[ASL] Xbox Games Showcase + Starfield Direct

We’ve got a double feature for you! Join us for the Xbox Games Showcase, featuring new games from our incredibly talented internal studios and many creative partners from around the world, followed by Starfield Direct, a deep dive into the highly anticipated RPG from Bethesda Game Studios!

[Lightning77]

Keeping my expectations low. Idc if Greenberg is hyping it like crazy. They've done that before many time and failed. Of course I'm only speaking for myself. If they show me Avowed and Hell Blade 2 I'll be happy. Of course I wanna see more but those games are my highlights.

They should kick off the show with Hell Blade 2 right off the bat imo. Set the tone early.

Let's see what you got Xbox.

[DickyD1226]

Avowed didn't look as good as I hoped it would.

[Lightning77]

I agree, the action looks fun but graphically was a miss imo.

[jjb1981]

It looks fun but the graphics say mobile device.

[Sonic1881]

Is it just me but Starfield still reminds me of No man sky 🤔 the shooting mechanic still needs some work

[Zombieburger638]

The shooting isn’t getting any better.

[Magic_Spatula]

Definitely just seems like Fallout in Space with mechanics taken from No Man Sky.

[maniacmayhem]

The best part about this show is the level of quality games coming to Game Pass. Very impressive.

Was hoping to see something from The Coalition or State of Decay 3, but MS definitely showed more than enough from the studios they purchased.

Good show.

[Lightning77]

I definitely agree.

I already knew we weren't gonna see anything from Coalition. That was a easy call. It's too early.

Again I agree though.

[WiiU-Dude]

I agree

[RedDevils]

I'm probably the only one here, but I'm looking forward to those RPG from Atlus more.

[Golfcoachh]

Clockwork revolution looks like it could be pretty cool.. Overall I thought it was a good show, lots of games, and of course expansions, I think the Flight Sim expansion is cool along with the Dune stuff. I knew N4G would be full of people bagging on it, calling out what wasn't there, but we got to see a lot of stuff coming for gamepass that looks really cool. I am not gonna nitpick, I enjoyed and the future of gaming is still very bright unless you are a N4G baby like so many on here.

[outsider1624]

Here we go boys!! Lets have a great show.

[RaidenBlack]

Dayyuum ... Starfield seems sooo huge and looks very pretty too.
Was Not expecting to see Fable, let alone seeing mini-gameplay segment at the end ... the game is shaping up to be fantastic. Looks good.
Would like to know more about Compulsion's new game, South of Midnight
Was not expecting PayDay 3 to be there, but yea cool ...
Avowed just looks like more colorful Elder Scrolls, like the art-style as well.
inXile's new RPG Clockwork Revolution looks like Bioshock Infinite + Dishonored and that's just awesome
Senua II gameplay just looked like a movie ... no other way to put it.
Still Wakes The Deep looked pretty good but need to know more .. is it survival horror?
Phantom Liberty being next-gen only looks wayy better and likely to offer the true Cyberpunk experience
Surprised to see a new Capcom game at xbox showcase. Path of the Goddess has to be the most Japanese-esque game I've seen in a while.
Also surprised to see a new game from Studio Zero Team, Metaphor Re Fantazio.
Was expecting STALKER 2 though & something from MachineGames.

[Sonic1881]

Looks good and better than the Playstation Showcase so far

[DickyD1226]

It's been okay so far.

[__SteakDeck__]

@Sonic1881 I mean is that saying much? Lol No gameplay and release date for Fable, No gameplay for Hellblade, and Avowed graphically and animation wise looked mid. There’s still a lot of show left, so we’ll see.

[Lightning77]

"Lol No gameplay and release date for Fable,"

Nobody in their right mind was expecting a release date for Fable. Hell. Most ppl. Didn't even expect Fable to show up at all.

"No gameplay for Hellblade,"

1000% agree huge miss.

Avowed graphically wasn't impressive I think the gameplay could be solid tho.

