Fucking Todd.

Just hiding in the background with his golden idol, lol. 

Xbox Developer_Direct: All the News and Announcements

It’s going to be a good year for Xbox players. At today’s Developer_Direct show, we provided deep-dives into five new games launching across Xbox Series X|S, PC, Game Pass and/or cloud – all of which will arrive later in 2024. Development teams at Xbox, Bethesda, and even one of our third-party partners invited you into their studios to showcase extended gameplay, reveal key information, and more.

During the show, we visited the studios behind Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Avowed, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, and Ara: History Untold to find out more about each one. Members of each development team gave us a look into their creation, with new information, and offered a tantalizing glimpse of what’s to come this year. All four of these games will arrive on day one with Game Pass, and will contribute to what’s going to be another huge year for members, delivering incredible games throughout 2024.

Plus, in a special surprise, we heard from the team at Square Enix to learn a lot more about Visions of Mana, the first new mainline entry in the Mana series in over 15 years, and its debut on Xbox platforms. With participation from developers on 3 continents, it was a truly global show.

Here’s a summary of everything we announced and covered during Developer_Direct:

Avowed – Launching Fall 2024

Xbox Series X/S, PC, Cloud – Joining Game Pass on Day One

Avowed Game Director Carrie Patel gave us a first deep-dive into the gameplay in Obsidian’s upcoming fantasy action RPG, from its dynamic combat, to its thoughtful reactivity, to its “colorful, vibrant, strange” world set in the Living Lands. Avowed continues Obsidian’s signature style of creating games with deep themes and player choice at the forefront.

Not only will you make narrative decisions that can impact changes in the game down the line, but Avowed is also looking to offer choice in combat. Gameplay Director Gabe Paramo discussed not only how varied your weaponry will be – with melee weapons, ranged guns and bows, and magic-based wands (even dual-wielded wands!) to name a few – but how flexible combat can be, allowing you to quickly change loadouts for enemy encounters. Swappable loadouts mean you can approach combat however feels right to you.

Art Director Matt Hansen then explained how the Living Lands is a mysterious island made up of wildly varied regions offering visually diverse backdrops and intriguing settings to explore. With secrets hidden throughout the regions, you’ll take in barren deserts, verdant forests, blighted wastes, volcanic biomes, and more.

That’s not all for Avowed, however – make sure to tune in to the Xbox Podcast on Monday, January 22 for an exclusive interview with some of Obsidian’s developers, offering even more information on the gameplay reveal.

Get ready to carve your own path through Avowed when it launches this fall for Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Cloud – and arrives with Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass on day one. For more information, please visit the Avowed website.

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II – Launching May 21

Xbox Series X/S, PC, Cloud – Joining Game Pass on Day One

Ninja Theory took us behind the scenes at their studio in Cambridge to take a look at Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, meet some of the team and learn more about the craft behind their new title, which is now in the final months of development.

In the video we learned more about Senua’s new journey, which leads her to Iceland, a harsh and brutal land ravaged by myth and tyranny. We were given a new look at Senua’s experiences of the world, seen through her eyes as someone who experiences psychosis, and saw some of Senua’s visceral and violent battles with the Draugar. We also heard more detail on what players can expect from the game’s story and how binaural and spatial audio will sink player’s deep into the world of Hellblade.

With a studio mission of crafting life-changing art with game-changing tech, Ninja Theory are pushing the boundaries of fidelity, richness and immersion. You can join Senua on her new quest, May 21. Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is available to wishlist on Steam and pre-install on Xbox Game Pass now.

Visions of Mana – Launching Summer 2024

Xbox Series X|S, PC

In a surprise appearance, Square Enix joined the show to present Visions of Mana, the first new mainline entry in the series in over 15 years, and its debut on Xbox platforms. Series producer Masaru Oyamada presented a sneak peek at the gorgeous new RPG, sharing gameplay and behind the scenes footage before its launch in Summer 2024.

Koichi Ishii – father of the Mana series and creator of many of its iconic monsters – discussed the implementation and design of the enemies in Visions of Mana, and introduced the adorable new animal companions, “pikuls” and explained the design process behind them.

