Category: Xbox

Today marked the second annual broadcast of The Spawnies, an award show presented by the award-winning gaming podcast Spawn On Me. The Spawnies is dedicated to providing a spotlight for underrepresented voices in gaming.

Xbox is a proud sponsor of the award show, which highlights both new and established game developers and creates a space to recognize and celebrate their work. If you missed the show hosted by Kahlief Adams and Riana Manuel-Peña, be sure to check out twitch.tv/spawnonme.

ID@Xbox was featured in a segment during the show that highlighted a few game creators and their upcoming titles. Check out the video below and fill up on details of these awesome titles coming soon to Xbox below.

Treachery in Beatdown City: Ultra Remix (NuChallenger) – April 27, 2023 

Treachery in Beatdown City : Ultra Remix is a tactical beat ’em up, where you explore an angry city, meet the worst people, and beat ’em up stylishly. Take to the streets, freeze time, build your combos, and knock ’em out, all to save the president! 

Super Space Club (GrahamofLegend) – Coming 2023 

Super Space Club is a lo-fi arcade space shooter to chill to. Defend a vibrant galaxy as a club of misfit heroes and battle endless waves of spacecrafts to the tune of atmospheric beats. Outlast your enemies and vibe to the rhythm of the stars. 

A Perfect Day (Perfect Day Studio – Coming 2023 

Revisit the final moments of 1999 for an eternity. Come face to face with your dreams and regrets. Explore a deep and interwoven narrative, solve perplexing riddles, and even play a few nostalgic minigames. Immerse yourself in happiness and sorrow with friends of ages past in your Perfect Day. 

She Dreams Elsewhere (Studio Zevere) – Coming 2023 

She Dreams Elsewhere is a surreal adventure RPG about subconscious imagery and the extent to which it mirrors reality. You play as Thalia, an anxiety-ridden, comatose woman who delves into her dreams and confronts her inner nightmares in order to finally wake up. Unfortunately, some nightmares are harder to confront than others… It’s a deeply personal narrative dealing with real world themes such as mental health and self-identity combined with strategic turn-based combat, mind-bending levels, as well as a surreal, visually striking world ripe for exploration. Welcome to your nightmare- enjoy your stay!

Virgo Versus the Zodiac (Moonana) – Coming 2023 

Virgo Versus the Zodiac is a sci-fi/fantasy JRPG in which you play as an obsessed villain. The game features traditional turn-based combat with real-time execution of moves: blocking, countering and timing your attacks carefully as well as predicting your foes’ moves is essential to succeed in Virgo’s twisted and unforgiving cosmic quest to bring back the Golden Age, a period of peace, symmetry and balance, or so she thinks. In this galaxy where every action means a reaction, you’ll play as Virgo, the Holy Queen, often called Dreadful Queen by heretics, bringing mayhem to the Zodiac Realms and leaving a trail of stardust on the way, all to fit her excessively righteous worldview. 

Sopa (StudioBando) – Early 2024 

When Miho steps into the pantry to get a potato for his grandmother’s soup, he’s pulled into a distant fantastical land where he must retrace the steps of a mysterious great traveler before him. He must venture through a world of endless deserts, floating mountains, and talking beasts, outsmarting thieves and meeting quirky characters along the way. But each time he returns to the kitchen with an ingredient, he finds things have changed in unexpected ways… 

Love Shore (Perfect Garbage Studios) – Spring 2023 

Love Shore is a cyberpunk noir visual novel developed and published by Perfect Garbage Studios. Set in the cyberpunk city of Love Shore, play as Sam or Farah as they attempt to navigate the neon thrills of their cyberpunk city Love Shore, solve murders, fight gods and maybe fall in love. 

Samudra (Khayalan Arts) – Coming 2023 

Samudra is a hand-illustrated, 2D adventure game that follows a child’s adventure across a polluted sea. Experience an atmospheric post-apocalyptic underwater world filled with majestic creatures, ethereal locations and escape the grasp of the deep-sea salarymen.  

