Today’s Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2022 digital event followed up Summer Game Fest 2022 by revealing a number of highly-anticipated titles. The joint digital event was arguably the largest component of Summer Game Fest 2022, outside of the event’s official livestream held on June 9. Microsoft acquired Bethesda back in March 2021, leading to a combined showcase for the Xbox brand and Bethesda’s collection of esteemed developers. Despite multiple leaks and countless rumors, Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2022 had a few exciting surprises up its sleeve.
Host Geoff Keighley premiered a number of Summer Game Fest 2022 reveals and trailers on June 9, setting the stage for the entire weekend. One of the highlights of the livestream event was a gameplay trailer for The Callisto Protocol, a sci-fi survival horror title heavily inspired by the Dead Space franchise. Geoff Keighley also revealed gameplay from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s single-player campaign, pulled directly from a mission called “Dark Water.” A cinematic trailer for the superhero strategy game Marvel’s Midnight Suns was also shown, revealed Spider-Man as a playable character and his nemesis Venom as a boss. Finally, a PlayStation 5 remake of The Last of Us was announced to cap off the Summer Game Fest 2022 presentation.
Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2022 has inevitably been compared not just to June 9’s Summer Games Fest 2022 stream, but also to last year’s showcase. The Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase at E3 2021 showed off a plethora of exciting new trailers, with a handful of exciting projects being announced for the very first time. The Sea of Thieves expansion A Pirate’s Life, which served as a crossover with the Pirates of the Caribbean expansion, was revealed during the event. Playground Games’ open-world racing title Forza Horizon 5 also made its world debut, alongside Arkane Studios’ cooperative vampire shooter Redfall. While these anticipated projects made last year’s event a big hit, Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2022 had its fair share of epic reveals, detailed below.
Hollow Knight: Silksong Will Leap Onto Xbox Game Pass
Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2022 was dramatically kicked off by a trailer for Hollow Knight: Silksong, the highly-anticipated sequel to the indie Metroidvania title Hollow Knight. The upcoming game, developed by Team Cherry, will see players take control of the agile heroine Hornet. The game will take players to a brand-new sprawling dungeon to discover, with the brand-new trailer showing off horrifying hazards like saw blades and intimidating bosses. Xbox Games Showcase 2022 also revealed that the game will be available on Xbox Game Pass the first day it releases, though the event sadly failed to reveal exactly when Hollow Knight: Silksong will finally launch.
Redfall Is A Coffin-Creeping Co-Op Shooter From Arkane Studios
Arkane Studios’ next title is a cooperative first-person vampire shooter called Redfall. While the exciting title was first announced back in June 2021, Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2022 premiered a brand-new Redfall gameplay trailer showing off co-op gameplay and shedding plenty of sunlight on the multiplayer title. The game sees a titular Massachusetts town overrun by the bloodsucking undead, forcing a team of four vampire hunters to fight back through a densely detailed open world.
Each of Redfall’s four playable characters possesses their own unique set of abilities, and players are able to upgrade their skills and weapons over time. Four-player co-op lets players outnumber their vampire foes and deliver penance in the form of sunlight-based weaponry. Redfall is set to release in 2023 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Hideo Kojima Partners With Xbox Game Studios
While little information was actually revealed about his next project, Hideo Kojima did announce a partnership with Xbox Game Studios during Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2022. The next game from Hideo Kojima will reportedly make use of Xbox’s powerful cloud gaming technology, which will make for a truly unique and groundbreaking experience. The gaming icon is well-known for partnering with Sony to create PlayStation-exclusive titles like 1998’s Metal Gear Solid, 2008’s Metal Gear Solid 4 and 2019’s Death Stranding. This makes Kojima’s appearance during the Xbox event quite surprising, but evidently Microsoft gave him access to technology that allowed him to build the game that he has always dreamed of creating.
The Persona JRPG Series Is Coming To Xbox Game Pass
Another surprising Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2022 reveal came in the form of the Persona series, which will be coming to Xbox Game Pass on October 21, 2022. While the series has traditionally been exclusive to Nintendo and Sony platforms, Persona 3, 4, and 5 will reach Xbox and will immediately strengthen the subscription service’s lineup of Japanese role-playing games.
Each game in the Persona series explores a high school setting where characters can battle each other using unique physical manifestations of their psyche and subconscious. Each Persona game features Personas based around a variety of mythological and religious themes, from Greek mythology to Japanese Buddhism. When Persona 3, 4 and 5 come to Xbox Game Pass on October 21, Microsoft will gain a valuable series of beloved JRPGs.
A Starfield Gameplay Trailer Capped Off The Show
Xbox & Bethesda Games Show 2022 saved the best for last by waiting until the end to reveal an extensive Starfield gameplay mechanics demo. Bethesda Softworks’ next RPG experience will take players to the Settled Systems, a unique sci-fi world set in the 2300s. After they create their characters, players will be able to visit over 1,000 unique planets using their custom-built spaceship. Fast-paced first-person shooter combat will help players survive the harsh world of Starfield, and a team of companions will provide valuable company on the journey. Starfield strives to redefine the open-world RPG genre when it launches on PC and Xbox Series X/S in the first half of 2023.
Alongside these particularly exciting titles, Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2022 also revealed:
- High On Life (Squanch Games)
- League of Legends on Xbox Game Pass (Epic Games)
- Valorant on Xbox Game Pass (Epic Games)
- Legends of Runeterra on Xbox Game Pass (Epic Games)
- Teamfight Tactics on Xbox Game Pass (Epic Games)
- A Plague Tale: Requiem (Asobo Studio)
- Forza Motorsport (Turn 10)
- Microsoft Flight Simulator x Halo Infinite (Asobo Studio)
- Overwatch 2 early access (Blizzard)
- Ara History Untold (Oxide Games)
- The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle (ZeniMax Online Studios)
- Fallout 76: The Pitt (Bethesda Game Studios)
- Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels expansion (Playground Games)
- Ark 2 (Studio Wildcard)
- Scorn (Ebb Software)
- Flintlock: The Siege Of Dawn (A44 Games Limited)
- Minecraft Legends (Mojang)
- Lightyear Frontier (FRAME BREAK)
- Gunfire Reborn (Duoyi Games)
- The Last Case of Benedict Fox (Plot Twist)
- As Dusk Falls (Interior/Nights)
- Naraka Bladepoint (24 Entertainment)
- Pentiment (Obsidian)
- Grounded (Obsidian)
- Ereban: Shadow Legacy (Baby Robot Games)
- Diablo 4 Necromancer class (Blizzard)
- Sea of Thieves Season 7 (Rare)
- Ravenlok (Cococucumber)
- Cocoon (Jeppe Carlsen)
- Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty (Team Ninja)
The 2022 Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase was clearly a robust digital event, packed to the brim with exciting game reveals and unexpected announcements. Summer Games Fest host Geoff Keighley warned fans to manage their expectations for the 2022 event, and Microsoft managed to overshadow the June 9 stream with their own showcase on June 12. From an extensive look at Starfield gameplay to a promising collaboration with Hideo Kojima, Xbox and Bethesda have arguably dominated Summer Game Fest 2022 with an amazing livestream event.
