Chris Jecks
Down below, you’ll find our six predictions for things we’d expect from the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase, and then 5 games we’d love to see show up in one form or another. We’ve taken a stab at predicting how these might appear, but a brief cameo would be enough for us in most cases. So, without further ado, let’s dive into the good stuff.
Starfield Gameplay Reveal
Things to Expect from the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2022
If there’s one game that feels more or less 100% guaranteed to show up at Xbox and Bethesda’s Games Showcase next month, it’s Starfield. Bethesda Games Studios’ ambitious space RPG is set to release in November and we’ve yet to see any significant chunk of gameplay. We’ve had a gradual drip-feed of information over the past couple of months about its sound and music, the factions you’ll meet, and even your robotic companion, but it feels about right for the blowout of information ahead of it hitting Xbox and PC at the end of this year. This would fall in line with what Bethesda did with Fallout 4 back in 2015, which built hype in a perfect timeframe prior to the game’s release towards the end of that year, too. We’d expect a good 30 minutes or so spent on the game… probably at the very end to round the showcase off nicely.
Wishlist: An Update on Fable
Things We Hope to See at Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2022
The Fable series was beloved by many in its Xbox 360 haydays, but during the dark, early days of the Xbox One, Fable Legends came and flopped, and then the series remained dormant ever since. That was until the Xbox Games Showcase in 2020 when it was announced a new Fable was in development, coming to Xbox Series X|S and PC sometime in the future. It was a brief teaser, but the news the series was to return was enough for fans to erupt in celebration. Fast forward two years and all has been very quiet. Given this is assumed to be a rather hefty open-world RPG, chances are that the game’s not going to be ready anytime soon, but a quick trailer showing off the world, a bit of plot, and most importantly, the return of our doggo companion would be welcomed with open arms by Xbox fans around the world.
Footage of The Initiative’s Perfect Dark
Things to Expect from the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2022
The Initiative is a Santa Monica-based developer founded in 2018 and led by Crystal Dynamics veteran Darrell Gallagher. At the time of its founding and announcement, there was a big fanfare made about it, and then for a couple of years, we heard nothing. Fortunately, the ambiguity around its upcoming project was broken at The Game Awards in 2020 when a teaser was shared for a Perfect Dark reboot, developed by The Initiative in partnership with Crystal Dynamics. Two years later, we’ve still not seen or heard anything about the project. Surely, the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase this year is the perfect time to at least give fans a glimpse of how the reboot is shaping up. Expect some sort of trailer, even if it’s just a brief gameplay clip. A release date seems unlikely, outside of a vague 2023 window.
MachineGames’ Indiana Jones Game Shown
Things We Hope to See at Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2022
At the very beginning of 2021, the official Bethesda Twitter account announced that a new Indiana Jones game with an original story was in development from MachineGames. Executively produced by Todd Howard and in collaboration with Lucasfilms Games, the teaser accompanying the announcement appears to suggest that the game will see Indi embarking on a quest to the Vatican to seek out some sort of Holy relic or treasure. Alas, that’s all we’ve had to speculate on — and speculate we did — about the game, and so nearly 18 months later, we’re still eagerly awaiting the next tidbit of news about Indi’s adventure. It’s difficult to see a release date getting announced this early, but some sort of gameplay trailer feels a little more realistic. However, given Microsoft and Bethesda have a wealth of studios and third-party partners to fill the circa 90 minutes runtime (if past years are anything to go by) of the showcase, it may be held onto a little longer to give the development team more time to polish it up.
More Footage of Everwild & What Exactly it Is
Things to Expect from the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2022
While rumors have swirled in the past 12 months or so that Everwild has been rebooted and won’t launch until 2023, that serves as reason enough that Rare’s upcoming title will show up during the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase this year. Exactly what the game even was prior to the ‘reboot rumors’ was a little unclear. The game certainly looked beautiful in the trailers developer Rare did show, but it was difficult to tell what players would be doing in its fantasy world. If nothing else, we’d expect to see Everwild get a trailer and a proper explanation of what players will be doing in its world.