Protodroid DeLTA (Adam Kareem) – Coming 2023 

Protodroid DeLTA is a fast and fluid 3D action-platformer set in a beautiful and hopeful solarpunk world. Take on challenging bosses, upgrade your systems, and show humanity the promise of AI! Developer Adam Kareem was one of the first developers to receive funding from Humble’s Black Game Developer Fund, and will be the first BGDF partner to launch under Humble Games. 

Grid force – Mask of the Goddess (Dreamnauts Studios) – March 2023 

Conquer the grid in real-time in this tactical bullet-hell RPG with a large, diverse roster of heroes to recruit and evolve, lightning-fast combat, and a deep story that adapts to your choices. Play as Donna, a fighter in search of the perfect team who can defeat the goddesses and save the future. Build your squad from dozens of playable characters, upgrade their unique abilities, and utilize their varied playstyles to take down your foes as you form the perfect team. 

Kabaret (Persona Theory Games) – Coming 2023 

Kabaret is a dark fantasy folklore adventure game. The story unfolds through the eyes of Jebat, a cursed boy who is uprooted from his small town to a mystical, violent, and unforgiving monster realm. 

Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s electric personality, play, and love for all things baseball made him a great choice to be on the cover of MLB The Show 23.  Jazz grew up in Nassau, Bahamas, playing sandlot baseball with friends. As Jazz puts it, “No umpires, no catchers; just hitting bombs and having fun we just played to play.” He never thought a kid like him from the Bahamas would make it to The Show, let alone end up on the cover of MLB The Show!

Today, we are thrilled to announce that MLB The Show 23 launches March 28, 2023, and will be available day one with Xbox Game Pass. The standard edition on Xbox One is $59.99 USD/$69.99 CAD. Standard edition on Xbox Series X|S is $69.99 USD/$79.99 CAD.

Cross-Platform Play, Cross Saves, and Cross Progression continue for MLB The Show 23!

Have access to all your progress and card inventory in MLB The Show 23 on every platform you own. Cross-Platform Play, Cross Saves, and Cross Progression return, allowing you to share your progress on PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch (see FAQ). Cross progression allows you to earn and use any earned content on any platform or generation (this excludes PS5 and Xbox Series X|S exclusive features like Stadium Creator). With cross saves you can transfer a save file for Road to the Show or Franchise mode to a different console (see FAQ).

MLB The Show Account, Account Linking, and The Scouting Report

You can easily move from platform to platform and keep access to your entire inventory of cards and the MLB The Show Account allows you to do so. Just create your MLB The Show Account on TheShow.com and link your PlayStation, Xbox, and/or Switch and you are all set.

While you are creating your new linked account, make sure you sign-up for The Scouting Report so we can send you all the latest MLB The Show 23 information and subscribers also get an exclusive pack each month starting in April. So, head over to TheShow.com to get your account set up.

MLB The Show 23 Feature Premieres Schedule

Feature Premieres return to give you a look into new features in MLB The Show 23. You can watch episodes live on Twitch and YouTube. If you can’t watch them live, catch up on every episode on-demand at your own connivence as we get closer to launch. We have several Feature Premiere episodes in the works, so be on the lookout on TheShow.com and our social channels for episode schedule and information.

Pre-orders Open February 6 on Xbox Store

Note: All Collector’s Edition(s) of MLB The Show 23 revealed on February 2 include dual entitlement. If you plan on purchasing the Standard Edition of MLB The Show 23 on Xbox One and have plans of upgrading to the Xbox Series X|S version, you will need to purchase the digital edition to take advantage of the $10 USD upgrade offer.

We could not be more excited for Jazz to join the roster of cover athletes and for MLB The Show 23 coming to Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and with Xbox Game Pass on March 28, 2023! Look forward to new ways to play, a new class of legends, and much more! Check TheShow.com and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Tiktok accounts for the latest updates about MLB The Show 23. For more detailed information, read the official FAQ here.

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Bond is Back! GoldenEye 007 Arrives on Xbox Game Pass

Dragons, dragons everywhere! The Year of the Rabbit is upon us and World of Warships: Legends is a great place to celebrate the arrival of the new symbol of the year. The themed range includes a new gorgeously looking port, Pan-Asian Tier VII Premium Destroyer Northern Dragon, special Commander guise Celestial Guardian with absolutely menacing unique roaring voiceover, and a dedicated container with chances for various content, including some from the previous celebrations of the Lunar New Year.

