Microsoft's recent appetite for studio acquisitions means it had tons of first-party games to choose from at this presentation. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and a new game from Double Fine were just a couple of the highlights: it was a packed hour+ of game reveals from both Microsoft's own studios and loads of its partners.
Perhaps the biggest news of the show, though, came near the very beginning. Microsoft unveiled its Xbox handheld, developed in partnership with Asus: the ROG Xbox Ally X. That model is packing an AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme processor, but there's also a more affordable model launching alongside it, the ROG Xbox Ally. Both will be available this holiday season.
When did the Xbox Showcase air?
The 2025 Xbox Games Showcase started Sunday, June 8 at 10 am Pacific, and rolled straight into a smaller showcase dedicated to upcoming Obsidian RPG The Outer Worlds 2 (and it included a surprise segment on the newly announced sequel Grounded 2). Our own PC Gaming Show followed at 12 pm Pacific.
You can watch on Twitch, YouTube, and Steam, or in the player embedded above.
Everything announced at the Xbox Showcase
The posts below cover all the announcements from the Xbox Showcase as they happened. There was no Halo, Fable, or Forza this year, but Xbox still rolled out a constant stream of *world premiere voice* world premieres, alongside longer looks at some of its previously announced games, including The Outer Worlds 2 and Clockwork Revolution.
I've cleaned up a few of our pre-show posts to jump straight into the action starting with the first announcement. Here they all are in chronological order.
What we saw at last year's Xbox event
About 90 minutes to go. While we wait, here's a reminder of what we saw at last year's Xbox showcase, excluding games that have since released:
- Fable got a 2025 release window while looking "hilariously British"
- Gears of War: E-Day was announced
- We got a Perfect Dark gameplay reveal, and Ted liked what he saw
- We saw Metal Gear Solid Delta, and Rich liked what he saw
Xbox kicks off with an Outer Worlds 2 trailer, coming October 29
Isn't there a whole Outer Worlds 2-focused stream after this? No fair doubling up!
But now we have a release date: October 29
World premiere: a sequel to that game with the talking gun
There are those words I love to hear. I'm less sure I wanted to hear them used to announce a sequel to the game with the sassymouth gun, High on Life, from the studio founded by Rick & Morty's Justin Roiland. You may recall that Roiland departed Adult Swim and Squanch Games after some very disturbing allegations against him. So he won't be involved in this sequel.
Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy coming 2026
This was an intriguing one: the Plage Tale series is going into what looks like ancient Rome, showing a gladiator arena and a woman running from some kinda monsters.
The Xbox handheld is real, using a Ryzen AI APU
It's been rumored, and here it is: the Xbox handheld. It's a modified version of the Asus ROG Ally, with an Xbox button right on the system.
"The Xbox Ally is an Xbox you can hold in your hands, bringing together the power of Xbox and the freedom of Windows," says Sarah Bond.
"Hollow Knight: Silksong will be available at launch and in Game Pass when the Ally releases later this year"
Blood of Dawnwalker is out next year
"A story-rich action RPG steeped in dark fantasy:" yep, that's The Blood of Dawnwalker. The game from former CD Projekt developers got a new trailer at the showcase, and is out in 2026. A few months ago it was on the cover of PC Gamer!
Super Meat Boy goes 3D next year
Wow, a new Super Meat Boy? Wasn't expecting that! A 3D sequel to one of the great indie platformers is coming "early 2026" to PC, Xbox, Game Pass, etc.
Ninja Gaiden 4 izuna drops its way onto PC and Xbox in October
Quite a lengthy new trailer for Ninja Gaiden 4 at this year's show! We learned about this game just a few months ago and I'm psyched to see more of it. The highlight of this trailer was seeing original protagonist Ryu Hayabusa in action, cracking skulls with a twirling izuna drop. The new protagonist looks like a nasty piece of work, too. This one's gonna be gory (and hopefully restore Ninja Gaiden to glory).
