The announcement of the Xbox Series X25 Limited Edition console, a stunning translucent "OG Green" homage to 25 years of Xbox, has naturally ignited a lot of excitement among fans, but with that comes some concern about getting their hands on one. While lucky attendees at the Xbox Showcase 2026 could secure one for free with a 'FAN' badge, the community is bracing for an inevitable battle with scalpers over the remaining stock.

However, all is not lost. In response to widespread concern over X, Josh Munsee, Director of Creative Marketing at Xbox, offered a reassuringly direct reply to one commenter, "it's top of mind and being worked on."

Xbox should look to Valve and how the Steam controller launch was handled

Xbox is likely looking back at industry precedents to gauge what works, and the most recent approach taken by Valve during the Steam Controller launch offers both a great demonstration of what can go wrong or right during the process.

After an initial wipe of stock, for the second round of sales, Valve’s reservation system prioritized dedicated users. Requiring a Steam account in good standing to make a reservation to even buy the controller. Hopefully, this ensured the next batch of controllers turned their hands into genuine enthusiasts rather than predatory resellers. Xbox is in a position to refine this concept further and get it right the first time.

So what do we think Xbox's anti-scalping strategy will look like? Will they simply copy what Steam did and require a registered Xbox account in good standing? Nobody who's been banned for throwing slurs in a COD lobby need apply!

Perhaps it will be for people with a history of active Xbox Game Pass subscriptions? Surely anyone genuinely wanting this console would have been a subscriber at some point. Some have even suggested having a Gamerscore entry fee of sorts, but the threshold would need to be attainable, of course, for a long-term fan. It would make the barrier for scalpers particularly difficult and ensure the buyer is actually playing games on Xbox.

Whatever this anti-scalper method ends up looking like, it's nice to see that leadership is already considering tackling this annoying problem ahead of the console going up for pre-order (and remember, you can buy the controller separately if you don't want the whole bundle).

Xbox could get really creative with this if it wanted and turn the launch into a genuine reward of sorts for the community. Well, as rewarding as something can be that is going to cost a gazillion dollars...

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After revealing the first gameplay trailer for Persona 4: Revival at the June 2026 Xbox Games Showcase, Atlus decided to drop a bombshell announcement that Persona fans have been waiting for a decade since Persona 5 released on the PlayStation 3 in 2016.

Persona 6 is finally in development, as confirmed by a new teaser trailer released by Atlus during the show that reveals the game will be released on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox Game Pass with Xbox Play Anywhere support, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam.

It's also now available for wishlisting on Xbox platforms.

Windows Central's take

Other than that, we know little about Persona 6 from this teaser other than that it will likely be the darkest entry in the series to date.

It's a mysterious and grim trailer filled with all kinds of nightmarish imagery that suggests this game plans to explore the series' general theme of self-discovery and embodying 'personas' to take on the world to its horrifying extremes.

Either way, I'm so happy to finally see a new mainline Persona game being made after dealing with Persona 5 spin-offs for years.

No offense to Persona 5: Royal, as it's one of my favorite Xbox JRPGs, but it's high time we leave the Phantom Thieves behind and explore a new setting with original characters to scream out "PERSONA" while balancing school life with dungeon crawling and turn-based battles against shadows.

🗨️ Over to you

Are you excited that Persona 6 is finally happening? Will this be your first Persona game as a newcomer or a reason to revisit the series as a long-time veteran?

If you have any thoughts on the matter, please let us know through the poll below, the comments section, or our Reddit page.

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At the Xbox Games Showcase 2026, Ninja Theory has officially announced Senua. A new action-adventure that serves as an "additive evolution" of the beloved series.

While it continues the journey of Senua, Studio Head Dom Matthews has clarified in an interview with Xbox Wire that this is not Hellblade 3, but rather a fresh start designed to give players more agency and exploration.

Ninja Theory is all working as an 85-person studio altogether for the first time in over a decade to give us Senua.

This game promises to combine the the intimate storytelling and high production values of previous Hellblade titles and blend them with more gameplay elements. The team aims to satisfy fans' requests for deeper mechanics. So all those "it's a walking simulator" comments will be silenced!

“This is an out-and-out action-adventure game,” says Matthews. “It’s about giving Hellblade fans what they’ve been asking for while meeting action-adventure players’ expectations — and the way that manifests is in broader gameplay, more combat depth, and an interconnected world.”

The combat system is a highlight of this shift, featuring tactical choice. Players can now utilize stealth, verticality, and environmental objects to handle encounters, along with new combat abilities like dual-wielding and powerful Focus moves that alter reality.

The game also promises a significantly larger, interconnected world that rewards player perception and curiosity. Set in Senua’s vision of Purgatory, the story bridges the gap between past games while remaining fully accessible to newcomers.

With a scheduled release in 2027, I'm sure we'll see more of the game between now and the intended release. The title will arrive on Xbox Series X|S, PC, Steam, and PlayStation 5, and will be available day one on Xbox Game Pass.

For the full deep dive into the combat systems and story, head over to the official Xbox Wire article.

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At the Xbox Games Showcase 2026, Xbox just dropped an atomic bomb. As in atomic green, get it? To celebrate 25 years of Xbox, it's unveiled the Xbox Series X25 Limited Edition collection.

This special release pays homage to the original 2001 console with a striking, transparent design. We finally got the green everyone wanted!

Celebrating "Back to Xbox"

The Xbox Series X25 Limited Edition console, now listed on the Xbox store, features a translucent "OG Green" chassis, directly inspired by the aesthetic of the original Xbox.

While the exterior marks a bold departure from the standard (and frankly boring) matte black or white. The internal hardware maintains the performance of the standard 1TB Xbox Series X, but in a badass limited edition transparent green, so we can see all the guts of our favorite console in action.

There's a 25th Anniversary logo on the front of the console, and the X lights up in that green glow that was teased recently with the new Xbox logo (we KNEW this had to mean something).

An anniversary controller too!

If you don't want to go and buy a whole new console, don't fear. Complementing the console is the Xbox Wireless Controller X25 Special Edition, now also listed.

It features the same translucent OG Green finish, allowing fans to see the internal components. Essentially, it's very similar to the Cipher collection, but finally in the color we've all been begging and pleading with Xbox for.

It includes several subtle nods to Xbox history, such as bumpers designed to honor the classic black-and-white buttons on the original "Duke" controller, and a fully transparent battery door that reveals the classic logo.

Pricing and specific pre-order details are expected to be announced at major retailers in the coming weeks.

Are you planning on picking up the X25 collection, or are you hoping for more 25th-anniversary surprises later this year?

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At the Xbox Games Showcase 2026, the long-awaited Fable finally stepped into the spotlight with a brand-new story trailer. The footage gave us our darkest look yet at the whimsical yet dangerous world of Albion.

The trailer also confirmed the game’s official release date: February 23, 2027.

This new window follows the decision to shift the launch out of 2026, ensuring the title avoids a direct clash with Grand Theft Auto 6 (and the other 3000 games coming out at the end of 2026). Those looking to jump in early can grab the Premium Edition for early access starting February 18, 2027.

Following the trailer, an in-depth Xbox Wire blogpost detailed the star-studded British cast bringing these characters to life. The feature highlights the game’s primary antagonist, Isabel, played with formidable depth by Hayley Atwell, alongside a cast that reads like a "who’s who" of UK talent, including Matt King, Richard Ayoade, Natasia Demetriou, and more.

Associate Narrative Director Craig Owens provided key insights into the cast, explaining how these actors were chosen to perfectly embody their roles. The piece is a must-read for anyone wanting to understand the personality and tone of this new Fable iteration before it arrives on Xbox Series X|S, PC, Steam, and PlayStation 5, as well as day one on Xbox Game Pass.

For the full breakdown of the cast, character backstories, and more behind-the-scenes details, head over to Xbox Wire.

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First revealed during Sony's State of Play, many assumed the game was a console exclusive. That's largely because PlayStation doesn't show competitor logos during its showcases, a practice that remains a contentious topic among Xbox fans.

Not long ago, Matt Booty revealed that Xbox plans to show competitor logos during its own showcases. Personally, I'm not convinced that's the right move, especially if Xbox wants to become the number one gaming platform by 2030.

Anyway, enough of me ranting; let's talk about RuneScape.

For those unfamiliar, RuneScape began life as a browser-based point-and-click MMORPG back in 2001. Over the years, it evolved into two separate games, RuneScape 3 and OldSchool RuneScape. Yes, there are effectively two versions of RuneScape that coexist today, with OldSchool RuneScape generally being the more popular of the two.

Expanding beyond those games, Jagex released RuneScape: Dragonwilds into early access last year on Steam. However, it's quite different from what you'd typically expect from RuneScape. Rather than a traditional MMORPG, Dragonwilds is much closer to a survival game like Valheim, and that's certainly not a bad thing.

Fortunately for Xbox players, RuneScape: Dragonwilds launches on September 15, 2026, for Xbox Series X|S. Even better, it will support Xbox Play Anywhere, a feature that has genuinely influenced whether I buy certain games or not.

As a quick refresher, Xbox Play Anywhere means that if you buy the game on Xbox, you'll also own it on PC. Your progress carries across both platforms, and achievements are shared between them too.

Now, I don't expect anyone to know this about me, and if anything, it'd be weird if they did, but I grew up playing RuneScape; in fact, my account is around two decades old. It's still one of my favorite games of all time, sitting right alongside Halo, so I'm definitely eager to finally give Dragonwilds a go.

But what about you? Has RuneScape: Dragonwilds caught your eye, or is it not really your thing? Let me know in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll!

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That’s right, Square Enix has seemingly fully given up their allegiance to PlayStation, likely turning down whatever money Sony was willing to throw at them, and is instead bringing the final chapter in the Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy to Xbox on day one.

Revealed as the final game of Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest showcase, Final Fantasy VII Revelation was also confirmed for a day-one release across multiple platforms, including Xbox.

Naturally, that's great news for Xbox fans, but it also signals a major shift in Square Enix's approach to platform releases. So, let's talk about it and what Xbox players can expect when Final Fantasy VII Revelation launches in Spring 2027.

The game is set to release on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, Steam, Epic Games Store, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox PC. Interestingly, Square Enix specifically lists Xbox PC, which suggests that, like Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the game will likely support Xbox Play Anywhere.

I'll admit that my appreciation for Final Fantasy largely comes from Kingdom Hearts, along with watching my brother play the series and talk about it growing up. Still, we also got a statement from the game's director, Naoki Hamaguchi, and I think it's worth sharing:

“I’m beyond excited to announce FINAL FANTASY VII REVELATION, launching simultaneously across all platforms in Spring 2027. I’m truly grateful to our fans who believed in this story and supported us for so many years. In this title, centered around “resolve,” Cloud and his companions will confront their respective convictions and continue their journey towards the final battle that will determine the planet’s fate. All the stories and emotions accumulated over the years will culminate in the most satisfying way with this experience, brought to you as the series’ final chapter. Please look forward to it.”

It's great to see the game launching simultaneously across all platforms, and I'm sure Xbox fans will be pleased as well. If you're a Final Fantasy fan and are happy about the news, or simply have thoughts on the announcement, let me know in the comments and be sure to take part in our poll!

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Mina the Hollower has made quite the buzz online. From practically dethroning Forza Horizon 6 as the highest-rated game of the year, the game made a strong impression right out of the gate.

If you're an Xbox fan like me, you may have been disappointed to learn it wasn't part of Xbox Play Anywhere. As many of us have come to appreciate the feature, myself included, it's incredibly convenient being able to pick up a game and play it across my Xbox Ally X, PC, and Xbox Series X all while continuing the same save.

If you're interested in a deeper rundown of the game and what this 2D Metroidvania is all about, my colleague Alexander Cope put together a more thorough overview, which I highly recommend checking out here.

With that said, back to Xbox Play Anywhere. The developers behind the game, Yacht Club Games, did respond to a fan who wanted to know whether Mina the Hollower would receive Play Anywhere support. While it won't be available at launch, the studio says the feature isn't completely off the table:

“We don't have a Windows version needed to support it. It's not off the table for the future, but not a launch feature.”

Unfortunately, as we already know, it's not a launch feature. Still, it would be great to see the team revisit it down the line. For now, though, hopefully the game is able to achieve the financial success it deserves, because Mina the Hollower looks like a pretty fun game.

For me, I do often find myself deciding which games to buy based on whether they support Xbox Play Anywhere. It's certainly a feature that has changed my gaming habits, especially since getting an Xbox Ally X.

But that's just how I feel about it. I'd love to know whether you've had the chance to play the game or if it's simply not your kind of thing, and that's okay too. Let me know your thoughts in the comments, and as I always say, make sure you take part in our poll!

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Aliens: Fireteam Elite was a solid 3-player co-op shooter, similar in vein to the likes of Left 4 Dead. It was also a pretty big win for Xbox PC and Xbox Play Anywhere a little while after it launched, joining the platform alongside its Xbox Series X|S version with cross-play and cross-buy capabilities. Sadly, Daybreak Game Company doesn't seem to think it was worthwhile.

Confirmed to us last week, Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 will not only skip Xbox Play Anywhere, but it's skipping Xbox PC all up.

"We currently only support Steam and EGS stores for PC," Daybreak told us via their PR firm, in what is ultimately a pretty embarrassing moment for the Xbox PC store. Why is this happening, and is it indicative of a broader trend?

"Organic" adoption of the Xbox PC store has been fairly miserable. It's a huge problem for Microsoft's future plans for the ecosystem, and it's one that new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has identified in recent memos to staff internally.

"We have to be honest about where we are. We’ve got work to do. Players are frustrated with us, they feel like we haven’t updated our console enough, they feel like our PC presence isn’t very strong," Asha recently said to Xbox staffers, noting that she plans for Xbox to "sweat every detail."

A big gulf remains between what players expect of the Xbox PC storefront experience and what today's experience is actually like. I'm told that a big update is coming for Xbox PC later this year that should help. And Asha Sharma has also recently hired some platform discovery and search experts to boost the usability of the Xbox PC store on that side, too. Sharma's appointment of David Schloss in particular is potentially compelling on this side. He was instrumental in growing Instacart into a huge operation, and I'm told he's also a big PC gamer as well who understands the expectations therein.

But the dev side also seems to be a bit of a mess, judging from conversations I've had with developers over the years. Sharma has also brought in engineering expertise from Microsoft's GitHub and tooling teams to help in this area as well.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite didn't show up on Xbox PC and Xbox Play Anywhere on day one, but it did adopt the platform post-launch as part of an Xbox Game Pass deal. The same is true for other titles, as well. Resident Evil 2, 3, and 7 are on Xbox PC and Xbox Play Anywhere, although Resident Evil 2 and 3 at least seem to be abandonware with updates several years behind that of their Steam counterparts. Resident Evil 8 only arrived recently as part of Xbox Game Pass. Resident Evil 9, as expected, was a total no-show.

Therein lies one of the problems: increasingly, it looks like developers are only willing to join the Xbox PC store with some form of upfront marketing deal, as opposed to organically. It's another Xbox problem for Asha Sharma to solve, as part of a growing list.

Steam doesn't have to ask any dev to come to its platform. It's the de facto default store for variety core gaming, and that doesn't look set to change any time soon — even if younger cohorts armed with Roblox continue to eat into the traditional user bases. Microsoft is gunning for a slice of this PC pie, and it has pretty huge advantages. Xbox PC comes pre-installed on Windows 11. It's giving developers an 88% cut of the revenue, rather than Steam's 70% cut. The initial dev fees have also been removed, too.

I'm told footfall through Xbox PC is higher than that of the Epic Game Store, but Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 will be day one on Epic's platform ... and won't launch at all on Xbox PC, Xbox Play Anywhere or not.

Are developers potentially holding Microsoft hostage for Xbox Game Pass money here? It could be a double-edged sword in essence. Getting a Game Pass deal has helped Microsoft grow the Xbox PC store very rapidly, but on the downside, both users and developers seem to see it as a "Game Pass" store, rather than an organic, traditional PC store. Microsoft has trained its users to wait for Xbox / PC Game Pass drops on the Xbox PC app, and it has trained developers to only show up in exchange for a Game Pass deal. I'm not sure that's sustainable long term.

Xbox PC is key to Microsoft's gaming future

I'm not sure how you solve the problem. It's a bit of a chicken-and-egg scenario. Users won't show up if the games aren't there, and devs won't show up if the users aren't there. I suspect users aren't buying many games outright via Xbox PC, and are mostly using it for PC Game Pass and Xbox Play Anywhere. Developers probably don't see the value in giving away "two licenses" of their Xbox games, even if there's little evidence that gamers are willing to buy games twice. On the contrary, Microsoft says Xbox Play Anywhere games see higher sales and engagement, and speaking for myself, I'm far more likely to buy a game if it has the feature.

Given the memory price and supply route right now, Microsoft is missing out on a big opportunity to meet users and developers on platforms where they already are. People are going to be keeping their existing devices, PC, console, and otherwise, far longer than usual. The price of memory is absolutely blowing up, and analysts suggest it won't come down until 2028 at the earliest.

They should've been building the Xbox PC store up decades ago to weather storms like this, but hey, better late than never.