A New DOOM Teaser
Things We Hope to See at Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2022
Is there a shooter more frantic, gory, and satisfying as id Software’s DOOM and DOOM Eternal right now? We’d hedge our bets that no, there really isn’t and that’s why the next entry in the series would be right up there near the top of our wishlist for the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase this year. We’re not expecting a release date announcement or even a gameplay demo, but some sort of teaser to let fans know that the development team is hard at work on the title would be enough for us right now. Oh, and of course the confirmation that it releases day one on Xbox Game Pass and Game Pass for PC… like everything on this list, really.
Obsidian Shows Off More of Avowed
Things to Expect from the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2022
While we might have to wait a little longer for Elder Scrolls VI, Obsidian is looking to fill the shoes of Bethesda’s titan RPG in the meantime with Avowed, a brand-new IP set in a fantasy world with magic powers and melee combat aplenty. Set in the land of Eora, the same setting as Obsidian’s other RPG series Pillars of Eternity, the game will feature branching dialogue, and day/ night cycles. But we haven’t seen a ton of the game since its announcement trailer in 2020. Now seems about the right time for the game to receive a proper gameplay trailer, showing off the stunning world and a bunch of the different in-game mechanics and role-playing mechanics. We’d love to see a release date or window for early 2023 — gives us time to thoroughly explore space in Starfield! — but this will likely depend on how well the game’s development has been going.
A Gears 6 Teaser
Things We Hope to See at Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2022
It’s been nearly three years since The Coalition released the rather excellent Gears 5, which felt like a half-step showcase of what the series could be like if it embraced an open-world formula, and while I’ve spent an obscene amount of time in multiplayer and horde since, my chainsaw bayonet’s hungry for more, new content, in particular the next chapter in Delta Squad’s story. Given we’ve only had an announcement to say the team is shifting the series onto Unreal Engine 5 just last year, we’re not setting our expectations too high here. Perhaps just a teaser — maybe not like that weird Kait one for Gears 5 — showcasing how the series is going to look on the new engine. Yeah, that’d do just fine… just let us know that Horde’s doing ok too. We worry about our bae.
Hellblade 2: Senua’s Saga Gets an Early 2023 Release Window
Things to Expect from the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2022
Initially, we’d hoped that we might get a release date for Hellblade 2, ideally a 2022 release date, too. However, this seems pretty unlikely given comments the chief design director made in a development update on Ninja Theory’s YouTube channel last year. Tameem Antoniades, Ninja Theory founder and Chief Design Director said the team is currently building “a good chunky slice of the game before we then move into full production to build out the rest.” We did see a gameplay trailer at The Game Awards towards the end of last year, so we’d hazard a guess that this was what Antoniades was referring to. Even so, we’d still put our money on the game dropping sometime in 2023, perhaps during the now-popular first few months of the year.
Elder Scrolls VI/ Fallout 5 Reveal… or Both Because We’re Greedy
Things We Hope to See at Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2022
Is this absolutely ambitious and highly unlikely, given Bethesda Games Studios has been focusing almost entirely on Starfield? Definitely. Does that mean we can’t wish that it’ll happen all the same? Absolutely not. Look, we’ve had that teaser reveal trailer for Elder Scrolls VI, so maybe it’s time that we get a cheeky teaser for Fallout 5. We certainly wouldn’t turn our nose up at a New Vegas 2, either. This is without a doubt the most unlikely thing to drop at the showcase, but imagine the scenes on Twitter if we got a teaser for the next installments in both series at the very end of a sizzle reel closer. I’m already singing “I don’t want to set the world on fire,” in anticipation.
Redfall Release Date & Gameplay Demo
Things to Expect from the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2022
Did you think we’d forget about Redfall? Arkane Austin’s co-op FPS which puts a legion of vampires firmly in your iron sights. Choose your hero, group up with friends and get slaying those vampires in what looks set to be a a zany, fast-paced shooter that should be a blast with friends. Outside of the initial announce trailer, though, we’ve not seen anything else from Redfall, and we’ve yet to receive any confirmation that the game is still on-track for the initial Summer 2022 release window shared in that announcement. Given the game is, we assume, still set to release in a matter of months following the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase, we’d expect to see a proper chunk of gameplay and confirmation of a release date.