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle DLC arrives September 4
The Order of Giants, DLC for last year's fantastic Indiana Jones adventure, is coming in a few months.
Pokémon studio Game Freak is making a game for Xbox and it looks a little nicer than Pokemon
With apologies to everyone who is very sad about the graphics in Pokémon games on the Switch, here's a trailer for a game called Beast of Reincarnation. It looks to pull from Japanese folklore and Monster Hunter, but also has robots in it? And yeah, it looks a bit nicer than those Switch games. It's coming next year to PC and consoles.
inXile's Clockwork Revolution gets a lengthy trailer but no date
On first reveal of Clockwork Revolution in 2023 we thought it might be a new BioShock, but we're excited to see the RPG veterans at inXile (Wasteland 3 and 4, The Bard's Tale 4) making their take on "the love child of Arcanum and Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines."
This generously detailed trailer looked great, but disappointingly ended by saying the game is coming "in due time." Bummer! On the bright side, there's so much to unpack in the trailer above we'll be scrutinizing it for quite awhile.
Grounded 2: Grounded Harder (not actual title) announced
"With new flexible legs, the Yoked Girth action figure can ride anything."
Well that's a hell of a line from a fake toy commercial within this trailer for... Grounded 2! Obsidian's survival game is getting a sequel. You're still tiny and still hangin' out in the backyard all Honey I Shrunk the... style. But now there's ant riding, which I don't think the original game had? Ohh, so that's why action figure hero Yoked Girth was riding his battle beast in the toy commercial...
Grounded 2 looks like more Grounded, but with a bit of a glow up. Oh, and it's out in "Game preview" (aka early access" on July 29!
Bloober's sci-fi Cronos: The New Dawn is out this fall
Lookin' real Dead Spacey. We've seen a decent amount of Cronos already, but here's a moody new trailer.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Seasons of the Worm Cult expansion is out in 10 days
Personally, I don't care for worm cult season. Too wriggly.
Don't Nod's next game is Aphelion, a sci-fi adventure
Aphelion, out in 2026, puts you in the shoes of a space explorer, and wouldn't you know it: space is pretty hazardous. Here's the official description:
"By 2060, Earth will be uninhabitable. The discovery of a 9th planet – Persephone – at the edge of the Solar System, is humanity's best hope. The European Space Agency is dispatching the Hope 01 scientific mission, consisting of 2 accomplished astronauts, Ariane and Thomas. Their mission: to survey the planet and determine whether humanity can prosper anew here. Stranded on a frozen planet, astronaut Ariane must brave rugged landscapes and shifting realities to rescue her wounded partner, Thomas. This story-rich sci-fi adventure blends exploration, traversal, and tense stealth gameplay."
There Are No Ghosts at the Grand is... a musical puzzle game?
This may be the single-most perplexing trailer I've seen in summer game season so far. Everyone's singing, and you're renovating a hotel using magical power tools. There's a talking cat. There's a talking tool with a Scottish accent. "They will Wicker Man your ass," someone says at one point. At one point I saw some cryptic writing that seemed part of a puzzle?
I have absolutely no idea what this game is, and I'm afraid of it. The official description only helps a little:
"In this spooky, cozy, musical mystery, you’ll become the reluctant heir to a dilapidated hotel that was once renowned for its charm and hospitality. As you go room-to-room solving restoration puzzles, you’ll also end up uncovering some surreal, supernatural secrets of the hotel’s past. Welcome to The Grand."
Age of Mythology Retold expansion Heavenly Spear is out this fall
We really liked Age of Mythology Retold, and it's already gotten one good expansion. Why not another one!
Mudang: Two Hearts is a Korean action game coming in 2026
A "stealth action thriller set in modern-day South Korea" as North and South are on the verge of recombining... and then some shit goes bad.
"On the day when the historic bill was set to pass, a mystery terrorist group attacks the South Korean National Assembly, throwing the entire nation into chaos. Sent to uncover the truth, a North Korean soldier stumbles upon a K-Pop star and is given a new mission: protect the girl who can unravel it all. As their stories intertwine, a chilling truth begins to take shape..."
