My thoughts:
Without the Starfield direct, I would say the Xbox Showcase was slightly better than the PlayStation Showcase, despite their much more substantial first party presence. A lot of their first party was updates from previously announced games. Felt a little down on seeing the Avowed gameplay reveal and I was hoping to see a better vertical slice of Hellblade 2. Fable had a bit of gameplay but it was mostly an in engine trailer. Updates for SoT, FO76, and ESO were some of the low points for me, even though these weren't bad showings by any measure. South of Midnight and Clockwork Revolution, despite not being CGI trailers, felt the same as seeing one since those projects are far off. I will say Clockwork Revolution intrigues me with its setting. As for third party, I was surprised with some of the reveals, with new IP's from Capcom and Atlus, although the latter felt a bit underwhelming. I can't remember the last time an Xbox Showcase had a reveal as big as Star Wars Outlaws. It feels like these massive third party games have been missing from Xbox Showcases since the beginning of this generation.
Xbox Showcase w/out Starfield: 6.5 out of 10.
Honestly, not a lot from Microsoft's first party really impressed me from a technical level, but Starfield blew me away completely. Everything about Starfield felt ambitious. Bethesda is on another level when it comes to intertwining RPG elements with personalized builds, skill trees, NPC's, exploration and overall setting. I didn't enjoy the base building in Fallout 4 too much, but I'm feeling a lot more excited about the ship building, crews, and outposts in Starfield. I feel like the VATS mechanic carried FO4's core gameplay loop, but it looks like Starfield has better gunplay, and the ability to fly compensates some of my concern, although I guess VATS could make a return in some form. No 60FPS option is a bit of a disappointment, but to be honest, I don't play Bethesda games for their gameplay, and 30FPS suits Starfield's game design. This is the best deep dive I've ever seen for any game, but I don't think the majority of games have the content and systems like Starfield, to be able to pull it off. This feels like its going to be a GOTY/GOTG contender, and Microsoft's first major tentpole title in nearly a decade.
Xbox Showcase + Starfield Direct: 8 out of 10.