Oyamada then shared some details regarding the game’s score and revealed that the tracklist for Visions of Mana contains 100 songs in total, including works from musical talent who worked on previous Mana games. Oyamada also shared details of the adaptive music system that allows seamless transition from map exploration to battles, demonstrating a snippet of the background music changing as you enter or leave combat.

Oyamada also revealed that in Visions of Mana, The Elementals will assist the player in battle in the form of specialized items, which will each have a different effect in combat. Combined with aerial combat that allows for weapons and magic to be used in mid-air, the combat is fast-paced and flexible.

Visions of Mana launches Summer 2024 on Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC!

Ara: History Untold – Launching Fall 2024

PC – Joining PC Game Pass on Day One

The key leads at Oxide Games debuted an all-new look at gameplay and shared an overview of the key features coming to Ara: History Untold during today’s Developer Direct. Viewers learned more about Ara’s crafting system, unique approach to simultaneous turns, and more.

You can learn more about this innovative new historical grand strategy game with our in-depth interview with Design Director Michelle Menard and we will have more to share in the coming months leading up to Ara’s launch this fall on PC and with PC Game Pass. For the latest breaking news follow the Ara: History Untold social channels (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram/Threads) and wishlist the game on Steam.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle – Launching 2024

Xbox Series X/S, PC – Joining Game Pass on Day One

The official reveal of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was debuted during Developer_Direct with over 13 minutes of gameplay footage and developer insights. This new journey starring the legendary archaeologist comes from the award-winning team at MachineGames – the minds behind Wolfenstein: The New Order and Wolfenstein: The New Colossus – in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games and executive produced by Bethesda Game Studios’ Todd Howard. Find out more on Bethesda.net.

Other Streams

Blizzard held a Diablo IV Developer Update Livestream earlier today that dug into the horrors waiting for you beneath the sands of Kehjistan in Season of the Construct, launching January 23, and introduced the competitive leaderboard activity called The Gauntlet. Associate Director of Community Adam Fletcher, Game Design Manager Daniel Tanguay, Quest Designer Madeleine James, and Lead Class Designer Adam Jackson spoke about the new Seneschal companion, Hazard-filled dungeons called Vaults, a new Questline, and more – all of which surfaces in Season of the Construct. Additionally, the group gave a quick look at The Gauntlet leaderboards and wrapped up the livestream by answering questions from the community in a Q&A session.

Shortly after Developer_Direct, ZeniMax Online Studios kicked off The Elder Scrolls Online 2024 Global Reveal, unveiling the game’s next major Chapter, including the new zone, storyline, and other major features. You’ll be able to read more about what was revealed on Xbox Wire and Bethesda.net as soon as that show concludes.

Looking Ahead

Today marks just a small selection of the games coming to Xbox this year. With our own studios and our incredible partners bringing a diverse set of incredible experiences to Xbox consoles, PC, Cloud, and Game Pass, there’s going to be something new for every kind of player. To find out more, make sure to return to Xbox Wire later this month, when we post a round-up of some of the most exciting games coming to Xbox platforms in 2024.

Xbox Developer_Direct: All the News and Announcements - Xbox Wire

ESO 2024 GLOBAL REVEAL — THE ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE: GOLD ROAD & SCIONS OF ITHELIA

THE FORGOTTEN PRINCE

A secret long held by Hermaeus Mora has been uncovered and the existence of the Forgotten Prince has come to light. Now, Ithelia’s return puts reality itself at risk.

Arriving March 11 for PC/Mac and March 26 for Xbox and Playstation consoles, the Scions of Ithelia dungeon DLC pack continues the story from last year's Necrom Chapter. Learn more about the spreading threat via the two dungeons featured in this pack, then experience its stunning conclusion in the upcoming Chapter, The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road (arriving June 3 for PC/Mac and June 18 for consoles).

SCIONS OF ITHELIA

Begin 2024’s adventures with the Scions of Ithelia dungeon DLC pack in March, which introduces two new 4-player dungeons, Oathsworn Pit and Bedlam Veil.

