You might be wondering where our roundup of the Summer Game Fest is. Uh… so are we. Because what we saw taking place on Friday evening may have had Geoff Keighley’s almost-creepily smiling face plastered on it, but it wasn’t the Summer Game Fest we’ve come to know and love. Keighley rightly tempered expectations ahead of the show, but even we expected something with more sauce than Harry Potter Quidditch Champions.
Far more engaging was Microsoft’s Xbox Showcase event, which brought with it a ‘Play it day one with Game Pass’ mantra that’s more than likely got subscribers riled up. We doubt it’s done much to assuage the studios suffering in the name of Game Pass, but the audience doesn’t care. All that matters is that Black Ops 6 will be playable on Game Pass from day one, right?
Shock horror: Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is coming
Personally, we wouldn’t call a trailer riddled with real-life footage and in-game cutscenes a “gameplay trailer”, but here we are. Who are we kidding, anyway? You’ve likely already earmarked time out of school or work to plop yourself in front of the couch to experience the run-of-the-mill campaign centred on the Gulf War.
More impressive is Microsoft’s decision to whack this one on Game Pass from the get-go. Black Ops 6 releases on 25 October for PS4, PS5, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox One, and PC — a rarity for the series in recent years, which saw PlayStation funnelling a whole lot of money into Activision to earn some short-lived timed exclusivity. Until…
Black Ops 6, being the luckiest of the bunch, was treated to its own 25-minute Call of Duty-themed Direct after the Showcase, and delivered a deep dive into the team creating this year’s title. The game’s campaign, multiplayer and zombie modes were shown off, so you can check that out here if you’re interested.
Doomguy is back in DOOM: The Dark Ages
It was one thing knowing about Doom’s alleged medieval setting ahead of the thing, and another to see it brought to life the way The Dark Ages has. The trailer does what Doom does best: letting Doomguy blow up everything in his past, all set to a kick-ass score that ties it all together. He’s still melting enemies faster than they can spawn, but he’s doing it on the back of a cybernetic dragon so… there’s that.
Doom: The Dark Ages hits PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC sometime in 2025. Game Pass subscribers can play it from day one.
There’s a new Fable?
If you’re younger than a certain age, you’ve likely only ever heard your dad or uncle talk about the Fable series and never actually played it yourself. Xbox is hoping that’ll change with the revival of the legendary RPG series’ return in which a mysterious figure from who knows where threatens Albion.
Fable, crafted by Playground Games (with support from Eidos Montreal), is set to appear sometime in 2025 on Xbox Series X/S and PC. PS5 wasn’t mentioned, but after Phil Spencer’s recent comments, we’re a little less worried about that. Game Pass subscribers can play it from day one.
Gears of War: E-Day is here to hype you up
Gears of War: E-Day isn’t a sequel. It’s a prequel, set 14 years before Gears of War during the “pivotal” Emergence Day. Don’t go into the trailer expecting actual gameplay, and you’ll be right as rain. All we saw was a cinematic cutscene that showed off a young Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago in the alien shooter, which was apparently all done in-engine. That’s something, at least.
Three guesses for where it’ll turn up on release? Yup: Game Pass. Xbox hasn’t announced a release date yet (or even a release window) so we’d suggest putting this one out of your mind for the time being.
Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater features a Naked Snake
Our favourite trailer of the night was easily Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater, and you’ll see why once you’ve gotten your first look at Naked Snake in all his Unreal Engine 5 glory. You’ll have to find your own weapons and equipment to take on the world in Snake Eater, which, as Snake puts it, effectively makes you a one-man army.
The original game’s controls and voice lines have been preserved, while new graphics and a third-person camera layout have been added to give it a more modern feeling. A release date still hasn’t been announced, but we know it’ll arrive in 2024 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Meet FragPunk, a 5v5 shooter with a twist
“Great. Another uninspired 5v5 FPS shooter that’ll die out in the first few months.” That was our initial sentiment upon seeing the FragPunk title card before we had our minds changed within the minute or so of footage we received. We can’t promise it’ll survive longer than a few months, but FragPunk does bring some effort to an area that’s effectively become its own genre at this point.
FragPunk’s whole thing is cards. Pull one of the seventy available cards and you’ll be making their heads massive (for easy headshots) or growing a field of grass to hide in. It’s arriving in 2025 on Xbox Series X/S and PC.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2(024)
Microsoft calls it “the most ambitious consumer flight simulator ever undertaken.” We call it Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 because, well, that’s what it’s called. It’s got everything you’ve come to expect from the longstanding series, and more — like the “most diverse” fleet of aircraft yet, or the best-looking representation of Earth ever created.
We’re already running out of words to make Flight Simulator sound interesting so we’ll just leave you with the 19 November release date coming to Xbox Series X/S and PC and day one of Game Pass.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle somehow made Indiana Jones look boring
Never has a trailer disappointed us like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle did at yesterday’s Showcase. It’s got all the makings of a decent game – good graphics and of course, Indy himself. But it lacked the fluid gameplay that we’d expect from a proper Indiana Jones game, leaving in its place what looks like a boring story and clunk combat we’re not at all keen to give a go. God, we hope we’re proven wrong.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle snaps a day one Game Pass release “later this year” on Xbox Series X/S and PC.
Shattered Space makes Starfield look interesting
Starfield: Shattered Darkness is the only DLC we’ve included in this list, and for good reason. It achieved what we thought was impossible: making Starfield look interesting, something Bethesda has been trying to prove since the game’s disastrous launch in 2023. Our hopes aren’t high, but Shattered Space is at least trying by including an entirely new adventure that sees a “mysterious power” stir in the city of Dazra, and players investigating a “frightening cosmic threat.” It’s hitting Xbox Series X/S and PC later this year.