Microsoft
Summer Game Fest season is here, and for Xbox owners, all eyes are on the Xbox Games Showcase on June 7. With the brand celebrating its 25th anniversary and a wealth of first-party studios now under its banner, expectations are sky-high.
Microsoft has already confirmed a dedicated Gears of War: E-Day Direct, but there’s plenty more to see. Whether it’s brand-new reveals, release date announcements, or fresh gameplay from titles we’ve been eagerly waiting for, this event will show us what we’re going to be playing on Xbox for the next 12 months.
Ahead of Sunday’s event, we’ve rounded up the games we’re most excited to see take the stage.
Confirmed / likely
Gears of War: E-Day
Microsoft
It’s been six years since the last new Gears of War game, and Gears of War: E-Day is taking the series all the way back to the beginning. This prequel is set 14 years before the events of the original and shows COG soldiers Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago trying to navigate Emergence Day, when the Locust first attacked humanity from underground.
The opportunity to experience this crucial period of Gears lore first-hand is something fans have wanted since 2006, and the one trailer released so far promises a gloriously bloody but emotional ride. With its own direct event planned, expect to see the first real gameplay and confirmation of the release date.
Halo: Campaign Evolved
Halo Studios
It’s no exaggeration to say that Halo: Combat Evolved is one of the most important games ever made. Not only did it give us one of gaming’s most recognizable mascots in Master Chief, but it also modernized the first-person shooter genre, paving the way for the likes of Call of Duty, Bioshock, and Battlefield.
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Halo: Campaign Evolved remakes the classic shooter in Unreal Engine 5, bringing gorgeously updated visuals, refreshed mission design, and gameplay elements from newer Halo games, such as sprinting and different enemies. It looks set to be the best way to experience a gaming icon, and we’re keeping our fingers crossed for more gameplay footage and a release date.
Fable
Playground Games
Despite being delayed to 2027, the Fable reboot is still one of the most anticipated games in development at Xbox. Set in the whimsical world of Albion, this fantasy RPG lets players decide whether to be a hero, villain, or somewhere in between.
The trailers released so far have captured the series’ trademark British charm while showing off the beautiful world. It’s unlikely to be the main focus of the show, since we’ve already seen plenty of it, but we wouldn’t say no to a fresh look at the combat and story.
Modern Warfare 4
Activision
A new Call of Duty arrives like clockwork every year, but there’s been a lot of buzz about Modern Warfare 4 since it was revealed. The Korean setting gives it a distinct flavor compared to past games in the series, and Infinity Ward are saying all the right things about improved movement, more accurate guns, and beloved features like Prestige and the classic minimap.
The returning DMZ will be on show – this extraction mode with high-risk, high-reward action earned plenty of fans in Modern Warfare 2, and MW4 is trying to build it into the mode it always should have been.
Possible
State of Decay 3
Undead Labs
State of Decay is Microsoft’s popular survival series, dropping players into a grim open world full of the undead, and tasking them with building bases, gathering resources, and fighting zombies just to make it to the next day. After the second game attracted millions of players, there was understandable excitement when State of Decay 3 was announced in 2020.
Updates have been pretty slim since then, but it rose from the dead this year, when the first alpha playtests were announced for May. After all this time, fans would be happy with any sliver of information, but it feels like the right time for a trailer, and perhaps even a gameplay demo.
Blade
Bethesda
Marvel’s Blade was first announced in 2023 before vanishing into the night, but the Xbox Showcase could be the perfect time for it to reappear. This third-person adventure drops players into the shoes of vampire hunter Eric Brooks, who just so happens to be half vampire himself.
He’s dropped into the middle of Paris, which has been overrun with blood suckers, and must use his supernatural abilities to fight the colony and save the survivors. Developer Arkane Studios, best known for Deathloop and the Dishonored series, has a knack for combining clever stealth with stunning worlds, so let’s hope we get another trailer to sink our fangs into.
These are the titles we’re most hyped to see at the Xbox Showcase, but there should be a ton of different games shown, for both massive AAA games and smaller indies. All that’s left to do now is tune in on June 7 and wait for all the announcements.
