Month: June 2018

Microsoft has just unveiled the next installment in the Gears of War franchise, and it looks to really up the stakes. In Gears of War 5, coming sometime in 2019, the series looks to add a deeper emotional depth to the series, while still focusing on the intense action and thrilling moments that the previous games have always focused on. In the trailer, we got to see many returning characters, including Kate Diaz–who is the central character of the game–along with the likes of Marcus Fenix also making an appearance.

Developed by The Coalition once again, Gears of War 5 will pick up sometime after the events of Gears of War 4, which was a fresh start for the series with the COG forces fighting against a new threat. From the lengthy trailer, we saw a number of locations that you’ll come to visit, such an ice-covered lake and a jungle environment. While the the series has jumped around between different areas, there seems to be a stronger focus on variety here. Along with the reveal of GoW5, we saw an announcement of the new tactics game set in the Gears of War series.

For more info on Gears of War 5, and the many other games from the Microsoft Press Conference, keep an eye out for more news and info on GameSpot’s E3 2018 HUB page.

Playground’s latest open-world racing title Forza Horizon 4 was revealed at today’s Xbox briefing. This time around the game will be set in Britain. This one will have a shared open-world, and dynamic seasons. Forza Horizon 4 will release on October 2 for Xbox One and PC.

Looking to reserve your copy? There are three versions–Standard, Deluxe, and Ultimate. Right now, physical listings for the Deluxe and Ultimate Editions are not yet available. We’ve got all the links to where you can reserve yours below. When more details on pre-order bonuses come out, we’ll have them here too.

Forza Horizon 4 Pre-Order Bonuses

GameStop pre-orders will include the 2017 Aston Martin DB11 and crew neck t-shirt.

Forza Horizon 4 Standard Edition

• Best Buy — $60 — Xbox One (Physical) | Xbox One (Digital)
• GameStop — $60 — Xbox One

Forza Horizon 4 Deluxe Edition

• Best Buy — $80 — Xbox One
• GameStop — $80 — Xbox One

Forza Horizon 4 Ultimate Edition

• Best Buy — $100 — Xbox One
• GameStop — $100 — Xbox One

Lara Croft–the Tomb Raider–has always had right on her side. In adventure after adventure, Lara has solved countless puzzles and killed hundreds of people, all with the steadfast belief that she’s on the side of angels. And the bad guys, well, the bad guys had it coming to them. But in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, doubt has crept in. For the latest installment in this long-running series, Lara Croft’s actions and motivations are under the microscope. Is the Tomb Raider actually causing more problems than she’s solving?

It’s an interesting concept for developer Crystal Dynamics to explore, and from all of our early looks at the upcoming game, it’s not an angle they’re only paying lip service to. This questioning of Lara seems core to the experience of Shadow of the Tomb Raider. It’s there in one of the game’s trailers, where you see Lara scaring a child after approaching him with blood literally on her hands. It was there in the very first gameplay demo we had hands-on with, where Lara’s thoughtless actions in desecrating a tomb kicked off a huge natural disaster that ends up killing hundreds of people. And it was there when we were shown the game’s new hub area of Paititi, where Lara has to work hard to make the local residents see her as a trusted partner as opposed to a foreign invader.

During a recent interview with GameSpot, the game’s creators said that this questioning of what being the Tomb Raider is was the necessary next steps in Lara Croft’s journey.

Jill Murray, Lead Writer: In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, we see Lara at the height of her powers, and now she’s able to be the architect of her own chaos. She’s already questioning, ‘Now that I have all this power, what am I going to do with it? Can I keep going like this? Always pursuing my obsessions? Always trying to be the first one to get there? Or am I better off learning from this and finding a new way of doing things?’

You’re almost setting her up to be the bad guy, right? In the trailer, you literally have her with blood on her hands and the child running away. At the end of the demo we just played, the lead characters are questioning what she’s doing, whether she’s thinking of the greater ramifications. Why go down that route with such an iconic character?