It has improved a ton. The Xbox PC mode makes PC gaming from a TV incredibly convenient, and opens up new opportunities for the best mini PCs from the likes of GEEKOM to act as "video game consoles." But, there's still a ton of small, weird pain points. Absolum on Xbox PC, for example, still doesn't have a play button for some reason. New games don't show up in search for days after launch in many cases. And, the store is missing out on mountains of classic staple PC titles. If you want older games like Dark Souls, Elden Ring, The Witcher 3, and even some of Microsoft's own games — you need to look elsewhere. That's a problem.

But given Windows K2 and the big shakeup at Xbox, it seems Microsoft is now, at least, very much on the case. Better late than never.

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While Microsoft typically shows off many of the bigger games or first-party titles that are coming to the Xbox ecosystem during its gaming presentations, it makes sure to spotlight smaller indie projects being developed by independent creators and studios as well.

Through ID@Xbox — a program designed to support and assist indie developers as they build games coming to Xbox consoles and PC systems — Microsoft has partnered with our friends at IGN to showcase new indie game projects and updates in the past, and now it's done so again with the ID@Xbox and IGN April 2026 Showcase.

First announced at the start of this week, the presentation has now come and gone, and gave Xbox and PC users their first looks at newly announced indie games, and deeper looks at ones we've known are on the way (many of which are coming to Xbox Game Pass and will support Xbox Play Anywhere). Weren't able to catch the show live? No worries — we've got you covered with a complete and comprehensive recap of everything shown below.

Everything announced at the ID@Xbox Showcase

Beastro

Dungeon Meshi fans will love this one! Beastro is a roguelike RPG set in a colorful fantasy universe, though the twist is that you're not the brave adventuring hero — you're the dutiful chef giving those legendary warriors the meals they need to save the world. It's coming to Xbox Series X|S on May 21, and will also be available on PC. Notably, you'll be able to play it through Xbox Game Pass.

Deep Dish Dungeon

Okay, Dungeon Meshi fans will also love this game, too. Deep Dish Dungeon, a survival exploration game in which you carefully journey, craft, and cook your way through a dark and "puzzly" dungeon in solo or co-op play, got a sweet new trailer during the presentation. It's coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Cloud, and PC in Fall 2026, and will be on Xbox Game Pass. It also supports Xbox Play Anywhere.

Albion Online

The news that the PvP-centric MMO Albion Online was coming to Xbox consoles came last month, and a few days after its release this week, developer Sandbox Interactive is getting the word out with a comedic new live action trailer. The game is free, with perks for Xbox Game Pass members and Xbox Play Anywhere support.

Lofsong

One of the more striking game reveals from the showcase was Lofsong, an adventure game that challenges you to "traverse a haunting brutalist world guided by sound, resonance, and a mysterious origami companion" across time itself. Notably, audio-based mechanics will be core to the gameplay experience. Lofsong doesn't have a release date yet, but we know it's coming to both Xbox Series X|S and Xbox on PC with Xbox Play Anywhere support.

Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School

This puzzle adventure game is all about getting out of dangerous escape rooms and solving an enigmatic mystery in the midst of a day at school, which makes it quite a unique setting for this type of experience. It's coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox on PC, and PC in 2026, with Xbox Game Pass availability and Xbox Play Anywhere support.

Kalanoro

This upcoming action-adventure title sees you form a band of lemurs in order to save the colorful island you call home from an evil witch, with music seemingly playing a core role in the gameplay. Kalanoro is headed to Xbox Series X|S and Xbox on PC this summer, complete with Xbox Play Anywhere support.

Vapor World: Over the Mind

Vapor World, a new story-driven Soulslike sidescrolling platformer, got a new trailer during the showcase that featured gameplay prominently. It's headed to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Xbox Game Pass (with Xbox Play Anywhere support), with a release on PC, Nintendo Switch, and PS5 planned as well. Notably, a demo will be made available in June.

inKONBINI

If the sound of something more lowkey and relaxing sounds good to you, check out inKONBINI. This slice-of-life management sim puts you in the shoes of a small convenience store owner, and is directly inspired by the vibes of early 1990s Japan. It's releasing on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, PC, PS5, and Nintendo Switch on April 30, 2026. It will also be on Xbox Game Pass, and supports Xbox Play Anywhere.

The vibrant sci-fi deckbuilder RPG Echo Generation 2 got a new trailer during the ID@Xbox show that showed off gameplay and also revealed that the game is coming out on May 27 next month. It's headed to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and PC, with full Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Play Anywhere availability.

Starseeker

The beloved sci-fi sandbox game Astroneer is getting a spinoff with Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions, an adventure-focused take on the universe that centers around co-op expeditions with friends. There's no release date right now, but we know it's coming to Xbox Series X|S, PC, PS5, and Switch 2, and will be on Xbox Game Pass. It will also support Xbox Play Anywhere for Xbox on PC play.

Tears of Metal

Tears of Metal, a co-op roguelike hack-and-slash action title with a gorgeous art style, is headed to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC (with Xbox Play Anywhere), Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Xbox Game Pass. Little else is known about it beyond the fact you'll be in command of a "formidable Scottish battalion," but it's one to watch if you're like me and love medieval games.

Crashout Crew

This cartoonish co-op title looks a lot like Overcooked, but if it was about forklifts instead of cooking. With up to three other players, it's up to you to "fulfill orders of increasingly chaotic, physics-based boxes." The game is coming out on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Steam on May 28, and will be on Xbox Game Pass too. It also supports Xbox Play Anywhere.

RV There Yet?

One of last year's most popular new indie games on PC is coming to Xbox. RV There Yet? is a comedic co-op adventure in which you and your friends have to try and drive your RV back home despite the world seemingly doing everything it can to throw a wrench into that plan. It didn't get a specific release date, but the devs say it's coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Xbox Game Pass in May, complete with Xbox Play Anywhere support.

Solo Leveling Arise Overdrive

The popular action game Solo Leveling Arise Overdrive — a title based on the anime of the same name — is getting a Jeju Island Story Update soon, and got a trailer for it at the show. Notably, the game is coming to Xbox Series X|S consoles in Q3 2026, and is out now on both Xbox on PC and Steam.

There Are No Ghosts at the Grand

There Are No Ghosts at the Grand, an exciting new musical-themed hotel decor and ghost hunting title (yes, the game actually combines those two things), got a nice new trailer during the ID@Xbox showcase that gave fans a look at more of its gameplay and overall structure. It's coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and other PC platforms, as well as Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Play Anywhere.

Golf With Your Friends 2

The popular party golfing game Golf With Your Friends 2 is getting a sequel, and it's coming to Xbox Series X|S, PC, PS5, and Nintendo Switch later this fall. It got a very short trailer at the ID@Xbox presentation.

Mistfall Hunter

The upcoming fantasy "extraction RPG" Mistfall Hunter was revealed in full during the showcase. The game is coming out in July this year on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, and other PC platforms, along with Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Play Anywhere. In it, you can team up with three other players, venture into the "Gyldenmist," and battle both PvE monsters and other teams in PvP before fighting your way to extraction.

Totopia

Need a party game to play? Totopia is a free-to-play one coming to Xbox, and the fact it will support Xbox Play Anywhere means it's coming to Xbox on PC too. It looks to be very Fall Guys-esque with plenty of different minigames to play.

SpeedRunners 2: King of Speed

The competitive racing platformer SpeedRunners is getting a "high-octane sequel" that will support up to eight competing Racers trying to zip their way through hazard-filled levels the fastest, with all the action taking place on a single screen (anyone who falls behind will be at the mercy of a flaming wall). It's coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, PC, PS5, and Nintendo Switch in July, and will also be on Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Play Anywhere.

Vampire Crawlers

Vampire Crawlers, the deckbuilding spinoff of the beloved 2022 action roguelike Vampire Survivors, came out this week, and it got a trailer at the ID@Xbox show. It's the first of many new creative projects for developer Poncle, and is out now on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Xbox Game Pass, PC (Steam), PS5, and Nintendo Switch. It also has Xbox Play Anywhere support.

Screenbound

Finally, we got a new look at Screenbound, a unique action-adventure title in which you control a character in the 3D "real world" at the same time you're also playing as one in a 2D game on your handheld gaming system. Screenbound is coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Steam, along with Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Play Anywhere.

FAQ

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Vampire Crawlers is the second game from developers poncle, of Vampire Survivors fame. Instrumental in bringing about a renaissance of roguelike games, they've fed us well with endless DLC, both paid and free, for their first title, and now they are back with a whole new game born from its DNA.

Vampire Survivors is a tough act to follow; it was a critical darling, earning three BAFTA awards, and maintains an incredibly high positive rating on Steam. It's the reason poncle has become synonymous with high-value, low-cost gaming. Can they keep up the winning streak? I think so.

I've been hopelessly addicted to Vampire Crawlers for a week now, putting it through its paces on the Xbox Series X, but the bulk of my playtime has been on the Xbox ROG Ally X, as it's a perfect handheld game. Here's everything you need to know about The Turbo Wildcard game from Vampire Survivors.

Vampire Crawlers Review: What is it?

While fans might have expected a Vampire Survivors 2, Vampire Crawlers is a pretty radical genre pivot that swaps the real-time bullet hell for a tactical, turn-based card game. It's a casual, turn-based deckbuilder with some roguelite elements set smack bang in the world of Vampire Survivors.

Instead of an open field of enemies working their way towards you, you explore grid-based multi-floor dungeons as a dungeon "Crawler' in first person. Expect a strategic loop of scoping the map for combat encounters, picking up loot, and leveling up your deck of cards to progress.

The Vampire Survivors' whimsy and charm is present in every facet of the game. Your arsenal is your deck composed of weapons Survivors fans will be familiar with: the Whip, Knife, Santa Water and everyone's favorite — Garlic, to name a few. The enemies will be familiar too, facing the same skeletons and bats amongst other unpleasant creatures, but from a different perspective. We aren't top-down anymore; we are face-to-face with those man-eating plants.

Our Crawler characters, which you choose from before entering the dungeon, bring unique passive triggers that respond to the cards you play. For example, Antonio grants a damage bonus every time you play an attack card. They even now have voice lines which bring a whole new breath of personality to the Vampire Survivors universe.

Vampire Crawlers Review: Gameplay

I was sent a review guide with the game, which like any provided instructions, I decided not to read at all and go in blind. Cool girls don't look at instructions. Presented with a small deck of cards and my first Crawler, I had no idea what I was doing in the first dungeon. I progressed through the game simply throwing cards out like Gambit and hoping for the best. Thankfully, the game does a great job of showing you what to do, and the first thing you will probably learn is chaining cards to make powerful combos.

The core of the strategy revolves around your mana pool. Each card has a cost, and your goal is to manage that pool while taking advantage of the Combo Stack. The game rewards you for playing cards in ascending mana cost (0-1-2-3); doing so triggers a multiplier that ramps up your damage exponentially. This is where the "Turbo" in the title comes from — once you find the rhythm, you can play your entire hand as fast as you can click, watching damage numbers skyrocket. The OVERKILL text and accompanying soundbites are particularly satisfying to say the least.

The signature Evolution system returns, too. Those familiar with Survivors will have a massive head start in knowing specifically which weapons and passives to combine to upgrade their cards. However, there are new layers here: you can find Gems to slot into specific cards for bonuses (like 2x damage) or find one-time-use Wildcards that act as combo extenders. These allow you to push a single turn into a god-like state of devastation that can clear a whole row of enemies at once if you... play your cards right (pun intended).

My personal favorite right now is going full Bone Build with Mortaccio. He gives extra projectiles, and there is nothing quite as satisfying as throwing Bone cards — which cost zero mana — and watching them bounce and bounce and bounce around the screen. I’ve hit a few walls of difficulty, but the beauty of this game is that death doesn't matter. It’s just an excuse to visit the Unlocks menu, find a doable goal, and bring a new item or stat boost into my next run.

If I had any criticisms, it would be that some map items are difficult to see when playing on a handheld device. However, there is a launch patch that should improve Steam Deck play and, by extension, handheld gaming on the ROG Ally X, so I'm hoping it will be fixed.

Vampire Crawlers Review: Should you buy it?

If you're a huge fan of Vampire Survivors and the aesthetic, this is a no-brainer purchase at $9.99, or you can play it day one on Xbox Game Pass. It’s an Xbox Play Anywhere title, and my progress synced flawlessly between my Series X and my handheld.

The only caveat I would say is that the gameplay loop is a big departure from the bullet hell style. This is a more methodical approach, at least initially. That being said, once you have a strong deck, you can use the auto-play button to just dump your entire hand at the enemy. I tend to do this when building up coins in dungeons I've already cleared.

I've been really into short, snappy "just one more session" games like Blue Prince, Ball X Pit, Balatro, and obviously Vampire Survivors, so Crawlers is the perfect game for me. It hits the same dopamine center that comes from building something quite ridiculous and watching it decimate the battlefield. If that sounds like your kinda thing too, you'll love this game.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with Vampire Crawlers. poncle has managed to take the soul of their first hit and transplant it into a completely different body without losing what made it special. It is a game designed with a deep love for the genre and a respect for the player's time (and crucially, money). I only hope that it receives just as much love and adulation, and consequently bucket loads of DLC for me to get my teeth into.

The review guide mentions a few known issues being ironed out, such as Guardian encounters not always rotating correctly and some Wild Evo cards missing holographic effects. I also noticed that damage numbers on cards don't always perfectly match the enemy UI, but poncle is working on a clearer calculation display for the launch patch.

Vampire Crawlers is another triumph for poncle. Just be warned: "one more run" is a lie you will tell yourself every single night.

Xbox's production team has been on a big tear recently, and it started with the Developer_Direct in January. Since then, we've also had a smaller ID@Xbox show, another partner show, and now an all-new format called "Xbox First Look." And it all starts with Metro 2039.

I shared on X recently that Metro 2039 is about to break cover, and now it's here confirmed in full. Metro is a legendary first-person shooter franchise inspired by the popular book series of the same name. A global apocalypse has blighted the world in trans-dimensional entities, horrific nuclear mutants, radioactive storms, and warring human survivor factions. Metro 2033, Last Light, and Exodus are some of the best and most immersive shooters of their era, and well worth playing for any fans of the genre.

Microsoft's "Xbox First Look" show will revolve entirely around Metro 2039 I'm told, and will play host to a series of similar mini-show reveals throughout the year too.

"This Thursday, April 16, we’ll be debuting Xbox First Look: Metro 2039 with 4A Games & Deep Silver – a digital-only broadcast offering a world-premiere look at the next title in the beloved post-apocalyptic first-person shooter series.

This will be the fourth mainline entry from 4A Games in the series based on the iconic novels of Dmitry Glukhovsky, following Metro 2033 (2010), Metro: Last Light (2013), and Metro Exodus (2019), all of which tell the stories of survivors of nuclear devastation living in the Moscow subway tunnels and the world that surrounds them.

Xbox has always been a home for the franchise, and we’re honored to continue that relationship by bringing you a first look at this next exciting chapter."

Xbox First Look: Metro 2039 will air on Thursday, April 16

Metro 2039 will be revealed in full at the first Xbox First Look show, on Thursday April 16, 10 AM PT, 6 PM in the UK. It'll broadcast as part of a YouTube Premier over on Xbox's YouTube channel here.

If you haven't played Metro 2033, Last Light, or Exodus, I can't recommend them enough. Last Light in particular is a high point of the series for me, which really pushed the boundaries for visual quality and immersive gameplay when it launched. The games are all available on Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC. I'm told Metro 2039 will also be Xbox Play Anywhere compatible too when it eventually launches.

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Fans of the popular 2024 open-world survival-horror FPS STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl have been waiting for news on its planned DLC expansions since the game came out, and now, it's finally come. During Thursday's Xbox Partner Preview, developer GSC Game World announced the game's first of two expansions, Cost of Hope.

The DLC is coming to all of the shooter's platforms — Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC (Steam, Epic Games, GOG), and PS5 — with a scheduled release window of Summer 2026. That means Cost of Hope, though still coming soon, is several months away. Notably, however, the Xbox version of STALKER 2 has actually gotten a huge upgrade that fans can take advantage of right now.

That upgrade is the addition of Microsoft's Xbox Play Anywhere feature to STALKER 2, which means that players can now transfer ownership of and saved progress in GSC Game World's sequel across Xbox Series X|S consoles, the Xbox on PC app, Xbox Ally handhelds, and Xbox Cloud Gaming as long as you're using the same Microsoft account across all devices and services.

It's awesome that STALKER 2 finally has Xbox Play Anywhere support, especially since it's exactly the type of game it's the most valuable in — a vast and deep open-world experience packed with paths to take, quests to do, and secrets to find. Indeed, it takes well over 100 hours to see everything The Zone has in store, and being able to continue the adventure no matter what platform you're on at any given time is a major boon.

The journey through STALKER's dynamic and immersive world will only grow even larger when the Cost of Hope releases later this year, with GSC Game World describing it in a new preview as "a large expansion that’s worth your wait" that will take "dozens of hours to complete — and those who want to see everything will easily add quite a few more on top."

In the DLC's two new zones, the Iron Forest and the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant at the heart of The Zone itself, the devs say you'll come across "More engaging quests, more memorable characters and their stories, and more answers to the questions raised both in Heart of Chornobyl and the original games" from the late 2000s.

In terms of story, Cost of Hope will put you back in the boots of STALKER 2 protagonist Skif, and you'll find yourself caught up in a brewing conflict between Duty — a faction of those who believe The Zone should be destroyed — and Freedom, which wants to figure out how to use it to help humanity instead. The events of the DLC will threaten to break the fragile peace treaty that's held for years, and occur concurrently to the game's main narrative.