Besides, more Pan-Asian content will become available for the players in form of…

Pan-Asian Cruisers in Early Access

A brand-new tech tree range makes its debut in this update. Pan-Asian cruisers wielding deepwater torpedoes as their primary weapon backed by the Smoke Generator consumable available for Tiers IV-VII, earnable through regular and Big Early Access crates, with a personal mission for each of those. Besides, the apex predator of the branch Tier VIII Sejong will be available with the start of the next update, meaning other Pan-Asian cruisers will become obtainable for credits through tech tree research. A new Pan-Asian dedicated Commander, Chen Shaokuan, is reinforcing the officer roster to provide more choice at the helm of the ships of the new branch.

Azur Lane: Wave IV

The newest iteration of Azur Lane collaboration arrives on February 6! It includes as many as five new Commanders:

• AL New Jersey
• AL Neptune
• AL Roon
• AL Chapayev
• AL Saint Louis

In addition, there are two new ships, three skins, and a new crate. Make sure to check out our dedicated article to find out all the details!

Gryphon of the Baltic Flies High

Tier VIII Premium battleship Pommern is the ultimate reward of the newest campaign, available with Admiralty Backing active. Besides a ton of in-game goods, including crates, Commander Progression Items, camos and more, you’ll get a powerful German ship with a huge HP pool, powerful secondary armament, and AP shells hitting like a train. With such potent package all set and ready to go, Pommern is a solid contender for a high-ranked place on the German battleship roster.  

Gryphon of the Baltic runs for 5 weeks, through March 6, and includes a traditional number of 100 milestones, with catch-up mechanic available, as well as Heroic Effort and Battle Prowess missions (coming with Admiralty Backing) for earning additional renown.

The First Italian Legendary Ship is Here

The Italian Navy, also known as Regia Marina, finally makes its debut at the Legendary tier! Featuring as the ultimate prize of a free Bureau project, cruiser Napoli brings a whole lot of interesting wrinkles to the heat of battle. Those include high speed paired with great concealment combo, Exhaust Smoke Generator, which is a signature consumable of Italian ships, and Semi-Armor-Piercing shells for her secondary caliber gun batteries. That’s a very solid selection of battle-ready options: consider getting this armored monster!

Competitive Seasons Arrive in Numbers

Rejoice, captains with a desire for rivalry! This update, you’ll have plenty of chances – actually, more than ever – to prove your skill on the high seas, and win prizes in process, of course. As many as 3 Ranked Battles seasons and 2 Brawls will be open for everyone to fight in, covering most of the update’s time in the sun. Prizes, including Steel, crates, Commander Progression Items, and more in-game content, will be distributed as soon as you hit certain rank (or number of wins for Brawl): go out there and fight, starting February 1 with 5vs5 battles of Ranked season 36.

Celebrate with World of Warships: Legends and turn the tide!

World of Warships: Legends

Wargaming.net

☆☆☆☆☆
437

★★★★★

Get it now

Experience epic naval action in World of Warships: Legends—a global multiplayer free-to-play online game in which you can conquer the seas on the decks of history’s greatest warships! Recruit Legendary Commanders, upgrade your vessels, and stake your claim to naval domination alongside and against players from around the world.

CHOOSE YOUR COMBAT STYLE
Take control of over 350 destroyers, cruisers, battleships, and aircraft carriers—a range of ships that’s perfect for every playstyle, whether it’s an all-guns-blazing approach, more careful and methodical attacks, or tactics that are unique to you.

FREQUENT UPDATES
New content in form of ships, Campaigns, events, Bureau Projects and more arrives regularly! Each update brings new features to shake things up in the game.

FEATURE RICH
Develop Legendary vessels such as Yamato from the ground up in the Bureau, finish epic Campaigns to gain exclusive patches and powerful new ships, and compete in Ranked Battles Seasons for a ton of rewards!

TURN THE TIDE IN EPIC 9V9 BATTLES
Join forces with friends to challenge players around the world, and work together across consoles to devise strategies and plan attacks via voice chat. Cooperate to outgun your opponents and Turn the Tide of battle!

