Microsoft Xbox E3 2019 Recap
Let the games rain upon us! Microsoft’s Xbox E3 conference has wrapped up this Monday and has given us a lot of games to check out. Phil Spencer took to the E3 stage to tease us with 60 Xbox games, and 14 of those games are from Xbox studios. Here are the games everyone should know about!
The Outer Worlds
Masters in RPGs, Obsidian Entertainment, is back with their game, The Outer Worlds. This dystopian future is ruled by large corporations. The Fat Cat reign is about to end, though, because a new character has sprung up in the world of Halycon.
Players take control of this new threat to the “man” in the colony of Halycon and can do as they see fit. Save, Murder, or simply trade goods, with the NPCs of the Earth Colony. Obsidian Entertainment has a real gem in their hands seeing as The Outer World has a lot of the best qualities of one of their last games, Fallout: New Vegas.
The Outer Worlds open up on October 25th.
Minecraft Dungeons
Think of Diablo 3 but for the whole family, as this is what Mojang’s new title, Minecraft Dungeons, is all about. Experience dungeon crawling as a solo explorer or as part of a 4 man team. The game will allow for couch co-op or online play in this fight against the evils of the Minecraft world.
Minecraft Dungeons is due out Spring of 2020.
Blair Witch
If family dungeon raids are not for you, enter the deep woods as you explore the Black Hills Forest for a lost kid. Based on the story of the 1999 film, Blair Witch gives you the first person experience of searching, running, and hiding from the evils in the forest. Just like in the movie, the game will use camcorder style recording to tell its story along with some shaky flashlight action.
If you are looking for a good scare, you might want to pick the Blair Witch up on August 30th.
Cyberpunk 2077
A real highlight of the entire Xbox conference, CD Projekt RED gave us some more information on Cyberpunk 2077. Keanu Reeves, aka John Wick, aka The One, took to the E3 stage to reveal that he is featured in the story of this futuristic storyline. His character helps our character “Samurai” up and out of the trash as if to guide us in game. Other than his cybernetic arm, not much else is known on Reeves’ character at this time.
Cyberpunk 2077 will be playable on April 16th, 2020.
Psychonauts 2
From the newest addition to Xbox Game Studios, Double Fine is the sequel to Psychonauts, Psychonauts 2. This platformer returns us to the character Raz and his psychic powers to explore the minds of others. In Psychonaut 2, Raz will discover that the company he works for is not as clean as he initially thought, so players will have to stop the Psychonaut Organization corruption.
Psychonauts 2 releases in 2020.
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
The guilty pleasure of many gamers, Lego Star Wars is returning, but this time it will feature all nine movies in the Skywalker story. From Episode 1 to Episode 9, players will take control of Jedi, droids, and smugglers in this classic Lego game.
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is building to a 2020 release date.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot
An action RPG for fans of the Manga and Anime legend, Dragon Ball Z Kakarot will follow the story of Goku. The trailer shown during the conference gave us glimpses at the Saiyan Saga, and battles on Planet Namek. Of course, we can expect to see one of the greatest anime moments, Goku’s first Super Saiyan transformation to be in Dragon Ball Z Kakarot.
The gameplay has 3rd dimensional battling much like the Dragon Ball Xenoverse games. Unfortunately, the reveal did not show us any of the RPG elements of the game, so we will have to wait for further information.
Dragon Ball Z Kakarot is coming in 2020.
Gears 5
The Coalition brought the big guns to this year’s E3 with information on what is happening next in the Gears story, new game modes, and when we can expect more Gears news.
Gear 5 will continue Kait’s story from Gears of War 4, but we will have to wait until September 10th to see what happens. For now, the Coalition showed off the Escape game mode. This three player co-op mode will have players planting a bomb in the middle of a hive. The Gears will set the timer and race to the exit. The game mode is playable in couch co-op or online respectively.
Also mentioned during the show, was that Gears 5 will have a multiplayer beta starting July 17th. The beta will allow players to try out their new multiplayer mode, Arcade. No more information was given on Arcade at this time, but for those of you who want a more co-op experience, the new Horde mode will begin beta on August 19th.
Pre-order Gears 5 or play within the first week of release and gain exclusive access to Terminator Dark Fate. Other perks for Gears 5 include playing four days early if you purchase Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
For everyone else, Gears 5 comes to Xbox One and PC on September 10th.
Dying Light 2
The sequel to the 2015 survival horror game, Dying Light 2 brings players back to the zombie apocalypse. We take control of Aiden, an athletic survivor, for now. He has been running from the zombies long enough to develop some excellent parkour skills, which we will experience for ourselves in gameplay. Aiden can even use Zombies to break his falls.
Dying Light 2’s story has been expanded with the developer claiming that players will need to play multiple times to get the whole thing. From where I am sitting the game looks like a lot of fun, but we will have to wait until 2020 to start surviving in Dying Light 2.
Forza Horizon 4 with Lego Speed Champions
The Xbox Racing King has more to give, but this time the graphics are a little blocky. Lego has teamed up with Playground Games to bring us Lego Speed Champions. Officially releasing on June 13th, you can load the new DLC right now as you are reading this article!
This $20 expansion brings Lego Valley as a new location to explore and race. Players can also construct their own cars and put them in their own personal Lego Mansion.
Crossfire X
Making its way across an ocean, Crossfire X is coming to Xbox first. This popular shooter, originally from Smilegate Entertainment of South Korea, is coming to Xbox in 2020.
Tales of Arise
Don’t worry JRPGs are still coming to Xbox. Tales of Arise is coming in 2020 and is the next game in the Tales series.
Borderlands 3
BOOM BABY!! Borderland 3 had to make an appearance at Xbox’s E3 conference. The long-awaited threequel features all new vault hunters, a new villain, and, of course, new weapons.
Borderlands 3 comes out on September 13th.
Elden Ring
Imagine a world created by George RR Martin, and that world is expanded upon by Dark Souls creator, Hidetaka Miyazaki, that is the game of Elden Ring. Without knowing anything about this game, I would jump right in.
Elden Ring’s lore was penned by George RR Martin, with combat worked on by From Software.
There is no confirmed release date for Elden Ring, but we can expect a 2020 release based on the other games shown.
Project Scarlett and Halo Infinite
Phil Spencer did what every good company lead would do in this situation, show your investors that you have something else in the pipeline.
Xbox announced Project Scarlett, the follow up to the Xbox One. The future system will house a next-gen Zen 2 CPU and Navi technology from AMD. The system’s graphics will be using GDDR6, which can push out frame rates of 120 and 8K resolutions. The console will house an SSD instead of the spinning hard drive which will speed up loading for all data.
Also mentioned during the announcement for Project Scarlett was the next Halo. Microsoft then gave us a story trailer for Halo Infinite. We see a UNSC pilot floating in a Pelican in space. It’s not stated what happened to him, but just as we begin to learn a little bit about him the Pelican’s scanners find something friendly. The Pilot wipes the fog from the windows to see Master Chief floating in space. He brings the Chief’s MJOLNIR suit back online just before shouting, “We are going home!”
Master Chief has been out for some time, but he's clenched onto an AI chip to insert into his helmet. Of course, there is no AI in the disk, but it completes the boot up of his armor. The Pilot shows Chief that he has been floating near a destroyed Halo ring just before the Pelican is breached by an Enemy.
“We’ve got to run!” shouts the Pilot.
Chief picks up a rifle and simply responds with “No, we must fight.”
Project Scarlett will launch in the Holiday Season of 2020 along with Halo Infinite.
What do you think about the games that Microsoft showcased? Are you looking forward to playing any of these titles? Let us know in the comments.