Of course it's a K-pop star. 💅
Indie narrative platformer Planet of Lana is getting a sequel next year
We liked Planet of Lana, but it's not one I expected to see get a sequel!
Popular anime Solo Leveling's action game gets 4-player co-op
Solo Leveling: Arise already has a Steam page with a release date set for this year. But the trailer above changes the name to Solo Leveling Arise: Overdrive, and changes the release date to next year. The big ticket item in the trailer is 4-player co-op, which I guess is what's coming next year. Arise is already playable on mobile.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4 has Doomguy in it, demo out today
And Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Unless you're a Tony Hawk 2 truther, these are the best games in the series, so the release on July 11 may as well be a holiday for geriatric millenials everywhere.
Doomguy was playable back in the day, too, so it's fun seeing him back.
The studio behind touching indie Spiritfarer debuts a beautiful new sidescroller
Man, just look at that art. Gorg.
"At Fate’s End is an action-adventure game where you fight the ones you love," says the official line. It's out next year.
There it is: Persona 4 remake confirmed
Persona 4: Revival is the official title. As rumored, a fullly 3D, gussied up remake of Persona 4.
No date, though.
Gears of War 1 is back again (again)
I've lost count of how many releases there have been of the first Gears of War, but this one, Reloaded, is out in August. "Rebuilt with 4K resolution, up to 120 FPS support, and fully modernized multiplayer" with cross-platform saves and crossplay multiplayer.
Invincible gets a 2D tag fighter
Huh, this game looks better than the show, animation-wise. That's a little embarrassing! But the fighting really looks surprisingly good here, and suitably bloody. Between this and the new Arc System Works Marvel fighting game, comic book fans are eatin' good.
For a 3v3 tag fighter, you've got to hope this has a beefy roster.
Invincible Vs is coming next year.
A new Double Fine game, Keeper, coming in October!
Wow this is beautiful. Double Fine is definitley putting that Microsoft money to good use. Double Fine's new game appears to put you in control of a walking lighthouse and a goofy bird that rides on top of it in some sort of 3D platformer adventure? It's nice to see Double Fine doing something surprising and new, as it's long done, rather than a sequel.
It's called Keeper, and is out this October. Here's a little more from the official description:
"From Lee Petty and Double Fine Productions, Keeper is a story told without words in which a long-forgotten lighthouse is awakened and, joined by a spirited seabird, embarks upon a heartening tale of unlikely companionship and an unexpected journey into realms beyond understanding.
One last World Premiere... it's Milo Ventimiglia!
Wait, no, this guy premiered in Gilmore Girls like 20 years ago. The World Premiere was actually for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 starring ol' Milo and a Nine Inch Nails song that probably cost a million dollars to license. I have no idea what was going on in this trailer, but I'm pretty sure ther was a magic butterfly and someone said "Mason."
GO NUTS BLOPS LOREHEADS
Here's what we know about Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 so far
"In Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Treyarch and Raven Software are bringing players the most mind-bending Black Ops ever. Developed as the next evolution of Black Ops, this is the first-ever consecutive release within the series, set more than 40 years after the events of Black Ops 6. The year is 2035 and the world is on the brink of chaos, ravaged by violent conflict and psychological warfare following the events of Black Ops 2 and Black Ops 6. Wielding cutting-edge technology, David Mason and his team must fight back against a manipulative enemy who weaponizes fear above all else."
The official Call of Duty blog says BLOPS 7 will feature "a thrilling and innovative co-op campaign" as well as "the next twisted chapter of round-based Zombies in the heart of the Dark Aether."
Catching up on a couple small things from the Xbox Showcase
The main event from the Xbox showcase has now wrapped and rolled right on into a deep dive into The Outer Worlds 2. But let's catch up on a few things before focusing on Obsidian's new RPG.