GSC has also said that Cost of Hope is something of a second entry in a "trilogy" that began with STALKER 2, similar to the original STALKER trilogy and the connected story it told. The game's second DLC will be the third release that concludes it.

As a longtime fan of STALKER, a huge new DLC that focuses directly on Duty and Freedom is very exciting, as the two factions played very prominent roles in all three of the original titles. I loved STALKER 2 at launch, flaws and all, and it's gotten significantly better over time with major performance fixes and new additions; all of those improvements as well as this upcoming DLC have me incredibly stoked to return to The Zone.

🗨️ Will you return to STALKER 2?

Between the addition of Xbox Play Anywhere support on Xbox and PC and the news that the game's first major DLC, the Cost of Hope, is coming this summer, it's an exciting time to be a STALKER 2 player. I'm certainly diving back in for a second playthrough, myself.

How about you, though? Are you looking forward to Cost of Hope, and will you come back to STALKER 2 to play it? Let me know in the comments, and vote in our poll:

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After much speculation and data-mining for clues, the hit open-world action-RPG gacha game, Wuthering Waves, is finally coming to Xbox, as confirmed through March 2026's Xbox Partner Preview.

It will arrive sometime during July 2026 for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Xbox Game Pass. It will also receive Xbox Play Anywhere support.

In this game, you play as the mysterious amnesiac named "Rover" wandering the post-apocalyptic world of Solaris-3 in search of your lost memories.

Along the way, you will encounter and recruit a cast of colorful and powerful characters called Resonants, explore the beautiful yet tarnished world of Solaris-3 for its secrets, and battle hordes of challenging foes and bosses.

Released in 2024 for PlayStation 5, PC, and mobile devices, Wuthering Waves captured players' admiration for its gorgeous anime visuals, dramatic storytelling, endearing characters, and in-depth combat.

In fact, combat is one of the game's biggest selling points as it's akin to Capcom's Devil May Cry series in terms of complex move-sets that you need to combo together and over-the-top bosses that will require quick reflexes to defeat.

In addition, the combat system has a Pokémon-like mechanic called the Echoes system, where you capture defeated monsters and summon them in battle to fight for you.

Wuthering Waves is an extremely popular game as it's accumulated 88% user ratings on Steam, and it's been downloaded over 30 million times worldwide.

Now Xbox fans will get to learn why people love this game so much when Wuthering Waves drops on Xbox later this July.

🗨️ Over to you

Are you happy to see Wuthering Waves coming to Xbox?

If you have any thoughts on the matter, please let us know through the poll below, the comments section, or our Reddit page.

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Microsoft and Xbox gave fans a look at several of the in-house first-party games coming to its Xbox Series X|S consoles and Windows PCs earlier this year with the Xbox Developer Direct 2026. Ahead of larger showcases coming this summer, though, it's also hosted a special Xbox Partner Preview — a show that instead highlighted new games and updates from third-party developers that work closely with Xbox publishing.

Indeed, even though the titles shown in these Partner Preview presentations aren't published by Xbox itself, they tend to sport availability on Xbox Game Pass and support for Xbox Play Anywhere, which means your ownership and in-game progress will transfer seamlessly across Xbox consoles, Xbox on PC, Xbox Ally handhelds, and Xbox Cloud Gaming.

For this one, we saw more of the Japanese detective game Stranger Than Heaven from SEGA, what's next for STALKER 2 from GSC Game World, and another look at the highly anticipated The Expanse: Osiris Reborn single player RPG from Owlcat Games.

There was more than that, of course, and we covered all the Xbox Partner Preview's news, announcements, and trailers live right here. You'll find a complete overview of everything announced and revealed below.

How to watch the Xbox Partner Preview March 2026

We've covered how and when to watch the Xbox Partner Preview more extensively, but the TL;DR is that the Xbox Partner Preview began on March 26 at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET, and can be watched on the official Xbox channels on YouTube and Twitch (the embed above features the former).

Everything announced at the Xbox Partner Preview

Hunter: The Reckoning - Deathwish

Hunter: the Reckoning - Deathwish appears to be a new supernatural-themed shooter in which you'll face off against vampires and other intimidating monstrosities. It's headed to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Steam, and PS5 in Summer 2027. Across all Xbox platforms, it will support Xbox Play Anywhere.

Wuthering Waves is coming to Xbox, confirmed!

The popular free-to-play open-world action RPG Wuthering Waves is officially coming to Xbox, now confirmed after a series of rumors. Specifically, it's headed to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, and Xbox Cloud Gaming in July, with "exclusive benefits" for Xbox Game Pass members and Xbox Play Anywhere support too.

The Expanse: Osiris Reborn gets a new gameplay trailer

Owlcat Games' long-awaited The Expanse RPG, The Expanse: Osiris Reborn, got a sweet new gameplay trailer at the Partner Preview. The game is coming to all Xbox platforms as well as Xbox Game Pass, PC (with Xbox Play Anywhere), and PS5, with a beta set to release on April 22. The official release date is Spring 2027.

Grave Seasons

This story-driven farming simulator pulls you in with a deceptively charming art style, but with a "terrifying twist"; someone in its setting is a vicious serial killer, and as you farm and interact with its inhabitants, it's up to you to figure out who it is. The game is coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Cloud Gaming, Steam, and PS5 on August 14, 2026. It's also headed to Xbox Game Pass, and will have Xbox Play Anywhere.

The beloved classic FPS series Serious Sam is back with Serious Sam: Shatterverse, a co-op roguelike shooter for 1-5 players. It's scheduled to release in 2026, and will be available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Steam, and PS5. It will have support for Xbox Play Anywhere.

Stranger Than Heaven is getting a new deep dive

SEGA's new Stranger Than Heaven detective game got a high-energy trailer at the Partner Preview, along with the news that Xbox is hosting a deeper look at the game on May 6 at 4 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. ET. It's "coming soon" to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Cloud Gaming, Steam. and PS5, as well as Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Play Anywhere.

Super Meat Boy 3D has its release date

Super Meat Boy is one of the most popular platformers ever, and the latest game, Super Meat Boy 3D, got a fresh trailer along with a March 31 release date during Xbox's show (that's only a few days away!). It's coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Cloud Gaming, Steam, and PS5, as well as Xbox Game Pass. It'll have Xbox Play Anywhere too.

Forever Ago is headed to Xbox and PC in Fall 2026

The quiet and contemplative narrative adventure game Forever Ago looks to be quite a thoughtful experience, and it's scheduled to release in Fall 2026 across Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Steam, PS5, and Nintendo Switch 2. It will also be on Xbox Game Pass with Xbox Play Anywhere support.

Ascend to ZERO is getting an Xbox release

Flyway Games' Ascend to ZERO was thought to be a PC-exclusive hack 'n slash sci-fi roguelike, but the Xbox Partner Preview revealed it's "coming soon" to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, and Xbox Cloud Gaming as well. One to watch if you're a fan of the genre, especially since it'll be on Xbox Game Pass and support Xbox Play Anywhere.

Dispatch is coming to Xbox!

The extremely popular and acclaimed narrative adventure game Dispatch — a title centered around, you guessed it, dispatching superheroes to save the day — is heading to the Xbox platform soon, now confirmed by the above trailer. Specifically, it's coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, and Xbox Cloud Gaming in Summer 2026. It will support Xbox Play Anywhere.

Alien Deathstorm

Alien Deathstorm is a new sci-fi horror FPS from developer Rebellion set in a "devastated off-world colony" overrun by fierce extra-terrestrial storms as well as deadly hostile aliens. It's headed to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, and Xbox Cloud Gaming, with full availability and support for Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Play Anywhere.

Frog Sqwad is hopping to Xbox, Game Pass

Frog Sqwad, an upcoming "co-op extraction puzzle-platformer" in which you play as frogs jumping and eating your way to favor with the boisterous Swamp King, is headed to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, and Xbox Cloud Gaming as well as Steam in June 2026. It will also launch on Xbox Game Pass with Xbox Play Anywhere support.

Bluey's Happy Snaps

The extremely popular children's show Bluey is getting a new game in the form of Bluey's Happy Snaps, a relaxed adventure game in which you'll be capturing photos of everything from peaceful sights to fond memories with friends and family. Launching in Fall 2026, it's coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Steam, PS5, Switch, and Switch 2, with Xbox Game Pass availability and Xbox Play Anywhere support.

STALKER 2: Cost of Hope DLC finally announced

At long last, we've finally gotten to see more of STALKER 2's first long-awaited DLC expansion. Cost of Hope is a new lengthy storyline coming to the intense survival-horror shooter in Summer 2026, which is available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Steam, Epic Games, and PS5. The DLC will focus on the conflict between Duty and Freedom, opposing factions in The Zone that have been in the series since the very first game.

MOOSA: Dirty Fate

MOOSA: Dirty Fate is a "dark action game" directly inspired by Korean history, and set in 17th-century Korea. In it, you'll "Face terrifying monsters, uncover the truth behind a cursed fate, and fight to save your people," and it's expected to launch in 2027 across Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Steam, and PS5, as well as on Xbox Game Pass and with Xbox Play Anywhere.

The Eternal Life of Goldman

The Eternal Life of Goldman is a gorgeous upcoming 2D action platformer with hand-drawn art and animation in which you play as an elderly fellow that goes on a grand fantasy adventure with his trusty magical cane. We don't have a release date yet, but a free demo is available now on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox on PC, and it's coming to these platforms with Xbox Play Anywhere as well as on Steam, Nintendo Switch, and PS5.

Vaunted

Vaunted, a new sci-fi tactical RPG that tells the story of three criminals that struggle to set aside their differences and work together in order to get away with a huge score, is coming to Xbox on PC and PC Game Pass in addition to Steam and the Epic Games Store. It's slated to release at some point in 2026.

Hades 2 hits Xbox and Game Pass next month

At long last, the criitically acclaimed narrative-driven Greek mythology roguelike game Hades 2 is finally coming to Xbox, with the title slated to drop on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Xbox Game Pass on April 14, 2026, complete with Xbox Play Anywhere support.

Microsoft and Xbox closed out the Partner Preview with a look at Artificial Detective, a third-person action-adventure game set in a dark cyberpunk city "overrun by rogue robots." As you battle legions of the machine menace, you'll slowly uncover the reason humanity is gone. It's coming in 2027 to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Steam, and PS5, and will have Xbox Play Anywhere support.

FAQ

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The Xbox Series X|S generation is soon coming to a close, with Microsoft recently announcing "Project Helix" — the codenamed next-gen Xbox console that's radically reimagining what an Xbox can be. Expected to release at some point in 2027, Project Helix will be a console-PC hybrid, a system designed to offer the plug-and-play simplicity of the former with the ability to access the ocean of available games on the latter.

Project Helix will be at the heart of Microsoft's multiplatform strategy for Xbox that's already brought devices like the Xbox Ally and the availability of Windows versions of Xbox games delivered through the Xbox on PC app (it still needs a lot of work). And if you're a developer looking to launch your game on the next-gen console, you should be "developing for Xbox on PC today."

That advice comes from Chris Charla, Xbox's general manager of portfolio and programs and the head of ID@Xbox. Speaking in a new interview with IGN, Charla explained that building your game for today's Xbox consoles as well as the Xbox PC app and Xbox Play Anywhere — a key feature that allows you to transfer game progress across Xbox and PC, provided you're using the same Microsoft account on both — will put you in "pole position" to get it running natively on Project Helix.

"Someone looking to be ready for next-gen with Xbox should be developing for Xbox console today, developing for Xbox on PC, and supporting Xbox Play Anywhere," he said. "That'll put you in pole position for the next generation and ensure your Xbox on PC game runs natively on Project Helix."

"The exact specifics may differ per developer and game. In a lot of cases if you're coming from a Steam or stock PC build it may be smarter to start with the Xbox for PC version first and then use that as the basis for the Xbox console version," he continued. "Of course we'll have more details about how developers can take advantage of the specific hardware features of Project Helix in the months ahead, but doing this ensures they'll have a native build on Project Helix."

The hybrid nature of Project Helix has had some wondering if it will be a tougher platform to develop for in the future compared to a traditional console. But Charla says the opposite will be the case: "We're working hard so developers can make one Xbox build in the future and it'll run on their Project Helix console, on PC and on streaming and cloud surfaces like smart TVs and other devices."

The goal of ensuring it's as frictionless as possible to make one version of an Xbox game and have it run across console and PC without issues ties into new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma's "return to Xbox" initiative, and making sure that the Xbox console experience doesn't suffer even as the brand expands to other platforms.

"There's lots and lots of great places to play Xbox games that aren't just a console, but I think just understanding that people know that's our reference, that smooth, friction-free experience that you have on the couch with a controller, that's where it starts," Charla said. "And then having that same experience wherever you go, wherever you want to play is also crucial, but it's really just about letting people know we love console and we love being on TVs."

🗨️ How do you feel about Project Helix?

The next-gen Xbox "Project Helix" console is quite an ambitious device, and aims to be both a console and a PC all in one, with the benefits of both and very few drawbacks. There are reasons to be concerned that its user experience may not be as polished as it needs to be given the technical issues with the Xbox on PC app, though.

I'd like to hear from you: how do you feel about Project Helix? Share your thoughts in the comments, and vote in our poll.

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Okay, so the biggest game of 2026 is all-but-guaranteed to be GTA 6, given that Rockstar's upcoming open-world game is one of the most highly anticipated titles of all time. But the runner-up game threatening to rival it is Crimson Desert — a colossal new single player open-world action-adventure experience from Pearl Abyss, the creators of the popular MMORPG Black Desert Online, that's coming to Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, macOS, and PS5.

This grand fantasy adventure set in the same universe promises rich and nuanced combat systems, a vast and immersive world filled with different biomes and settlements, countless quests to complete and puzzles to solve, spectacle-driven boss fights, a memorable story, and more.

Essentially, Pearl Abyss wants to deliver the game of every adventure-lover's dreams. And while there are concerns about performance for a project this vast and ambitious, fans are nevertheless extremely excited for Crimson Desert. Aside from the aforementioned GTA 6, I haven't seen this much buzz for a game since Elden Ring.

The wait for it has been a long one, but thankfully, it's finally almost over. In fact, the game's global launch is now only days away — and ahead of it, the devs have confirmed its exact release date and launch time in every region across the globe, along with details about preloading the title.

Crimson Desert release date and launch times

Both the above graphic and the table below it show exactly when Crimson Desert is scheduled to release across Xbox, PC, Mac, and PS5 in major regions and time zones around the world. Officially, Crimson Desert will launch on Thursday, March 19 at 3 p.m. PST / 6 p.m. EST.

Note that since this is a global release, the game may be coming out at a later time for you depending on the area you're in, and won't be available until March 20 if you live in South Africa's capital Cape Town or anywhere east of it. The table above shows time zone conversions; if you don't see the one you're in, you can use this time zone converter to figure out when you'll be able to play.

How about preloading? Thankfully, Crimson Desert supports downloading and installing it ahead of its release if you've preordered the game. Specifically, you can preload it on your platform of choice on March 17 if you live somewhere it's releasing on March 19, and can preload it on March 18 if it's launching on March 20 in your region.

Whether you preload or simply download the game at launch, you'll need roughly 150GB of free space on your console or computer to install Crimson Desert. If necessary, uninstall some games you're not playing, or perhaps expand your storage with a new SSD.

Haven't preordered yet, but want to so you can take advantage of preloading or get the Khaled Shield preorder bonus? The game costs $69.99 on Xbox, PC, Mac, and PS5, though the Steam version is going for $61.19 at Loaded right now. There's also the snazzier $79.99 Deluxe Edition, which is selling on PC for just $70.49 at Loaded.

🗨️ Will you play Crimson Desert at launch?

It's concerning that we haven't seen gameplay footage of Crimson Desert being played on Xbox Series X|S and base PS5 consoles ahead of launch, but that hasn't stopped the gaming community from getting extremely hyped for the imminent action-packed adventure. Will you play the game at launch, or are you planning on waiting to see reviews and performance tests? Or are you waiting for a sale instead?

Let me know in the comments, and vote in our poll:

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Elder Scrolls Online is one of the few genuinely strong MMOs still thriving today, alongside RuneScape, World of Warcraft, and a handful of others. Unlike those PC-only giants, though, Elder Scrolls Online is also available on console.

That wider availability has always been a strength, but one thing that has frustrated Xbox players for years is the lack of Xbox Play Anywhere support. The feature would allow players to carry their saves and achievements across console and PC using the same Xbox account.

For those unaware of what ESO is, the game lets you team up with friends or explore solo in a massive shared world, featuring regions from across the Elder Scrolls series. The story takes place before the events of Skyrim, giving players a chance to explore Tamriel in an earlier era.

A long-requested feature finally set to arrive, just not quite yet

TrueAchievements actually spotted this before us, so credit where it’s due.

Over on Reddit, ZeniMax Community Manager u/ZOS_JessicaFolsom cross-posted from the ESO forums confirming that the team plans to roll out Xbox Play Anywhere later this year and join Xbox Game Pass. That means the feature is not live yet, even though it briefly appeared on the game’s Xbox app page.