These dungeons allow you to explore a training ground for the followers of Malacath and a secret vault within the Oblivion demi-realm of Maelstrom. Both dungeons help set the stage for the upcoming Chapter in their own way, but their storylines can be enjoyed individually, too.

These two new dungeons are set to challenge you and your team with Normal and Veteran difficulties (including Hard Mode) and each feature their own Achievements and rewards (including unique collectibles and item sets).

GOLD ROAD CHAPTER

Featuring a new zone, storyline, Scribing system, rewards, and more, The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road is now available for pre-purchase on all platforms. This new Chapter takes you to West Weald, a region situated on the borders of Cyrodiil, the Gold Coast, and Valenwood. Those Elder Scrolls fans who played 2006’s The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion might be familiar with this part of Tamriel, including its capital city of Skingrad.

Ruled by the Colovian Count Calantius, this province is an independent nation allied to the Imperial forces occupying nearby Cyrodiil. However, seemingly overnight, the sweltering jungles of Valenwood have replaced a third of the region, and the Count seeks answers to avoid losing any more of his realm.

That said, the new forest (that the Wood Elves call Dawnwood) may not be the most pressing concern for you and your allies, as you must also investigate the reappearance of Ithelia, the Forgotten Prince.

While her followers cause chaos in her name, many mysteries remain. Why does she now walk West Weald, and what are her Scions’ plans for her return? Reality itself hangs in the balance! While it continues a narrative that began in 2023, like Scions of Ithelia, Gold Road tells its own stand-alone tale and does not require having played the Necrom Chapter.

A CLASH OF FATES

The Forgotten Prince may soon return to power, and fate itself trembles in anticipation. What impact will you, a mortal adventurer, have on West Weald and its myriad threats? You’ll have to play Gold Road to find out!

The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road arrives for PC/Mac on June 3, 2024, and for Xbox and PlayStation consoles on June 18, 2024. Pre-purchase Gold Road now to receive unique bonus rewards at launch and immediate access to the Welkyndstone Ruins Wolf mount and Welkyndstone Ruins Pup pet*. Don’t miss out!

ESO 2024 Global Reveal—The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road & Scions of Ithelia - The Elder Scrolls Online

Hellblade II will be a bigger deal than Minecraft Legends and Redfall combined (both Q2), Lol. An ABK Game Pass drop would probably make bigger waves than Hi-Fi Rush for Q1 so I think they should aim for that since it appears they're missing their Q1 launch. Utilising ABK Game Pass could make their Q1 have a bigger impact than last years.

But that's only if they're ready and I sadly have my doubts.

If it were up to me I would have Dev Direct in Jan (done), ABK Roundtable in mid-Feb and ABK Game Pass in early March.

Sure, they're old games, but it's a lot of old games (and some are fairly recent) and quite a few still very popular. They would fill the "gap" for Game Pass and provide a ton of content, fill Q1 for Game Pass subscribers before Q2's Hellblade and Q3's next exclusive then Q4's next exclusive and so on. It's better to get it out of the way now, than slapping dozens of ABK titles near their NEW releases.

Btw this is meant to launch May 2024 so Hellblade II seems to be purposely lining itself up for it, or the controller is lining itself up for Hellblade II, Lol.

With everything they showed of Visions of Mana, this could be the best Mana game since Trials remake.

I love Trials (both original that I finished on SNES back in the 2000s and the remake which I finished last year).

Excited for Visions especially since it looks like a upgrade to Trials.

Hellblade 2 will be the best looking game this gen! So far

Bad example Forza was expected to release 2022, then it got confirmed to release in spring 2023 to finally get delayed to October 2023, just like Redfall got delayed from summer 2022 to May 2023, and Halo Infinite, and Starfield and so on...

It would be wise to expect it release in 2025 but we will see, if it gets delayed atleast people can say again 'next year will be better' and release the game on the same week as GTA VI.

Edit: What xbox needs is an another direct, with indies , remember when xbox cared and showed us games like cuphead/Ori? , with third parties (could have announced Palworld day one) .

Anyway only 5 months till summer game showcase....