Xbox Developer_Direct

Microsoft Shares Info Regarding 4 First Party Titles … and a special guest

January 18, 2024 saw Microsoft deliver their second annual Xbox Developer_Direct, having had great success with their first in 2023. This new installment featured Avowed by Obsidian Entertainment, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II by Ninja Theory, Visions of Mana in a special guest appearance from Square Enix, Ara: History Untold by Oxide Games, and last but not least, Indiana Jones and Great Circle by MachineGames. Each game got decently deep looks at how they are shaping up for their 2024 releases.

Avowed

Obsidian entertainment

Avowed is the upcoming fantasy Action RPG featuring dynamic combat, decision-based storytelling, and a vibrant world to explore.

The graphic fidelity may leave something to be desired, but Obsidian has never relied heavily on the way the game looks. It looks good enough for what it is trying to do, as long as the rest of the game measures up to expectations. For my money, the clips they showed to demonstate the way your decisions altered the world was not as clear as it could have been. The combat looks interesting and energetic, but first person combat often relies on how it feels in your hand.

There remains much to see from Avowed, but it certainly appears promising. I would love to see more about it before its eventual launch. It was announced to be releasing Fall 2024.

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II

Ninja Theory

The follow-up to the interesting indie predecessor now has the full support of Xbox as a first party title. Continue following Senua’s journey, which leads her to Iceland, a harsh and brutal land ravaged by myth and tyranny.

We got to look closer at how the team at Ninja Theory is working to fully realize Senua’s perspective as a person who experiences psychosis. We also got to see some visceral fights with demonic creatures called Draugar. The tech was the standout achievement of the first game, and the second seems to be going from strength to strength with everything on that end getting launched into the stratosphere. They seem to be continuing to break new ground in binaural and spatial audio design. This deep-dive also was pretty upfront with setting expectation for the scope of the project. Gamers should expect this game to stay true to the first game’s mission statement – delivering a shorter experience of a similar length as the first, but one that crafts life-changing art with game-breaking tech.

The public has had the opportunity to see this game a good number of times, but everytime we are left wanting more information. I feel like this game still has question marks regarding what it will actually be like when you play. From what I have seen, I think it will be an upgrade on everything you loved about the first game. But, I think it will not be transformative enough to make those who did not resonate with Senua’s Sacrifice like its sequel significantly more. They ended with a first reveal of a May 21, 2024 release date.

Visions of Mana

Square Enix

It was a surprise appearance from Square Enix. They stopped by to give some fresh details on the first new Mana game in over 15 years. We got a look a some of the iconic monster designs of the series as well as some snippets and background on the game’s score. The game will apparently have a tracklist of over 100 songs. They finished with a look at some interesting elemental and aerial weapons and magic that make the combat look fun and engaging.

This was the first real deeper look at this title since its initial reveal at last year’s Game Awards. Personally, I am incredibly hyped for this game. That being said, there is still much to see and hear from Square Enix about what this is actually be. Luckily, it seems that this latest entry in the Mana series is finally getting a big budget treatment, so I think we will get more information in a big way as we get into the summer.

This is going to be one I will be keeping my eye on as the year progresses. It reminds me of Tales of Arise from 2021. The Tales series was a long time series that always seemed like a second class series in the publisher’s eyes. Arise was given a high-scale glow-up and achieved some good success. I could see a similar story unfolding for Visions. I’m sure we will see more soon as it was given a Summer 2024 window for release.

Ara: history Untold

Oxide Games

We finally got an in-depth look at this new innovative historical grand strategy game featuring an interesting crafting system, a unigue approach to simultaneous turns, and a progressive altered earth that changes depending on your decisions throughout the course of the game.

This game looks great. The world seems so nice to look at, and the cities feel historical and organic. I like the way this game is coming along, but so much of the impact to any game in this genre depends on how it plays. That is something we will need to see more to discern. There seems to be so many systems laid on top of each other. It is a bit intimidating for someone who has only dabbled in these kinds of games, but I can dream that it will not get too bogged down. Everyone seems pretty excited about this game, and I have to agree.

Oxide Games seem to be swinging for the fences with Ara: History Untold. They are clearly aiming to set a new standard in grand strategy, and if they hit their mark, it will send waves reverberating through the genre at large. I assume we will get more information in the summer because they topped this showing off with a Fall 2024 window, joining Avowed as one of Xbox’s big fall releases on the calendar.

Indiana Jones and the great circle

machineGames

This game has been hot anticipated for some time since it was first announced, and here, we finally got our eyes on the product. This seems to be an expansive adventure around the globe with the legendary archeologist, and it comes from the award-winning team at MachineGames, of Wolfenstein fame.

One of the big question marks going in was whether this would be first-person or third-person. It appears they are going with a first-person view, something not entirely surprising since that is what MachineGames has had success with in the past. They do seem to make use of the third-person viewpoint for cutscenes and environmental traversal. The iconic whip was on full display in the gameplay that was shown. Using it for traversal, combat, and distractions during stealth all seem to be implemented cleverly. There were also some puzzles in the world that looked to fit into the Indiana Jones world. The developers also promised some secrets in the world that you could easily miss if you are simply following the golden path.

The cutscenes looked pretty good, and the graphics seem to be operating at a high level. This game was clearly the furthest from release, but the bones of an amazing game appear to be in place. I grew up watching Indiana Jones and following his adventures, so my expectations are high. This was also given a release window at the end, but it could only be nailed down to a general 2024 window.