Xbox Games Showcase: Extended Rundown

Microsoft’s Xbox Games Showcase: Extended recently wrapped on June 17. This event came just five days after Xbox’s joint showcase with Bethesda at E3 2021. Parris Lilly from Kinda Funny Xcast and Gamertag Radio hosted the event. The showcase featured insight from studios such as Double Fine, Ninja Theory and Rare to name a few. The developers from these studios gave insight into certain upcoming titles that players can look forward to.

The first studio to share was Playground Games, the developers of Forza Horizon 5. Mike Brown, creative director at Playground, showcased the setting of the new game: Mexico. Brown explained that they chose Mexico due to its diverse landscape and rich culture. This map will be the largest and most varied map to appear in Forza to this point. There will also be a feature called EventLab to create custom races, challenges and more. The game will be available on November 9 for Xbox series X/S, Xbox One and PC.

Next, Ninja Theory elaborated on the details of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2. The developers revealed that the game would be set in Iceland during the ninth century. They also explained that they are working tirelessly to create a realistic environment, along with lifelike characters. Ninja Theory also shared a development montage, showing players the type of work that is going into the games’ development.

James Hunter, senior director of strategy and business at Microsoft, came in to announce the return of Xbox Design Lab. Players will now have even more options to customize their controllers, now with 18 available colors. These custom controllers will be priced starting at $69.99.

Double Fine Production’s Tim Schafer also shared new details about Psychonauts 2. Schafer showed gameplay footage along with a breakdown of the game’s varied overworld. The game releases on August 25.

Stray Bombay Company emphasized how The Anacrusis will adjust to different playstyles. The co-op shooter will use health packs and adjust the volume of enemies to accomplish this.

Stalker 2: Heart of Chernobyl was also discussed. This included a gameplay reveal that showed a brand new faction, locations from the original and other details.

Battlefield 2o42 was also showcased, as the game’s design head touted the 128 player cap, and the ability to create “unique Battlefield moments.” The conquest game mode will allow for combat on a massive scale. The breakthrough game mode was also discussed, which will be a more linear version of conquest with set attackers and defenders.

Sea of Thieves: A Pirates Life also saw a reveal of gameplay footage. This is an update that will bring Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of The Caribbean into the game, along with other references to the movie series.

343 Industries also discussed Halo Infinite multiplayer at length, discussing the recently released trailer. They discussed backstory, player customization and game modes in particular. 343 will release a technical preview this summer.

Other items discussed included Hades, Age of Empires IV, A Plague Tale: Innocence, Scarlet Nexus, Shredders and Microsoft Flight Simulator.