Xbox & Bethesda Showcase - 2022

Warning: The following article contains links to trailers that may contain strong language. Reader’s discretion is advised.

I love this time of year. The day we’re all invited around to the house of everyone’s second-favorite uncle Phil to be snarky about how the “revolutionary technology” making the same grass we’ve seen on PC for years even greener for the new Forza. Otherwise, we’d probably be punched by someone named Willard for breathing too loudly. In terms of the big showcases this year (that have been announced) Xbox and Bethesda’s presentation had to be the one most people were excited for. Starfield finally showed off some colorless gameplay, though that’s way at the end of the showcase.

Kicking the show off was Redfall, Arkane’s Left 4 Dead after Back 4 Blood bored the tears off people with its lack of character model variation or interesting level design. The trouble with these vertical slices of constructed and pre-rendered gameplay is simply the fact that we don’t know the structure. On the game’s website, there are notes of single-player, multiplayer, story-driven, and other elements to this open world, but that’s nearly every video game. I’d have liked the trailer to show me the typical gameplay loop. Instead, it is swearing, pink guns, a lot of blood being wasted for a vampire game, and not a whole lot going on.

I nearly burst at the next gameplay showcase which was for Hollow Knight: Silksong. It is coming day 1 to Game Pass, though we are still missing a release date. Yet soon enough after this short burst of gameplay, corporate VP Sarah Bond (yes, her Twitter is what you think it is) spoke about how this year’s showcase focuses on the games of the next year-ish of Xbox. With that, one can only hope that Silksong will get a late 2022 or early 2023 release, to which all the Dark Souls and Metroidvania fans will burst like balloons.

Following one of the games that many people were happy about, Squanch Games unveiled High on Life. A first-person psychedelic (in the internet sense) “action-adventure” game where all your weapons talk to you with more personality than a standard Gears of War/Halo character. Then again, that’s reductive of the word character, attaching Gears of War or Halo to such a word. My favorite is Knifey, he’s a knife, which I think is self-explanatory really. It is grotesque, colorful, looks like someone who describes themselves first as a “gamer” dropped a tab of acid, and I am entirely here for it when it releases in October.

Next up was a showcase that Xbox is looking to be as wide as the ocean, as deep as a puddle, as Riot Games’ games will be coming to Game Pass this winter. Valorant, League of Legends, and all the other very dull games the company makes will be spread across PC and mobile later this year. If my disdain for Riot isn’t apparent enough, let me make it clear: Until they make a decent game and clean up the studio’s reputation, I don’t care what platform their games appear on.

A Plague Tale: Requiem was up next and quite frankly I don’t understand why. This time, you sneak and push guards into swarms of rats in what I will assume to be similar to the first game, an unexplained hunt for the smaller character sending you on some kind of adventure. In fact, my hastily scribbled notes just say, “The Last of Us Part 3” for this one, as it looks to be another game about sad people getting their teeth kicked in. It is coming later this year.

I said it in the preamble, but Forza Motorsport was announced with a very floaty camera throughout the gameplay demo, all focusing on the blades of grass you speed past at 147 KPH. It seems the rumors that we were rebooting the Forza Motorsport series after less than 20 years were true. A genuinely awful trailer that attempted its best Batman voice as it rumbled “realism” in your ear while not focusing on the racing at all. Nearly everything focused (for several minutes) on graphical improvements, with a tepid attempt to say something about gameplay.

What is funny to me is how this is the “real racer” for some and the people behind Forza Motorsport said: “We’ve overhauled the driving experience. This includes a 48 times improvement in the fidelity of our physics simulator.” So it wasn’t realistic before? The first question I actually have is what unit of measurement they used? The second question is: Are you making that up to pretend your game about driving sideways in ridiculous cars is more advanced than it ever could be? Either way, you’ll be able to simulate with 48 times more accuracy sitting on your couch next spring with this reboot.

