Xbox Reveals Marvel’s Blade and Hideo Kojima Game at The Game Awards

There were some notable Xbox announcements at The Game Awards ceremony yesterday. The first surprise was Marvel’s Blade, a “mature, single-player, third-person game” in development by Arkane Lyon, the developer of the Dishonored series.

Blade is a half-human, half-vampire who first appeared in Marvel comics 50 years ago. As you may remember, the character also appeared under the traits of Wesley Snipes in a movie trilogy released at the turn of the century. Marvel’s Blade will be set in Paris during a supernatural emergency, and we don’t know much more than that at the moment.

“In honor of Blade’s 50th anniversary, we have found the perfect match for the Daywalker in Arkane Lyon, a studio of uncompromising artists who continually push the boundaries of game design and innovation,” said Bill Rosemann, VP and Creative Director of Marvel Games. “In addition to their award-winning talent, it’s their personal passion and bold vision for our half-human, half-vampire iconoclast that makes this collaboration a perfect fit.”

A regular point of criticism regarding the Xbox platform is its lack of a blockbuster superhero franchise. PlayStation has Marvel’s Spiderman, which sold 33 million copies as of May 2022. Xbox has… Master Chief, though we all know that Halo Infinite wasn’t the blockbuster success that Microsoft needed to kick off this new console generation.

It’s not clear yet if Marvel’s Blade is going to be Xbox exclusive or not, however. Arkane Lyon is said to have just begun development on the game, and maybe the word “exclusive” is making Microsoft nervous as the US FTC is still fighting the company’s recent acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

The second new Xbox game that was officially announced at The Game Awards yesterday is OD, a new horror game from Japanese video game director Hideo Kojima. “OD explores the concept of testing your fear threshold, and what it means to OD on fear – while blurring the boundaries of gaming and film,” the game’s description on Xbox Wire reads.

Hideo Kojima is known for pushing boundaries in gaming, and while this first trailer doesn’t reveal much about the game, it’s certainly good for Xbox to partner with such a renowned creator (Metal Gear, Death Stranding).

Lastly, Microsoft showed another trailer for Hellblade II, a game that was first revealed alongside the Xbox Series X at The Game Awards 2019. The game is currently scheduled to be released in 2024, and it may be one of the most visually impressive Unreal Engine 5 titles at the moment.

If you missed it yesterday, Baldur’s Gate 3, the game that won six trophies including game of the year is now available on Xbox Series X|S consoles. Microsoft’s first-party games did get 10 nominations across 8 categories at The Game Awards this year, and Forza Motorsport won 2 of them (Innovation in Accessibility and Best Sports/Racing game) while Hi-Fi Rush won Best Audio Design.