//Halo Infinite, Fable and Everything Else Shown During the Xbox Games Showcase

Halo Infinite, Fable and Everything Else Shown During the Xbox Games Showcase

Microsoft had its highly anticipated Xbox Games Showcase today, showing off over a dozen games coming to its upcoming next-gen console, the Xbox Series X.

As previously announced, no new details about the console came from the event, instead focusing entirely on games coming to the system. Not all of them are exclusive to Series X, but quite a few are, somewhat contradicting previous statements that no first-party titles would be exclusive to the system for its first few years.

Here are the games, all of which will also be playable through Microsoft’s monthly subscription service, the Xbox Game Pass:


Developers: 343 Industries, SkyBox Labs
Release window: Holiday 2020
Platforms: Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PC

Xbox’s flagship franchise, Halo, has its next entry coming soon, and the showcase opened with a lengthy look at its opening minutes. It sure looks like Halo.


Developer: Undead Labs
Release window: TBA
Platforms: Xbox Series X, PC

The survival horror series State of Decay is becoming a trilogy with State of Decay 3. There are zombie deer now. Hopefully it can reinvent the series more than its somewhat repetitive previous entry.


Developer: Turn 10 Studios
Release window: TBA
Platforms: Xbox Series X, PC

While PlayStation has the Gran Turismo racing series, Xbox has Forza. The teaser didn’t show much, and we don’t even have a name for the entry, but rest assured, another one is coming.


Developer: Rare
Release window: TBA
Platforms: Xbox Series X, PC

Originally a developer for Nintendo in the SNES and N64 days, Rare now works for Microsoft, its most recent project being the online pirate game Sea of Thieves. The studio is now at work on Everwild, a fantasy game that seems to follow a narrative structure. It’s characteristically colorful and vibrant.


Developer: Dontnod Entertainment
Release dates: Aug. 27 (Chapter 1), Sept. 3 (Ch. 2), Sept. 10 (Ch. 3)
Platforms: Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PC

Life Is Strange developer Dontnod Entertainment’s upcoming episodic game is Tell Me Why, which follows two twins as they work to rediscover their family’s past. Dontnod is known for its impactful narratives and inclusive storytelling, which continues here through one of the twins being a transgender man.


Developers: Obsidian Entertainment, Private Division
Release date: Sept. 9
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PC

We enjoyed Obsidian Entertainment’s spiritual successor to Fallout: New Vegas when The Outer Worlds launched last year, and the adventure continues through the first of two DLC expansions in Peril on Gorgon.


Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
Early access release date: Tuesday, July 28
Platforms: Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PC

Obsidian’s also working on what it calls the “smallest game of the year,” as its characters have been miniaturized and must work together to regain their normal sizes. It’s a bit of a departure from Obsidian’s usually dense RPGs, but not an unwelcome one.


Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
Release window: TBA
Platforms: Xbox Series X, PC

They’re busy bees over there at Obsidian, as the third game it revealed is Avowed, which seems to take the serious, brooding fantasy setting of its Pillars of Eternity series and take it to new heights. Not much else is known about it, but it’s definitely something to keep an eye on.


Developers: Remedy Entertainment, Smilegate
Release window: 2020
Platforms: Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PC

The PC multiplayer series is coming to Xbox with CrossfireX, along with a new single-player campaign by Alan Wake and Control developer Remedy Entertainment. Set in first-person mode, its militaristic themes make it look a bit like a Call of Duty campaign, but we’ll see if Remedy’s able to add anything deeper to it.


Publisher: Sega
Release window: 2021
Platforms: Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PC

The ongoing MMO Phantasy Star Online 2 isn’t just coming to Xbox, but it’s getting some kind of upgrade or expansion through New Genesis. What exactly this means is unknown, but it certainly looks pretty.


Developer: Bloober Team
Release window: Holiday 2020
Platforms: Xbox Series X, PC

Initially revealed as a game for the Wii U, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 back in 2012, Bloober Team is finally ready to release its newest psychological horror title. It features a woman going back and forth between reality and the “spirit realm,” a bit like Stranger Things’ Upside-Down. Utilizing the Series X’s solid state drive, the game seems to have two fully rendered versions of its world running simultaneously, which should lead to some fun and scary interactions.


Developer: Image & Form Games
Release window: Fall 2021
Platforms: Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PC

The first game in a long time by Image & Form to not have the SteamWorld brand, The Gunk sees its protagonist land on an alien planet, collecting the titular gunk as they progress.


Developers: Monstars, Resonair
Release windows: Holiday 2020 (Xbox, PC), Summer 2021 (PlayStation)
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PC

The surprisingly emotional Tetris Effect from 2018 is getting a multiplayer expansion, which will be exclusive to Microsoft’s platforms for a time. It doesn’t look like it’ll have as many simultaneous players as the Switch’s Tetris 99, but it will likely be the closest thing to uniting the two wildly different takes on the block puzzle game.


Developer: Fatshark
Release window: 2021
Platforms: Xbox Series X, PC

The latest entry in the popular Warhammer 40,000 franchise based on the tabletop games, Darktide carries the first-person co-op series underground, with plenty of frightening baddies to keep at bay.


Developer: GSC Game World
Release window: 2021
Platforms: Xbox Series X, PC

As the first true sequel to the Stalker series since 2009, Stalker 2 surprised and delighted fans with its rather nonchalant announcement in 2018. Even years ahead of time, GSC Game World declared its intent to release the post-apocalyptic follow-up in 2021, and beyond all odds, it seems like it’s sticking to that schedule.


Developer: Double Fine
Release window: 2021
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PC, Mac, Linux

Initially announced as part of a crowdfunded project in 2015, the sequel to Double Fine’s 2005 cult classic has been in limbo for quite some time. However, since Microsoft’s acquisition of Double Fine in 2019, progress has been slow but steady on the sequel, and it’s finally (hopefully) coming out next year.


Developer: Interior/Night
Release window: TBA
Platforms: Xbox Series X, PC

In the first game from former Quantic Dream developers, As Dusk Falls seems to take an experimental approach to storytelling through static cutouts of characters in a style that seems hand-painted. It tells the story of two families who collide in 1999, with the ensuing narrative taking place over 30 years.


Developer: Playground Games
Release window: TBA
Platforms: Xbox Series X, PC

The presentation’s “one more thing” reveal was none other than a teaser for a new Fable game, from the long-dormant fantasy RPG series. It’s nothing more than a teaser, but an exciting one nonetheless, with the last mainline entry of the series having released over a decade ago with Fable III in 2010.