Microsoft gave Xbox fans a look ahead to 2024 at the Developer Direct. Despite Indiana Jones gameplay and a surprise, some were disappointed.
Hamburg – 2023 is over and has left us with probably one of the best gaming years of all time. But shortly after the turn of the year, Microsoft showed the next release festival of new game highlights last night. At Developer Direct, in-house studios personally presented their current developments for the Xbox. However, the announcements did not reveal what viewers had hoped for in advance.
Xbox causes question marks with Indiana Jones – Avowed gets a release window on Developer Direct
Classic film steals the show: The most hotly anticipated was the first footage from the video game adaptation of Indiana Jones. The developer studio MachineGames also provided this with a trailer for the action adventure. Todd Howard, game director at Bethesda, is said to be playing a leading role in the creation of the title.
However, he and the team have already caused skepticism with one decision. Because the treasure hunter will embark on his journey in first person. The perspective should only switch to third person in certain sections. Microsoft wants to crack the whips in 2024.
Role-playing hit or run-of-the-mill fare? Avowed was already able to impress with the beauty of its world with the game scenes that had already been published. At the Developer Direct, the impression was confirmed that we can expect an environment rich in detail and covered in rich colors. But it’s not just the look that is fueling great hopes for the title, the responsible development studio Obsidian Entertainment is also raising expectations with its previous works.
Among other things, the company was able to make a name for itself through its impressively good dialogues in Fallout: New Vegas and The Outer Worlds. According to the fresh insights at the Xbox presentation, they also seem to be exploiting this strength in their new RPG work. However, despite the world and story design, there are still doubts about Avowed. By being designed for first-person combat, the title first has to prove whether it can stand out from the role-playing game crowd after its release in autumn 2024.
Xbox shows sequel to Hellblade and a possible Civilization killer
Surprise hit celebrates its comeback: Instead of a supposed announcement for PS5 and Nintendo, we got to see Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2. Ninja Theory has been working on the second part of its notable success in 2017 for years. At that time, its predecessor, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, received many positive reviews due to its uniqueness.
Although the visuals are convincing both in part 1 and now, neither graphics nor gameplay were responsible for the praise. Senua’s story was captivating because of the voices in her head. The main protagonist suffers from a realistic psychosis that comments on all your steps on the journey. To achieve this trick, the development studio is once again relying on collaboration with sick people and psychotherapists. We should see the result of this as early as May 21, 2024.
New fodder for strategy fans: Games with a focus on table-top tactics are a dime a dozen. Nevertheless, brands like Civilization have been able to achieve top dog status over the years. But as with everything, at some point their inviolability crumbles. Especially when part of your own development team comes together to work on serious competition. This is also the case with the strategy game Ara: History Untold.
Oxide Games wants to rethink the genre formula here and thus give all construction specialists more flexibility. A crafting aspect, changed victory conditions and a new level system should ensure this. How much revolution there really is in PC production will also become clear in autumn 2024.
Developer Direct has a big surprise in store – but not the one fans were hoping for
Xbox unpacks Nintendo legend: What no one expected were the gameplay scenes for Visions of Mana. The next entry in the Mana franchise was only announced at the 2023 Game Awards in December. The series is held in high regard by many, as the pilot project Secret of Mana is one of the most iconic games for the Super Nintendo. In addition, the title was given a release period in summer 2024.
Hopes for Shadow Drop in vain: But what fans were actually looking forward to was a much-speculated Shadow Drop. Microsoft itself fueled these expectations after releasing the highly praised Hi-Fi Rush overnight at the beginning of last year. Its cartoon action also caused enthusiasm in our editorial team. In the end, there were only rumors of another spontaneous release.
It’s not just Xbox that’s looking forward to some exclusive titles in 2024. Sony is also impressive with its line-up at the beginning of the year. Thanks to the acquisitions of the past few years and the Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft now seems to finally be able to take on these first-party titles.