[LabRat]

@Lightning77 "Most people weren't expecting Fable to show up at all"

I think people definitely expected a Fable showing, especially with their teaser of glitter and Fable music a week ago. I didn't think the trailer was bad, but would've liked gameplay.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

Personally, I would only call this a slight improvement over Sony's Showcase, it was better, but not miles better, it was a pleasant surprise.

[raWfodog]

Now that you’ve watched the whole thing, what’s your opinion? I’m only asking since you were the first one in this thread order to bring up the comparison to Sony. By my count, they had about half of the exclusives that Sony announced but a lot of people complained about Sony’s showcase.

[iEatNapkinz]

I honestly don't think it was much better than PS show case. I honestly think all showcases this year, so far, have been underwhelming. SGF wasn't great and the MS and PS showcases are about level to me

[Flewid638]

99% of the show were cinematic trailers with zero gameplay. Starfield was the only big reveal.

[Christopher]

Great Fable trailer. Just great.

[Sonic1881]

Yes sir!!

[Sonic1881]

I wanna know if that Star Wars game is day one on gamepass because it's a Ubisoft game

[Goosejuice]

If it was they would have said so like they usually do.

[__SteakDeck__]

@Sonic1881 You’re crazy. There is no way Ubisoft is going to put a Star Wars game on Gamepass, when it could sell 10+M.

[Sonic1881]

@_SteakDeck_
I was wondering and asking, I never said it would happen

[Christopher]

They would have mentioned it in the trailer if it was. They did for all the other games that were.

[ravens52]

Looking pretty good so far.

[ravens52]

It wasn't bad. 14 multiplatform games. Not much gameplay or release dates but they showed some stuff

[Flawlessmic]

I thought I was an excellent show from MS.

First time since I been gaming which is since ps1 and owning almost every console along the way since then, that I'm more excited about what xbox is doing than I am ps or Nintendo.

Fable looked awesome, like proper awesome, avowed I was happy to see even if it looked a little odd. Hellblade was disappointing, also looked like a visual downgrade but appreciate they showed how it will look on xbox.

Forza finally has a date which I'm stoked about.

Starfield looks absolutely epic!!!

Cities 2 being on gp is a massive get for me, cant wait to play that amongst other things on my new legion i7 pro that's on its way

Pay day 3 on gp is also a pretty sick get.

Clockwork looked brillant also.

MS brought it for the most part, this is great for competition!!

[-Foxtrot]

I know they said no CGI trailers but with that I assumed it meant reveals with actual gameplay in action

Fable, South of Midnight and Star Wars had no actual gameplay...obviously not CGI and clearly done in game but I thought we'd get to see a small gameplay clip or two...something to see them in action.

[Sonic1881]

Avowed looked amazing but was it captured on PC 🤔

[DickyD1226]

I didn't like avowed at all. Idk what if was the combat seemed clunky like oblivion.

[-Foxtrot]

It did but I really wanted to see how Fable and Star Wars played

Even a 10 second clip

[Lightning77]

Starfields fine I feel like I need to play it. I'm liking what I see overall there's allot to sink as is with all Bethesda games. IMO it's much, MUCH better than NMS I can't even compare the two tbh.

[anast]

The games would look worse if they showed gameplay.

[outsider1624]

Wasn't there like a teeny weeny bit of gameplay in Fable....i maybe wrong though. Graphics look on point.

Avowed was pretty disappointing though.

[Christopher]

It's Greenburg. You know he says stuff just to throw shit at the others but tends to not be what we really want either.

[EvertonFC]

That's Aaron Greenberg for you.

[maniacmayhem]

Don't know why you would assume that. In game footage means exactly that, all games shown was running from the game. And they showed a bit about how Fable would play or at least how it would. Star Wars on the other hand, not sure how far along that game is for them to have shown anything.

Imo Greensburg said what was shown with the little amount of characters he could use on Twitter

[dumahim]

I don't remember gameplay in Forza either. Didn't really tell us anything other than the cover cars, which for all I know was already known. (side note, E-Ray. I wonder if removing the hybrid motor and battery is a part of the mods.) Probably have to wait for the next Forza Monthly.

[Sniperwithacause]

Outdated graphics for Avowed. Need to get a better engine.