World of Warships: Legends features loot boxes known as “containers” and “Crates.” These provide various items to boost your in-game progress.

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We are so thrilled to finally release Shoulders of Giants! Since we just launched, the whole team here at Moving Pieces are all feeling pretty reflective (as well as slightly terrified/excited in equal measures!), so I thought it might be nice to share a few thoughts on an aspect of the game that we are particularly proud of: its stylized visual graphics. I thought it might be nice to take this opportunity to talk about our inspirations behind the look of the game.

While it’s amazing to see how far photorealistic graphics can be pushed with the latest Xbox hardware, what really excited us was creating something that combined the latest graphics technologies like physically based rendering with a more stylized shading approach like cel shading. This was the basis behind our technical and aesthetic approach to the visuals for Shoulders of Giants.

We started by experimenting with what this might look like by taking early concept art and making basic worlds without any gameplay. Initially we went further into more of a traditional cel shaded look, but found that when we mixed some photoreal rendering techniques with that is where nice details really started to shine.

In terms of setting, we knew that we wanted the game to take place in a sci-fi universe, which meant having a cosmic skybox full of planets, stars and swirly clouds. We were heavily inspired by the style of sci-fi art from the 1970s and loved how it often contained giant planets in the background to help keep the horizon interesting.

The basic story of the game is that the dark and cold forces of Entropy have taken over the Universe, and it’s the players’ job to restore life and balance. One of the game’s main NPCs is an all-powerful Owl from an ancient order, and many of the levels and props found throughout the game are inspired by that of ancient civilizations, like Ancient Egypt and Greece.

We imagined levels with abandoned ruins from an ancient order scattered throughout levels that the player could explore. This was a main inspiration behind the look of the levels and their layout.

Some of the props and levels of the game also take inspiration from surrealist paintings, particularly in the last act of the game. We thought of rumbling clouds, and stairs going off into the horizon.

Taking advantage of a stylized look, we put emphasis on using color to tell the story of Shoulders of Giants. One of the biggest themes in the game is dark versus light.

The player starts every level off with the world covered in darkness and as you progress and eventually beat the level, you restore it with life and light.

Making the “light” version of our landscapes pop with color was straightforward, but making the cold, dark versions of these alien worlds sing with color was not trivial. Our art director and I spent days pouring over palettes, and eventually decided we had to re-evaluate what “dark” really meant. We decided to lean more into darkness as a concept of cold, or lack of life.

Eventually we found colors and lighting combinations that still looked vibrant and eye-catching, but still allowed us to express our themes. We created sandy deserts, white fields of snow, and caustic acid worlds glowing with green.

We can’t wait for players to hop into the world we created!

For more information, check out the game’s store page and official website, or join our discord.

Shoulders of Giants

Moving Pieces Interactive

☆☆☆☆☆
25

★★★★★

Get it now

Simultaneously control a sword-wielding robot and a gunslinging space frog in Shoulders of Giants, an explosively colorful sci-fi roguelike. Play alone, with a friend, or as part of a four-person team, cutting through waves of enemies on a quest to rescue the galaxy!

The forces of Entropy are spreading chaos through the stars, corrupting living planets and urging on the heat death of the universe. Led by the psychic Owl, one scrappy team of space survivors are fighting to restore the balance. A mysterious mech! A sharpshooting amphibian! Together they must cut through waves of enemies and restore light and life to the galaxy!

Pre-order the game for access to limited-edition dye sets with special visual effects. Dazzle your friends!

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The Yakuza series has never been one to sit still — players explore the vibrant, violent ’80s in Yakuza 0 all the way to the neon-hued present day in Yakuza Like a Dragon. While the series has consistently moved forward, the next (re-)release from Ryo Ga Gotoku Studios, Like a Dragon: Ishin! (heretofore shortened to “Ishin”), takes you back in time — by quite some margin — to the Japan of the 1860s.

The Bakumatsu era couldn’t be more different than flashy, modern day Kamurocho (the primary setting for most Yakuza/Judgement titles) — yet during a recent hands-on with the game, I found that for all that’s different, there is much in Ishin that a Yakuza vet will find familiar. Here’s what Ishin changes… and what it doesn’t:

Is that…?