The Community Manager stated: “Later this year, ESO for Xbox will be available as an Xbox Play Anywhere title, including PC support.”

“Later this year” could mean any time in the coming months, but it is still encouraging to see the feature officially on the way.

It is also worth noting that the game is coming to Game Pass. For a buy-to-play MMO, being included in the service is a significant addition and helps strengthen Game Pass overall.

There is one important caveat, though. This is not an account merge or transfer system.

Players will log into their Xbox account through the Xbox app on PC and play on the Xbox servers. Existing PC accounts will remain separate and continue running on the PC servers.

I have not played the game in quite some time, so I was not even aware that the servers were separated like this.

It is also worth mentioning that ZeniMax Online Studios has confirmed that full cross-play between Xbox, PlayStation, and PC is in development. However, there is no release window yet, and it is described as a technically complex process.

Passing it over to you!

Are you planning to try ESO on PC once Xbox Play Anywhere support goes live, or are you sticking to console? Let us know in the comments and make sure to take part in our poll below:

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High on Life was one of my surprise hits in 2022. Mixing fairly standard gameplay alongside some of the quirkiest humor this side of the galaxy, Squanch Games found a foothold in my game niche.

That’s why when I heard about the sequel, I immediately realized I wasn’t the only one with a twisted, dark sense of humor in the gaming space.

To get to a sequel, Squanch Games had gone through quite the journey, given all that happened with Justin Roiland. Their main voice actor was out, ostracized from the industry for very good reasons.

How do you build from a foundation that nearly collapsed? In their case, they just did it. What comes out on the other end is definitely better off without the influence of the aforementioned Justin. While it’s a mixed bag as it all comes together, its laughter is far better than its predecessor, and that’s saying quite a lot!

This review was made possible thanks to a code given by Squanch Games. The developer had no input nor saw the contents of this review prior to publication.

Loads of laughter

The main setup for High on Life 2 follows The Bounty Hunter once more, and again, he plays silently amongst the loud, hilarious obnoxiousness of the crowd.

Gone are many of your weapons, replaced by nothing but a couple of the originals (don’t worry, you get more guns later).

Through a couple of twists and turns, you find out that humanity is in trouble once more. You, the Bounty Hunter, find yourself standing between the human race and galactic turmoil. Stakes aside, this game is funny as f#$%.

I felt like the original High on Life grabbed a couple of laughs here and there, with some chuckles along the way. I don’t know if I changed or the game itself, but I was rolling at times.

I really do credit the fact that a certain actor was removed, since the focus grows far beyond the lines written and delivered by said actor.

The scenery itself is even funnier as well, with things like a Crane Game that beats away at every funny bone in my body. Well-timed, well-delivered jokes are the greatest reason to play this game, and at least this time, the gameplay isn’t quite as bad as it was before.

Fluid guns and fluid combat

You’ll find most of your previous Bounty Hunter abilities gone once the main game starts, but thanks to the addition of a skateboard, I kid you not, moment-to-moment gunplay is faster, more chaotic, and all the more pleasing to play.

Along the way, you’ll regain your old abilities alongside some new ones that, in turn, make everything even better.

If you’ve read some of my other reviews, you might be familiar with my “fun” metric. Basically, I call it like I see it. A game that’s fun should be celebrated and called out for being so.

When it comes to High on Life 2, it’s pure fun. Throughout the experience, regardless of some of the upcoming issues I’ll highlight, I was having a lot of fun playing it.

Sometimes games these days forget that and, rather, look to mark some metric off for open-world or the number of activities for players to find. Maybe they need to entice player playtime through elongated experience grinding.

Whatever it is, there are tons of games out there that put components in their games that aren’t fun and feel like a chore instead. High on Life 2 is one of the few instances where I didn’t feel that chore grind at any point.

Now, that doesn't mean this is peak gaming. When it comes down to it, High on Life 2 succeeds in being simple, but it's also nothing that will shake up the genre or feel truly fresh outside of the fact that your weapon talks during combat.

My only actual issue with this is pacing. For too long, it seems you’re relegated to two guns, which takes away a lot of the varietal whimsy the first game had. You’ll get your third weapon toward the end of your first bounty mission, which is a decent few hours into the game.

Performance

Here is where I’m going to be fairly critical of the game. I play a lot of my games these days on Windows PC, and when I looked at the recommended specs on Steam, I was astonished. The game recommends an RTX 4080 and an Intel Core i7-13700KF. Excuse me?

Keep in mind that my current rig is a 9800X3D, an RTX 5080, paired with 64GB of DDR5 RAM at 6000MHz (better timings). So, I am above the recommended specs, but not by much.

I took a spin with it on three platforms: my main rig, listed above; an RTX 4060 gaming laptop; and my Xbox Series X. The game on PC is a stutter fest at times, as though the game can’t figure out quite what to do given all that’s happening on screen and under the hood.

On my 4060, I had to set my settings to 1080p, medium, DLSS balanced, and I had to turn 2x frame generation on to get anything like a steady 45 FPS. Only when I turned it to low did the game play somewhat without frame gen.

The difference between Very High settings and Low is pretty staggering as well. Which is where the console versions seem to be lined up to achieve their 60 frames per second target.

The game will hold that target until combat hits hard, where you can see (what appears to be) a drop of around 10 frames or more.

Yeah, yeah, I know, it’s Unreal Engine 5. That’s not an excuse anymore after Arc Raiders launched and looks as beautiful as it does.

Too often, it seems developers lean on Unreal Engine to create their works without putting in the optimization effort we’ve seen in years past.

Conclusion

✅You should play this if ...

• You want a ton of laughs
• You enjoy fluid gameplay that doesn't require mastery.

❌You should not play this if ...

• You're a stickler for performance, even if your PC is under the recommended settings.
• You're not a lover of crude humor.

Like I said previously, when it comes to fun, High on Life 2 hits the mark. However, it falls short when it comes to performance. As we enter an age where one would assume games should be far more optimized, they’re simply not.

Forget about the shortcomings of the console version when it comes to looks; a game like this should never launch in the state it’s in on PC.

Where I took a point away from Borderlands 4 for their performance issues, High on Life 2 manages to perform even worse, and Borderlands 4 is an open-world title.

With that said, if you’ve got a machine that can handle it, or it gets patched in the near future, High on Life 2 is one of the funniest games I’ve ever played.

I had so much fun when it came down to just playing and not having to worry about whether or not my computer was about to crash. Once this game runs the way it should run, it should be an automatic purchase for anyone who likes to smile.

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Microsoft has announced its presence at the Game Developers Conference, covering a wide range of topics, with Jason Ronald, VP of Next Generation, kicking off the Xbox Dev Summit on March 11, 2026.

That is just the start.

The schedule is packed with developer-focused sessions covering DirectX, gaming AI, and future-proofing workflows for a multi-device world. While nothing explicitly points to new hardware, these talks could offer insight into where Xbox is heading next, and may further support some of the rumors we have previously reported.

A clearer push toward PC and platform convergence

It feels as though the messaging from Xbox is very deliberate, framing everything around the ecosystem rather than a single device.

There is no direct mention of new hardware, but there is a clear emphasis on continuity across console, PC, cloud, and other devices. That aligns closely with Xbox’s current strategy.

First up is the Xbox Developer Summit on March 11, 2026, led by Jason Ronald, Xbox’s VP of Next Generation. He will reflect on 25 years of Xbox, from console to cloud, reference devices like the Xbox Ally, and outline the broader vision for a more flexible, connected future for developers.

Later that same day, Travis Bradshaw and Andy McCalib will host a session focused on how simple it has become to bring a PC game to Xbox. The presentation highlights improvements to onboarding and development workflows, reinforcing how closely PC and Xbox development now sit together.

While that does not confirm anything about new hardware, it does feed into ongoing speculation that the next Xbox could be even more closely aligned with Windows or just an entire Windows PC in itself.

There is a lot to unpack across the full schedule, and it is worth reviewing the complete list of sessions to see just how consistently this ecosystem-first message appears.

Does Xbox's strategy excite you, or have you lost interest? Let us know in the comments and make sure to take part in our poll below:

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High on Life 2 is set to release tomorrow, February 13, 2026, on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, PC, with the Nintendo Switch 2 version releasing in April 2026. It serves as a sequel to the original game, which launched on Xbox Game Pass, and coincidentally, the sequel is doing the same.

High on Life 2 sticks closely to what made the first game enjoyable and dials it up. It is a first-person shooter packed with talking guns, wacky characters, and fast-paced gameplay, all designed to make you laugh.

Now, the reviews are in, and High on Life 2 appears to be stacking up slightly better than its predecessor, at least based on early scores. So, let’s take a look at what critics are praising, and where they think it falls short.

How are critics scoring High on Life 2?

As of writing, High on Life 2 is sitting at a 75 on Metacritic. Scores range from as low as 6/10 to as high as 9/10, with the top marks coming from XboxEra, now renamed to DayOne.

Across reviews, one of the most consistent positives is the humor. Critics frequently highlight how funny the game is, along with its strong sense of identity and expanded scope compared to the original.

Many reviewers describe it as bigger and more chaotic, offering a meaningful expansion rather than a simple repeat. If you enjoyed the first game, early impressions suggest there is plenty to like in the sequel.

That said, it is not without issues. Multiple critics point to bugs and technical rough edges, noting that it could benefit from additional polishing.

Some outlets also argue that it does not evolve the formula in a major way. While a few see that as a safe approach, even lower-scored reviews still acknowledge that the game itself is enjoyable, even if flawed.

High on Life 2 releases tomorrow, February 13, 2026, for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC. It will also be available on Xbox Game Pass and supports Xbox Play Anywhere.

Are you jumping into High on Life 2 on Game Pass tomorrow, or are you buying the game? Let us know your thoughts in the comments and make sure to take part in our poll below:

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The First Descendant, for those who may not be familiar, is a free to play third person looter shooter available on Xbox Series X|S, PC, and PlayStation 5. Last year, it ended support for its PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions.

Developed by Nexon, it is a co-op, MMO-style shooter in a similar vein to Warframe. Players team up to take on missions, farm loot, and build out different characters with unique abilities.

More recently, it joined Xbox Play Anywhere. That means your save data now syncs between Xbox Series X|S and the Xbox PC app version of the game, allowing seamless progression across both platforms.

As spotted by TrueAchievements, that update appears to have had a major impact, with the game seeing a reported 167% surge in Xbox players.

Could Xbox Play Anywhere be driving the surge in players?

Xbox Play Anywhere is Xbox’s service designed to bridge the gap between console and PC. It allows players to buy a game once and access it across console, PC, and cloud, with shared saves and achievements across platforms.

In simple terms, you can start a game on Xbox Series X|S, continue on PC through the Xbox app, or via cloud and keep all of your progress intact. It is one of the clearest examples of how Xbox is trying to unify its ecosystem, at least until the next generation, which is believed to be a Windows PC with an Xbox-like user interface.

Recently, The First Descendant joined Xbox Play Anywhere, as well as launching their latest update, Season 3, episode 3. That means players can now access the game across multiple devices while keeping the same profile and progression.

More importantly, its addition to Xbox Play Anywhere also placed it inside the Xbox PC app as a newly supported title. That visibility appears to have made a real difference, with the game surging by 167% on Xbox after showing up in front of PC users browsing new releases.

Not only that, players who have Xbox Game Pass also get some in-game benefits, including weapon skins, attachments, gold, and much more, which could have led to players who actively play the game to sign in via Xbox or the Xbox PC app.

Whether that spike is entirely down to Xbox Play Anywhere is still up for debate. However, its launch on the Xbox PC app has clearly driven renewed interest, and given that it is a solid looter shooter, the extra attention feels earned.

Do you think Xbox Play Anywhere is behind The First Descendant’s 167% surge, or is the latest update the real reason? Let us know your thoughts in the comments and make sure to take part in our poll below:

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

We waited a long, long time for Final Fantasy 7 Remake on Xbox, but we won't have to wait as long for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

Announced today, Square Enix confirmed that Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is dropping on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox PC, complete with Xbox Play Anywhere support, on June 3, 2026. Pre-orders are live here, complete with a pretty generous introductory discount.

Final Fantasy 7 is arguably the most legendary Japanese RPG ever made, marking the franchise's shift to 3D on the original PlayStation. The game follows the mercenary Cloud, who finds himself the enemy of techno-fascist corporation Shinra. The firm's Mako reactors provide power to its dystopic cyberpunk megacities, while also producing mutated creatures and deadly pollution, while threatening the entire planet itself.

The remake was split into three parts owing to the original game's vast size, with the first part, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, launching on Xbox Play Anywhere last year after a long period of PlayStation exclusivity. Thankfully, the second part, Rebirth, is launching a lot sooner.

Revealed today, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth will hit all Xbox platforms via Xbox Play Anywhere, just like Final Fantasy 7 Remake.

Microsoft and Square Enix have been partnering aggressively under the latter's new CEO, collaborating on a wide variety of titles. Xbox is currently arguably the best place to play Final Fantasy as a result, playing home to more versions of Final Fantasy than other console platforms thanks to Xbox backward compatibility.

Dragon Quest VII remake also just hit Xbox Play Anywhere, joining the other recent Dragon Quest remakes and re-releases. Square Enix has a big publisher sale too on Xbox right now, with various titles anywhere up to 50% off.

Game director Naoki Hamaguchi noted on X today that Square Enix plans to share more updates on Final Fantasy 7's remake projects than "ever before" this year, implying that we could see the third part fully revealed. There are plenty of good reasons to think Final Fantasy 7's third remake will launch day and date on Xbox platforms, as Square Enix shifts away from timed exclusivity.

In a previous interview with us, Naoki Hamaguchi explained that its new CEO has been instrumental with moving the firm to multi-platform, to help Final Fantasy reach a bigger audience. "We have a new president at Square Enix, so we do have a new direction when it comes to multiplatform game releases. I believe that is the most vital point. The vision is to deliver Final Fantasy to a broader and wider audience through multiplatform releases, on multiple devices. Whether this is Xbox Cloud Gaming, console devices, or handheld PCs — that is very much now the core philosophy of Square Enix."

Recently, Pearl Abyss started to release a series of videos covering various gameplay aspects of Crimson Desert, a highly anticipated open-world RPG coming soon to Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Windows and Steam on March 19, 2026.

The first video explored the Crimson Desert's story and open-world exploration, while this one is focused on the combat and player progression systems, and they look absolutely nuts.

Throughout your adventures in Pywell, you will regularly get into fights with hordes of enemy soldiers, battle-hardened bosses, and gargantuan creatures hundreds of feet tall.

To survive, you will need to defeat them using a hack-and-slash-style combat system that offers near limitless play styles to choose from.

You can dispatch enemies using traditional medieval weaponry like swords, greatswords, spears, and axes. Attack enemies from afar using ranged attacks via crossbows, guns, and magic spells, or brute force your way through with martial arts techniques and wrestling moves ripped straight from WWE.

You can also employ the mounts you normally use for transportation during combat, like siccing giant bears on enemies or blasting them to bits while riding a missile-firing mech.

However, these weapons and techniques won't be available to you right away when you start the game. You will have to earn them by levelling up, purchasing gear from shops, crafting gear, and acquiring magical artifacts from defeating bosses, completing quests, and exploring the world.

You will also be able to customize gear's stats to fit your preferred play style better. What's more is that some of the abilities you can gain are taken from the bosses you slay, so you can use their power against tougher foes.

I can't wait to chokeslam giant monsters in Crimson Desert

I was already in awe of Crimson Desert's combat's system when I said it looked like a mix between Monster Hunter and Witcher 3, but now that we have a proper, detailed look at it with commentary from the developers, I'm completely sold now.

The number of ways you can counter, parry, and destroy enemies using all these weapons, magics, and wrestling moves looks insane. The latter, in particular, has me captivated as a fan of professional wrestling because it is so rare to see a fantasy RPG fully embrace a wrestling playstyle.

We've got RKOs, DDTs, chokeslams, German Suplexes, and even Angle Slams made famous by the legendary Kurt Angle. I sincerely hope that Crimson Desert allows the players to use wrestling moves on non-humans because the idea of chokeslamming a giant monster like a dragon sounds hilariously awesome.

I can't wait to play this game when it comes out on Xbox in March (especially now that it's confirmed to have Xbox Play Anywhere support), but in the time before, we'll keep an eye out for the third and final video of Crimson Desert's showcases to see what else Pearl Abyss has in store for this ambitious title.

Does Crimson Desert's combat system look exciting to you? What playstyle will you take up if you decide to play it?

If you have any thoughts on the matter, let us know in the comments below.

I wrote recently how Xbox Play Anywhere has a "AAA" problem. At least the company continues to chip away at it.

The past couple of weeks, users noticed that hotly-anticipated open world RPG Crimson Desert grabbed an Xbox Play Anywhere tag on its Deluxe Edition. Many wondered if it was some kind of mistake, but fast forward to today, and it seemingly isn't. Crimson Desert is now officially listed as Xbox Play Anywhere for Xbox Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S on its store page.

Crimson Desert is an upcoming adventure game from Pearl Abyss, known for the Black Desert MMORPG series. The game seems vast in scope, with aerial flight mechanics, siege weapons, Witcher-like melee-and-magic battles, atop a fantasy-soaked medieval plot. The game launches on March 19, 2026, and Crimson Desert's recent preview video really got people talking.