[Sonic1881]

Are you kidding me. It look like they took inspirations from Elder Scrolls. I am watching it in 4K though.

[Sniperwithacause]

I'm watching in 4k also buddy! Still, the engine looks very outdated. I stand by my statement.

[DickyD1226]

I'm with you and the combat looked clunky. I enjoyed fable though.

[Sonic1881]

Starfield combat looked clunky to me

[DickyD1226]

@Sonic1881
Yes I'm with you after playing nms and star citizen sf just looks bland to me.

[Imalwaysright]

Sonic1881

Clunky? I disagree and was actually pleasently surprised with how fluid and fast paced it was given that combat has never been Bethesda's strong suit.

[JCOLE13195]

Holy crap Avowed looked awesome!

[Sniperwithacause]

Seems like games that want to have a humorous tone to them, have to have a more cartoonist type art style to them.

[Terry_B]

So far it was super boring. Not one surprise yet and the trailers were really lame.

edit: Holy Hell does Hellblade 2 look boring.

edit 2.. first great trailer...Yakuza <3

[Sniperwithacause]

So if I play enough of the flight sim, I can become a true pilot? Like the guy did by playing GT?
The game looks really good, but myself would lose interest quick just flying.

[Sniperwithacause]

Capcom be on some psychedelic shit

[Terry_B]

Yeah..but sad that it is not a new Onimusha. Looked like one in the first 30 seconds

[S2Killinit]

Yeah that Capcom game was the most interesting showing for me. I hope its coming to other platforms.

[DickyD1226]

A lot of third party stuff I figured xbox would be swinging hard with first party.

[Lightning77]

They are its just lack of game play is the issue.

[DickyD1226]

Every game I've seen that doesn't have xbox studio with it is coming to ps5. I'm glad I kept my expectations low.

[Lightning77]

I mean ok. You expect all 1st party or something? That's weird.

[DickyD1226]

No I'd expect xbox to deliver on the no chi and to show up playstation. Which they failed on both fronts. It was a mid show a better xbox show then there has been but a mid show none the less.

[goldwyncq]

Much more first party content than the PS showcase.

[Sniperwithacause]

Avowed and elder scroll using same engine?
They look so similar. Graphics just seem like they aren't able to show details on the environment. Like it's just a copy and paste type world.

[sparky77]

Best showcase of the year by a country mile and its only just started

[DickyD1226]

It was okay. And Starfield does not look good the motion but was bad.

[FGHFGHFGH]

No ground vehicles in starfield. How big can these worlds really be if you have to walk everywhere. Not really "believable" worlds either that have spaceships but no kind of cars. Bethesda is also missing out on selling car armor microsoftransaction.

[Elda]

Not really.

[LabRat]

Which one was better?

[anast]

No gameplay and mid graphics...

[raWfodog]

I appreciate that as your preference but I believe that is not an unbiased opinion lol. The more objective view would place these showcases as very comparable to each other. On the PlayStation side, they showed more exclusives. On Xbox side, the gamepass subscribers will benefit as having access to many of those titles day 1.

[meanmallard]

Sony showed more games they also had more games that were console exclusive and they also showed more new games. They probably showed more gameplay too.

And the most popular games at the Gamefest show were Sony exclusives.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

Not really, that's an exaggeration because both showcase weren't particularly outstanding, or as other person would put it, mid.

[Sniperwithacause]

Xbox trying real hard to show off plenty of games that aren't in their normal safe zone.

[goldwyncq]

That fantasy RPG from the creator of Persona was unexpected.

[DarXyde]

I give them credit for that.

I really appreciate the departure from the sequels in this showcase. Persona 3 and Metaphor have my attention, as does Jusant. All three looked excellent.

I might be alone here, but Starfield annoyed me. That was such a lengthy showing. I have always hated those kinds of showings. I love Bloodborne and I remember when they showed off a Chalice Dungeon at E3. Great showing, but even that felt a bit much. 5-10 minutes is all you need. Anything after that is pushing it a bit.