There’s something very familiar about swordsman Sakamoto Ryoma. I didn’t recognize the name (though apparently, he was a real samurai), but the face is unmistakable. No, Kiryu, Majima, and other members of the Tojo clan didn’t hop into a DeLorean to play out their samurai fantasies — this is more of a “What…if?” situation where familiar faces and personalities are mapped onto a cast from different era of Japanese history.

This also means that everyone is back on the table: if you’ve enjoyed Yakuza 0 through Yakuza Like a Dragon, you’ll frequently be pointing at the screen, saying ‘is that ___?’  Even if said familiar face met their untimely end in a previous title — or you thought they were dead then it turns out they survived but then they die for real in a dramatic and meaningful scene (it happens in this universe!) — they may show up in Ishin under a new guise. Enjoy the deja vu!

Lights out

Taking place in the mid-19th century, you’d expect Ishin‘s setting of Kyo (as modern day Kyoto was known at the time) to have little in common with the bustling, brightly -lit Kamurocho of the Yakuza series. Despite vastly different architecture and technology, Ishin players will find Kyo to be similarly sized and, more importantly, just as densely packed with interactable locations as more familiar Yakuza locales. Ishin is very much an open world, replacing karaoke bars, hostess clubs, and beef bowl joints with blacksmiths, fish markets, and udon stalls. Despite the change of set dressing, many interactions are similar to the games taking place in modern-day Japan, as Ryoma builds up a rapport with various merchants and barkeeps. There’s even a (slightly anachronistic) Don Quijote for your shopping pleasure!

Act first, strategize later

If turn-based RPG Yakuza: Like a Dragon is the most recent (or only!) RGG title you’ve experienced, know that Ishin plays much more like the action-heavy Yakuza games as well as the recent Judgement titles. Even still, Ishin presents the largest departure we’ve yet seen from the action brawler; there’s significantly more emphasis on weapons, particularly swords — complete with crafting and upgrade elements — and a costarring role for firearms. While Yakuza games typically relegated guns to limited use, in Ishin you’ll immediately draw your katana and revolver at every provocation.

During my hands-on time, I gravitated to Ryoma’s Wild Dancer style, swinging a sword in wide, one-handed arcs and punctuating slashing combos with a revolver shot to good effect. Brawler fans are not left out, as Ryoma can holster and sheath his equipped weapons for a classic, unarmed scuffle. But why would you?

The swingin’ (18)60s

One of the hallmarks of the Yakuza franchise is how frequently it careens from intense drama to absurd moments; this probably shouldn’t work, but any fan will tell you that it absolutely does. So it’s a relief to see that Ishin keeps things weird, with Bakumatsu era mini-games and full-on sub-stories (the series; term for side quests) including chicken racing, cannons, highly infectious dance crazes, and all sorts of gambling and gaming. While karaoke may not have existed in the 1860s, make no mistake – there is absolutely a singing minigame, featuring voice actor Takaya Kuroda belting out period-specific tunes set to imagery of Ryoma violently ripping daikon radishes out of the garden. You… have to be there.

And indeed, you won’t have to wait much longer before you can be there. Like a Dragon: Ishin! comes to Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S February 21, 2023.

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Welcome to Next Week on Xbox! In this weekly feature we cover all the games coming soon to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows, and Game Pass! Get more details on these upcoming games below and click their profiles for further info (release dates subject to change). Let’s jump in!

BackFirewall – January 30

A first-person tragicomic adventure that takes place inside a smartphone. As the update assistant, you hold the fate of the system in your hands. Will you counter the update and save the chatty operating system OS9 from deletion?

Roboquest (Game Preview) – January 30
Game Pass

Blast your way through hordes of evil bots in procedurally generated environments in solo or 2-player co-op, upgrade your build as you progress, and defeat powerful bosses. Be ready to dive into the futuristic world of Roboquest and help mankind find the mysterious and long-forgotten Haven-City.

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition – January 31
Game Pass

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is one of the most beloved strategy games ever made and is coming soon to Xbox consoles. Enjoy a new way to play this much-loved game on console including optimizations for playing with a controller and new tutorials to get you into the fun quickly. Available on Cloud and Console.

