Microsoft recently held their X019 press conference in London, and there was an onslaught of announcements and trailers. Below I’ve collected all the major news in order of announcement. More footage can be found on Microsoft’s YouTube channel.
Rare unveils new game at X019.
Early on Louise O’Connor from Rare debuted a trailer for their new IP, Everwild. Not much was revealed about it, but it had a sharp cel-shaded look, and appears to be a fantasy style game with tribal hunters and otherworldly fauna.
Obsidian reveals the follow-up to The Outer Worlds
Obsidian followed the Rare announcement with one of their own: the stylized survival game Grounded. In it you appear to play a shrunken child trying to find a way to return to normal, while fighting ants, spiders, and other insects. The game will be available on both the Xbox and PC Game Preview program in Spring 2020.
Raw Fury introduces new game in beta now.
Also announced was a top-down shooter (possible roguelike) West of Dead, where you play an undead bounty hunter voiced by Ron Perlman. The game is set in Purgatory, Wyoming in 1888, and for those who wanna get their demonic cowboy on they can play the beta right now on Xbox One.
Sea of Thieves adding new free content patch.
Rare is dropping the next Sea of Thieves free update on November 20th, and in it will be a new Tall Tale involving a ghost ship, the Ashen Dragon. Also included are the new firebomb shots for ship canons, and new cosmetics in the Arena.
KartRider: Drift coming to Xbox in 2020.
Coming from the Crazyracing Kartrider team at Nexon is a console update to the game: Kartrider: Drift. It will debut on both Xbox One and PC in 2020, feature cross-play, and it will be free to play. The closed beta begins December 5th.
Bleeding Edge finally dropped a release date.
After showing off a training montage featuring a load of personality, Ninja Theory finally gave a release date for their competitive melee-brawler. The game will drop March 24th, 2020.
A shotgun blast of brief reveals.
Without revealing too much, Microsoft dropped a sizzle-reel of new announcements here at X019, including Planet Coaster: Console Edition. That will be debuting summer 2020, as will Dontnod’s newest title Tell Me Why – a game from the Life is Strange team about twins who can view each other’s memories. Beethoven and Dinosaurs long teased The Artful Escape was given a broad 2020 release, and the game continues to look like a Rush meets Yes rock-star acid trip, so count me in.
Project xCloud is expanding in the new year.
After touting the project’s existing accomplishments, Microsoft revealed some key milestones for the streaming service coming next year. To start, they plan to add functionality for xCloud on Windows 10 PCs in 2020, which will support various controllers (including Sony’s Dual-shock 4).
Microsoft also plans on expanding the service to Canada, Japan, India, and Western Europe next year, but that’s small news compared to the last promise: next year Microsoft will make it so you can use xCloud to play any games you own via the service, AND any Game Pass games. Good news for Xbox fans, bad news for Stadia.
A new game and a fan favorite franchise coming to Xbox Game Pass.
Drake Hollow, whick looks like Pikmin meets edgy teens, from The Molasses Flood was shown, but not much more was revealed about it. Prior to that announcement, however, was the news that Yakuza 0, Kiwami 1, and Kiwami 2 are coming to the Xbox Game Pass.
Halo: Reach finally gets a release date.
After a whole year of teasing, Microsoft revealed when Reach would launch on the Xbox One and PC: December 3rd, 2019. Yep, only a few weeks away. As an extra bonus, it will be available on Game Pass.
Age of Empires IV officially announced.
Real-time strategy fans rejoice: the newest Age of Empires officially exists, we got a trailer here at X019, and it looks more akin to Age of Empires II than III. The game is being made by a new internal team named World’s Edge. Microsoft then spent some time talking about the new Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, which recently launched.
https://youtu.be/BCBgO6St9ug
More Flight Sim was shown, as was CrossfireX
Microsoft’s Flight Simulator continues to stun, with an Earth that looks frighteningly real. I’m aircrew in the Air Force, and I’ve been up in the air for well over two-thousand hours: lemme say this game continues to impress even my skeptical eye.
CrossfireX, revealed at E3 was given another gameplay trailer, and it was announced that Remedy, of Max Payne and Control fame, are working on a single-player mode for the game.
Developers of award-winning Virginia showed off their latest.
Variable State seems to be smoking whatever it is David Lynch has been on the last few decades, because their newest title, Last Stop, looks like a surreal mystery with people swapping bodies, mysterious investigators, and other general weirdness. No release date was given.
Minecraft Dungeons is family-friendly Diablo.
Minecraft Dungeons was shown off during a brief developer interview in the middle of the X019 show, and from the footage it appears to be a relatively newcomer friendly action-roleplaying game. Classes don’t exist, with abilities coming from what you are wearing. Difficulty will scale dynamically based on how many players are in the session, and the maps are all procedurally generated. The game debuts April 2020.
Square-Enix embraces Game Pass at X019.
Final Fantasy VII, VIII, IX, X, X-2, XII, XIII, XIII-2, Lightning Returns, and XV are all coming to Xbox Games Pass for PC and Xbox starting next year in sequential order. Phil Spencer even told the press outside the main event that he is working with Square-Enix and Yoshi-P on getting Final Fantasy XIV onto the Xbox; no more a matter of if, but a when. Hopefully next year!
The bigger bombshell, though, was the announcement that Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5, 2.5, and 2.8 are all coming to Xbox. There is also a demo for Kingdom Hearts III coming to Xbox today.
Game Pass games revealed.
So, we’re gonna break these down below, cause there were a hoard announced.
- This month:
- Rage 2 (console), Remnant: From the Ashes (console), Lego: Ninjago Movie (console), Talos Principle (console and PC), Planetfall (console), Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition (PC).
- Soon:
- The Witcher 3 (console), Darksiders 3 (both), Halo: Reach (both), My Friend Pedro (both), the aforementioned Yakuza titles (both), aforementioned Final Fantasy titles (both),
- Day of Launch:
- Minecraft: Dungeons (both), Microsoft: Flight Simulator (PC), Bleeding Edge (both), Grounded (both), Wasteland 3 (both), Ori and the Will of the Wisps (both).
ID@Xbox gets some love at X019.
Announced for ID@Xbox were a slew of titles, and all will debut on the Game Pass at launch:
- Tracks, Streets of Rage 4, Skate Bird, Carrion, Phogs, Supraland, Scourge Bringer, Luna Nights, CrisTales, Double Kick Heroes, Haven, She Dreams of Elsewhere, Levelhead, My Friend Pedro, It Lurks Below, Forager, Cyber Shadow, The Red Latern, and Edge of Eternity.
https://youtu.be/cbkaSTcK6dY
The show concluded with a Wasteland 3 trailer, debuts May 19th.
And that was it. Good lord, that was a lot to cover. There will be more information in the coming days, but this should get you all caught up on the bigger details. Stay posted here at Attack of the Fanboy for more X019 coverage!