Hell Blade 2 was visually stunning. Can't really say much beyond that, but we did see gameplay already so I think we know enough. Ninja Theory has always been ahead of the curve in terms of production values. This only continues that tradition. I can't say I'm big on their gameplay at all, but no one can say they're not a serious talent.

Lastly, did anyone else find it odd that there was no mention of new content for Halo Infinite? Don't they have a very near future update?

[Lightning77]

No gameplay for Hellblade 2 is a big let down. The games beautiful but I need to see gameplay.

[dRanzer]

Slow, boring, too much talking .

We need to see more action

[ModsDoBetter]

You do know what Hellblade is about, right?
It’s not all action…

[maniacmayhem]

I never saw the appeal for Hellblade, and this trailer did absolutely nothing for me.

[Terry_B]

Cringe ..creepy Keanu.

[dumahim]

Was he missing a tooth? He sounded off too.

[Sniperwithacause]

Cities, not my cup of tea

[cl1983]

I've missed playing sim city so it may fill the itch.

[EvertonFC]

Sorry but Meh

[dRanzer]

Starfield look promising

[EvertonFC]

AI still looked non existent, looked janky but lots to do in the game for sure.

[potatoseal]

Yeak it did look pretty good overall. Perfect? No, but I think it looks like it will be good

[slate91]

Super underwhelming. On all fronts.

[Elda]

As always I kept my expectations at a minimum especially when it comes to XB showcases. For me, this showcase was no better than the PS showcase. Most of the XB exclusives had no gameplay nor any concrete release dates. Most of the exclusives that were shown I didn't say..."Wow, I can't wait to play that!" The only exclusive that caught my eye was Clockwork Revolution. For me, it was the multi-plats that were more interesting such as Metaphor, Phantom Liberty Expansion & Payday 3. There are a couple of smaller titles I will try on GP. Starfield just seems like it's not my cup of tea. Overall for me, XB 2023 showcase was an average showcase. Nothing jaw-dropping was shown.

[S2Killinit]

I think before learning what MS had, people had unreasonably high expectations. So the reveals sort of deflated the enthusiasm a bit. But not a terrible showing overall. Starfield didnt impress considering the type of hype riding on it. My personal favorite was that Capcom game. Looked Onimisha-esque.

[Terry_B]

Yeah...was hoping for a new Killer Instinct the whole time. Got annoyed by seeing "world premiere" and "on gamepass day 1" sequences every couple of minutes instead.

[Chevalier]

Unreasonable? How so? Pretty sure Greenburg hyped up this show for Xbox.

[maniacmayhem]

One thing Xbox is not lacking is fantasy role playing games.

This was a good show case, they mostly showed first party games which was what people wanted. Avowed looked great, Fable looked hilarious and Starfield was absolutely amazing.

Best part of the whole show was no cat games.

One trope I would like to see leave gaming is characters accompanied by cute little animals.

[Goosejuice]

I wouldn't say mostly since it showed 14 multiplat games. Overall though it was a decent show. Little disappointed with no gameplay or release date from fable and hellblade. Avowed looked ok, i enjoy obsidian games though so will give it a go.

[Huey_My_D_Long]

Really weird you don't like cute animals considering your kawaii art style avartar. I know its the Cooking Mama, Just think there would be an overlap just saying.

[SPEAKxTHExTRUTH]

Phi said they would say weather or not Starfield would be 60fps and I didn’t see one word about it during this direct so I have to assume it will be 30fps and if so screw this game…

[EvertonFC]

Forgot about that, but true. It's the terrible non existent AI that annoys me about it.

[PhillyDonJawn]

No way in hell that game is gonna be 60fps. The scale is way too big.

[SPEAKxTHExTRUTH]

I’m really hoping you and I are wrong but it’s not looking likely.

[Master-Tonberry]

Starfield overall looks fantastic but I really can't get over how boring the weapons are.
I know they're going for a more realistic approach but Pistols, Shotguns, Machine guns and rifles again, seriously? Use your bloody imagination, it's sci-fi for god's sake.