Inkulinati – January 31
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery / Game Pass

An ink-based strategy game straight from medieval manuscripts, where a rabbit’s bum can be deadlier than a dog’s sword. Take your turn in duels filled with unexpected tactical depth (and humor). Embark on an ever-changing journey, build your own bestiary, defeat medieval superstars and collect perks to unleash special powers. Available on Cloud, Console, and PC.

ReactorX2 – February 1

As an android mechanic, restore power to your spaceship after a pirate attack. Navigate five sectors, solve 30 levels, and use new arm-magnet and wrench mechanics to succeed in this unique sci-fi puzzle game.

Albacete Warrior – February 1
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery

Embark on a bizarre martial arts adventure as a Spanish ninja and his buddy chicken! Take the role of Spanish ninja Benito, his chicken pal Pepito and his sensei Paco as they embark on a bizarre adventure across the globe! Presented in a mix of 3D environments and 2D pixel art sprites, Albacete Warrior takes traditional side-scrolling beat ‘em up combat into a new dimension.

ExitMan Deluxe – February 1

The sky is falling! Quickly run into the gap as the ceiling comes crashing down from above. If you make it in time the ceiling will rise again and then crash down again and again, each time with the gap in a random place. How long can you survive?

Rhythm Sprout – February 1
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery

Rhythm Sprout is a handcrafted rhythm action with original music and a wacky story mode. Follow Sprout – the Chosen Onion – on his lightweight and self-aware adventure between music levels. Make funny dialogue interactions, full of silly jokes and pop culture references. Help the adorable inhabitants of the Vegetable Kingdom and face a charming cast of Sweet Villains on this memorable adventure.

Deliver Us Mars – February 2
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery

Sequel to the award-winning Deliver Us The Moon, Deliver Us Mars is an atmospheric sci-fi adventure offering an immersive astronaut experience. Explore new frontiers on a suspense-fueled, high-stakes mission to recover the ARK colony ships stolen by the mysterious Outward.

Fashion Police Squad – February 2
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery

Grab your Belt of Justice and your Tailormade Sewing Machine — we’ve got some fashion justice to dispense! Fashion Police Squad is a humorous retro FPS where you fight against fashion crime using attire enhancing weaponry. Clean the streets of socks in sandals and experience a single-player story full of fabulous characters, dazzling encounters, and fierce runway shows!

Heirs of the Kings – February 2
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery

When Laura, a girl who has lost her memory, is being pursued by unknown soldiers, Grant jumps into action to protect her only to find out about the danger the world is in from the Forces of Darkness and sets off on an epic journey.

Speedway Racing – February 3
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery

Get ready to feel the speed! In Speedway Racing, you will enjoy the fastest, most spectacular races at over 350 Km/h, avoiding multiple collisions against 20 rivals. There are several modes available, including Championship, Arcade, and 4-player multiplayer.

GoldenEye 007 took the world by storm when it originally launched in 1997, drawing console gamers into a thrilling tale of espionage, gadgets and explosive action as they led James Bond through one of his most celebrated missions. Today, GoldenEye 007 launches globally on Xbox Game Pass, allowing a new generation of gamers to experience this beloved classic and veteran players to enjoy Bond’s unforgettable adventure all over again.

In the game’s campaign mode, players are free to approach objectives as they see fit – using silenced weapons, setting traps and being sure to remain unseen, or choosing to charge headlong into danger and rely on their skill and nerve to make 007’s mission a success.

Harder difficulty settings add entirely new objectives to Bond’s dossier and require mastery of every exotic location to succeed, while game-altering cheats can be unlocked by spies who are speedy enough. Equally memorable is the local split-screen multiplayer mode, where players go head-to-head across a series of iconic arenas. Just remember it’s all in good fun…

GoldenEye 007 will be instantly familiar to anyone who played the original, with faces and places just as you remember them. And for its Xbox Game Pass debut, the game now offers modern control options (including support for dual analog sticks) and a consistent refresh rate, running at a native 16:9 resolution up to 4K Ultra HD (where supported). There’s also a full roster of Xbox achievements to strive for, some of which are sure to test the mettle of proficient 00 Agents.

