The 6 biggest reveals at the Xbox Games Showcase

Gaming IndustryThe 6 biggest reveals at the Xbox Games ShowcaseWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Microsoft)

Joana Dark close up in neon light with gun

After Microsoftshuttered beloved studios Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworkson top of previous layoffs atActivisionBlizzard and 343 Industries, it was hard to imagine it would then have maybe the best showcase of 2024’s non-denominational summer videogame announcement and marketing week, and yet, here we are. Below are the six biggest reveals from the showcase, arranged in order of which ones I thought of first while making the list.

Doom: The Dark Ages

DOOM: The Dark Ages | Official Trailer 1 (4K) | Coming 2025 - YouTubeWatch On

DOOM: The Dark Ages | Official Trailer 1 (4K) | Coming 2025 - YouTube

I mean, it’s more Doom: hell yes. We’re going back in time to when the Doomguy was just a wee Slayer getting his start in the eternal war of light vs. dark (though not as far back as 1994’s Doom).

You can tell it’s medieval because Doomguy has a big old House Stark wolf pelt cape now, as well as a rad as hell combination Captain America shield and chainsaw. You can read more about Doom: The Dark Age’s first trailer and how it fits into id’s wider catalogue inour coverage of the reveal.

Dragon Age: Veilguard

Dragon Age: The Veilguard | Official Reveal Trailer - YouTubeWatch On

Dragon Age: The Veilguard | Official Reveal Trailer - YouTube

Oh my god,finally. After years of concept art teasers, one development reboot, switching back and forth between live service and single player, and a ton of senior BioWare people leaving to form their own studios, we’ve finally got a first real look at what the fourth mainline Dragon Age (though you’re not supposed to call it Dragon Age 4) is all about.

Varric’s back (woohoo) as well as Scout Harding from Inquisition, otherwise it’s new faces all the way down for the rest of the crew. They look like fun archetypes, though PCG senior editor Robin Valentinethinks they look like hero shooter characters, and it’s gonna be the party banter and campsite/home base approval conversations that tell us whether they’re real winners or not.

We’ve gota bunch of reasons to be nervous about Veilguard, but we’ll have a better sense of the Dragon Age sequel we’ve been waiting a decade for when BioWare shows off anextended gameplay preview of The Veilguardon June 11, and the RPG is currently set for a fall release.

Call of Duty Black Ops 6

Call of Duty Black Ops 6: Gameplay Reveal Trailer - Xbox Games Showcase 2024 - YouTubeWatch On

Call of Duty Black Ops 6: Gameplay Reveal Trailer - Xbox Games Showcase 2024 - YouTube

The first Call of Duty after Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard showed off the series' trademark sense of tact and gravitas for the horrors of American imperialism in its reveal trailer and subsequent extended look.

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Whatever schoolmarm scolding I can muster over the series' “playful” sense of history, the game itself does look weirdly rad? Come for the sumptuous interiors of Saddam’s palaces, stay for a snappy new locomotion system CoDBlOps 6’s developers have dubbedomnimovement.

For helpful background lore on the story of Call of Duty Black Ops 6, check out theBlowback Podcast’s first season about the Iraq War.

Perfect Dark

Perfect Dark - Gameplay Reveal - Xbox Games Showcase 2024 - YouTubeWatch On

Perfect Dark - Gameplay Reveal - Xbox Games Showcase 2024 - YouTube

This wasn’t supposed to happen! Perfect Dark was revealed in 2020 only to go silent for years, with the only word being that its project director left and another, bigger studio was brought in to assist on development. Those are not the encouraging signs of a healthy development.And yet.

Perfect Dark’s first trailer is a real stunner, promising at minimum a more open-ended, thinking man’s FPS along the lines of the original game or MachineGames' Wolfenstein reboot. But I’ve got my hopes up for the2020s triple-A answer to Deus Ex I wasn’t sure would ever happen.

Flight Sim

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 â Xbox Games Showcase 2024 - YouTubeWatch On

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 â Xbox Games Showcase 2024 - YouTube

Paying homage to the PC’s honorable “Dad game” roots,the next entry in the ubiquitous Microsoft Flight Simulator series is coming November 19. We’re getting an unprecedented amount of structure in this one—it’s more of a “game” if you will, one where you can cater to passengers, take the role of an air ambulance pilot, and even photograph wildlife.

Gears of War: E-Day

Gears of War: E-Day | Official Announce Trailer (In-Engine) - YouTubeWatch On

Gears of War: E-Day | Official Announce Trailer (In-Engine) - YouTube

Look, I don’t mean to toot my own horn here, but I absolutely called it onPC Gamer’s Chat Log podcastthat we’d see a new Gears of War at this showcase. Perhaps wisely, Microsoft is eschewing the sequel continuity focused on Marcus Fenix’s son that formed the basis of its post-Epic entries in the series, instead returning to Gears' glory days ina prequel about the earliest days of the Locust war.

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Lords of the Fallen studio embraces fear of the DEI boogeyman, says it will not include ‘any social or political agendas’ in its gamesEpic CEO Tim Sweeney says tech leaders are ‘pretending to be Republicans’ to gain favor with Trump, skirt antitrust laws, and ultimately ‘rip off consumers and crush competitors’

Lords of the Fallen (2023) promotional image - very large man with a very large hammer on a very large horse charging a very small man with a very small magic sword

Lords of the Fallen studio embraces fear of the DEI boogeyman, says it will not include ‘any social or political agendas’ in its games

Tim Sweeney

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney says tech leaders are ‘pretending to be Republicans’ to gain favor with Trump, skirt antitrust laws, and ultimately ‘rip off consumers and crush competitors’

LatestToday’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11See more latest►

Latest

Today’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11

Wordle answers

Today’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11

See more latest►

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Doom: The Dark Ages#

Dragon Age: Veilguard#

Call of Duty Black Ops 6#

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals#

Perfect Dark#

Flight Sim#

Gears of War: E-Day#