Chris Johnston, Brand Manager, Crystal Dynamics: This is the most capable Lara Croft players have ever seen before, as a result her decisions have much larger implications than they’ve ever had. So we’re seeing a character that the player’s ultimately growing with. Now that she’s more powerful, she’s being confronted with decisions that aren’t as easy as A or B, or left or right. Each of these decisions have very different consequences, and it’s about Lara being able to fully understand the consequences of her actions. In the classic storylines, it’s always Lara racing against someone else to get something first. Now we’re seeing this different exposition of Lara’s racing against Trinity, but by her taking the artifact, it actually ends up triggering a Mayan apocalypse. We’re seeing a very different situation that players haven’t seen Lara in.

Are you trying to present that as a flaw in her character that she needs to reconcile? This insatiable drive that she has?

Murray: I don’t know if we would call it a flaw, but it’s definitely a core characteristic, and it’s definitely something she’s gonna be examining more deeply. It’s something that, in this game, causes her a lot of conflict and guilt and grief, and she has to work through her contrasting feelings of responsibility and guilt.

The new hub area in this game is different from the large areas in the past two in that it’s a living, breathing city filled with inhabitants. Why make the change to this habitated area?

Murray: The short answer is it’s more interesting, and it’s not just dead, quiet artifacts. There are people that you can engage with, missions she can take on, and things she can discover. The other thing that’s great is that any idea that she might have had about coming in and fixing everything is probably not going to work. She’s gonna learn most of the time that the people there are helping her a lot more than she could ever help them.

Johnston: I don’t want to get into spoilers, but being in this space allows us to explore her character as well, where we see a different side of her. It allows us to touch a deeper narrative into who she is as a person and the emotions that she’s going through.

Murray: What we mean is she’s not coming in from the outside as a fixer of problems. She’s going to have to work with the local people directly. She’s going to have to, for the first time, let other people be the drivers and not just keep doing that thing where chases down her obsession. She has to listen to what people are telling her, wait for them to invite her in. If they need her help, they’ll ask for it.

Fallout 76 may be a prequel to all existing Fallout games, but it will set a new precedent for size. During Microsoft’s E3 2018 press conference, Bethesda took to the stage to announce that the game will be “four times larger” than Fallout 4. Get a look at the announcement in the video above.

In Fallout 76, you’ll play as one of the first people to emerge from Vault 76, out into an untamed wasteland. In terms of level design, the world in Fallout 76 is Bethesda’s “biggest one yet.” In a new trailer, unveiled at the press conference, we got a new look at that wasteland along with Vault 76 itself.

The trailer opens with a character wearing a very old looking Power Armor. It then showed off the world, which has a different, more vibrant look to it compared to previous games. Since Fallout 76 is all about rebuilding, this is the environment players will be tasked with saving.

Fallout 76 is coming to Xbox One, PS4, and PC, and will be available for preorder June 15. We’re sure to get a more in-depth look at Bethesda’s press conference tonight at 6:30 PM PT, and you can watch it here.

Bethesda’s Todd Howard appeared on stage during Microsoft’s E3 2018 press conference to show off Fallout 76 for the first time ever. According to Howard, Fallout 76 is four times the size of Fallout and is, as suspected, a prequel to the previous games in the series.

This becomes immediately obvious in the trailer shown during the showcase, which opened with a character wearing a very old looking Power Armor. The trailer then showed off the world, which didn’t look as rough as the Fallout worlds we’re used to seeing. There was some vibrancy to it, and this is what players will seek to restore.

Fallout 76 is about rebuilding, and all the people who emerge from the Vault will be responsible for forging a new beginning. Although there was no confirmation of a release date for Fallout 76, pre-orders for the game will begin on June 15.

During Microsoft’s E3 2018 press conference 4A Games showed off more of Metro Exodus, the eagerly anticipated first-person shooter. The gameplay demo opened with a man giving a speech about survival, before quickly showing off a variety of weapons and customization options.

As with previous Metro games, there’s plenty of mutated creatures being gunned down, but most importantly it looks like the tense, unsettling atmosphere isn’t lost amongst the bombastic gunplay. Similarly, the ongoing narration highlights that there will be a strong emphasis on storytelling, which is good news for those that have been following Artyom’s journey from the start.