Now available on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S as part of Xbox Game Pass (and across multiple devices via Xbox Cloud Gaming), GoldenEye 007 joins a distinguished lineage of shooters spanning the whole history of gaming. As our way of saying thanks to Rare fans old and new, players who’ve purchased a digital copy of Rare Replay on their Xbox account (unfortunately physical copies don’t work in quite the same way) will also be able to download and enjoy GoldenEye 007 free of charge, with or without an Xbox Game Pass subscription.

As the studio behind the game’s original 1997 release, we’re thrilled to be able to bring the game to you again in a way that remains faithful while delivering a smooth HD experience. We hope you enjoy stepping back into this legendary world – 007 and his life-or-death mission are waiting for you!

GoldenEye 007

Rare Ltd

☆☆☆☆☆
1

★★★★★

Get it now

James Bond returns! More than 20 years after the classic that introduced a generation to stealth-based shooter gameplay first hit the shelves, GoldenEye is back to thrill players old and new. Beginning in the heavily guarded chemical weapons facility at the Byelomorye Dam, you’ll guide Bond on a global covert operation to stop the devastating power of the GoldenEye satellite from being unleashed upon the world.

With 20 campaign missions to master at a range of difficulty levels, unlockable cheat modes and a truly classic split-screen multiplayer mode for up to four players, GoldenEye preserves all the action and excitement of the original game – while adding Xbox achievements and a raft of new features that enhance its timeless gameplay for the modern day.

Whether you’re a veteran player or a rookie agent taking on this genre-defining mission for the first time, GoldenEye is a legendary gaming experience not to be missed.

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Chaosmonger Studio from Estonia is proud to announce the release of its anti-hero Rufus, protagonist of Clunky Hero. Out now for Xbox.

“Monty Python” meets Hollow Knight!

Rufus is just a simple peasant. He works on a farm, is somewhat insolent and he’s not the sharpest tool in the shed. An ordinary man, who one day has to become a hero to save his wife and his village from the Evil One, whose name shall stay unpronounced. His wife, Brunilde, is also not the classical attractive princess of video-games, in fact she is pretty much the opposite. But the love between the two is stronger than anything else and that’s why Rufus armed himself with broom and bucket (the first to be used as a weapon, the latter a helmet) to go and rescue her.

Yes, at the start of the game, the protagonist of Clunky Hero will fight foes simply using only a broom. But more crazy weapons will be available later on, like a very long banana or a frozen eel, as well as grotesque enhancement items and powerful, yet bizarre, special skills.

Despite the humoristic tone, which is also a parody of the fantasy RPG genre, Clunky Hero has a solid metroidvania gameplay, with nearly 50 levels, set in nine different areas. The exploration of the big maps is therefore a crucial aspect of the game, which will need special abilities, usually gained after defeating a tough boss. Absurd enemies and friendly NPCs fill the multitude of levels, created with detailed backgrounds. The colorful graphics are a mix of 3D and hand-drawn looking elements, while the game-mechanic is typical of an arcade side-scroller.

Arcade is also pretty much the game-style of the combats, which aims mostly to the fun quick slashing of many enemies, rather than having fewer elaborated fights. Bonus items can be bought from NPCs in the various shops scattered around, found inside hidden chests, or in the many, yet elusive, secret rooms.

Developer Nicola Piovesan says: “I wanted to create a truly fun game, not only in its bizarre elements and hilarious dialogues, but also in its playability. It’s a metroidvania game for everybody.”

Have fun with Clunky Hero, out today for Xbox at a very friendly price!

Clunky Hero

chaosmonger studio

☆☆☆☆☆
6

★★★★★

$14.99

$11.99

Get it now

Clunky Hero is a story-driven, platformer metroidvania, with a touch of RPG, Hack’n’Slash and tons of humor. If you’d love a platformer game where you have a funny storyline, can talk with characters, solve side quests, find and buy items, change weapons and wearables, with great hand-drawn-looking backgrounds, presented in a very comical way, then Clunky Hero might be the game of your dreams!