While it's a big win for Xbox Play Anywhere and Xbox PC today, there are some recent misses worth highlighting too.

I wrote recently about how Xbox Play Anywhere's uptake from third-party publishers is aggressively inconsistent. The same week Resident Evil Village grabbed Xbox Play Anywhere support, it was revealed that Resident Evil Requiem, arriving in a few weeks here, will not support Xbox Play Anywhere. This is despite Capcom supporting Xbox Play Anywhere with titles like Exoprimal and Kunitsu-Gami — suggesting that the firm just isn't that interested in the paradigm.

Xbox Play Anywhere gives players cross-platform access on a single purchase, accessible via Xbox Cloud Gaming, Xbox Series X|S consoles, and Xbox PC for devices like laptops, desktops, and the Xbox Ally handheld.

Earlier today, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza was added to Xbox Game Pass. The spin-off supports Xbox Play Anywhere alongside Yakuza: Like a Dragon, however, its inclusion highlighted the fact that other recent Yakuza re-releases are, frustratingly, not available on Xbox Play Anywhere — and previous versions have actually been removed from Xbox PC.

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii just got added to Xbox Game Pass.www.xbox.com/en-us/games/...

— @klobrille.bsky.social (@klobrille.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-02-03T14:56:57.724Z

Indeed, Sega recently delisted some previously-available older Yakuza versions from Xbox PC. The firm did the same on Steam, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation, replacing them with the updated, remade Yakuza Kiwami versions. Frustratingly, those versions did not arrive for Xbox PC, leaving the Xbox PC store as the only platform without replaced Yakuza versions.

The inconsistencies continue to highlight how frustrating Microsoft's Xbox Play Anywhere push is overall. Microsoft is spending a ton of money marketing its "Xbox Anywhere" strategy, with its controversial "This is an Xbox" messaging. But the lack of fresh third-party content on Xbox PC or Xbox Play Anywhere undermines the entire gimmick.

As Steam looks to challenge traditional console platforms with its Steam Machine and Steam Deck hardware ecosystem, Microsoft's half-in approach to Xbox Play Anywhere serves to make Steam's approach more attractive. Every single game on Steam can be played anywhere Steam is available — Microsoft is coming at the strategy from the other direction, depending on publisher's charitable nature to opt-in to Xbox PC.

Some games can be played on Xbox Series X|S, some games on Xbox PC, some support cross-platform saving, some don't. A few support Xbox Cloud Gaming, fewer still support Xbox Ally. Steam is offering thousands of games, new and old, already, across its entire stack.

Considering the next Xbox is a PC, is Microsoft simply waiting for next-gen to hope developers support Xbox PC? It seems like a bit of a risky bet.

It's a huge win every time a big, anticipated game like Crimson Desert hits Xbox Play Anywhere. I don't want to discredit the work being done to solve this content gap, but it also puts a spotlight on the misses. And there are a lot of misses.

One of my favorite aspects of the 2026 Xbox platform is also one of its most frustrating.

In an interview late last year, Xbox President Sarah Bond was asked where she hopes to take Xbox in five years, in a discussion that revolved largely around Xbox's "Xbox Play Anywhere" strategy, codenamed Latitude internally.

"When I look at the next five years, winning looks like, that Xbox is a platform that is truly seamless across devices," she explained. "That has a seminal, high powered console experience that people love, but that those people can also take their games with them, on PC, on Cloud, anywhere they want in the world."

Perhaps in five years we'll get to that point, but as of 2026, it feels like we're only really dipping a toe in.

I love my Xbox Ally X. Despite some flaws, it nails the fundamentals. I can boot up the device, and immediately get into a game. It has superb ergonomics for long sessions. Generous battery life, and a solid library of games. I play a lot, though, and I've started to scrape the barrel a bit.

Over the holidays I went ham on Fallout 4, which was updated to include Xbox Play Anywhere. And now I've been doing my third playthrough of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, now it's also become available on Xbox Play Anywhere.

There's over 1,000 games on the Xbox Play Anywhere program, and even more high quality games on Xbox PC. But ... this vision of "Play Anywhere" revolves around me taking my save files where I want to use them, right?

It's unfortunate, then, that when Ubisoft+ Classics arrived as part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate late last year — none of the games actually support Xbox Play Anywhere. So, I could run Assassin's Creed Valhalla on my Xbox Ally, but I would be locked to that device. No cloud saves for my Xbox Series X, or Xbox Cloud Gaming.

Ubisoft+ Classics were used to justify a monster 50% price hike on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate last year, and they don't even support the central remaining unique selling point of the Xbox ecosystem. In a universe where even Halo itself is going to PlayStation 5, Xbox Play Anywhere remains the best, and maybe only reason to continue investing in the Xbox ecosystem.

It's not the first time I've written about how crucial it is for Xbox to start getting organic support for Xbox Play Anywhere, but this week it felt particularly relevant to mention again.

Today, previews for Resident Evil Requiem went live, and it looks rather incredible. It's a definite day-one buy for me, as a long time fan of the franchise.

Users noted in Xbox Wire's preview of the game, it stated that the game would be coming to Xbox PC (or ... Xbox on PC, as Microsoft calls it). That statement was false, and later retracted. Resident Evil Requiem will not only sidestep Xbox Play Anywhere, but it seems like it'll sidestep Xbox PC all together.

This is particularly frustrating, given that Resident Evil Village, Requiem's predecessor, just launched on Xbox Game Pass with Xbox Play Anywhere support. It feels like Capcom was just teasing users with a taste of support, before pulling the rug.

Capcom has been generally supportive of Xbox Play Anywhere, but almost always only when an Xbox Game Pass integration was involved. In fact, that's a common theme in general — whether it's EA, Ubisoft, or well, practically any AAA developer, an Xbox Game Pass bag is expected in exchange for support.

This suggests that Xbox PC users simply aren't buying games in any serious cadence to make it worth the slight effort it might take to set up an Xbox PC publishing account.

I could understand independent developers struggling to justify the costs and effort involved with bringing games to Xbox Play Anywhere or Xbox PC, but it's harder to excuse the ambivalence of the bigger corporations.

Xbox may have curated an audience on PC that simply refuse to buy games unless they're on Game Pass, by putting Game Pass front and center rather than the organic retail store. Epic Games' store has seem similar issues with monster growth, but low conversions. Users seem to show up for Epic's free games, and little else.

Xbox PC has cornered some powerful support too of course, with games like Fortnite, Roblox, and other major PC entities that straight up aren't even available on Steam. But, when it comes to the $70 retail AAA games, games like Resident Evil Requiem, Elden Ring, Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 3, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, and many many more — developers are still ambivalent. We have Xbox's first party games of course, but they can't be expected to do all the heavy lifting here.

Resident Evil Requiem skipping Xbox PC, right after launching Resident Evil Village on Xbox Play Anywhere, feels like a particularly stark snub. It's as if Capcom is quite sharply saying "this is only worth it when Game Pass is involved." Given what Xbox President Sarah Bond said in the aforementioned interview, that's not an ideal scenario to be in.

It's particularly true when you consider the next Xbox will be Xbox PC-first, and not Xbox console-first. You'd think developers would want to start building up their libraries on the Xbox PC store today ... unless they don't plan to support the next Xbox all up.

Whether it's discoverability issues, user behavior, the back-end systems being too complex for publishers, or bad economics (developers not wanting to give away two copies of the game on one price?) — either way, Xbox PC can't continue missing out on the biggest AAA games, more needs to be done.

Do you think features like Xbox Play Anywhere should be a bigger priority for Xbox than hitting aggressive profit targets? Let us know in the comments and make sure you take part in our poll below:

In a recent interview with Fortune Magazine, Sarah Bond sat down with Katharine Gemmell to discuss the future direction of Xbox and how the platform continues to evolve. The conversation touched on leadership, strategy, and how Xbox is responding to shifting player habits across console, PC, and cloud.

During the interview, Bond pointed to stronger player retention among those using Xbox Play Anywhere (XPA), citing higher engagement. However, at the same time, Bond has avoided directly commenting on questions around the widely reported 30% profit margin target, instead framing Xbox’s priorities around balancing long-term growth, player behavior, and business health.

How Xbox Play Anywhere is shaping player engagement

Xbox Play Anywhere is a core feature of the Xbox ecosystem, allowing players to access supported games across Xbox consoles, PC, and cloud. It is designed to reduce friction, make game ownership more flexible across devices, and it hit a major milestone last summer.

While speaking with Fortune Magazine, Sarah Bond was asked how Xbox works to “separate meaningful feedback from noise.” In response, Bond explained that player sentiment alone is not enough to guide decisions.

Bond then pointed to Xbox Play Anywhere as a clear example of how behavioural data shapes investment decisions.

That increase in engagement is part of why Xbox has continued to push the feature more heavily in recent years. According to Bond, the data suggests XPA does more than offer convenience.

On a personal level, this lines up with how the feature is often used in practice. I regularly use my Xbox Ally X to play at times I normally would not, and that convenience almost always means turning to Xbox Play Anywhere titles.

What Bond did and did not say about 30% profit margins

If you were not already aware, reports in recent months have suggested that Microsoft has set an unusually high profit margin target of 30% for Xbox, well above what is typically seen across the games industry. The topic has been widely discussed, making it a natural point of pressure during the interview.

To her credit, the interviewer does not shy away from the issue, asking Bond directly:

“Microsoft recently set ambitious profit margin targets of 30% for Xbox, well above the industry average. How does that influence its investment, its creative decision-making? Has anything changed in that regard?”

Bond does not directly confirm or deny the reported figure in her response. Instead, she reframes the question around broader priorities and flexibility.

The answer offers little clarity on whether the 30% margin target exists in practice, but it does reinforce Xbox’s public positioning. Bond repeatedly frames profitability as something to be balanced alongside player engagement and long-term growth, rather than as a single driving force behind creative or strategic decisions.

However, the absence of a direct denial does lend some additional weight to the reports around a 30% profit margin target, particularly given how deliberately Bond sidesteps the figure when asked outright.

Regardless, rumors come and go, but engagement data is hard to ignore. If XPA players really are playing 20% more, that tells you exactly why Microsoft keeps doubling down on cross‑platform access, and we're all for that here at Windows Central.

Do you think features like Xbox Play Anywhere should be a bigger priority for Xbox than hitting aggressive profit targets? Let us know in the comments and make sure you take part in our poll below:

On January 22, 2026, during the January 2026 Xbox Developer Direct, the world was given a first proper look at Beast of Reincarnation, a new upcoming Xbox action-RPG by Game Freak, the studio behind Nintendo's Pokémon franchise.

As someone who only knew Game Freak for the Pokémon games growing up, I was stunned at how wildly different this game was from their usual work.

I then quickly discovered after the showcase that this game isn't the first time Game Freak made a non-Pokémon game. Game Freak has made all kinds of original games with wild concepts in the past, like Pulseman, Giga Wrecker, Drill Dozer, and Tembo the Badass Elephant (I'm serious, that's actually what it's called), to name a few.

Beast of Reincarnation, on the other hand, is on a completely different level because this is the first time Game Freak is given a AAA budget to work with, and it shows in spades.

Here are my thoughts on Beast of Reincarnation's first gameplay showcase.

Setting and Premise

To start, let's talk about the setting and premise. Beast of Reincarnation takes place in a post-apocalyptic future where a parasite plant known as the Blight has overrun the world, brought mankind to the brink of extinction, and turned the wildlife into animal/plant hybrid monsters called the Malefacts.

You play as Emma, a young woman who was born with the Blight parasite, but possesses a mysterious power that allows her to stop it from killing her and manipulate plant life around her.

However, this power robbed Emma of her memories and emotions, and caused her to be ostracized by what's left of society, thinking she's a monster like the Malefacts.

She isn't alone, though, as Emma has formed a kinship with Koo, a Malefact that's strangely not hostile towards humans unless it's in self-defense.

Together, they travel the world to rid the world of Blight by killing Malefacts, absorbing the parasites into Emma's body to upgrade her abilities, and hunt down the source of all Blight, known as the "Beast of Reincarnation".

Along the way, Emma and Koo will encounter human settlements where they might find allies, explore a ruined world infested with Malefacts and hostile Golems leftover from humanity's golden age, and confront a rival swordswoman named Kunai who also has a Malefact companion like Emma.

The setting and premise of Beast of Reincarnation look interesting to me because it kind of reminds me of the ill-fated Wild Hearts.

They both have fantastical Japanese settings where you fight monsters that look like warped fusions between plants and animals, but Beast of Reincarnation seems to have a darker tone while mixing in science fiction elements like the robotic Golems and ruins of advanced civilizations.

Plus, the protagonist Emma looks pretty cool. A lone samurai who uses plant-magic while fighting alongside a plant wolf is an interesting concept, and one that I hope leads to creative gameplay during combat.

Combat and bosses

Speaking of combat, let's talk about that next. Aside from using Emma's Blight powers to explore ruined locales and overcome impassable terrain, a majority of Beast of Reincarnation's gameplay will be spent fighting the Malefacts.

Combat looks to be a third-person, hack-and-slash affair where you will unleash a flurry of attacks with your katana while dodging and parrying incoming enemy strikes at the last second to pull off devastating counterattacks.

Beast of Reincarnation spices combat with the addition of Blooming Arts. This is a system where you slow down time briefly and select special abilities that could turn the tide of battle in your favor.

Examples include commanding Koo to summon area-of-effect plant attacks, commanding Koo to bind enemies so you can strike them, or Emma summoning a spider lily plant she can vine-whip to and perform a downward thrust attack.

The combat system looks fleshed out, fast-paced, and over-the-top crazy in motion. It also reminds me of Final Fantasy VII Remake with its mechanic to slow down time to give the player time to perform special moves and command allies.

To make matters better, the game will offer ways to customize and improve the player's combat preferred play styles through learning new abilities via skill trees and gear hidden throughout the land that grant passive and active abilities.

My favorite part of the Beast of Reincarnation gameplay showcase is its boss fights. During your adventures, you will be tasked to explore dungeons called Blight Forests where powerful boss Malefacts called Nushi, reside in.

These massive behemoths are intimidating, agile, and dangerous enough to one-hit KO you if you haven't mastered the game's combat mechanics before fighting them.

Not to mention, just getting to them will be a challenge, as they can manipulate the environment of the Blight Forests they live in, summoning enemies and obstacles to block your path.

The Nushi look awesome and challenging to fight, and I'm excited to see what insane abilities they'll reward the player with upon slaying, because Emma and Koo's regular abilities look over-the-top enough by themselves.

This game is making me believe in Game Freak again

Overall, I was mighty impressed with what I saw of Beast of Reincarnation, especially considering my pessimistic and unfair opinion of Game Freak before seeing this game.

I haven't played an official Pokémon game by Game Freak in decades, mainly because the series core gameplay loop has barely evolved beyond 2002's Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire. Plus, the quality of the series has degraded so hard in recent decades, with titles like Pokémon Legends: Z-A looking like an unfinished mobile game.

On top of that, Nintendo's draconian lawsuit war against Palworld, where it's trying to patent the core concepts of monster-catcher games (even though Shin Megami Tensei pioneered the genre years before Nintendo did), has sucked out any goodwill I had towards companies associated with Pokémon, including Game Freak.

Beast of Reincarnation, however, made me realize just how much of an idiot I was for giving up on Game Freak. This game is proving that when Game Freak's given free rein to do whatever it wants, it can produce some insanely wild and imaginative concepts and gameplay hooks.

So Game Freak, I am so sorry for ignorantly doubting you all these years because Beast of Reincarnation is looking fantastic so far, and I can't wait to see more of it in the future.

Beast of Reincarnation is set to launch during the Summer of 2026 for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Windows and Steam.

It will also be available on Xbox Game Pass (Day One), PC Game Pass, and Xbox Cloud Gaming, with Xbox Play Anywhere support.

Do you think Beast of Reincarnation has what it takes to help Game Freak break free from Nintendo's shadow so it can make more original IP instead of more Pokémon games? Will you be playing Beast of Reincarnation when it arrives in the Summer of 2026?

If you have any thoughts on the matter, let us know in the comments below.

FAQs

During Microsoft's Xbox Developer Direct of January 2026, the famous studio behind the legendary Pokémon franchise, Game Freak, appeared to show off Beast of Reincarnation, a new action-RPG coming to Xbox later this year during the Summer.

The game is set in a post-apocalyptic version of Japan in 4026. In this era, a grand majority of humanity has been wiped out by a parasitic plant called "Blight," and most of Earth's wildlife has been mutated into horrifying monsters called Malefacts.

You play as Emma, a young woman who has somehow managed to seal the "blight"'s infection and has gained powers to help her combat the Malefacts.

Together with her mysterious "blighted" canine companion, Koo, Emma must travel the world to defeat the titular Beast of Reincarnation before it can destroy one of humanity's last safe havens, the Capital, and find a way to destroy the "Blight" for good

On the gameplay side, Beast of Reincarnation is an action-RPG where you explore massive environments, using Emma's "Blighted" powers to traverse precarious terrain and fight hordes of dangerous Malefacts.

Combat will allow the player to defend themselves with sword combos, defensive parries, and slow down briefly to prepare devastating attacks called Blooming Arts, similar to the combat system of Final Fantasy VII Remake.

You can also use this time slowdown mechanic to command Roo to bind enemies or fire off area-of-effect attacks to clear out groups to give you some breathing room.

