The Best Games at the 2023 Xbox Showcase
It’s been a pretty rough year for Xbox fans. The turbulence around the Activision-Blizzard acquisition seems like it’s far from over. Redfall (from beloved developer Arkane) released to some of the worst reviews from a first-party Xbox game ever.
Hi-Fi RUSH was a shining gem, and a handful of excellent indies came to Game Pass. But in spite of these small successes, hasn’t been a big “win” for Xbox in awhile. That’s turned into a growing pressure for the 2023 Xbox Showcase to deliver.
It did. It absolutely did. Rather than continuing rambling about how great it was, let me show you. Similar to my original list, here are my top 11 takeaways from the Xbox Showcase + Starfield Direct.
Fable
I never played this series back in the 2000s. Fable 3 came bundled with my Xbox 360, but I was so obsessed with Halo and BioWare RPGs that I don't think I ever even installed it. (Which may have been a good thing, in hindsight. Fable 3 doesn’t have nearly as much love as the other two entries.)
But now, as someone who plays RPGs almost exclusively, I'm interested in seeing more of this. It’s talked about and revered in a way that few Western RPGs are, and if the team at Playground can bring back the British humor and clever storytelling of the games from Lionhead Studios, it’s hard to think that this won’t be a smashing success for Xbox.
The Fable trailer looked cool, but I admit my excitement is probably a step below how I feel about...
Persona 3 Reload
But first: Persona 3 (originally released in 2006) is getting completely remade to be on par with the universally praised and revered Persona 5. And it was revealed at the Xbox event, despite the core Persona games having been PlayStation exclusives until last year.
Now, I’ve played a lot of games in the past few years, but I can’t think of any more surprising than Persona 5. Japanese RPGs have never been my cup of tea, and Persona is what you’d call a “Japanese-ass JRPG.” I’ve wanted to get more into the series, but the franchise didn’t particularly age well over the past 20 years. Persona 3 Reload is the perfect way to build on the success of Persona 5 and drum up even more excitement for whatever Persona 6 becomes.
Author’s note: It was also cool to see the studio behind Persona announce their new game at the Xbox showcase rather than anywhere else.
Avowed
Avowed isn’t just a fantasy RPG to compete with Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls series. And actually, Xbox owns both Obsidian and Bethesda, so they’re kind of double-dipping in the genre, even if the games will release a decade apart. (There are certainly comparisons to make, however. Obsidian’s SciFi game, The Outer Worlds got a lot of comparisons to Bethesda’s Fallout series.)
Avowed is built onto the rich world of Pillars of Eternity. I’ve been borderline obnoxious about praising this franchise. The first game was a masterclass in game design, and Pillars 2 is one of my favorite games ever.
But — and this is a big but — I admit I was underwhelmed by this trailer. There’s a stylized look to the gameplay, looking more like an Outer Worlds fantasy DLC than a blockbuster new franchise. I honestly can’t say I would have recognized that Avowed is related to Pillars of Eternity at all. Obsidian has been very upfront about the size and scale of the game. Still, I admit I had been silently hoping it would be a massive fantasy RPG. And the fact that it’s lost a lot of the charm shook my faith a bit. I’ll still play it, but I’m not feeling as confident now.
Sea of Thieves; The Legend of Monkey Island
Kim and I played through the first Monkey Island game last fall. We loved it, and both understood why it’s kind of the measuring stick for all other point-and-click adventure games. But the brutal difficulty of the puzzles was hard for us to get over, and even though we had a lot of fun, we were both cautious about moving forward to the other games in the series.
And then, Rare revealed a new update for Sea of Thieves: A comprehensive merging of the Monkey Island story with the whimsy and rowdy Sea of Thieves experience.
Sea of Thieves is amazing, and remains one of the best co-op experiences I’ve ever had in video games. Kim and I went through the Pirates of the Caribbean campaign, and she asked me to install the game again for us to go through this. It’s a perfect fit for where we are right now, at a time when we’re looking for new games to play together.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024
At first I thought this trailer was showing off new ways to play Flight Sim. Treating the game as a platform for the future made sense — after all, it was undoubtedly the most impressive technical achievement in simulation games, if not all of gaming history.
Simulators prompt people to immerse themselves in an experience, so things like helicopter rescue, mountain rescue, air racing, and agriculture flying make perfect sense for Flight Sim. And rather than lock all of that behind 10 new games, Asobo Studio is bringing it all together.
But no, this isn’t a gargantuan DLC pack. This is a brand new game, bringing even more content while layering on even more technical wizardry. It’s just amazing to see, even if I don’t see myself ever getting into it.
Cities: Skylines 2
Cities: Skylines has always surprised me. I played it a lot when I first got my PC; Kim and I were both blown away by the sheer amount of mod content and community support that exploded around Cities. Then it came to Xbox, and I played it there again (along with some of the DLC).
Now, to complete the “little engine that could” arc, it’s getting a sequel.
Cities: Skylines 2 looks to be more of the same, but not in a bad way. More creativity and more flexibility in building is much appreciated, and I’m sure there are people who felt the same way at the glimpses of new infrastructure-related screens. But honestly, Cities is just a cool story: The indie game that paid homage to a classic franchise (SimCity) only to become the de facto game of that genrefor a new generation.
Towerborne
After the understated success of The Banner Saga, Stoic Studio went dark. We gradually got rumors about an Xbox exclusive game, and that it would have art in the Princess Mononoke style. Then, we heard it would involve some sort of tower as a base (called “the Belfry”) from which players would go out on adventures.