Following that was a needlessly long trailer for Flight Simulator‘s 40th-anniversary update and Halo Infinite ship. The update is bringing helicopters, some more planes, and the most realistic, Gregg Wallace’s biff-about. This would all be a great thing to celebrate the game, flying the Wright Brother’s paper airplane, a glider, or other aircraft. The problem with Flight Simulator is the way downloads are handled, as 2Mb down makes a game that is typically massive impossible to download. Either way, if you can download the update, you’ll be able to fly the DC-3, the DHC-2-Beaver, Master Chef’s Pelican, and more in November.

Time to roll out the unionization signs and articles about Activision-Blizzard, as Overwatch 2 had a trailer. Releasing in early access on October the 4th, it is more Overwatch. Announced as free-to-play upon early access release, you’ll be able to do whatever it is that Overwatch is supposed to be worth to warrant a sequel. Now with a new Australian hero that looks like they are designed by Riot Games.

This was the point I was beginning to question Bond, Sarah Bond. The reveal of Oxide Games’ Ara: History Untold was made without gameplay but rather the conventional CGI leap through history with these games. It is described as a new turn-based strategy from a team of developers that had previously worked on the likes of Civilization, Command and Conquer, as well as Galactic Civilization, the announcement feeds on pedigree. Oxide’s previous game back in 2016 was Ashes of Singularity, which I’ve played and didn’t find much to write home about. Hold off on the hype until we see gameplay. With Bond’s comment that everything we see will release in the next 12(-ish) months, I want to know why we can’t see gameplay.

Pete Hines came out to do the short Bethesda portion, unveiling the terribly named High Isle expansion for Elder Scrolls Online, releasing June 21st. Which sounds like something said by people Mike and I have been castrating for a few weeks now. Hines also went on to introduce the upcoming Fallout 76 expansion: The Pit. It happens to be a horrible place no one in their right mind would say is great, but we have to explore the Fallout 3 DLC long before Fallout 3 actually happened this September, apparently. I hope Pete gets a big bonus for that, as I’m sure he’s getting several mountains of abuse online announcing both these.

Speaking of Mike, several months ago he reviewed the fantastic Hot Wheels: Unleashed. Now it seems Microsoft is getting in on the Mattel money, as Forza Horizon 5 adds the not-scaled model cars and some tracks to the open-world racer. It is an odd bit of DLC, that’s for sure, though for those that seem to think this is a good idea, it releases on the 19th of July.

Not as weird as the Fast and Scaly, or as it is seemingly being called, Ark 2. Still lacking gameplay a year on from its initial reveal, Ark 2 starring Vin Diesel seems to think his face is bankable, despite his best performance in any film is saying “Groot” a couple of thousand times. This is another one that makes me question the validity of Bond’s comment on this year’s showcase, as we’ve simply got the window of 2023 for Ark 2‘s release. If it is true that “our entire show is focused on games you can play over the next 12 months,” I want to know where the gameplay is hiding.

I’m equally annoyed about Scorn, the H.R Giger-inspired horror thing. All the art is biomechanical in that Giger-style but it lacks its wetness. Scorn should look as if everything was licked by a Xenomorph toddler: sticky, shriveled up, and disturbing, like a pastry that fell in a puddle. Nonetheless, all the gameplay of Scorn, despite being covered in blood, looks dry and as if moisture instantly evaporates. Despite its lack of soggy-ness, Scorn is set to release on the 21st of October this year.

Following that was Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, a PS3 game by all accounts. Despite its name, it seems to lack pirates and is coming early next year. Watching this one felt like I was back about 16 years watching the early PS3 games that never captured the essence of the PS2-era action-adventure platformers. To me, this looks like something attempting to mesh a touch of fantasy with a historical setting, as gameplay tries to add a gun into Souls combat while entirely missing the point. Generic to the nth degree, when I saw this again during the PC Gaming Showcase, I almost put my hands through the screen to strangle the very boring man.

Minecraft: Legends! At this point, the name Minecraft no longer means a single game or concept. It has spun out into Mario, a brand for which Microsoft can put on anything as long as it can be even slightly blocky. This time it is a slightly cel-shaded “My First RTS” coming to platforms near you in 2023. Personally, I don’t mind the Minecraft-themed real-time strategy/RPG game, but that cel-shading puts me off quite a bit.