You will need to master these abilities quickly, as this game will pit you against challenging Malafact bosses called "Nushi".

These are massive beasts that can manipulate the ecosystem around them and will require careful strategies and aggression to defeat and obtain new powers from them.

Will you save the world from the Blight?

Emma and Koo will also encounter hostile Golems, friendly human survivors named Brad and Kagura, and a rival swordswoman named Kunai who is somehow allied with a Malefact on their adventures.

If you wish to help Emma solve this mystery and save her world, then check out Beast of Reincarnation when it drops in the Summer of 2026 for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Windows and Steam.

It will also be available on Xbox Game Pass (Day One), PC Game Pass, and Xbox Cloud Gaming, and will support Xbox Play Anywhere.

So what do you think of Beast of Reincarnation? Does its premise and gameplay look enticing, or do you need more gameplay trailers and deep dives before deciding to play it?

If you have any thoughts on the matter, let us know in the comments below.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake has been a sore point for many a' Xbox fan for over half a decade, but the pain ends on January 22nd, 2026.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake has finally shed all forms of exclusivity, and hits Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, and Xbox Cloud Gaming via Xbox Play Anywhere this week. Also on Xbox Ally. Whew, that sure is a lot of Xbox.

I've been lucky enough to get early access to the game thanks to Square Enix, and I'm happy to report that the port is rather excellent.

Final Fantasy holds a special place in my heart. Final Fantasy 7 was probably the first game I truly connected with on a deeper emotional level as a sprog. I have to thank the un-named Electronics Boutique employee who begged me not to buy "Men in Black" for PlayStation 1, and instead buy Final Fantasy 7, for having a disproportionate impact on my life trajectory.

I reviewed Final Fantasy 7 for Android Central back when they experimented with PlayStation coverage, and it remains my only PS4 review to date. My thoughts on the game remain the same after completing it on PS4, Steam Deck and my PC, and soon, once again on my Xbox Ally and Xbox Series X. What I've been impressed by here is just how well optimized it is on handhelds, how playable it is on Xbox Cloud Gaming, and how now this is quite easily the definitive version of the game. It was worth the wait.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake on Xbox is the definitive version

I began my new journey with Final Fantasy 7 Remake on Xbox Series X, where the game truly shines. It comes with performance and quality modes, trading resolution for frame rate, but both versions offer a decent experience based on your preferences. The quality mode is a stable 30 FPS, offering sharper picture quality and boosted visuals. If you want a smoother experience, you can trade some resolution for frame rates, nabbing 60 FPS instead.

The story is similar on the Xbox Ally, which despite being a PC, sports console-like simplified graphics options with some additions on top. It has the quality and performance modes I mentioned earlier, but it has frame rate caps running all the way up to 120 FPS. You can achieve more frames by having your Xbox Ally plugged in and using turbo mode, but honestly, what impressed me was how it runs on the Xbox Ally's low-power silent mode.

I'm someone who likes to try and maximize my Xbox Ally's battery life as much as humanly possible. I tend to look for games that can take advantage of the lower watt modes without massive visual compromises, and Final Fantasy 7 absolutely fits the bill.

The game runs very smoothly on high graphics on Xbox Ally X, at 1080p, 30-50 FPS or even higher even on the lowest power settings. I was able to comfortably play for over 3 hours without plugging in, and probably could've gone further with resolution compromises, lowered brightness, or hard frame rate caps. The base Xbox Ally is a similar story too, although with some additional compromises to reflect the Z2A's power over the Xbox Ally X's more potent Z2E. It's still impressively playable at 30 FPS, and offers good battery life on top.

It's perhaps to be expected that Final Fantasy 7 would perform so admirably after over half a decade of optimizations, but it's to Square Enix's credit that they stuck with the game for so long — and long enough to build an Xbox development pipeline that takes advantage of the ecosystem so nicely.

The fact you can take your save file to so many different form factors within the Windows and Xbox ecosystem so seamlessly here, with a single purchase, single save file — Final Fantasy 7 Remake has become a quintessential example of Microsoft's vision for the Xbox platform. I just hope we see more of it soon, too.

Square Enix is back on Xbox with a vengeance

Final Fantasy 7 Remake joins a long list of great Xbox Play Anywhere games from third-party publishers. Resident Evil 8: Village just hit Xbox Play Anywhere as well, Death Stranding finally got fixed up and optimized for Xbox Ally and Xbox PC, and has rejoined Xbox Game Pass to celebrate.

Square Enix has been aggressively pursuing Xbox Play Anywhere with its new CEO, with Final Fantasy 16 hitting the platform last summer, complete with similarly impressive optimizations. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is rumored to hit Xbox this year as well, raising hopes that Final Fantasy 7 Remake's third part will hit Xbox day and date, eschewing the exclusivity periods of the previous titles.

Last Christmas, I spent pretty much my entire holiday playing through Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster Collection via Xbox Play Anywhere, spent the summer playing Final Fantasy 16 across multiple Xbox platforms, and spent most of the Autumn playing Final Fantasy Tactics via Xbox Cloud Gaming. There was a point in history where long-suffering Final Fantasy Xbox fans never thought this day would arrive.

Final Fantasy has had a chequered history with Xbox, but those times are firmly behind it. Is it too little too late? It's possible. I purchased a PS4 Pro just for Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and played through the game again when it hit PC. I suspect the vast majority who want to play Final Fantasy 7 Remake already did so on other platforms. But if, like me, you love the game enough to run through it a third time — I would argue that Final Fantasy 7 Remake on Xbox Play Anywhere is quite easily the best version.

I'm not a huge fan of some of the high-level story changes Square Enix made with Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and I wish it had a "hard" difficulty mode out of the box, rather than mountains of "easy mode" options. But, these gripes don't detract from the overall package, and I'm cognizant that my nostalgia is coloring my bias a bit here.

If you love slick hack n' slashery with an edge of classic time-stop strategizing, big bombastic cinematic boss battles, anime-styled dramatic flair with unapologetic comedic highs and despair-inducing emotional lows ... look no further, Final Fantasy 7 represents one of the best "remakes" of all time.

Xbox Play Anywhere is the best, and often most frustrating feature Xbox has right now. And Resident Evil Village continues the trend today!

Resident Evil Village is a landmark horror title from Capcom, and joins Resident Evil 7 in reviving the classic franchise.

Terrorising gamers since the PlayStation 1 era, Resident Evil is a saga of sci-fi horror tales following various bio-hazardous outbreaks of zombies, mutants, and other nightmarish entities. Typically, bio-engineering firms and shadowy government agencies are behind the outbreaks, which task the player to survive against impossible odds to rescue themselves, and oftentimes, others caught up in drama.

The franchise pioneered the "survival horror" genre, where scarce ammo, health pick-ups, and other support consumables require management and exploration to recover. Resident Evil suffered a decline in quality between Resident Evil 5 and 6, but bounced back hard with Resident Evil 7 and 8, the latter of which is generally known as Resident Evil Village.

A few weeks ago, Microsoft announced that Resident Evil Village will join Xbox Game Pass, slated to drop on January 20, 2026. It's part of Capcom's marketing run-up to Resident Evil Requiem, which launches on February 27, 2026.

Requiem will tie into Resident Evil Village as part of the franchise's wider saga, which sees various bioterrorist cells, pharmaceutical conglomerates, and even shadowy cults vie for control of manmade plagues, viruses, and mutant parasites. Resident Evil 7 and Village tell the tale of Ethan Winters, which is a more intimate story of, who is essentially, a regular dude caught up in the global bioterror struggle franchise fans have come to love.

Resident Evil 7 was strangely among the first early high-profile AAA third-party games to support Xbox PC and Xbox Play Anywhere. Since then, Capcom has been fairly inconsistent with its support of the Microsoft Store and Xbox PC. For Xbox Play Anywhere, we got Exoprimal, Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 7, and Kuntisu-gami, but we didn't get Street Fighter, Resident Evil 4, or until now, Resident Evil Village. Oddly, we got Resident Evil 3 as a separate game, without cross-saves or cross-buy.

I'm not entirely sure why Capcom has been so inconsistent at supporting Xbox Play Anywhere. Some of it will be publishing clauses leveraged by PlayStation as part of marketing tie-ins, but part of me wonders if it's due to confusion about how Xbox PC works on the publisher end.

Resident Evil Village wasn't initially announced for Xbox Play Anywhere, leading to some confusion about how it would arrive in Xbox Game Pass. I asked around, and was told that indeed it is supposed to be getting Xbox Play Anywhere, and indeed, today, it picked up the official Xbox Play Anywhere tag — but there's a problem.

The installation file for Resident Evil Village on Xbox PC and devices like the Xbox Ally isn't available. Clicking "Install" simply downloads the 10 MB container, with no actual game inside. Weirdly, it'll even sync your save files from Xbox Series X|S, despite the fact it can't launch the game. It'll just give you a "This game has crashed" message when trying to launch it on a Windows PC or devices like the Xbox Ally.

I suppose this could be a result of the game's unique circumstances. It's already available on Xbox Series X|S, and obviously, they need to prep the game and get it ready for its imminent Xbox PC Game Pass drop — but in doing so, they've left the Xbox PC version inoperable.

RELATED: Xbox in 2026 preview: new hardware, new games, and new features

It's a niche issue that highlights how nascent Xbox's PC store operation still is in some regards. Just yesterday, I wrote about how a nasty save bug for Death Stranding on Xbox PC was finally fixed after two years of pain for buyers.

Microsoft has worked incredibly hard to convince publishers and indie devs alike to consider launching on the Xbox PC store, but it has a massive mountain to climb versus Steam, which seems to have truly cornered the "variety gamer" core market on Windows. Microsoft has, however, likely cornered the subscription-preferring market on PC. Additionally, owing to games like League of Legends, Call of Duty, Fortnite, Roblox, and World of Warcraft, it's increasingly becoming an all-in-one destination for major service games that aren't yet available on Steam, too.

Given the issues plaguing Windows and "Microslop" in general right now, the work being done on Xbox PC is one of the company's brightest spots right now. But it's still early days, clearly in some regards. The updates and fixes are coming thick and fast, though, and I suspect we'll see even more adoption for Xbox PC from both publishers and gamers alike in the coming year.

The Xbox Ally has become a primary gaming device for me, so it's great to see games like Resident Evil Village arrive retroactively, even if there are occasional temporary hiccups like this. I suspect the PC app package will go live when it officially hits Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Cloud Gaming on January 20, 2026.

It's Xbox's 25th anniversary this year, and it's starting on a bit of a sour note for many. And really, it shouldn't be.

Xbox had a fantastic 2025 on paper. Xbox first party shipped more games than ever. Xbox Game Pass arguably had its best sprint of high-quality games ever too, with Expedition 33, Hollow Knight Silksong, DOOM: The Dark Ages, Oblivion Remake, and many more hitting the service. We also saw a huge Xbox partnership with ASUS for the Xbox Ally gaming handheld, which puts Xbox Play Anywhere at the forefront. Microsoft also announced a big partnership with AMD for next-gen consoles ... alas.

That's not what Xbox's 2025 will be remembered for, sadly. Microsoft has been working overtime to sink its image, injecting AI slop into every product it has, laying off thousands while bragging about how much of its code is written by AI, and hiking prices of products to uncomfortable levels. Xbox Game Pass picked up a 50% price hike on the highest tier, and Xbox Series X|S hardware has become prohibitively expensive, leading to free-fall sales declines.

The drama led to a barrage of headlines questioning whether or not Xbox would even still exist to see its big 25th anniversary, slated for November 15, 2026.

I suspect Xbox will want to put the negativity of the past year firmly behind itself, but it finds itself in a confluence of challenges both internal and external. The storm will pass for the vast majority of Xbox gamers unnoticed most likely, but for the wider audience, Xbox remains firmly under a microscope.

The four horsemen return, anniversaries abound

One thing we know for certain is what to expect from Microsoft's first party in 2026. At least generally speaking. Microsoft has a lot in the chamber it can fire off potentially in the coming months, but the headliners are set: Fable, Gears of War: E-Day, Halo Campaign Evolved, and Forza Horizon 6. Microsoft often jokingly refers to the line-up as the "four horsemen" internally, representing what are arguably the four most iconic Xbox franchises.

Microsoft will show off at least some of these at the January Xbox Developer_Direct show, which has become an annualized tone-setting event for Xbox's yearly line-up. While I'm not sure exactly what will be shown there this year (yet), it seems the four pillar franchises seem highly likely — although I have heard one of Microsoft's more intrepid teams may be ready to show off what it has been baking.

Some have been wondering if a mysterious countdown on the Fallout TV show's Amazon Prime website is hinting at a shadow drop for a new Fallout game or remaster. I'm told this is not the case. However, we are eventually getting a Fallout 3 remake in the vein of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, as well as Fallout New Vegas on top. I'm told Obsidian of Grounded, The Outer Worlds, and Fallout New Vegas fame has four new projects, some big some small — Fallout co-creator Tim Cain also joined the studio a short while ago. I'm not sure if any of these projects are Fallout-related, but either way, it shows Xbox isn't taking its foot off the pedal when it comes to content.

On the topic of Fallout, we are of course also eventually getting Fallout 5, which I understand to be greenlit. Bethesda's Todd Howard noted in a previous interview that Fallout is receiving a ton of investment right now. It could be a while before we see the fruits of that labor — but perhaps we could see them teased at an upcoming show.

After all, 2026 marks several major "anniversaries" for Xbox and some of its subsidiaries. Xbox is having its 25th anniversary, Blizzard is having its 35th, and Bethesda is having its 40th. Microsoft and its teams are planning a variety of events and announcements to celebrate these milestones.

At Blizzcon 2026, I thoroughly expect to see new expansions revealed for Diablo IV, alongside World of Warcraft's "The Last Titan." We should also get major updates for Overwatch and Hearthstone, and potentially other new mobile game reveals. There has been long-held rumors of an Overwatch mobile game on the horizon, for example, and I've heard another Warcraft mobile game project is in gestation. The headline for Blizzcon 2026 is most likely going to be StarCraft. It was previously reported that StarCraft is getting the third-person shooter treatment, and I confirmed these rumors true via my own sources a while back.

For Bethesda's 40th, could we catch a glimpse at id Software's next title? It has been rumored for an incredibly long time that id could return to Quake or Hexen, now that all the rights fully exist within the Microsoft umbrella. Machine Games' is also thought to be working on a Rainbow Six Siege-like multiplayer title, although I've heard that Wolfenstein III is also on the cards to coincide with the upcoming Wolfenstein Amazon TV show.

Perhaps some of these games will break cover at Bethesda's Quakecon event, but big reveals are often reserved for the Xbox Showcase. As usual, Xbox will hold an event in June to coincide with Summer Game Fest and the post-E3 summer marketing blitz. It's here where we should see glimpses at 2027 titles, which could include games like inXile's Clockwork Revolution, Undead Labs' State of Decay 3, Arkane's Blade, and perhaps other hitherto unknown titles.

I've heard Ninja Theory's next game will be more combat-involved and interactive than Hellblade 1 and 2, while retaining the cinematic excellence the studio has come to be known for. We'll also catch a glimpse of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 undoubtedly here, with Activision eager to reconnect with fans after Black Ops 7's controversial delivery. Call of Duty will also drop onto Nintendo Switch 2 this year as well, fulfilling Microsoft's promises to regulators. There are strong rumors that Age of Empires will return with a new title in the future too, powered by Unreal Engine. And we could see more of Hideo Kojima's mysterious "OD" horror project this year.

There's also plenty of unknowns. Xbox Publishing still has plenty of secret projects. Xbox's large stable of service games will doubtless get major updates this year, including Minecraft, Grounded 2, Fallout 76, Elder Scrolls Online, and the King mobile franchises. Could we see Toys for Bob's long-rumored Spyro this year? What is the mysterious and oft-overlooked Elsewhere Entertainment Xbox team working on? Perhaps we'll find out in 2026.

A plethora of PC platform updates

I already wrote an article detailing what the Xbox Ally update roadmap looks like in 2026, but we should see some of those new features sooner, rather than later. Even if you're not an Xbox Ally owner, you should probably keep an eye on how development there is going — the Xbox Ally experience is essentially the next-gen Xbox experience too.

I reported last year that the next Xbox will run full bore Windows, and that is still the plan. In partnership with AMD, the next Xbox will utilize the Windows 11 "Full Screen Experience" with the Xbox PC app to deliver its console interface. Microsoft is working on major updates to the Xbox PC app to accommodate this, bringing it more closely in line with what Xbox console players will expect when engaging with a device on their TV, rather than at their desk.

Where it diverges with a traditional PC is in its ability to actually run games compatible with Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. Microsoft announced that it's partnering with AMD to enable Xbox games on this PC-like device. Existing Xbox console users' libraries will come forward with them to the new Xbox, as Microsoft continues to commit to backward compatibility in a big way.

I suspect we'll hear more at GDC 2026 about how Xbox plans to modernize its publishing practices to accommodate this new more "open" strategy. Developers shipping on Xbox PC already enjoy a more generous cut of the revenue than they do on console, but Microsoft still has a huge issue getting developers to organically support Xbox PC. Moving the platform to console will help here, but there will at least be a few years where Xbox Series X|S remains the primary development platform for most, I suspect.

