Xbox Reveals Doom: The Dark Ages, Gears of War: E-Day, and More

Microsoft held its much-anticipated Xbox Games Showcase today, which was followed by the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Direct offering a more in-depth look at the next Call of Duty title. This was the first Xbox showcase featuring games from Activision, Blizzard, Bethesda, and Xbox Game Studios, and there were also a couple of third-party games as well.

You can see the full list of games included in the showcase below, but this article will only focus on Xbox’s first-party games. There’s actually quite a lot to cover with the first gameplay footage for the Fable and Perfect Dark reboots, a first look at Starfield’s First expansion, gameplay trailers for Age of Mythology: Retold and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, and more.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 – Coming on October 25

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be the first game in the series to be released on day one on Game Pass. “In addition to a compelling new campaign, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 features new innovations like Omnimovement, giving players the ability to sprint, slide, and dive in any direction and move like a Black Ops action hero across all game modes. Including the return of Classic Prestige, Theater Mode, and of course Round-Based Zombies, there’s something for everyone,” the Xbox team said today.

While Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be free to play with Game Pass, only Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass members will get access to the full experience, meaning the single-player campaign plus the multiplayer modes. Game Pass Core members (previously Xbox Live Gold) will only get access to multiplayer and not the campaign, while Xbox Game Pass members (the standard plan without online multiplayer) will only get access to the game’s campaign. You can get more information about access to the game via Game Pass on this page.

Starfield Shattered Space – Coming in 2024

Bethesda gave us today a first look at Shattered Space, Starfield’s first major expansion coming later this year. In addition to this first DLC, the game is getting a new update today that adds new locations, gear bounties, and custom content thanks to the new Creation Kit.

Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred – Coming October 8

The first expansion for Diablo IV, Vessel of Hatred, is coming on October 8. It will add a new Spiritborn class that “harnesses the mystical spirits of the jungle for swift and devastating attacks,” as well as a new jungle region.

Fallout 76 Skyline Valley – Coming June 12

Skyline Valley, a free update for Fallout 76 will be released on June 12, and it will expand the game’s map with a new region. Bethesda also revealed today that the ability to play as a ghoul is coming in early 2025.

Sea of Thieves Season 13 – Coming July 25

The season 13 of Sea of Thieves is coming on July 25 on Xbox, PC, and PS5. “An all-new world event will pit pirates against Flameheart’s mighty flagship in order to seize it, raining fire on their foes with a skeleton crew at their command and reaping the rewards of their dastardly deeds,” the Xbox team explained today.

World of Warcraft: The War Within – Coming August 26

Blizzard’s popular MMORPG is getting its 10th expansion, The War Within, on August 26. “This upcoming expansion – the first of three in The Worldsoul Saga – will draw you deep into the mythology of World of Warcraft, weaving narrative threads from the past two decades together in a way that will captivate players both old and new,” the Xbox team said.

The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road – Coming on June 18 on Xbox

The latest chapter for the MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online, Gold Road, is already available on PC and Mac, but it’s coming to Xbox consoles on June 18. To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the game, all the game’s expansions will be free for a limited time.

Age of Mythology: Retold – Coming September 4, 2024

Microsoft today the first gameplay for Age of Mythology: Retold, the remaster of the RTS game released back in 2002. The game will be released on Xbox Series X|S and PC on September 4, and it will be the first game in the Age of Empires franchise to be released simulnateously on PC and Xbox.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 – Coming on November 2024

Microsoft is once again teaming up with Asobo Studios to release a brand new version of its flight simulator. It will be released on November 19 on Xbox Series X|S and PC.

“This brand-new simulator is designed to take advantage of the latest technologies in simulation, cloud, machine learning, graphics and gaming,” the Xbox team explained. “Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 goes beyond merely operating the aircraft; it will allow simmers to pursue their dream of an aviation career. With features like aerial firefighting, search and rescue, commercial flights, remote cargo ops, VIP charter service, air racing, and more, simmers will not only be experiencing the joy of flight, but also dive into the pilot career they always dreamed of.”

Avowed – Coming in 2024

Avowed is a new RPG from Obsidian Entertainment coming later this year. This second trailer had a bit more gameplay footage and details about the game’s heroic fantasy universe.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle – Coming in 2024

Probably one of the most-anticipated games of the year, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle had a second trailer today with more gameplay and a long cutscene from a sequence set in the Himalayas. The game is still scheduled to be released later this year.

Doom: The Dark Ages – Coming in 2025

This was one of two big new game announcements from today’s showcase, and it’s a prequel to the Doom reboot from 2016. It will be released in 2025 on Xbox Series X|S and PC, and even though previous Doom games were released on PlayStation, there was no mention of a PS5 version today.

“Doom: The Dark Ages puts players behind the visor of the mighty Slayer as they battle demonic hordes in grounded, hard-hitting combat inside an epic, cinematic tale of gods, kings and monsters,” the Xbox team explained. “Supplementing his superhuman skills and over-the-top arsenal, the Slayer will also call upon his colossal Atlan mech to brawl with titanic beasts and retake the skies aboard his ferocious steed: a jet-fueled, cybernetic war dragon.”

Fable – Coming in 2025

Playground Games, the developer of the Forza Horizon series is still working on a reboot of the cult-classic Fable series. The game is developed in collaboration with Eidos Montreal, and it’s set to be released in 2025. Today’s trailer gave us a brief look at how the gameplay will actually look like.

South of Midnight – Coming in 2025

South of Midnight is an upcoming third-person action-adventure game from Compulsion Games, one of the studios Microsoft acquired alongside Playground games and other studios back in 2018. The game is also coming in 2025, and this first gameplay trailer show the game’s combat and traversal system.

Perfect Dark

Perfect Dark was a cult-classic FPS released by Rare on the Nintendo 64 back in 2000, and a reboot was officially announced at The Game Awards 2020. The game is developed by The Initiative, Microsoft’s new ‘AAAA’ studio working in tandem with Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics.

This first gameplay trailer confirmed that the game was a first-person shooter with stealth elements. While it still has no release date, this trailer was definitely one of the highlights of today’s Xbox showcase.

State of Decay 3

Undead Labs, a studio Microsoft acquired in 2018 is still working on State of Decay 3, the next installment in the zombie-themed survival game franchise. Following the first trailer shown in July 2020, today’s second trailer had little gameplay footage, but the Xbox team promised “the most ambitious game Undead Labs has ever envisioned.”

Gears of War: E-Day

This was the “one more thing” moment from today’s showcase, and it did not disappoint. Gears of War: E-Day will be a prequel to the original Gears of War game released back in 2006 on the Xbox 360. The game will feature Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago from the original game facing the Locust horde during Emergence Day.

Last but not least, Microsoft also revealed three new Xbox Series X|S consoles to be released this holiday season. There will be an all-digital white Xbox Series X priced at $449.99/€499.99, an Xbox Series X – 2TB Galaxy Black Special Edition priced $599.99/€649.99, and a white version of the Series S with 1TB of storage that will cost the same $349.99/€349.99 as the Carbon Black version that launched last year.