Last Friday, Microsoft held their second Developer’s Direct, giving us a behind-the-scenes glimpse of several of their games set to release this year. With a focus on first party games, with one surprising addition, we were presented with a presentation that almost hit the 50 minute mark. Aside from some precious crumbs of gameplay, it also fronted some of the key developers behind each project. Lord knows that the gaming sphere could do with more reminders of the human faces behind the corporate juggernauts of Triple A.
Last year’s direct presented a mixed bag of games, with successes such as the darling Hi-Fi Rush, as well as the fiery dumpster truck that was Redfall. At first glance, this year a promising, although I have a few reservations as to how much success a couple of the titles with receive.
Ara: History Untold
Developer: Oxide Games
If you’ve played a Civilisation game then You’ve pretty much already played this game. Okay, maybe I’m doing the game a bit of a disservice as the 4X genre (Standing for explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate) is one that I’ve only experienced on a surface level, but some of the folks at Oxide Games did work on Civ 5. Since this isn’t really my genre, my thoughts are somewhat limited but there were a few fun things shown off.
The visualisation looks cool. Deemed the ‘Living World’, being able to see lots of tiny animals and people makes the world feel more expansive and more on the scale that such epic strategy games aspire to.
A game won’t have a set of specific victory conditions, giving players more freedom in how they play without sacrificing their chances of winning.
They’ve also implemented a crafting system, where resources are processed into other materials to then use to make more advance techs which sounds like an extra level of resource management that would make my head spin.
Oxide have stated that their goal with Ara is to innovating within the genre, and from what they displayed, they seem to be achieving that. If nothing else, it’s nice to see more games of this genre being made, if only so that it puts pressure on the big names to start pushing the boundaries more
Ara: History Untold is set to release in Autumn 2024 on PC.
Avowed
Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
My personal favourite, I’ve been dimly aware of Avowed’s existence for a while now. Set to be an action R.P.G, cut from the cloth of the great Skyrim, the footage highlighted a variety of different weapon types, classic melee weapons, flintlock firearms and, most interestingly, spell-slinging wands.
A first glimpse revealed nothing extraordinary besides some nice saturated visuals, but it is for the games setting that I am most excited. The Living Lands are a part of the world of Eora, the backdrop for Obsidian’s 2015 Pillars of Eternity. Pillar’s is a wonderfully written RPG, with deep themes regarding the soul, that run through every aspect of its world-building. It helps gives the setting a delightfully cohesive feel as well as distancing set it from the fantastically mundane. Obsidian are renown for their writing chops, so I look forward to seeing them play in such a rich environment once more. That being said, their chosen example of a ‘choices matter’ narrative seemed shallow in its depth, perhaps they’re keeping the juicier stuff back for now.
The pre-established setting seems to have naturally incorporated a CRPG-influenced combat system, with spells and abilities adding add an element of crowd control and fluidity to the combat, which should elevate it beyond Skyrim’s basic combat system which is easily the classic’s biggest weakness.
Avowed is set to release in Autumn 2024, on Xbox series S/X and on PC.
Visions of Mana
Developer: Square Enix
The Mana series is an old old franchise, the first ntry came out in 1991 and was a spin off from Final Fantasy. Since them there have been 17 titles released, and the last title released outside of Japan was Heroes of Mana in 2007, over 15 years ago. I have actually played Heroes, which was a DS-based RTS (The combination was as disastrous as it sounds) and not typical gameplay for the series, so I was excited to see what a more standard Mana game might look like.
Overall it seems to be a fairly standard JRPG. The combat seems a little hack and slashy for my tastes but the visuals are gorgeous. Lots of popping colour in vivid fantastical environments. The monsters you come across tend to border on the cutesy side of things but it all ties together under some decent art direction.
Watching the reveal, I could’t help but notice that a lot of the coverage of Voices had a focus on the past legacy of the series. I love exploring gaming’s history, but as a selling point, I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who’s played these games. And if there focus continues to be on the past then I can’t see this installment revitalising the franchise. Since it isn’t coming to gamepass either, this might be the easiest of the reveals to miss out on.
Visions of Mana is set to release in Summer 2024, on Playstation 4 and 5, Xbox series S/X and on PC.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Developer: Ninja Theory
I never played the original, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade, but from what I know it had a strong narrative focus, with an emphasis on the main character’s struggles with psychosis and that it explored these themes using the context of Norse mythology. The sequel, however, seems to have lost some of that unique perspective. Senua’s personal arc, of battling her demons and self-acceptance, have already been resolved by the first game, so where does she go from there? Instead the plot seems to be a dark, gloomy, maybe a little harrowing, story of revenge.
Based on what was shown, the games atmosphere seems to be where it’s really going to shine. The snippets of whispers are really spooky and I’m really digging the thought that Ninja Theory seems to have put into the sound direction. Overall the preview was enough to tempt me to give it a look once it releases, despite missing out on the first game, as it’s shaping up to be a considerate, if brutal, experience.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is set to release on May 21st, on Xbox series S/X and on PC.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle:
Developer: Machine Games
An Indiana Jones game was not on my bingo card. Out of all of the revealed titles, these seems to be the one that Microsoft are pinning their hopes on, with Todd Howard himself making an appearance on their presentation.
The first thing that struck me: the graphics were not quite what I expected. The villain from the opening cutscene strayed a little into the uncanny, but credit where it’s due, they’ve got Harrison Ford’s face spot on. From the in-game footage, the environments looked stunning. This game is clearly trying to be Microsoft’s answer to Uncharted after the rebooted Tomb Raider Games tailed off. The first-person camera is a smart choice to help distance the comparisons and pouring ancient ruins from that perspective really seems to capture the vibe of Indiana Jones.
There was a lot of talk of “A very movie-like approach to our cinematics”, and the puzzling aspects have been relegated “mostly optional”. Adventures are fun and all but Indie is a man who thrives on his intellect and quick wits and the trailer seemed skewed towards high-octane action. At one point Indie seems to jump from the wings of one plane to another mid flight which seems a little like surviving a nuclear blast in a lead lined fridge…
My prediction is that the latest Indiana Jones adventure will be a success commercially but critically it will pan. It just doesn’t seem to be attempting to do anything other than be another cinematic experience. There seems to be a rising tide of frustration at AAA producing the same old content, that might prove a bit too much for the Great Circle to handle. Fortunately, this is will be available on Game Pass, so it might be worth checking out.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is set to release in 2024, on Xbox series S/X and on PC.
This year Microsoft seem to have presented a variety of games to suit a variety of tastes, many of which seem set up to compete with genre leaders from other publishers. Most of the games will be available on Game Pass upon release, the only expection being Square Enix’s Visions of Mana, so they are at least worth checking out. Hopefully one of these titles becomes a highlight of the year so if you want to subscribe to the site you can hear my thoughts on the finished products.
Cheers,
Ewan
Elimbwrites.com 