During the Developer_Direct show we previously told you about, details were released of five new TOP titles that will be released on Xbox Series X|S, PC, Game Pass and/or cloud later this year. Joe Scrabbles, Xbox Wire’s Editor-in-Chief, tells us the details around them on the Microsoft blog.

Joe, who along with fellow team members attended the show, shares with readers that during the show guests had the opportunity to visit the studios that created the games Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Avowed, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II and Ara: History Untold,.

The developers of the big name games in turn allowed attendees a glimpse into the workings of their creation.

Here’s what Joe Scrabbles has to say about the TOP games coming out this year

Avowed – launching in the fall of 2024

Game Director Carrie Patel shares details around gameplay in Obsidian’s upcoming fantasy action RPG – from the dynamic combat, to the thoughtful reactivity, to the “colorful, vibrant and strange” world in The Living Lands.

What you get from it is that Avowed continues Obsidian’s characteristic style of making games with deep themes and player choice at the forefront.

Avowed’s aim is to offer choice in combat as well. From gameplay director Gabe Paramo, we find out more about the game’s weapons and their variety – from melee weapons, guns and bows for long-range combat to magic wands. You’ll also have the option of changing gear.

Art director Matt Hansen makes it clear that The Living Lands is a mysterious island made up of extremely diverse regions that offer visually varied backgrounds and intriguing environments to explore. With secrets hidden in the regions, you’ll be introduced to deserts, verdant forests, volcanoes and more.

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II – launched on 21 May

Developer_Direct attendees get a behind-the-scenes look at the game’s studio in Cambridge to get a closer look at Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, and meet some of the team, as well as learn more about work on the new title, which is in its final months of development.
The video talks more about Senua’s new journey, which takes her to Iceland, a ruthless country ravaged by myth and tyranny. The video gives a new glimpse into Senua’s experience of the world, seen through her eyes as someone experiencing psychosis. Senua’s violent battles that she fights are also in view of the audience.

We also find out details about what players can expect from the game’s story and how the spatial audio will immerse players deep into the world of Hellblade.

Ara: History Untold – Launching Fall 2024

Oxide Games executives give an all-new look at the game, and also share more details around the major features that will appear in Ara: History Untold.

During the show, viewers had the opportunity to learn more details around the system the game was developed with, as well as the unique approach to simultaneous moves and more.

A curious fact
Did you know that the Oxide Games studio partially includes former Civilization developers? Oxide Games has announced that the game will only be released for PC for the time being.

Visions of Mana – Launching Summer 2024

In a surprise appearance, Square Enix joined the show to present Visions of Mana, the first new mainline entry in the series in over 15 years, and its debut on Xbox platforms. Series producer Masaru Oyamada presented a sneak peek at the gorgeous new RPG, sharing gameplay and behind the scenes footage before its launch in Summer 2024.

Koichi Ishii – father of the Mana series and creator of many of its iconic monsters – discussed the implementation and design of the enemies in Visions of Mana, and introduced the adorable new animal companions, “pikuls” and explained the design process behind them.

Oyamada then shared some details regarding the game’s score and revealed that the tracklist for Visions of Mana contains 100 songs in total, including works from musical talent who worked on previous Mana games. Oyamada also shared details of the adaptive music system that allows seamless transition from map exploration to battles, demonstrating a snippet of the background music changing as you enter or leave combat.

Oyamada also revealed that in Visions of Mana, The Elementals will assist the player in battle in the form of specialized items, which will each have a different effect in combat. Combined with aerial combat that allows for weapons and magic to be used in mid-air, the combat is fast-paced and flexible.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle – Launching 2024

The official reveal of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was debuted during Developer_Direct with over 13 minutes of gameplay footage and developer insights. This new journey starring the legendary archaeologist comes from the award-winning team at MachineGames – the minds behind Wolfenstein: The New Order and Wolfenstein: The New Colossus – in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games and executive produced by Bethesda Game Studios’ Todd Howard.

Microsoft President Brad Smith is due to meet UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt this week to discuss the CMA’s decision to block the purchase.

Microsoft President Smith is also expected to meet with Microsoft’s legal team to discuss any counter strategies. This meeting is also likely to discuss the ‘final’ option of withdrawing Activision Blizzard titles from the UK market.

“One of the extreme options could be to bypass the UK order and proceed with the deal or to withdraw Activision from the UK market.”

the report said.

Microsoft is expected to consider the EU’s findings in approving the purchase. In its ruling, the EU said the deal could “kick-start” competition in cloud gaming and streaming. However, the CMA said the deal would give Microsoft an unfair advantage over other companies such as Sony or Nintendo

CrossfireX is the Xbox console version of the massively popular tactical shooter Crossfire. After some delay, it appeared less than a year ago, but was neither a hit with critics nor, more importantly, the public, Engadget wrote on the subject.

Developer Smilegate has stopped selling the game (the multiplayer component is free-to-play, but the single-player campaign, developed by Remedy, is not) and is offering refunds on purchases made in the last two weeks. The company will shut down CrossfireX’s servers on May 18.

Meanwhile, Knockout City is a fun dodgeball game that debuts in 2021. It became free-to-play last year when developer Velan Studios parted ways with EA to release it independently. Alas, Knockout City is also being shut down.

We have an important announcement about the future of Knockout City.

Season 9 will be our final Season. All servers will be shut down on June 6th. We have more in store, so stay tuned!