I caught almost everything during the showcase, but I missed a couple small bits! Here they are:
- Sea of Thieves: Smugglers' Tide - A new season for Sea of Thieves, launching in August, introduces the Smuggler's League. "Crews that think they’re up to the challenge can embark on new Smuggler’s Voyages to salvage—or steal—these hot properties and see them safely into the wrong hands, but one false move could spell disaster."
- Creature cathing RPG Aniimo - This F2P open world creature collecting RPG surely won't be confused with Amiibo or another Nintendo property, right? The pitch: "As a Pathfinder, you’ll begin your journey in Idyll, a dynamic, interactive and expansive open world! There, you can collect, evolve, and twine with magical creatures called Aniimo." It's out in 2026.
"This time we're able to go a lot deeper" with The Outer Worlds 2, says Obsidian
The Outer Worlds 2 creative director Leonard Boyarsky pops up early in the deep dive to talk a bit about how this sequel will differ from the original, which was a fairly humble RPG in terms of development time and budget.
"It's a continuiation of the themes of robber barons in space, and how people are controlled by the stories they're told by the people who have power over them. This time we're able to go a lot deeper because we have more time and money. We're able to make it a much more true, Obsidian reactive RPG than we were the first time around.
"So we're going deeper and mopre complex with everything for the sequel. Deeper story, lore, RPG interactions, reactivity. All the things we've been known for as a company."
"Surprisingly, this is hte only time in over 25 years that I've had the chance to do a full sequel for a world I helped co-create. It's a fantastic opportunity to explore and expand the universe in interesting ways, and to go even further with the themes of how people are affected by living in a dystopian corporate reality."
"Building out that RPG crunchiness was at the forefront of what we set out to create"
"We prioritize deeper RPG options with different character builds and combos so players can express their roleplaying power fantasies," says game director Brandon Adler.
In The Outer Worlds 2, Obsidian put a particular emphasis on making player "skills, perks and backgrounds" matter in how you interact with the world.
Your role in The Outer World 2? Sky Marshall
You're a space cowboy in The Outer Worlds 2, "one of the good guys," but why you became a yeehaw space cop is up to you. You'll choose your background as well as traits that define your character.
"While we had attributes in the first Outer Worlds, we've leaned into traits in The Outer Worlds 2, which are big changes to your character. Brilliant lets you tag extra skills and get extra skill points. You can also go and do something like Lucky where you get extra critical chance and options throughout the game. We brought back Dumb. Players love the Dumb option. You get lots of cool, fun conversation options, and we took that even further. It could be something as simple as banging on a machine to get it to work."
Skills will then "let you build on your playstyle" to specialize in, say, stealth or explosives. There are actualy fewer skills in The Outer Worlds 2, as they've been condensed to be more impactful.
"Instead of small percentage changes, we did much larger changes per point you put into each skill. All these things can matter quite a bit; one more skill point can open up a lot of options in the game itself."
"Fallout: New Vegas's perk system, we basically borrowed that"
Fallout: New Vegas mentioned.
"We actually have more perks than New Vegas did, but here's the cool thing: We check and use perks for literally everything. So you can make a stealthy build that steals stuff, okay great, take the pickpocketing perk. that's not available to everybody, but if you select that you can steal stuff from peoples' pockets. There's a perk called Heavy Handed where your melee attacks actually knock people down."
The Assassin perk gives you a movement bonus every time you stealth takedown an enemy.
There's even a perk called Serial Killer where people will drop hearts when they die, and each one you collect will give you a health bonus.
The Outer World 2 is set on new colony Arcadia
Arcadia is ruled by The Protectorate, an authoritarian faction "thematically based around the question 'how much freedom will people give up for security and luxury?'"
There are other factions in play, too, and a big focus of the game will be trying to close rifts created by skipdrive (faster than light) technology.
"Each faction has its own flavor of absurdity," says Boyarsky, about the game's comedy.