Landing without style was Lightyear: Frontier. This is a game I am quite sure Disney will be on the phone to the lawyers about this morning. We saw this one last year and it wasn’t making much of an impact at that point either. It is another space-y crafting, let’s farm in a mech-suit style game. When we saw it last, the focus was entirely on the multiplayer aspect, and I assume this year’s trailer announcing the spring 2023 release was entirely to pull single-player-focused people like me back in. It failed, as it’s still crafting.

I hope you liked the Guy Ritchie-style trailer for the first Suicide Squad, as that seems to be what Gunfire Reborn emulated. This is yet another cel-shaded, textureless co-op shooter with rogue-like elements. I’ve yet to understand the first bit of this trailer that was supposed to be appealing. It is releasing in October for Xbox consoles, PC, and Game Pass’ Cloud services, which means in October you’ll see that only three people play it forever, or 10 million people will for a week.

The Last Case of Benedict Fox is a strange one, and not just for the eldritch horror platformer vibe. I honestly don’t know what to say about it other than it has an audience and I’m happy for them. However, I don’t know how much I’d care to play it myself. The elements of Metroidvania are pulling me in, though the “cinematic platformer” vibe of the likes of Ori and the Will of the Wisps make me step back from the horror-focused descent into surreal platforming. Releasing early next year, I’d like to see something a bit more from Rogue’s upcoming title before I decide either way.

The point that made me instantly want to punt As Dusk Falls out the window, beyond that mix of frame rates of animation, was the words “prestige television.” You see it all the time ever since The Wire, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, and so on. It is an attempt to heighten just how bland something is before it has been consumed by the machine that is our viewing/playing habits. Yet that was the phrase used when talking about what the designers aspired for with this low-rent David Cage wannabe, releasing on the 19th of July, 2022.

Naraka: Bladepoint was something we saw last year, and I don’t think anyone sat up for it then either. A 60-person battle royale (with cheese) with the theme of a fantasy shogun vibe. It is set to release for Xbox platforms this November. In fact, this is where I got the comment about 10 million for a single week, as the trailer boasts a 10-million strong player base but a quick search points out a nearly 80,000 deficit between last November and this past week. At the time of writing it peaked at 109K, with an average of 45-50K at any time, pointing out that popularity may not be as important as a trailer makes it out to be.

Start the siren, Josh Sawyer designed something else, and thus the New Vegas fans have to crawl out of the woodworks. Pentiment is a feudal adventure game that people will happily rip to shreds for an art style that is, shall we say, less than pleasant. Quite frankly, if Sawyer and Obsidian decide that font is unchangeable for Pentiment‘s November release, I’ll want to rip his hands off and smack him with them. Personally, it is the art style that rubs me (and a few others) the wrong way, though mostly that font. This means it will get perfect 10s until someone gives it a 9 and Sawyer doesn’t get his Christmas bonus.

If the movie-to-game adaption thing wasn’t so prevalent in the mid-00s, I’d be making several references to The Ant Bully game right now. This September, Grounded will leave early access. For those of you who’ve forgotten that game existed, it is the one where you play as some kids that are shrunk down and have to fight bugs to survive because someone at Obsidian fell asleep during a Rick Moranis marathon and woke up with a new idea for a game. If you were interested enough in the thinly veiled plot of Grounded already, I’m sure you’ve got the gist without the game being completed as it will be in September.

Video Game: the video game, or as it is seemingly being called by Raw Fury, Ereben: Shadow Legacy. As much as I am deriding the trailer for showing me something else I’ve seen this not-E3 already or that I’ve played a thousand times, I’m not going to say it is bad. It even mimics an idea from Schim, which we saw in the Wholesome Games showcase. It is interesting enough to be a game, but the title and gameplay throughout the trailer give this 2023 release a generic feel.

Speaking of generic, I nearly chewed my own hands-off with the trailers for Diablo IV which went on for 10 minutes and lacked a single moment to grab me. Releasing in 2023, you can once again do that archaic dance of fighting amorphic blobs in a darkened room while you look down in an isometric manner. It is more Diablo from the people that just released that god-awful freemium Diablo Immortal tripe. Though I assume this will cost $70 and will take an entire ice-age to get all the points in the level-up tree. Now with Necromancy.