Well, after almost two years of lurking by the rumor mill, we finally know what Towerborne is…kind of.
I still don’t know how much of that Banner Saga DNA will survive. Will Towerborne have characters that react to choices you make? Will no-win scenarios arise and force players to make difficult choices that forever change their game world? Is it a shared world kind of “MMO lite” or just a cooperative experience? I have so many questions, mostly because I loved The Banner Saga and wanted to see more like it. Towerborne doesn’t seem to be much like it at all, but I’m willing to give it a shot all the same.
And, I mean, it’s launching on Game Pass. Why wouldn’t I try it at that point?
Dungeons of Hintenberg
Art style similar to a game I love? Yes, the textureless cel-shaded art reminds me a lot of Sable.
Diverse gameplay mechanics that remind me of fun games? Sure there are differences, but something about this combat-heavy trailer reminded me of Transistor and Bastion, with a little bit of The Pathless sprinkled in. (Devs sure seem to love surfing/skating/sliding movement nowadays, huh?).
Puzzlesolving and journals to collect clues? Check and check.
Okay, Dungeons of Hintenberg fills out my gaming bingo card pretty nicely. And as a day-one Game Pass release, you can bet your buttons and beans that I’ll be a day-one player.
Clockwork Revolution
One of the greatest tragedies of the early 2010s was the death of Irrational Games and the team behind BioShock. These weren’t just fun FPS games that blended pseudoscience, fantasy, and horror — they were narrative games that merged unpredictable gameplay with some seriously thought-provoking stories, morally grey characters, and unanswerable questions.
For a little while, it seemed like Arkane would resuscitate that sub-genre with Dishonored, Prey, and (to a lesser extent) Deathloop. But as I mentioned in my intro, Redfall was about as much a catastrophic failure as you could imagine for a studio that a lot of people revered.
But, like in so many things, mistakes and departures open up opportunities for others to try their hand at something. And that’s exactly what inXile is doing with Clockwork Revolution, a steampunk first-person RPG.
The story of inXile is similar to Obsidian. Both studios have people who worked on some of the most beloved RPGs from the ‘80s, ‘90s, and early ‘00s. Both survived independently for a while, making great games that often didn’t get the attention they deserved. And then both were acquired by Xbox, combining their internal talent with Microsoft’s budget (and job security). It’ll be exciting to see what inXile has built with more resources and support than ever before.
Jusant
Okay, so I’ve noticed that a trend here (and in the previous post) is that I’m drawn to games that remind me of other games I loved. I don’t think that’s surprising at all, just interesting.
Anyway, Jusant reminds me of Rime, which is another of my cherished indie gems. Based on the trailer, it combines a vibrant art style with a place that’s empty or abandoned. That silence is almost like a practice in meditation, but it also gives the sound design and music room to breathe. Honestly, it’s why Rime, Journey, and ABZU have left such a serious impact on me as a gamer, author, and worldbuilder. And it also touches on the most integral part of my core self: The wistful daydreams of stepping into a new world filled with adventure and mystery.
Starfield
Well ladies and gentlemen, this is it: The granddaddy of the Xbox Showcase. In fact, the entire event was called “Xbox Gaming Showcase + Starfield Direct” because almost half the time was allocated for a super deep dive into everything waiting for us in Starfield.
Author’s note: There’s no way I’m going to break down every detail of a 45-minute presentation here, because that’s a lot. But if you’re interested in the game, you can poke around the full Starfield Direct for yourself.
Bethesda showed off probably 20 minutes of Starfield gameplay in total. We got to see the combat with jetpack maneuvers, and we found out that every planet has unique gravity so firing weapons will actually affect your movement. We explored some star charts and learned about how planets/systems were procedurally created to feel handmade and unique.
From a story perspective, we got to meet a few of the characters and learn about recruiting companions or hiring workers for the starships and bases you can build from scratch (!!!). We saw spaceship combat and exploration, how leveling up and choosing skills will work, and even how you create a character. And then we got little teases of the factions and key locations we’ll come across during our dozens (or more likely hundreds) of hours in the game.
Honestly, there’s more to cover than I can go over here. I’d need a single post to give Starfield the credit it deserves. Because while I’m not a huge fan of Bethesda games, Starfield seems to literally shoot for the stars in a way that the overly ambitious team has never even dreamed of before. SciFi fans have always wanted a game where you can go anywhere, be anyone, or do anything…and Starfield has the potential to deliver something close to that.
We’ll know firsthand when it launches (straight into Game Pass) this September.
I’m sure this showed my colors as an Xbox fanboy. (Although, in my defense, the rest of the industry seems to agree with me about this showcase, so I feel justified.) But I think the most incredible part wasn’t how clearly this event outshone the others. What really blew me away was that Xbox spent 60+ minutes showing trailer after trailer after trailer with zero filler. Then they spent the next few days announcing even more games coming to Xbox and Game Pass. And good games, too — most of the ID@Xbox games were titles I already planned to buy on PC.
Even if you aren’t an Xbox fan, it’s hard to ignore just how dominant this showcase was. The PlayStation event was a disappointment. The highly marketed Summer Game Fest failed to deliver anything except new trailers for already announced games. Ubisoft Forward covered games we’ve known about for years…
All of this set the stage for Xbox to steal the show, and they did it at a time when fan perception was down. Talk about a perfect chance to shift the conversation.
Author’s note: Okay, I’m already seeing trailers and demos for games I somehow missed. So yes, I started a third list of things to discuss. But don’t worry, my final 2023 summer gaming news update will be a roundup of a dozen quick hits rather than these long-ish blurbs.