Microsoft has already signalled that it plans to make Xbox publishing more open and Steam-like, lifting the NDA on some of its publishing rules last year. Microsoft still has a long way to go to improve discoverability for quality Xbox games on its PC store, though. The more "open" nature of the Microsoft Store results in mountains of shovelware hitting the platform, and discovering quality titles remains oddly difficult. Improved community tools such as reviews, comments, curation, and interactivity would help improve discoverability algorithms, so hopefully we see some of those kinds of features materialize this year.

I'm told we should also see some new Xbox hardware this year. I suspect we'll finally see the Xbox Elite Controller Series 3 break cover in 2026, and perhaps even other controller revisions. I'm told Microsoft's next-generation Xbox controllers all support direct-to-WiFi connectivity, eliminating Bluetooth latency from cloud gaming scenarios.

There's always the chance we'll see more "Xbox" branded OEM hardware, taking advantage of the Xbox Full Screen Experience on Windows, similar to the Xbox Ally. I've been working through some credible rumors that we could see an OEM "Xbox" PC in 2026, but time will tell whether or not that one pans out.

A ton to look forward to, with caution

On paper, everything is looking up for Xbox as an entity, but challenges remain. Xbox Series X|S hardware sales are in free-fall decline, although existing users are sticky and remain heavily engaged. Despite PlayStation's vastly bigger install base, some games such as Helldivers 2 and Arc Raiders over-index on Xbox systems, delivering disproportionate engagement for publishers. There's still a ton of money to be made on the Xbox ecosystem, which is why we haven't seen publishers pull out of the platform despite the decreased amount of new users coming in.

Where Xbox is seeing success is on Xbox PC. I'm told Microsoft may begin reporting its Xbox PC stats as part of Microsoft's quarterlies, reflecting its growth. The addition of benefits in games like Fortnite, League of Legends, and Valorant has helped Xbox PC win itself an alternative audience to that of Steam, although organic support still seems to be a challenge for titles shipping outside of Xbox Game Pass.

People will continue to view Microsoft under a microscope, and for good reason. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has not been shy about the company's awkward obsession with AI technology, regardless of how well it actually performs for the end-user. "Microslop" has been trending as a result.

There have already been rumors of mass Microsoft layoffs in January 2026, although I'm told these are false (at least with regards to Xbox). The DRAM price glut is something Microsoft and other companies will not be able to escape, though.

Practically anything powered by a computer is likely to see price increases this year, as OpenAI and other companies buy up all the components chasing increasingly-insane compute demands. Will that further impact prices for console, PC, and even game prices? Xbox won't be the only one impacted by this macroeconomic instability, but Xbox's reputation has already been on shaky ground.

There has been a ton of negativity and angst about Microsoft's direction and corporate-level commitment to gaming, and for good reason. But, I am hopeful that Xbox can fully turn a corner this year and begin to show that it, and its ecosystem, are truly here to stay.

2026 is almost here, and the holidays are in full force, but that won't stop companies from sharing news of game delays. To that end, players will be waiting longer for their next outing with James Bond, as 007 First Light is being delayed a bit, developer and publisher IO Interactive shared on Tuesday via Bluesky.

Originally slated to launch on March 27, 2026, the game is being pushed two months forward and is now scheduled to arrive on May 27, 2026.

"The game is progressing well and is fully playable from beginning to end, so these additional two months will allow us to further polish and refine the experience, ensuring we deliver the strongest possible version at launch," writes game director Hakan Abrak.

An important update regarding the release date of 007 First Light.

— @007game.ioi.dk (@007game.ioi.dk.bsky.social) 2025-12-23T21:24:26.693Z

Grand Theft Auto exits, James Bond enters

Notably, this delay puts 007 First Light right next to where Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto 6 was slated to launch before the upcoming juggernaut was pushed back to November 22, 2026.

With the massive open-world crime epic no longer threatening to grab all the attention in May, I have to wonder if the developers at IO Interactive now feel safer about delaying the games and giving James Bond a little more polish.

Regardless, I'm more than content to wait a couple of extra months for a better version of the game. 007 First Light looks great so far, with gameplay footage and trailers showing off how it builds on the bones of IO Interactive's Hitman games, but expanded for espionage and far more action.

Naturally, the game even features an Aston Martin supercar decked out with weapons that Bond will be able to use in pursuit of his targets.

When it arrives, 007 First Light will be available on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch 2. It also supports Xbox Play Anywhere, meaning Xbox players can buy one copy and play it across both Xbox consoles and PCs.

Are you interested in 007 First Light based on everything that's been shown so far? What are you most hoping to see in this new take on James Bond? Take to the comments and let me know!

Even if you only consider when ROUTINE made its second debut at Summer Game Fest 2022, we've still been waiting for this unique survival-horror game to release for a long time — and ROUTINE was actually first teased over 13 years ago.

The small team at Lunar Software restarted development at some point, making the final product a decade late and very different than the initial teaser trailer you can still go watch at YouTube.com. A lot of people (myself included) understandably assumed ROUTINE would never actually release, but it's actually here and one of my favorite games of the year.

ROUTINE clearly lacks the budget and scope of major horror franchises like RESIDENT EVIL and SILENT HILL, and its seven-hour runtime is on the modest side, but ROUTINE still manages to firmly establish itself as a survival-horror gem thanks to its unyieldingly terrifying atmosphere and fascinating retro-futuristic setting. Here's why ROUTINE is a Windows Central Must Play.

This review was made possible thanks to an Xbox Game Pass subscription paid for by Zachary Boddy. Raw Fury and Lunar Software had no input nor saw the contents of this review prior to publication.

Some things should simply be left alone

ROUTINE begins with a nightmare and a prophecy, and then you wake up. It's time to complete orientation and end your mandatory isolation, but where are you? Where is... anyone? This is Union Plaza, a cutting-edge facility built into the moon, but you are alone — at least, you're pretty sure you are.

It's clear that something has gone very wrong at Union Plaza, and there are even darker secrets spilling out from where they're buried beneath the lunar surface, dragging you deeper and deeper until you're consumed.

ROUTINE wastes no time establishing its atmosphere, catching you in the psychological crossfire between its stunning art direction, unsettling lighting, and striking audio design. This is a horror game, but ROUTINE doesn't rely on cheap jump scares or gaudy gore to get that point across.

I usually avoid spoilers in my game reviews, but I'm especially tight-lipped about ROUTINE. This game doesn't overstay its welcome, but still manages to feel full. A lot happens in ROUTINE, and none of it is likely to make you feel safe or comfortable.

ROUTINE always looks amazing, though. This is an alternate history drenched in morbid 1980s aesthetics, replete with off-white plastic, cassettes, and CRT displays. I alluded to it before; ROUTINE is consistently unnerving because of its immaculately off-putting atmosphere, and the few jump scares present so completely caught me off guard I nearly closed the game out of instinct.

Ultimately, ROUTINE is terrifying because it feels plausible. Reality is twisted to suit the narrative, sure, but the foundation is built on a human characteristic we've proven time and time again — we simply don't know when to leave well enough alone.

Don't expect to have your hand held

Don't expect ROUTINE to give you quest markers and constant exposition. Don't expect to be told explicitly where to go and what to do. If you want to survive the dangers of Union Plaza, you'll need to move slowly, explore carefully, and think smartly.

ROUTINE is a fairly linear game, so you're never in danger of becoming totally lost, but you're rarely told explicitly how you're supposed to progress. You'll have to rely on environmental clues, common sense, and the little information you'll find from the people who used to inhabit this station (and none of those people were writing notes with the intention of guiding some random stranger through endless catastrophes).

You'll also have to rely heavily on your Cosmonaut Assistance Tool (C.A.T.), which can reveal secrets, interact with terminals and equipment, save your progress and the information you've collected so far, and even help you defend yourself in an emergency.

Ideally, though, you'll never have to use that final function, as Union Plaza's threats aren't ones you can overcome through violence alone. You're not an inhumanly strong, fast, and well-armed bad ass battling your way through grotesque horrors, you're just as frail and even more vulnerable than the hordes of people who used to occupy Union Plaza.

Honestly, I prefer this approach to something like Cronos: The New Dawn, which leans into the challenge of its combat scenarios to elevate its horror. ROUTINE is slower, but the dread you feel is deeper. That being said, gameplay is also where ROUTINE is most likely to alienate new players.

The controls and user interfaces are clunky at best, and ROUTINE's refusal to give you pointers for solving its puzzles or completing its objectives can frustrate just as much as it engages. What kind of player you are will dictate how patient you can be with ROUTINE.

ROUTINE review: My final thoughts

✅You should play this if ...

• You want a new, unique, and genuinely creepy survival-horror game.
• You're looking for a spooky experience that won't take too much time.
• You like games that refuse to hold your hand throughout.

❌You should not play this if ...

• You prefer a more guided experience, or don't love vague puzzles.
• You enjoy survival-horror games where you actually fight back.

ID@Xbox has been on a roll this year, giving us a ton of incredible indie games for the Xbox ecosystem. ROUTINE is the latest in a long line of gaming excellence, and I greatly enjoyed every minute of my time with it.

Around 7 hours of gameplay and a $25 price may not seem like a good return for over 13 years of waiting, but I've played a lot of survival-horror games — and ROUTINE is going to stand out as one of my favorite so far.

I was sometimes annoyed or grew impatient, but I loved ROUTINE's world, atmosphere, and narrative. It also helps that it genuinely scared me at times (and generally creeped out), which frankly isn't a guarantee for a lot of games in the horror genre.

If you want to try it for yourself, ROUTINE is now available across Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox Ally and other handhelds, Windows PC (via the Microsoft Store and Steam), Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Xbox Game Pass. It's also an Xbox Play Anywhere title.

When I think of Age of Empires, I fondly recall countless, hundreds of hours spent as a child in front of a hazy CRT monitor, clicking frantically as I attempted to stave off the hordes of enemies who wanted to wipe my city and my people off the map.

My love and respect for the Age of Empires franchise has only grown over the years, so you can imagine how elated I was when the series — AoE, AoE II, and AoE III — received remasters. Heck, Age of Mythology also received a great remaster that has been very well received.

In what seemed like an attempt to capitalize on the newfound popularity of the series following the remasters, Age of Empires Mobile launched on iOS and Android devices on October 17, 2024.

Developed by TiMi Studio Group — known for other mobile games like Call of Duty: Mobile, Honor of Kings, and Pokémon UNITE — with help from World's Edge (aka Microsoft's in-house Age of Empires team), and published by Tencent, Age of Empires Mobile has racked up more than 5 million downloads on Google Play alone.

Now, as part of a yearly series update provided by the Age team, Age of Empires Mobile has received an "early 2026" release date on PC. Yes, you read that right. The mobile version of the PC version of Age of Empires is getting a PC version, and it's called Age of Empires Mobile: PC Edition. That's not too confusing, right? Here's a snippet from the official release date announcement:

The game is expected to launch on the PC Xbox app and Steam in early 2026, and it will be available on PC Game Pass on day one. It also has the Xbox Play Anywhere badge displayed on the teaser image. The announcement also comes with a slick new trailer showing the game off in what I can only assume is the best light possible.

I admittedly haven't paid much attention to the mobile version of the game, so from my limited perspective, it basically looks like a lot of other mobile RTS games with a bit of Age flair. Check it out for yourself.

With millions of downloads on the mobile side, I don't doubt that Xbox is capitalizing on an opportunity to attract PC players who want a more casual Age experience.

And before anyone worries too much about this port (unport?) pulling resources away from new Age content that PC gamers might better receive, keep in mind that the mobile news arrives alongside a long list of other content planned for the core titles.

The Age community reacts to the new PC port of the mobile version

Age of Empires Mobile sits at a modest 4.2-star rating on Google Play, falling to 3.6 stars on the App Store. Although we didn't touch it here on Windows Central, Android Authority called it "worse than I could possibly have imagined," while Digital Trends named it "the worst kind of mobile spinoff."

It's essentially a gacha-style game where you collect resources, build a city, and upgrade troops. Unlike classic Age of Empires, the game is idle while you're building, and the bulk of the battles are handled automatically. Ultimately, I don't think it's a game that most diehard Age players are going to want to sink time into.

The Age of Empires Mobile: PC Edition announcement trailer has racked up nearly 5,000 views in the past 19 hours since it was posted, but it has only received 113 likes.

The top-rated comment so far, picking up more likes than the video itself, reads, "What are we even doin, man. There's already Age of Empires on PC and it's the good version."

On the Xbox subreddit, the replies to the announcement are a lot more comical. One user points out the obvious — "That's literally the PC version of the mobile version of the PC game." — while another questions, "Have we all lost our minds?"

FAQ

Surprise! Metal Gear Solid 3 remake is now available on Xbox Play Anywhere.

Metal Gear Solid 3 is a legendary stealth action game, and for many (myself included) the apex of the Metal Gear Solid franchise. Developed by the legend himself Hideo Kojima and Konami, Metal Gear Solid 3 takes place during the Cold War, and follows the early days of Big Boss' career, codenamed Snake.

The prequel contains huge revelations about the overarching conspiracy that made Metal Gear a legend in its own right, and has existed on modern systems as part of HD ports and PC versions.

Last year, we exclusively reported that Konami was gearing up to re-build faith in its handling of the Metal Gear franchise, following a high-profile falling out with series creator Hideo Kojima. Since, we've had a re-release of the original Metal Gear Solid as part of the Master Collection, and now, a full remake of Metal Gear Solid 3, named Delta. Built by Konami and port maestros Virtuous, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is a to-the-pixel remake of the original, albeit with modern graphics. And now, modern cross-buy features too!

Spotted by our pal HazzadorGamin, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater has now joined the Xbox Play Anywhere program. Similarly to Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill ƒ, Metal Gear Solid Delta hit the Xbox PC store without the Xbox Play Anywhere tag, making fans wonder if it wouldn't join the program. Thankfully, it arrived later, and is now available to buy cross-platform on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, and Xbox Cloud Gaming on a single purchase.

Xbox Play Anywhere has over 1,000 games as of writing, which is particularly great for users of devices like the Xbox Ally. With one purchase, you get access to a variety of endpoints for your license, notably including Xbox PC and Xbox Series X|S consoles, but also often Xbox Cloud Gaming. Xbox Cloud Gaming is part of Xbox Game Pass, and lets you run intensive games on phones and TVs that typically aren't capable of running these types of games natively.

PlayStation is thought to be gearing up for a similar cross-buy program for PS5 and PC, although it remains to be seen if it materializes in reality.

More good news for Xbox Play Anywhere, and the Xbox Ally initiative

Since the advent of the Xbox Ally, I've become something of a handheld-first gamer. My Xbox and my TV is at my work desk, so being able to take the Xbox Ally downstairs to a comfy (warm) sofa or wrap up with it in bed has really boosted my playtime hours.

The Xbox Ally works really well with Xbox Remote Play if you have a strong home Wi-Fi set up, but being able to play natively adds a ton of value in scenarios where powerful Wi-Fi might not be available. Every time a game hits Xbox Play Anywhere it immediately makes me far more likely to actually pick up and play the game.

Microsoft has been advertising Red Dead Redemption on the Xbox PC store as of late, but it is, frustratingly, not Xbox Play Anywhere. Games that aren't part of Xbox Play Anywhere typically have a (PC) tag in brackets.

Microsoft's big uphill battle is convincing the big AAA studios to join Xbox Play Anywhere. Japanese developers like Sega, Square Enix, and Konami have been really strong supporters here, but western publishers like EA, Ubisoft, and Take-Two have been utterly ambivalent.

The next Xbox is expected to be PC-first, which will add more headaches to the equation potentially, with games launching on the Xbox Series X|S development platform without Xbox Play Anywhere will end up being locked to past-gen hardware. With Microsoft moving its users to Xbox PC over time, grabbing more high-profile games like Metal Gear Solid Delta into Xbox Play Anywhere is becoming paramount.

I recently played and finished Winter Burrow, but I apparently hadn't had my fill of creative indie games, so I selected another title from the backlog and dove in. The next on the list? SOPA: Tale of the Stolen Potato, a quick and quaint narrative-adventure about a boy chasing a frog stealing a bag of potatoes.

That brief synopsis should be enough to tell you that SOPA is possessed of all the creativity I absolutely adore from these tiny gaming adventures. It took me just over three hours to reach the credits, and those hours were filled with whimsical puzzles, stories, and moments.

Like Winter Burrow, the game I played before, SOPA isn't perfect, and the ending does feel abrupt, but I'm still happy I gave it a chance. It helps that SOPA: Tale of the Stolen Potato is one of many games that launched into Xbox Game Pass this year, and it's also a full Xbox Play Anywhere title.

A wild feast of childlike imagination

You are Miho, which — as you may have already guessed — probably isn't your real name. SOPA is marinated in subtleties and seasoned with mysteries, such as why you're being raised by your grandmother, similarly vaguely referred to as Nana.

What is obvious in moments, though, is that you are a child. It's not just the way you see the world, but also how the world reacts to you and your actions. You can interact with everything with the curiosity of youth... but Miho will usually respond with the bored nonchalance of a soul that thrives on excitement and fun.

You can sprint, but your caution not to bump into your surroundings is seemingly ignored solely inside Nana's home, as things apparently react to your very presence as an energetic child — and Nana will scold you accordingly. You may notice all of this before SOPA even begins, as the game is setting the groundwork for the nonsensical adventure you're about to embark on.