The trailer ended by confirming Metro Exodus’ release date: February 22, 2019. The PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC game was originally due to launch this year, but its developer said the extra time was needed as this is the most ambitious Metro game so far and it’s taking time to make it the “absolute best.”

The first Metro game, Metro 2033, came out in 2010. The most recent entry in the series was 2013’s Metro: Last Light, so it’s been a long time coming for a new game. The franchise was created and is developed by 4A Games, based on the works of Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky.

At long last, players have their first look at the gameplay for Gears of War 5. The new trailer debuted during Xbox’s E3 press conference.

The trailer begins with Kait Diaz crying over the death of an unseen character. Though she’s pretty shaken up, she’s ordered to move on with the rest of the group. She refuses, and reveals she’s been having strange visions, most likely on account of the Locust necklace she inherited from her grandmother.

Marcus Fenix let’s Kait know where she might find some answers and she chooses to leave the group in order to go figure out what her visions might mean. The trailer than flashes forward to different moments in Kait’s journey, as she takes on enemies of all shapes and sizes and disposes of them with the same bloody combat that Gears of War is known for. Several new melee weapons offer even more visceral ways to dispose of the threats in her path.

As she ventures further and further, she begins to grow more distrustful and elusive, even pulling a firearm on a comrade. The trailer also showcases that Kait will do more than just walk throughout her journey. She’ll utilize a parasail to cross an icy lake and use rappel gear to climb down cliff edges.

The trailer ends with the promise of Gears of War 5 releasing in 2019. To stay updated on further Xbox announcements, or any other trailers debuting during E3, be sure to stay tuned to our E3 2018 hub.

Dontnod’s new game embraces childhood and superheroes and has a release date set for June 26.

Microsoft has teased the next console coming after the Xbox One. Speaking during the company’s briefing today at E3 2018, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said Microsoft is already “deep into” the early stages of the next Xbox consoles.

Spencer said Microsoft is “deep into architecting the next Xbox consoles where we will once again deliver on our commitment to set the benchmark for console gaming.”

He offered no further information about the new consoles, but he did stress that Xbox will always be the best place to play console games. Of course, he’s going to say that as the leader of Xbox. But currently, many multiplatform games look and perform best on Xbox One X thanks to that console’s performance advantage over the PS4 and PS4 Pro.

Also during the event, Spencer confirmed that Microsoft is working on a game-streaming service. While he was not ready to fully announce the service, he did say the service will offer “console-quality” gaming on “any device.” Microsoft has been rumoured for a long time now to be working on a streaming service that will reportedly rival Sony’s PlayStation Now.

Microsoft made a LOT of announcements during its E3 briefing–here’s a roundup of all the big news. E3 2018 rolls on with Bethesda’s briefing tonight at 6:30 PM PT, so keep checking back for more.

Kicking off the second day of E3 2018 is Microsoft. The company had a phenomenal lineup of big announcements. It announced some of the latest entries in its most iconic franchises, like Halo Infinite and Gears 5. In addition, big-name sequels and new IPs were debuted, which included Cyberpunk 2077, Devil May Cry 5, and Dying Light.

But don’t let this opening tell you everything there is to know about the press conference. We’ve rounded up all of the announcements from the briefing, and below you’ll find all of our coverage of Microsoft’s event. In the meantime, you can check out our Microsoft press conference liveblog if you want to re-experience the show.

The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit

Life Is Strange Spin-Off Gets Adorable E3 2018 Trailer–The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit will be free later this June.

Battletoads

New Battletoads Confirmed For Xbox At E3 2018–The beat-em-up franchise returns next year with a brand-new instalment.

Cuphead

Cuphead Gets New Playable Character And Bosses–Cuphead is getting a new playable character, and new enemies and bosses

Crackdown 3

Terry Crews Yells A Lot In New Crackdown 3 Trailer–Check out a new trailer for the recently delayed Xbox One and PC game.

Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077 Trailer Shows A Stunning Futuristic City–CD Projekt Red has lifted the veil on Cyberpunk 2077 at Microsoft’s E3 press conference. Here’s everything we’ve learned about the upcoming Xbox One, PS4, and PC game.

Devil May Cry V

Devil May Cry 5 Revealed At Xbox Press Conference–Devil May Cry 3 director Hideaki Itsuno returns to the series for its newest entry.

The Division 2

The Division 2 Debuts At Xbox Conference, Washington DC Setting Confirmed–We got our first glimpse at The Division 2 at Microsoft’s showcase, confirming the setting and a load of new features.

The Division 2 Revealed, Release Date Announced–Ubisoft’s new shooter arrives in early 2019.

Dying Light 2

Dying Light 2 Announced At Microsoft E3 2018 Conference–At its E3 2018 presentation, Microsoft showed an announcement trailer for Dying Light 2, followed by an extended demo explaining the cause-and-effect system.

Fallout 76

Fallout 76 Trailer Debuts At Xbox Press Conference–Take a look at the world from Fallout 76, which doesn’t look as destroyed as the Fallout worlds we’re used to seeing.

Fallout 76 Will Be Four Times The Size Of Fallout 4–At Microsoft’s E3 press conference, Fallout 76’s creators revealed the Xbox One, PS4, and PC game will be much, much larger than Fallout 4.

Fallout 4 Available On Xbox Game Pass Today–Todd Howard took the stage during the Microsoft conference to show off Fallout 76, but he dropped a little treat you can access today as well.

Forza Horizon 4

Forza Horizon 4 Announced, Coming This Year–During the Microsoft press conference, the next Forza Horizon game was revealed. It’s set in Great Britain and set to launch in October.

Forza Horizon 4 Release Date Revealed At E3 2018–Here’s when you can get your hands on the next racing game from Microsoft.

Halo Infinite

Halo Infinite Announced For Xbox One–The time was right for the Master Chief’s return, and Microsoft made time on its stage to tease the return of the iconic character.

Jump Force

Naurto, Dragon Ball, One Piece, And Death Note Crossover In Jump Force–A new anime arena fighting game was announced during Microsoft’s E3 press conference. Jump Force brings together four franchises in a 3D brawler.

Just Cause 4

Just Cause 4 Trailer Is As Crazy As You’d Expect–Rico returns, and he’s crazier than ever.

Kingdom Hearts 3

New Kingdom Hearts 3 Trailer Debuts at Xbox E3 2018 Briefing–Check out the new trailer for Kingdom Hearts 3 featuring characters from Frozen and Wreck-It-Ralph.

Metro Exodus

Metro Exodus Trailer Shows A Vicious Wasteland–4A Games’ open-world survival shooter looks like it’s going to be challenging and ruthless.

Metro Exodus Release Date Announced–The first-person shooter launches for PS4, Xbox One, and PC in February on the same day as BioWare’s Anthem.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

Ori And The Will Of The Wisps Gets New Gameplay Trailer For Xbox One–The follow up to the indie hit Ori And The Blind Forest had a new gameplay trailer during Microsoft’s E3 press conference.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds

PUBG on Xbox One Getting New Sanhok Map This Summer–Xbox One players will be getting PUBG’s new map soon, Microsoft announced at its E3 2018 press conference.

Sea of Thieves Update

Sea Of Thieves E3 2018 Trailer Teases Ancient Evil–Microsoft is devoted to its zany pirate adventure game, as a new trailer for Sea of Thieves premiered during the company’s E3 presentation.

Sekio: Shadows Die Twice (FromSoftware’s New Game)

Dark Souls Dev’s New Game Revealed During Xbox E3 2018 Briefing–From Software’s next game has been officially announced; and it’s published by Activision.

Xbox One Game Pass

Xbox Game Pass Adds High-Profile Titles Today; The Division, Fallout 4–Microsoft is pumping new games into Xbox One Game Pass today with Fallout 4, The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited, and The Division.

Xbox “Fast Start” Feature Makes Game Pass Titles Load Faster–This new feature can make Game Pass titles load twice as fast.