Learn more about the upcoming sunset in our latest blog: https://t.co/15hTpzmSyq

— Knockout City (@knockoutcity) February 3, 2023

It’s hard to make a successful game, let alone one that requires players to stick with it for a long period of time. Major players like Fortnite, Apex Legends (the console and PC version), Valorant, Overwatch 2, and Genshin Impact won’t be showing up anytime soon. All the developers are competing with each other and anything else that can grab people’s attention. Even though there are more than 3 billion gamers, there are only so many games with live service that the market can support.

Here are the biggest new games for January 2023 according to Cultured Vultures.

Lone Ruin – January 12th, 2023

Roguelikes have become one of the most popular genres on the market at the moment, so it’s not surprising that there have been many indie developers making their splash on the genre recently. With so many competing titles, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it’d be hard for a new roguelike to really make an impact, but Cuddle Monster Games are hoping that Lone Ruin can be the next big roguelike hit.

You’ll play as an explorer who finds the titular Lone Ruin, an ancient and magical city that houses some incredible power in its center. You’ll just need to fight your way through hordes of monsters and creatures in order to get there. A twin-stick shooter using spells as a basis, you’ll customize your skills and abilities throughout your run to maximize your destructive potential, making for a rewarding gameplay loop.

One Piece Odyssey – January 13th, 2023

One Piece has firmly taken its place atop the anime and manga world as the biggest franchise going at the moment, but it’s still yet to have that defining game sitting alongside it. Pirate Warriors 4 is probably the best one so far, but considering it relied heavily on the already established Musou formula, it feels like a copout. Hopefully, One Piece Odyssey will cement itself as the definitive One Piece game.

A whole new adventure set in the world of One Piece, Odyssey sees players controlling Monkey D. Luffy and other members of the Straw Hat lads stranded on a remote island, separated from each other after a violent storm wrecked their ship. You’ll have to help the crew deal with the locals, fend off some monsters and ultimately reunite and leave the island entirely, which is going to be easier said than done.

Fire Emblem Engage – January 20th, 2023

Fire Emblem has, for the large majority of its tenure, been an excellent yet somewhat overlooked strategy series. However, that all changed when the Nintendo Switch’s Three Houses really catapulted the franchise into the mainstream, and Nintendo look like they’re showing no signs of slowing down the hype train, as Fire Emblem Engage hopes to continue that upwards momentum into 2023.

As with other Fire Emblem titles, Engage focuses on a brand new set of characters, only with a bit of a twist this time around. You’ll play as Alear, a Divine Dragon charged with ensuring that the Fell Dragon Sombron doesn’t wreck havoc on the kingdom of Elyos once again. In order to do so, you’ll need to gather various Emblem Rings, which contain the souls of warriors from previous Fire Emblem games.

Forspoken – January 24th, 2023

At this point, Forspoken might be most well known for that admittedly ill-advised 30 second trailer that sounded like the most cringe dialogue ever. It’s a shame, because from a gameplay perspective, Forspoken looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun, even if that’s because we’ll be able to do magical parkour across a vast open world. Never the combat, we’ll just be gliding across the desert, thanks.

Far from just being a magic running simulator, Forspoken’s story sees players controlling Frey Holland, an average young woman living in New York City who is mysteriously transported to the mystical world of Athia. Unfortunately, this world is under the tyranny of the Tantas family, so Frey will have to work together with various allies, including her sentient bracelet apparently, in order to find a way to return home safely.

Dead Space – January 27th, 2023

Now that The Callisto Protocol has finally launched and hasn’t really lived up to the expectations many people had for it, all eyes have now moved towards Motive Studio and their work on the Dead Space reboot. With such an iconic and enjoyable foundation to pull from, Motive Studio have practically got a home run on their hands already, and it’s looking likely that they’ll deliver the goods when Dead Space launches.

A retelling of the game’s original story, Dead Space sees engineer Isaac Clarke responding to a distress signal on the planet-cracking spaceship, the USG Ishimura. The Ishimura recently made a discovery, a Marker buried under the surface of the planet, but said discovery proved to be a curse, as most of the crew has now mutated into violent Necromorphs. Equipped with some deadly tools, Isaac must brave the horrors of the Ishimura alone.

Season: A Letter To The Future – January 31st, 2023

One specific genre that’s seemingly emerged over the years is the passive open world experience; one where there’s no combat, only good vibes and plenty of secrets. The pull of this type of game is with the world it offers, and unraveling the various mysteries surrounding it, and from the sounds of Season: A Letter To The Future’s premise, this is certainly going to be one of the most interesting.

Season: A Letter To The Future casts players as Estelle, a member of a secluded village in the mountains who’s leaving home for the first time to catalog the people, places and culture of the wider world. For her world, one season is an entire era, and this season is about to end, so Estelle looks to make sure her world is chronicled for the future before a mysterious cataclysm wipes everything away. Who said games without combat couldn’t have high stakes?

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake – January 31st, 2023

The SpongeBob SquarePants series is pretty out there at the best of times, but Purple Lamp and THQ Nordic’s upcoming game, The Cosmic Shake, looks set to be the yellow mascot’s most ridiculous adventure yet. To be fair, it was only a matter of time before SpongeBob SquarePants went to the multiverse, or Wishworlds as they’ve been called here, though hopefully that silliness will lead to an excellent platforming adventure.

SpongeBob and Patrick have been given the wish granting power of a Mermaid Tear, which has obviously led to the very fabric of the universe being unraveled at an alarming rate. In order to save everything, SpongeBob and a balloon version of Patrick will have to travel to seven unique Wishworlds, such as Wild West Jellyfish Fields and Halloween Rock Bottom, obtain various platforming skills and costumes, and ultimately save everyone. All in a day’s work for a goofy goober.