This month has already been a busy one in the world of gaming, with several showcases for everyone from the Big 3, to Publishers and developers without consoles of their own. A lot was announced, and we have a lot to look forward to this year and beyond! This will be a quick rundown of my most anticipated of the year, and what we can look forward to loading up and playing in the near future!
The biggest surprise for me is also my top game announcement and the one I am most looking forward to. Xbox, during their showcase, announced at the end of the show an all-new game set in the very beginning of the Gears of War franchise. Gears of War: E-Day showed us a younger Marcus Fenix, along with his best friend Dom Santiago, as they look ove a city on the brink of devestation, as a large scale invasion by the Locust is just starting. Not much is known about the game from the teaser, but we do know that it is a prequel that takes place at the beginning of the war that almost ended mankind. The trailer gave us some action, and a lot of the feels, playing snippets of the song Mad World, a hallmark of the series, and seeing Marcus and Dom together again gave me major feels. Looking very forward to this one when it releases, not sure of that yet, as no date has been announced.
My next biggest (kind of) surprise, as everyone has been expecting it for years now, was the trailer for the Fable reboot(?), and I couldn’t be anymore excited about this. Fable sits high on my list of fave franchises of all time, and finally getting a return to Albion after all these years has me giddy! In the trailer we are treated to Humphrey, retired hero extraordinaire, (voiced by the incomparable Richard Ayoade) as he talks about one of the big trademarks of the Fable series: choices. We follow a young woman (I assume as in all the Fable games, you will be creating your character, so this is probably just a placeholder) who seems to be a budding young hero, as she fights monsters, humans, and completes various quests, while Humphrey hints at bigger enemies to come. Looks like we will get our hands on this in 2025, so next year can’t get here soon enough!
This game I am super excited for! It’s the debut title for a French dev, Sandfall Interactive, and it’s a turn based RPG, of which there aren’t nearly enough of today, hence the excitement! Turn based RPGs are a true love of mine, and I miss them dearly in games like Final Fantasy who have essentially abandoned the style altogether. It’s super nice to finally have some other titles beyond what Atlus is doing (and doing well). This new IP takes place in a world ravaged by a being simply called The Paintress, who awakens every year to paint a new number. As she paints these numbers, every person who is aged that number, vanishes in a cloud of smoke. The next number to be painted is 33, and we see a group of expeditioners, just the next of many to try, and perhaps the first not to fail, attempting to make their way to the continent and kill the paintress. They will follow along the paths of those doomed before them, as they enter into a strange and ethereal world facing many dangers along the way. The trailer looks absolutely amazing, the combat system looks fast and engaging, and we can find out in 2025 if this is an expedition worth taking, as it’s available across the PS5, Xbox series X/S(available day one on game pass), and PC.
These were by far not the only games to make appearances this year, and we will have more on those as well, but this is what I am most looking forward to playing very soon. It was a great few showcases, especially for Microsoft/Xbox after all the problems they’ve encountered with closures. Still doesn’t take the bad taste out of your mouth, but it is a good sign that the health of the industry is back on the mend. See ya soon, with more impressions of the rest of the best!
What were your picks of the showcases? What wasn’t announced that you desperately wanted to see? Let us know in the comments!
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