The Outer Worlds 2's six companions "are integrated into the game's storyline much more"
"They're integrated into the game's storyline much more than we did on the first Outer Worlds. As usual, each has their own questlines, but this time they're connected to a different faction and have character arcs the player can affect through their choices."
You've got another sky marshall in your team, an aging assassin, a cultist, a combat medic who was grafted with an animal in a military experiment, and a protectorate soldier.
Obsidian didn't forget to tune up the action for The Outer Worlds 2
"We wanted to improve gunplay in every way. We focused on improving the feel of each weapon, the way a weapon snaps into ADS, the way recoil feels when firing. And how impactful our sound effects really sell each weapon's fantasy. Unique reload animations can add a lot of character to each weapon. We've increased the variety of weapons by including new weapon types but also through a host of fun and unique weaponry.
"We have a weapon called rookie's reward that will level up the more you use it throughout the game, and each time it shoots out confetti. We have a really fun weapon called the pop-up gun that shoots out ad drones that will distract your enemies with jingles.
New to The Outer Worlds 2 are throwables, so you can use frag grenades, smoke grenades, distraction devices to bait enemies into a stealth attack, and even science grenades that will levitate enemies while they float helplessly. And of course, science weapons are back."
Obsidian says "The Outer Worlds 2 is the biggest game we've ever made"
Wow, bigger than Avowed? The Year of Obsidian indeed.
Grounded 2 is being developed in partnership with Eidos Montreal
After its Outer Worlds 2 deep dive, Obsidian wasn't quite ready to give up the spotlight. The studio also spent a bit of time digging into its other sequel, Grounded 2, which is coming out in early access this summer.
Eidos Montreal is the studio behind Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Mankind Divided, the modern Tomb Raider trilogy, and Guardians of the Galaxy.
"They have a lot of similarities to the sorts of things that are important to us at Obsidian, and tend to make very narratively strong games, with deep characters and progression."
Grounded 2 is set in 1992, in a community park instead of the back yard
"Not only is it bigger, it lets us tell a lot more stories and expand the world of Grounded," says Obsidian.
The world is about three times bigger, and the initial starting area is the same size as the whole back yard from the first game.
"What we love and are excited about in terms of the park, is the opportunity to create environment and landmarks that are mundane at normal size but colossal wonders when you're the size of an ant. Everything from a giant trash can to a community picnic table or snack bar. All of these areas come to life in a brand new way."
The full Grounded 2 presentation
Here's the 13 minute segment of the Xbox showcase dedicated to Grounded 2, featuring game directors Adam Brennecke and Chris Parker and Eidos Montreal's Justin Vazquez and other Obsidian devs.
Jump to about 5 minutes in for some details on updates to the game's combat and gear systems. Later in the video they also go over the various insects you can ride and their abilities.
Grounded already had some quite elegant survival and building systems, so I'm really looking forward to seeing Obsidian refine those ideas with a bigger budget.
Here's the full Outer Worlds 2 presentation from the Xbox showcase
We've been picking over this presentation already and going into detail about the most interesting things Obsidian shared from its next RPG. Here are the highlights:
- Yep, you can be 'dumb' in The Outer Worlds 2, and it even comes with some benefits: like 'banging on a machine to get it to work'
- The Outer Worlds 2 will have a Fallout: New Vegas-style radio system with tons of music and reactivity: 'They're gonna be cheering you on as a hero'
- The Outer Wilds 2 has revealed its two most important factions: Angry authoritarian jocks and holier than thou science-bros who just want to solve a maths problem
- The Outer Worlds 2 'has more perks than Fallout: New Vegas,' says Obsidian—including one that turns you into a heart-collecting serial killer
- The Outer Worlds 2 has a 'bad knees' perk that makes your old-man legs pop and alert enemies when you stand, and another that Obsidian fully admits makes the game 'pretty unplayable'
And that's a wrap for our round-up of everything at today's Xbox showcase. Head on over to our Summer Game Fest 2025 schedule to keep tabs on what else you should be tuning into in the hours and days ahead.