[potatoseal]

I expected better. But overall pretty good. Would have liked a bit more gameplay. But Fable looks great. Avowed disappointed a little bit. But yeah overall some good stuff.

[anast]

The games aren't looking good. They have that MS cheap to them.

[Huey_My_D_Long]

I liked more of the indie stuff they showed. Always thought of Fable as a baby's first rpg series, but very charming game series nonetheless. With Richard Oyoade, I'll definitely check it out.
Nothing shown about starfield changed my mind about Bethesda or starfield. I think the game is gonna be a disappointment.

[franwex]

It was an okay show.

Also, I noticed that a lot of the protagonists in these games are women. I’m not criticizing-as long as the game is good-but it was noticeably apparent. Heh.

[gleepot]

The first party stuff looks awesome. A lot of multiplatform stuff, so whatever I guess.

[Flakegriffin]

Very mediocre showcase.

[pitythefool]

So nothing that’s exclusive that we didn’t already know about, could swear Sony’s show was branded a failure for that.

This was half a grade better at best.

[PhillyDonJawn]

There was nothing outside of Spiderman at Sony show. That's why it was considered a disappointment.

[goldwyncq]

Clockwork Revolution, South of Midnight, and Flight Simulator 2024 are completely new exclusives.

[darkrider]

Boring. Boring and super boring that is super niche "game"

[Flakegriffin]

Flight Sim 2024 is just an update to an already existing game.

[goldwyncq]

@Flake
They already confirmed it's the next installment and not just DLC for Flight Sim 2020.

[jjb1981]

All I cared about was seeing Starfield but was gladly surprised by Fable. Senua 2 looks really good also. Hopefully Perfect Dark reboot is still being worked on because that is what I'm really hoping for from Xbox. Nothing else was interesting to me except maybe possibly the Star Wars game but it is Ubisoft after all. They're gonna have MTs for XP boosts and make the leveling exceptionally slow. We'll see. Overall it I think it was better than Sony's last show but I also feel that Sony kept some tricks under their sleeves.

[Father__Merrin]

Wasn't such a bad show.i enjoyed it

[YourMommySpoils]

The usual drab. Yawn.

[jznrpg]

Despite my thinking Xbox might have a really good show they underdeliver as always.

Why should someone go buy an Xbox for games that look okish like Avowed and Starfield? Fable you saw no gameplay.

Anyway shows are lame these days I only care about games that actually release. Starfield AI looks poor , Avowed looks like a PS3-PS4 game graphically. That Series S hurts Xbox

[anast]

It was shocking how bad Avowed looked.

[Lexreborn2]

This showcase was pretty bad

[PhillyDonJawn]

Good show, Gamepass got a lot of games coming. What's up with so many games releasing in September? And Starfield blew me away. I was concerned the combat in the game wouldn't be good but it looks like they nailed it. I think it's safe to say it'll be game of year.

[Shane Kim]

Just as bad as Sony's but at least that had a nice gameplay section of Spider Man 2.

[goldwyncq]

At least they actually showed multiple exclusives including some new ones unlike in the PS Showcase lol.

And there's that deep dive on Starfield at the end too.

[darkrider]

Dude, think before writing. There was a new exclusive and coming this year.

Did Microsoft shown any new exclusive coming 2023?

[anast]

The games did not look good. It was a lot of Game Pass mediocrity. The hour of Starfield showed us nothing really. It was just some janky looking eye candy. Unless Starfield turns out to be a deep RPG with complex decision trees then it will be average as well.

[RupeeHoarder]

No Perfect Dark, No Indiana Jones, No Stalker, No Coalition, No State of Decay, No Everwild, No id Software, No gameplay for Hellblade and a basic 2024 release, Fable looked nice but again no gameplay or even a year estimate, Avowed looked incredibly mediocre, Starfield’s combat has not improved, a black Series S, More Sea of Thieves, More Flight Simulator….Microsoft had an opportunity here to swing for the fences and missed. I was anticipating being blown away today and was not.

[goldwyncq]

Best showcase of the year but could've been better. 8/10.

[Crows90]

I never thought I'd be so underwhelmed by so many 1st party studios at once!

