets, and a showdown with a dragon, this trailer’s big message is clear: Dragon Age is coming back, baby!
Starfield: Shattered Space
If you were looking for a good reason to jump back into Starfield, well, Bethesda might’ve just given you one. Today we saw footage from the upcoming expansion, Shattered Space. Focused on the House Va’ruun faction, today’s trailer certainly looked quite fancy and might just be the fantastical shot in the arm Starfield needs.
Shattered Space launches later in 2024. There’s also a new free update for the main game going live tonight as well, featuring new content to explore.
Fallout 76: Skyline Valley
Fallout 76 is getting a map expansion! With Skyline Valley, which is set in Shenandoah, 76 promises a new vault, Vault 63. Also, soon you can play as a ghoul. Rad!
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Sad emotions and operatic music opened up the trailer for Expedition 33, which features the distinctive voice of Ben Starr, who also voiced protagonist Clive in Final Fantasy 16. Set in a very pretty fantasy world with some epic vistas, the combat might look a little too QTE-ish for some, but if you’re on the lookout for a new fantasy game, it might be worth keeping an eye on this one.
South of Midnight
With a big-ass talking fish, a dense swampy environment, and stop-motion-style animation, South of Midnight definitley has a unique look to it. Expect this one to arrive in 2025.
World of Warcraft: The War Within
One of the longest-running and most popular MMOs, World of Warcraft is getting yet another expansion, leading up to one epic battle for the soul of Azeroth. The War Within arrives on August 26, 2024 on PC.
Metal Gear Solid Delta Snake Eater
Whoa. Naked Snake is lookin’ pretty stylish in the upcoming remake of MGS3, branded MGS Delta Snake Eater. And while I’m certainly not the biggest fan of MGS3, ya’ll, this actually looks really tight. Consider me intrugied, Konami!
Sea of Thieves Season 13
Piracy’s alive and well, baby! Today we got a look at Sea of Theives’ thirteenth season, which goes live on July 25. There’ll be ships, battles, and plenty of loot to secure, I’m sure.
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn
Fusing melee weaponry and guns (and a cute little fantasy foxy thing!), Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn showed off some of its hard-hitting gameplay, complete with some intense aerial manuevers. This one looks pretty neat, and more than a little different from what we were expecting, so keep an eye out for it when it arrives this July.
Age of Mythology: Retold
Age of Mythology: Retold, which looks like a remake of sorts of the original 2002 game, got a fancy, intense-looking trailer with plenty of large-scale battles and the presence of literal gods on the battle field. It arrives on September 4, 2024.
Perfect Dark
Woo! Perfect Dark is coming back and it looks fucking sick. With a gorgeous sci-fi city, neat tech, and plenty of sneaky gameplay, hey, maybe this will makeup for there being no Deus Ex for the foreseeable future. Sadly there was no release date or release window, but oof, this is one to keep an eye on for sure. You’re gonna wanna watch that trailer two or three times, I think.
Diablo IV
Diablo IV is getting its first expansion with Vessel of Hatred. This classic dark fantasy world looks better than ever with its new, brutal cinematic opening that doesn’t look too promising for our gal Neyrelle. Vessel of Hatred arrives on October 8 on Xbox and PC.
Fable
It has been too long since we last had a new Fable. Today’s trailer showed off what looks like it has the potential to be a pitch-perfect return to Albion, narrated by a retired hero who almost sounds like he couldn’t be bothered. Which is about what I’d expect from this franchise. Fable arrives, finally (and hopefully) in 2025.
Fragpunk
Fusing cartoony violence, gunplay, and a neat-looking card dynamic, Fragpunk is worth keeping on your radar if you’re looking for yet another 5v5 hero shooter.
Winter Burrow
Aw, this one’s gonna make me cry, I’m sure. With a cute little mouse returning home to find the place abandoned, it’s hard not to be endeared by Winter Burrow’s trailer. Yeah, it looks like yet-another-farming-sim game, but don’t you want to help our little pal here relcaim her home? Okay, damn it. Now I’m crying.
Mixtape
Mixtape’s trailer showed off stop-motion-style animation (that’s two for this showcase), skateboarding, the desire to “ride a flaming stallion of delinquency” (girl, same), and an excellent soundtrack that you’ll just want to listen to on endless repeat.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024
This game looks too realistic. Microsoft Flight Simulator’s latest update features more than just trips from airport to airport across the world. Agricultural aviation, cargo transport, and even some sightseeing on foot in nature looks like a nice change of pace for this classic flight sim.
Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road
With a song that annoys me to no end, we got a cute little promo for Elder Scrolls Online ahead of its launch date on June 18, 2024.
Life Is Strange: Double Exposure
Our girl, Max, is back in Life is Strange Double Exposure! This time she’s grown up and, once again, has to deal with a dead pal. Good thing she’s got some fancy new powers to help her unravel who the killer is. Life is Strange: Double Exposure launches October 29, 2024 (hey, that’s my birthday!).
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Indiana’s back at it, uncovering lost artifacts with huge ramifications for society. Bethesda’s Indiana Jones game showed off more of its sights and sounds, and sure looks the part, especially with the excellent, uncanny facial animations that looks straight out of Harrison Ford’s performances in the movies. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle arrives in 2024.
Mecha Break
We saw a bit of Mecha Break during the Summer Game Fest show just a few days ago, but today’s trailer looked a bit meatier if I’m being honest. If you’re in the mood to smash giant robots together, keep an eye out for Mecha Break in 2025.
Wuchang Fallen Feathers
Wuchang: Fallen Feathers showed off some grotesque monsters and slick sword- and ax-swinging in its trailer today. I got some gentle Bloodborne vibes outta this one, which is a good thing.
Avowed
There’s a mysterious plague ravaging a realm of fantasy, and its up to you to stop it. Avowed showed off more of its first-person spellcasting and melee action (there are also crossbows) with today’s trailer.
Atomfall
It’s hard to describe Atomfall. Post-apocalyptic (sort of?) vibes meet weird fantasy realms, spooky things that live underground, and big robots? Look, there’s a lot going on here that you’ll just need to see for yourself. Atomfall arrives in 2025.
Assassin’s Creed
Assassin’s Creed Shadows got a nice trailer during today’s Xbox showcase. Set in fuedal Japan with wonderfully sneaky and heavy-hitting samurai shenanigans, Shadows arrives on November 15, 2024.
STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl
Time to skulk around in abandoned facilities and natural landscapes filled with strange, spooky horrors. STALKER 2 got a nice showing during today’s Xbox event with some gripping first-person shooter gameplay. It’s set to arrive on September 5, 2024.
Xbox Series X/S hardware refresh
Microsoft showed off three consoles right before its final game reveal of the event: An all-digital, white Xbox Series X, a 1TB Series S in “Robot White,” and a Special Edition Xbox Seires X in Galaxy Black with 2TB of storage and a disc drive.
Gears of War E-Day
Holy hell it has been too fraking long for a new Gears of War. In today’s cinematic trailer, we got to see our boy Marcus, looking more than a few years younger than when we last saw him, just annihilate a Locust before, yup, the ground broke open and he was saved by none other than Dom as a familiar tune, the sad version of Tears for Fears’ Mad World featured way back in the original teaser for the original Gears of War, began to play.
Gears of War E-Day looks like it’ll take us back to the very beginning of Gears of War. Sadly, there was no release date or window provided.
And that wraps everything we saw at today’s Xbox event! There’s a lot to mark on your calendars folks (especially that super sappy mouse game that’s still making me all misty-eyed).