STORYLINE
In a village far, far away, a dull peasant named Rufus was living an ordinary life. The boss of the house was his wife, Brunilde, a boisterously smart and funny woman that you wouldn’t exactly call “pretty”. Life was nice and happy in the village, until one day, awakened by some magical mistake, the Evil One started to spread his minions around town, performing hideous acts against the people. The worst of which was the kidnapping of Brunilde. She was torn from Rufus’ hands and put in a prison at the Evil One’s castle. Transformed into a blondie duck-faced doll girl, she now spends all her time staring at herself in a small handheld mirror.

Determined to win her back, Rufus made a helmet out of a bucket and picked a broom as a weapon. Everybody now calls him the CLUNKY HERO, but he might be the only hope to defeat the evil one that no one wants to call by name. Rufus is now on his journey to save his wife and the whole village!

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SteamWorld Takes on a Whole New Genre, Coming to Xbox This Year

Hi Xbox fans, I’m Brjann Sigurgeirsson, the director of the SteamWorld Universe and Franchise. I’m happy to share some exciting news with you today, especially with all the SteamWorld fans out there. We have just announced the next instalment of the series and we’re jumping genres again! It’s called SteamWorld Build and will be available on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One in 2023!

Before I dig deeper into the latest entry in the series, I would like to take this opportunity to reflect on its varied predecessors and how they have influenced what we are doing this year with SteamWorld Build. I’ve been with the series since the very beginning, all the way back in 2010 when SteamWorld Tower Defensewas released. With our debut SteamWorld title we put players in control of an army of steam-powered robots in a – well, you guessed it – tower defence-style gameplay.

With SteamWorld Dig, which came to Xbox One in 2015, the engine really started chugging. In that game, we combined elements of Spelunky, Boulder Dash, Dig Dug and Metroidvanias. This created a satisfying loop of exploration, mining, combat and upgrading that you all really got behind and helped make our small series into an indie superstar. Then we returned to that story with SteamWorld Dig 2 in 2017, our attempt at a full blown metroidvania which you Xbox fans loved!

One of the reasons I wanted to briefly walk you through the genre-switching history of SteamWorld is to re-emphasize what SteamWorld is and how you can expect a continuation of this in SteamWorld Build later this year. SteamWorld is a universe that we’ve purposely cultivated to give us the creative freedom to take in any direction we want. With each genre we take on, we try to distil the gameplay down to its core essence, and then add our own unique twist to make it feel fresh again.

This leads us onto the game I know you’ve all been eagerly waiting to hear about: SteamWorld Build! We’re again taking SteamWorld in a whole new direction, fusing our beloved steam-fuelled robots with the city builder genre. In our upcoming game, you will not only build and manage a city above ground, but dig below as you mine for materials to manage and optimise your resource chains to ensure the city thrives. I’ve lost enough hours in this game already to tell you that the gameplay loop of this multi-level approach is incredibly rewarding!

To a degree, it’s a loop that builds on what we’ve done with the Dig games. You explore, mine, collect, and then return to the surface to build, upgrade and improve. In the case of SteamWorld Build, there are multiple mine levels to uncover and explore. While each depth yields more precious resources, there are also more dangers for you to deal with. Your guards are going to deal with giant bugs, creepy crawlies, and other living threats.

With all the different SteamWorld titles released in the past, we showed how we were able to give new players an accessible entry point to a complex genre without stripping away strategic richness for veterans of the series. That’s a key part of the SteamWorld formula and something we are doing again with SteamWorld Build. Built for console from the outset, we are inviting newcomers and genre-devotees alike to follow a story that leads the steambots down into dangerous depths and find ancient technology that may help them take off into space and escape earth before it completely collapses.

Having worked on the SteamWorld series from the very beginning, I’m really excited for this next step in the franchise and hope you will all join us on a journey that will see the SteamWorlduniverse expand in new and exciting directions. I’m looking forward to telling you more about SteamWorld Build, as well as the other SteamWorld titles we have in development, via the standard version of SteamWorld Telegraph, which will become a regular community show later this year.

Thank you for reading this Xbox Wire post. I’m happy to welcome back our fans, old and new, and we will see you later this year for the release on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One. You can follow the game on YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook.

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