The 2022 Xbox & Bethesda Showcase was packed full of world premieres, new gameplay trailers and Hideo Kojima — almost too much to cover.
As such, we wanted to highlight five more things we saw during Sunday’s Showcase that we wanted to shout about.
Riot Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass — And That’s a Big Deal
Microsoft partnering with Riot Games to bring games like League of Legends and Valorant to Xbox Game Pass is easy to gloss over if you’re not in that ecosystem. All you need to know is that it’s huge for Game Pass.
Yes, I know these games are free to play. However, alongside bringing Riot Games’ hugely popular roster of games to its service Xbox Game Pass subscribers will now be able to access every LOL ‘Champion’, every Valorant ‘hero’ and more for no extra charge. This likely means Game Pass will see an influx of players signing up purely for this content.
It’s a move that only further bolsters the market share of Xbox Game Pass and further adds to Microsoft's coffers.
Obsidian Is Making a 16th Century Bavarian Whodunnit
Because of course they are! Not content with bringing Grounded out of ‘early access’, developing a new Outer Worlds game, or working on a fresh fantasy RPG in Avowed, Obsidian Entertainment is also developing Pentiment.
A historical murder mystery set in 16th century Bavaria, Pentiment is a 2D adventure game drawn in the style of medieval paintings. It’s also undoubtedly one of the most unique-looking games shown off in recent times. The brief look at the game suggests that it’ll have the kind of depth players have come to expect from an Obsidian title, just in an entirely new format.
A Handful Of Awesome Indies
Whilst gameplay for the likes of Starfield and Redfall may have stolen the show, my interest was equally piqued by the indie games that Xbox chose to platform during their latest summer showcase.
Whether that was the reimurgenge of the Stardew Valley meets No Man’s Sky-looking Lightyear Frontier, the unique style and high-octane drama of As Dusk Falls, the intriguing ghosts and ghouls gothica of new Metroidvania The Last Case of Benedict Fox or the prestige that comes alongside a game like Cocoon — a new puzzle game from Inside and Limbo designer Jeppe Carlsen — there were a lot of smaller titles to be excited about during the Xbox & Bethesda Showcase.
Persona Is Finally Coming to Xbox (and Game Pass)
The mainline Persona series had practically been exclusive to PlayStation up until a few years ago and now Xbox owners will have the chance to play Atlus’ highly acclaimed JRPG series — starting with Persona 5 Royal on October 21st.
The ‘complete’ version of Persona 5 will also be available on Xbox Game Pass and will be joined by ports of Persona 4 Golden (one of the PlayStation Vita’s 10 Best Games!) and Persona 3 Portable in due course, although no date was given for the latter two.
Oh, And There’s A New Minecraft Spin-Off In The Works
Whilst the core Minecraft experience is going nowhere, developer Mojang continues to build out the game’s world with more games.
Minecraft Legends is a new action strategy game coming to Xbox and PC which will task players with leading an army of Minecraft’s iconic box-proportioned characters against the evils of the Nether.
Minecraft Legends will launch in 2023. And naturally it’s coming to Game Pass.
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