Xbox has this in the bag...couldn't have been easier to impress with the games they showed but somehow made my interest in all of those games go down to ZERO.

Only thing I'd say is starfield is looking great. Gameplay does look much better right now I think.

[darkrider]

So this was the mind-blowing gameplay showcase that would change things?

So many megatons, not really. Gameplay, well Microsoft style....

Another series s with more space... A console that is holding back the series x, but Microsoft doesn't care.

In comparison Spiderman 2 got more gameplay that all Microsoft games put together. OK, almost.... Or maybe not...

[gold_drake]

just watched it, Fable genuinely surprised me. Starfield, sure.

the rest was pretty meh to be honest.

[InUrFoxHole]

Xbox absolutely 💯 crushed it!!!

[Rimeskeem]

Damn, half of that was Starfield, and another 25% what talking or some expansion/DLC.

Was it better than Sony? Arguably yah, problem is that is the bar was set low and they really didn't do much to excite. Some cool stuff but lacking a lot of gameplay and so many 2024 releases or no release date. I am thankful this is going to be on gamepass so I can play each game for like $15.

[LoveSpuds]

Sony deserved criticism for the lack of 1st party announcements at their showcase, but I still think they showed more games that I was excited for because of some great 3rd party and indie stuff.

This MS show was pretty underwhelming to be honest, a couple of good games but overall, just like Sony's event, I was left waiting for a couple of announcements to blow my socks off.

[Rimeskeem]

Both showcases were not great. Usually, a decent presentation has at least one big surprise. The problem is there were no big gameplay surprises. Remember in 2016 when Sony showed a huge gameplay surprise for GoW reboot? That was some awesome stuff. I would honestly prefer a pre-rendered video of gameplay than CGI/in-engine/in-game cinematic stuff. At least let me get a feel for what the game will actually be like when I have the controller in my hands.

[LucidIllusion]

Below average presentation overall

[chicken_in_the_corn]

Disappointed there wasn't a new Gears game

[repsahj]

Avowed and Starfield for me is underwhelming. Comparing Aveum and avowed, I like Aveum more in terms of graphics, skills, and environment. But Avowed looks like a huge game like Elder Scrolls which is a plus to me. Starfield graphics is great but I was waiting to be impressed until the end, it didn't happen. What I regret the most is the combat, I felt no excitement in the combat gameplay shown. I can't comment on other 1st party games because no combat gameplay has been shown yet. But I'm excited about new Star wars and Carnival, both of them look great.

[Armyofdarkness]

This was a good presentation. Hyped :)

[ChiefofLoliPolice]

Not bad. It was ok. Wasn't amazing but definitely the best showcase Xbox has had in a long time. Xbox needs some kind of win right about now.

[darkrider]

Why was the best showcase Xbox had?
Bunch of cinematic trailers
Awoed graphics look very last gen
Where hellblade gameplay, fable?
More forza
Half the show was starfield and showing people walking...
Where are the games that show the 12 teraflops of power, because starfield is at 30 frames...
They reveal a pointless series s at crazy price of 349. Who would spent so much on a underpowered console?

[ChiefofLoliPolice]

It was the better showcase Xbox had in awhile by MS standards I mean and by previous XB showcaes. I didnt say it was THE best showcase this year all over. It was ok but I wasnt amazed by it.

[TheTony316]

It was a good showcase. Much better than Playstation.

There isn't really anything from MS first party that interests me outside of Starfield.

[Stuart5756]

nothing they say matters, none of the trailers matter, none of the ETA's matter, over/under promising doesn't mater. the only thing that matters is if the games, when they come out are good and fun to play, if/when this happens, I'll buy an xbox and it can sit next to my ps5 and i'll be happy. Just like when i had a 360 next to my ps3

[Flewid638]

Seems overambitious, especially coming from a dev like Bethesda that always has these low-grade graphics engines with poor animations and zero facial expressions.

I love the IDEA of this game, and it's still something I may get on PC...but mostly empty planets and budget dialogue are making me temper my expectations.

[bleedsoe9mm]

Great show 9/10