Sea of Thieves has a 7th season, but do you care? Now you can customize your ship a little bit more, even call it “BoatyMcboatFace” if you are dull. All I want from it is the ability to play proper single-player with AI, but that will never happen. Nonetheless, Season 7 starts on the 21st of July.

Ravenlok was a game that lacked artistic consistency and thus annoyed me to the nth degree. From the developer of Echo Generation, some of the game is voxel art and other portions are completely not. Seemingly using the Alice in Wonderland basis for the setting, we’ll find out what Cococucumber is doing with this action RPG in 2023 when it releases.

Oddly not about Wilford Brimley and his mates sleeping with aliens, Cocoon is a game about rolling and lifting your balls about the place to solve puzzles. It is difficult not to make that sound like an innuendo, especially when the logo reminds me so much of the 1985 Ron Howard film by the same name. The truth is, there isn’t much to say because we didn’t get a hint of the story for this Annapurna Interactive game, a company that focuses on story-driven games. Though we do know it will release in 2023, at some point.

Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja trotted out yet another game with the word Dynasty in the title, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is set to release in early 2023. A touch darker than Dynasty Warriors and very dark in comparison to its off-shoot Hyrule Warriors, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is the zombie one. If you really need me to tell you what a Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo game will be, they probably aren’t for you. Big battles where you cut the minions (not those ones) down by the hundreds, then you fight the boss of the area one-on-one.

Continuing on the Japanese train to high school to fight someone’s other persona, someone at Sega loves us and is spreading cheer. Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4 Golden, and Persona 5 Royal are all coming on the 21st of October this year. All of which are coming to Xbox consoles and PC. Maybe now I’ll actually play all the Persona games instead of telling the PS4 to be quiet and being distracted.

Uncle Phil finally crawled out of his bed to reveal another man, Hideo Kojima. An exclusive (at least for a while) game is set to be released on Xbox but the trouble is, we simply don’t know anything about it. The entire announcement was Hideo in his office saying he’s got a game for Xbox, but we can’t see it. Something tells me, without a CGI or gameplay trailer, Hideo’s new game isn’t coming within the next 12 months as Sarah Bond noted early in the showcase.

Next up, undoubtedly the #HangToddHoward tag started to fly about as Todd came out to talk about Starfield. Initially, that trailer was not good at all and was tainting my thoughts about this being close to Fallout altogether. It looks like No Man’s Sky mixed with The Division, at least between collecting iron and the shooting matched with XP appearing in the center of the screen. Something else that had me apprehensive of Starfield is the complete lack of color. Desaturation is seemingly a thing and I want it gone.

I do think the new lock picking is interesting, but that’s the only bit of that early gameplay to praise. It wasn’t until the Fallout bit kicked in that we got a twinge of color and a hint of something a bit more to our expectations. The fault I think in that was simply the fact you are only talking to humans, or at the very least humanoids that are similar to us in almost every way externally. There are aliens, but they are crabs, dinosaurs, and other creatures you’ll never talk to, monsters. It even seems you are unable to create aliens in the character-creation tool. Which, itself, is fine.

The Saints Row Boss Factory has ruined character creation forever. Though you do get a bit more New Vegas-style options this time around. Speaking of former games, Fallout 4‘s weapon crafting and settlements have returned, but also ship customization including crew and design. Ships also mean flying, ship-to-ship combat, interplanetary travel, and even jumping from star system to star system. There are 100 systems, 1000 planets, and annoyingly, a metric ton of procedural generation making the game a lot broader than it needs to be. If Bethesda ships Starfield in a stable state with that depth in the next 12 months, I for one will be surprised.

If you would like to watch the entire show, you can find that above. Though, as was recently announced, if you’d like to see a longer and more detailed view of all the games shown with interviews, Tuesday the 14th of June, Xbox is doing an extended showcase. Much like they did last year, it is something a little bit extra with developer interviews and general talking. I won’t be covering that though it is something there for those who want it.