'Halo Infinite' Leads Games Presented At Xbox Games Showcase

The much-anticipated Xbox Games Showcase from Microsoft allowed the company to flex some muscle ahead of the big next-gen console war with the PlayStation 5 later this year.

As Microsoft has stressed several times leading up to the show, these games will be playable even if you don’t purchase an Xbox Series X immediately, notes Polygon. That’s because all of the games announced at this show will be on Xbox Game Pass at launch, and many of them will be released on the Xbox One.

You just need a decent computer with Windows 10 and a subscription to Game Pass to have access to these games. A total of 22 different games that will appear on Xbox consoles were presented, 10 of which were brand new game announcements.

Leading the way, as expected, is 343 Industries’ “Halo Infinite,” a spiritual reboot that aims to please both veteran “Halo” players and newcomers. The trailer showed more of the story and more gameplay. Master Chief also debuted his new grappling hook.

The footage shown during the livestream displayed a map with multiple quest markers, which suggest more of an open world than previous games in the “Halo” franchise. Just how big of a world is it though?

With Master Chief as the star of the Xbox Series X Games Showcase, you couldn’t blame 343 for showing off, and that certainly seemed like it when the Warthog was shown driving over some strange cliffsides.

Halo Infinite will be on Game Pass at launch, and it will be on the Xbox Series X, the Xbox One, and Windows. It’s also now listed on Steam.

With “As Dusk Falls,” indie studio Interior/Night showed off a moody trailer for its debut game. The studio is headed by ex-Quantic Dream game designer Caroline Marchal and this original interactive drama seems to be about two families locked in turmoil.

A first-person fantasy role-playing game set in the world of “Pillars of Eternity,” is Obsidian Entertainment’s “Avowed.” It comes with a dramatic trailer that hints at a story of epic proportions.

In “Forza Motorsport,” we see a few cars and engines but not much else from Turn 10. Xbox head Phil Spencer said though that the game will deliver ray tracing and native 4K at 60 frames per second.

“S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2” was first announced to be in development way back in 2010 although it has been shelved several times since. In 2018, GSC Game World’s Twitter account revealed that the game would exist after all, including the text “2.0.2.1.” to suggest the sequel would finally arrive in 2021. The Xbox Games Showcase confirmed that this long-awaited follow-up will come to the Xbox Series X.

Unbelievably, a new twist on the classic “Tetris” is coming from Enhance Games. “Tetris Effect: Connected” will include co-operative and multiplayer modes both locally and online as proof that there’s still life in Alexey Pajitnov’s brainchild 36 years after it was first released.

Bungie’s “Destiny 2: Beyond Light” won’t just be available on Xboxes, perhaps more importantly, it will be on Game Pass too. The Game Pass subscription will have all of the game’s standard edition expansions (not including seasonal content, though). That does include “Destiny 2: Beyond Light,” which is slated for a November release.

Rare finally revealed a trailer for the mysterious “Everwild” and it is pretty impressive. Set in a magical wilderness on another world, the trailer gives off a “Breath of the Wild” meets “Monster Hunter” vibe with its alien races and curious-looking creatures.

Who expected a game with Jack Black providing music? In “Psychonauts 2,” that’s what everyone’s getting from developer Double Fine. Black sings a song as a disembodied brain in a jar in this lengthy psychedelic trailer.

Several other games have already been described as being built for as well as “optimized” for the Xbox Series X (although they will also be on Game Pass), says Polygon. These include: “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla,” “Bright Memory Infinite,” “Call of the Sea,” “Chorus,” “Dirt 5,” “Madden NFL 21,” “Scarlet Nexus,” “Scorn,” “Second Extinction,” “The Ascent,” “Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines 2,” “Watch Dogs Legion,” and “Yakuza: Like A Dragon.”