On Sunday, Microsoft staged an exhaustive livestream of back-to-back game trailers for titles coming to Xbox, Xbox Game Pass and Windows PC over the next year, followed by another hour going deep inside Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
It was a lot to take in, and therefore a lot to sort out, in terms of importance to the video games fan. As Xbox noted, they had reveals covering big budget triple-A releases, the kind that usually anchored the old E3 news conferences, as well as debut trailers for high-concept indie games works. Gorging on a buffet of new game releases, it was hard for any single thing to stand out to the viewer.
We’ll recap the biggest trailers here. There were plenty more announcements, followed by an hour-long deep dive on the next Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, launching Oct. 25 for PlayStation, Windows PC, and Xbox.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
This appears to be a cinematic sequence early in the game, you have to suspend a lot of disbelief, because some kind of battleship has been dumped on the Himalayan mountain range like it’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind all over again. This sort of tips off the cosmic, space-and-time forces that Indiana Jones must confront in his latest adventure — as well as the usual bastard-ass Nazis. In any case, Machinegames and Bethesda Softworks are going whole hog with their chance at the amazing high adventure the Indiana Jones franchise has represented for 40 years. The game still does not have a launch date, however.
Doom: The Dark Ages
Confirming earlier rumors that id Software’s shooter franchise is going into medieval times, Doom: The Dark Ages is coming in 2025, and this teaser trailer shows dragons, swords, and guns for sure.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Dragon Age: The Veilguard got a last-minute name change, which is interesting, considering its former name “Dragon Age: Dread Wolf” wasn’t exactly evocative of lore or concepts most players know, either. The trailer showcases the classes players can choose and play in the role-playing adventure, when it launches fall 2024. As with most games announced Sunday, Xbox Game Pass subscribers can expect it day one.
South of Midnight
The great shame of 90-minute showcases like Xbox’s on Sunday is that high-concept, story-driven adventures like South of Midnight, from Compulsion Games (the studio behind Contrast and We Happy Few) don’t get much room to breathe. There’s a lot going on in this trailer; it’s billed as a “Southern gothic” narrative which accounts for the twangy accent on that giant catfish, and probably indicates a lot of betrayal and family secrets in the backstory. It’s tabbed for a 2025 delivery.
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater
This is going to be one to watch because a) it’s a remake of 20-year-old Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater and b) Hideo Kojima is obviously not involved, having left Konami a decade ago. But the trailer is undeniably eye-catching, setting up the adventure in which Snake HALO-jumps into country, forages off the land, and brings the force of a one-man army to Cold War Russia. Think of it as a nice companion to Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. And on that note:
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
The second COD to be launched under Microsoft ownership (since completing its acquisition of Activision Blizzard in October) leans heavy into the ooo-wee-ooo paranoia and conspiracy that has made Treyarch’s Black Ops’ single-player campaign the best among the franchise going back almost 15 years.
Xbox boss Phil Spencer noted that it has been 10 years since Call of Duty was an Xbox showcase partner for a June presentation, so leading with this trailer was something of a victory lap for Microsoft.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 launches Oct. 25 for Xbox Series X and Windows PC (and yes, U.S. Justice department regulators, for PlayStation 4 and PS5 as well). It will be a day-and date release on Xbox Game Pass for those subscribers.
Perfect Dark
This is a fan-service trailer for a beloved spy-thriller game with a a long history, a fanbase to match, and is getting rebooted for Xbox Series X and Windows PC by Crystal Dynamics, two years after Square Enix put that studio out on the street. All of which makes for a lovely comeback story.
Mixtape
Let’s just put it this way: The greatest summer you ever lived is always gonna make for a good video game adventure. From there, the nostalgic soundtrack is pure gravy, but with a setlist comprising Devo, The Smashing Pumpkins, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and an incredibly well-chosen “More Than This” from Roxy Music, Mixtape has a big head start as a game to watch in 2025. “It’s the greatest hits of teenage friendship, from the first kiss to the last dance,” the game’s official YouTube page says. Count us in. You can’t lose with anything that reminds someone of their first kiss, much less the song playing when you had it.
Gears of War: E-Day
A prequel to the 20-years-old Gears of War continuity, Gears of War: E-Day will establish the “origin story of one of gaming’s most acclaimed sagas.” Heroes Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago star in an adventure set 14 years before the Xbox 360 classic Gears of War, when the COG soldiers first confront the emergence of an existential threat in the Locust Horde.
Fallout 76: Skyline Valley
Bethesda Game Studios’ live-service adaptation of the post-apocalyptic role-playing adventure has gotten a huge jolt thanks to Amazon Prime Video’s TV series adaptation. Thus it’s no surprise the Skyline Valley expansion, launching June 12, will among other things make the irradiated Ghouls into playable characters. That’s a nod to Walton Goggins’ character in the TV show.
Fable
Once a crown jewel in Xbox’s catalog of exclusive IPs, we haven’t seen a full-sized Fable launch since 2010. Playground Games, the team behind Xbox’s very successful Forza Horizon series, are on the case, showing they can deliver the same pluck, mirth, and irony that Peter Molyneux and Lionhead Studios established more than 20 years ago.