What an adventure it'll be, too, all because Nana asks for your assistance to make sancocho, a complex and flavorful soup (or stew, if you want to split hairs) popular in Latin America. Your objective? Obtain a single potato from the sack stashed in the rear of the pantry. Seems simple enough.

Until the pantry stretches into oblivion like you're trapped in a psychological horror movie, and the sack of potatoes at the end is being actively purloined by a purple frog wearing a hat, and fighting said potato thief drags you through the backrooms of the pantry and its ghost-y, chicken-y occupants, and you're cast onto the shore of a raging river after losing the Great Potato Custody Battle.

All of that, and this is where SOPA: Tale of the Stolen Potato finally begins.

Perfectly bite-sized, but a little abruptly ended

SOPA: Tale of the Stolen Potato is only a handful of hours in length, so I'm not going to dissect its story and gameplay until every enigmatic element has been eliminated. Instead, I'll tell you upfront that SOPA will likely surprise you.

It's a simple narrative-adventure game in that its controls are easy to understand (and often awkward). It's also not confounding or convoluting enough to fall into the "puzzle" or "mystery" sub-genres, but does retain just enough of both to bring them to mind.

To be frank, I don't want to spoil any more than that. Simply interact with everything and talk to everyone, and the solutions will likely come to mind — especially if you commit to thinking like a child does. SOPA isn't revolutionary for a video game, but the amalgamation of its ideas is absurd enough to make you think so... at first.

SOPA encourages you to think outside the box in the most straightforward ways, in that the box we all live in tends to be influenced by such ridiculous concepts as "reality" and "adulthood." Ultimately, you'll progress in SOPA because you do something that a child would do without bias, and realize that it works because not everything has to have some profound, mature meaning hidden out of sight.

Except SOPA does have a deeper message underneath its chaotic world of childlike imagination — at least ostensibly. Even the game's official description on the Xbox store will inform you that you're following in the steps of a "mysterious great traveler."

The issue here is that SOPA: Tale of the Stolen Potato is simply too vague in delivering this message, to the point that it absolutely feels like an afterthought. You feel that most when the game simply ends with little fanfare and a cryptic cinematic. It's clear that SOPA is trying to tell a story greater than itself, but it's ultimately lost. That doesn't mean I didn't greatly enjoy my time with this game, though.

SOPA: The Tale of the Stolen Potato is now available across Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, handhelds like Xbox Ally, and Xbox Game Pass if you'd like to experience this potato recovery mission for yourself.

Microsoft has announced on Xbox Wire that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, one of the most critically-acclaimed titles of 2025, has become the biggest third-party launch title in Xbox Game Pass for the year.

According to Microsoft, this record is based on the number of unique players who played it during the game's first thirty days of availability on Xbox Game Pass.

This is the second major achievement Sandfall Interactive's debut RPG has achieved this year, as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 recently procured seven awards at the Golden Joystick Awards (including the coveted Ultimate Game of the Year) on November 20, 2025.

However, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not done looking to add more accolades to its belt, as it's been nominated for 12 awards at the upcoming Game Awards 2025 show, which will go live on December 11, 2025.

Sandfall Interactive's creative director, Guillaume Broche, notes that part of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's success was thanks to Xbox Game Pass by saying, and I quote from the Xbox Wire article,“From being there to announce our game back in Summer 2024, to coming to the studio for the Developer_Direct video in January, Xbox helped us get the word out there a nd reach a lot of players.”

He mentions that the subscription service was pivotal in“letting a lot of people try our game when maybe they might not have before. The turn-based RPG genre has a lot of fans but sometimes it might put people who prefer more real-time action games off, but Game Pass lowered that barrier of entry. They could just try it and see how it feels. So a lot of curious players could start the game, explore Lumière and the early game, and realize there’s a lot to enjoy here, even if they weren’t expecting it at first.”

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a turn-based RPG set in a fantastical yet ruined world where a godlike being known as the 'Paintress' is slowly erasing humanity each year, and you play as a group of expeditioners trying to stop her.

This game, inspired by classic JRPGs like Final Fantasy and Lost Odyssey, went on to sell over three million copies and heap praise from critics everywhere.

We at Windows Central have also lavished it with praise, as we gave it a 4.5/5 star review for its challenging but addictive turn-based combat system, imaginative setting, gorgeous art direction, and tragic story filled with pathos and symbolism.

The game became so successful that Sandfall Interactive is planning to add more content for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 in the future.

If you wish to see for yourself why this game is considered Game of the Year material by millions of players, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is available for purchase on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Windows and Steam.

The game is also available for download on Xbox consoles, Windows PC, and Xbox Cloud Gaming for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers, with Xbox Play Anywhere support.

Today's Xbox Partner Preview had a ton of interesting titles of all shapes and sizes, but few other caught my eye like Erosion, the latest title from Plot Twist.

Plot Twist is known for The Last Case of Benedict Fox, another ID@Xbox game that featured heavily in previous Xbox showcase events. The team is back with publisher Lyrical Games to offer its take on the twin-stick shooter genre, albeit with various, heavy twists (they are called Plot Twist after all).

Indeed, Erosion is a twin stick shooter at its core, with voxel-based graphics and a fixed camera perspective, ideal for Xbox Ally and Xbox Cloud Gaming on top. The game will launch initially into Early Access on Steam, as well as Game Preview on Xbox PC and Game Pass — but the studio tells me the Early Access preview will be "short" compared to some titles. It'll become available for testers this upcoming Spring 2026.

RELATED: Everything announced during Xbox Partner Preview

Erosion is set in an alternative and futuristic Wild West. A warped time anomaly known as the Pillar is gradually eroding reality, and its on the player to dive directly into the mysterious Pillar in a bid to rescue the main character's daughter.

The Pillar dungeons will be familiar in format to those who have played games like Hades or Moonlighter, albeit with fully (and satisfyingly) destructible environments owing to the game's voxelized engine. The studio has worked hard to ensure every chunk of the environment can be shredded into mulch, reacting to the large variety of weapons and power ups you'll find on each dungeon run.

The Pillar problematically accelerates time while you're inside it. Every death moves the environment forward decades in time, turning formerly busy settlements into abandoned husks. Similarly, every failure brings your daughter closer to death too. She'll start off as a child, progress to adulthood, and if you're unsuccessful, eventually succumb to the passing of time. It creates a air of urgency among the chaos, and the high stakes should give Erosion a sense of emotional depth often missing from these types of games.

Indeed, Erosion isn't simply all about combat. Visiting settlements, participating in mini games, vehicular customization, character progression, solving side-quests, and making story decisions can also impact the world in big ways.

You can side with different factions, for example, which could carry consequences in future time skips. Supporting one faction may lead to another becoming hostile towards you in the future — reminding me of that one episode of Rick and Morty with the wine, you know the one.

Helping an innocent store keeper get ahead of his competition might lead to him becoming a crime kingpin in the next time skip. Failing to deal with a small group of crazies might lead to them becoming a dangerous cult in the future. The decisions should make each run more interesting, and the game's open-world design potentially lends itself to a large array of future content drops and collaborations.

The Partner Preview gave us a fun glimpse at strong Xbox Play Anywhere titles

The Xbox Partner Preview had a ton of games of all shapes and sizes, all endowed with Xbox Play Anywhere and many with Xbox Game Pass features too. Erosion continues Plot Twist's partnership with Microsoft to that end, with the excelllent Last Case of Benedict Fox also featuring therein.

I think Erosion could have a broader appeal than Benedict Fox, however. Games like Hades, Moonlighter, and Cult of the Lamb have offered a blueprint for how to nail these types of games. But much like Plot Twist's namesake, the spin they've put on Erosion gives it a uniqueness that should help it stand out in an increasingly busy crowd.

Tons of side content, choice and consequence, vehicular combat in an open world, destructible environments, wild eldritch boss battles, and its unique Wild West futurism should land it on your list of most anticipated upcoming Xbox games. I know it's on mine.

Erosion will hit Early Access and Xbox Game Preview (for PC) in Spring 2026, with a wider launch coming soon after. It will also feature Xbox Play Anywhere support, and drop day one into Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and Xbox Cloud Gaming.

If Erosion nails the upgrade gameplay loop without feeling overly repetitive, I can see it becoming my next Xbox handheld addiction next year.

Be sure to check out more of the games from this week's Xbox Partner Preview over here.

It's Xbox Partner Preview day, and that means over a dozen new game announcements and reveals from a diverse range of third-party Xbox partners. It's also the perfect stage for indie studio Cococucumber to reaffirm its long-running relationship with Xbox by announcing its next game — and its first ever sequel.

This is Echo Generation 2, an ambitious and darker follow-up to the 2021 original that expands the world, mixes up the gameplay, and evolves Cococucumber's distinct voxel art style. We got our first trailer today, but I also had an opportunity to speak with Vanessa Chia, Game Director & Producer and Martin Gauvreau, Game Director & Lead Programmer at Cococucumber ahead of the game's announcement.

What I learned is that Echo Generation 2 isn't just more of the same, and I'm interested enough that I've already gone and installed the first game so I can experience it before its sequel arrives on Xbox and Xbox Game Pass in 2026.

A returning universe, but a very different game

If you care to go back in time, we reviewed the first Echo Generation and praised it for its gorgeous voxel style, challenging turn-based combat, and engaging narrative. A lot of my time speaking with Lead Programmer Martin Gauvreau, though, was talking about how different they set out to make Echo Generation 2.

"It's both a prequel and a sequel," Gauvreau told me. Rather than continuing as the two children that led the previous title's story, you'll play as the father in Echo Generation 2 — and the game will actually start several years before the events of the first game.

Echo Generation 2 will lean considerably further into its supernatural elements, though, scaling beyond the borders of the first game's small-town setting to explore worlds and galaxies, bending time and space to tell a new, all-encompassing story that is larger, darker, and more violent.

There's going to be a lot more horror in Echo Generation 2, and Cococucumber's unique style has evolved to match it. "How far can we go with voxel?" Gauvreau asked, going on to explain how Echo Generation 2 blends voxel art with smooth, detailed animations, real-time lighting, and other techniques to bring it to a level we haven't seen from the studio yet.

Above all of that, though, Cococucumber went in a very different direction with its turn-based combat and general gameplay. Echo Generation 2 has done away with the "Comic Books" of the first game, moving to a deck-building, card-collecting system. There will be many dozens of interlocking cards in Echo Generation 2, with countless strategies that players can switch between as they build different decks.

These cards will heavily impact gameplay outside of combat, too. "We took a lot of risks and changed a lot of big aspects from the first game," Gauvreau told me, commenting on how the team asked themselves if they were changing too much for players who loved the first game.

All I know is that the passion with which Gauvreau talked about Echo Generation 2 and the ambitions of the team has made me very excited to play.

A tight partnership with ID@Xbox and Xbox Game Pass

The first Echo Generation released into Xbox Game Pass, beginning Cococucumber's close partnership with the ID@Xbox team and Xbox as a whole. Then, in 2023, I covered comments from Cococucumber praising Game Pass following the successful launch of Ravenlok, its fantasy action-adventure game.

Cococucumber has been one of the most vocally supportive studios of Xbox Game Pass, and its relationship with Xbox has apparently only grown closer. "For us, it was a no brainer to work with Microsoft and Xbox on Echo Generation 2," Vanessa Chia told me.

Xbox Game Pass has provided Cococucumber with a ton of visibility it otherwise may not have gotten as a small indie team, and ID@Xbox has assisted with resources, tools, and marketing — even me being able to talk to Chia and Gauvreau was due to Xbox working as a mediator between us.

"Only good things to say about them," Chia said. Echo Generation 2 is taking full advantage of the Xbox ecosystem, launching day one into Xbox Game Pass sometime in 2026 and fully supporting Xbox Play Anywhere (so you only have to buy it once to play across Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, and Xbox Cloud Gaming).

FAQ

How can I watch the latest Xbox Partner Preview?

The latest Xbox Partner Preview event aired at 10:00 a.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. ET on Nov. 20, 2025, and can be streamed in 4K and 60 FPS at YouTube.com/Xbox. There's also a separate stream for Audio Description at YouTube.com/Xbox, and another for American Sign Language (ASL) at YouTube.com/Xbox.

Alternatively, you can watch the show live (in 1080p and 60 FPS) at Twitch.tv/Xbox. Wherever you watch, there will be live subtitle support in English, Simplified Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Castilian Spanish, and Mexican Spanish, with more languages to come in the days following the show.

This has been a year to remember for video games, with an endless barrage of incredible releases throughout 2025. The year isn't over, either, but many people are already looking to 2026 and the truly impressive roster we're expecting.

To help close out this year and give us a sneak peek at the next, Xbox hosted another Xbox Partner Preview event, showcasing 16 unique video games — and every single one fully supports Xbox Play Anywhere across Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, and Xbox Cloud Gaming.

Many of these games are launching day and date into Xbox Game Pass, too, and a handful are even available to start playing today. Strap in, here's absolutely everything that was announced during the Xbox Partner Preview on Nov. 20, 2025.

Every Xbox Partner Preview reveal, trailer, and more

Xbox Game Pass announcements

Now that the event is over, here's all nine of the titles coming to Xbox Game Pass on day one (with one coming a little earlier to PC through the Xbox Game Preview program). Even better, two of these games are actually available to download and play starting today.

• CloverPit — Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, & Xbox Cloud Gaming (Premium, PC, & Ultimate on day one) on Nov. 20, 2025
• Total Chaos — Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, & Xbox Cloud Gaming (PC & Ultimate on day one) on Nov. 20, 2025
• Erosion — Xbox on PC (PC & Ultimate on day one in Xbox Game Preview) in Spring 2026
• Roadside Research — Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, & Xbox Cloud Gaming (PC & Ultimate on day one in Xbox Game Preview) in Q1 2026
• Armatus — Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, & Xbox Cloud Gaming (PC & Ultimate on day one) in 2026
• Echo Generation 2 — Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, & Xbox Cloud Gaming (PC & Ultimate on day one) in 2026
• Crowsworn — Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, & Xbox Cloud Gaming (PC & Ultimate on day one)
• Erosion — Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, & Xbox Cloud Gaming (PC & Ultimate on day one)
• Raji: Kaliyuga — Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, & Xbox Cloud Gaming (PC & Ultimate on day one)
• Vampire Crawlers — Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, & Xbox Cloud Gaming (Premium, PC, & Ultimate on day one)

Armatus

• Coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Xbox Game Pass, Steam, PlayStation 5, & Nintendo Switch 2 in 2026

Armatus debuted during the Xbox Partner Preview, and is a third-person roguelite shooter. In the cataclysmic aftereffects of the mysterious Vanishing, you are a masked warrior sent to free the streets of Paris, France from the terrifying demonic forces occupying them. It promises to be an intense, horror-filled experience when it arrives.

The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu

• Coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Steam, & PlayStation 5 in Summer 2026

You'll need to keep your wits about you to survive the perils of the jungle in The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu, a four-player co-op survival-horror game that charges you with recovering valuable treasure. We got a new gameplay trailer during the Xbox Partner Preview and confirmation for an Xbox release, and this could end up being another great game to play with friends when it drops next year.

Dave the Diver

• Released for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, & Xbox Cloud Gaming on Nov. 20, 2025 — In the Jungle DLC arrives in Early 2026

Dave the Diver took the world by storm in 2023, and at the time I lamented that this unique deep-diving adventure wasn't available on my platform of choice. That has finally changed, as of... Today! More than that, we also got our first look at In The Jungle, a new DLC expansion coming to all Dave the Diver players in early 2026. I'll be waiting for that expansion to finally experience this game for myself.

Crowsworn

• Coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Xbox Game Pass, Steam, PlayStation 5, & Nintendo Switch

Did Hollow Knight: Silksong not quite quench your Metroidvania thirst? Crowsworn may be the game to look out for, then, as it also saturates its dark and secret-filled world with tight platforming and hectic high-skill combat. It looks pretty impressive already, and we got to see a little more of it today — alongside the reveal that it's launching into Xbox Game Pass.

Echo Generation 2

• Coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Xbox Game Pass, & Steam in 2026

There have been many dozens of studios with projects on Xbox Game Pass, but one of the subscription service's biggest supporters has been Cococucumber. Now, the developer is returning to Game Pass with its first ever sequel, turn-based action-adventure Echo Generation 2, and it looks incredible.

I even had the chance to speak with the team about this game and their relationship with Xbox, and I've already made plans to go visit the first Echo Generation because of that conversation (and this reveal trailer).

Vampire Crawlers

• Coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Xbox Game Pass, Steam, Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5|4, & Nintendo Switch in 2026

Do you remember when isometric roguelite Vampire Survivors took the entire world by storm? I remember, because it also took over my life (a few different times). Now, Poncle has revealed Vampire Crawlers, a spin-off game set in the same universe. This time, however, we're getting a first-person roguelike deck-builder. It's a very different approach that still features much of what makes Vampire Survivors so amazing, and I can't wait to play it.

007 First Light

• Coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Steam, Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, & Nintendo Switch on Mar. 27, 2026

We already knew about 007 First Light, and we even had the release date — but now we know the upcoming James Bond adventure will be an Xbox Play Anywhere title. The real focus for this new trailer, though, was the reveal of the Aston Martin Valhalla supercar that Bond will drive in 007 First Light.

Roadside Research

• Coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Xbox Game Pass, & Steam in Q1 2026

One of the odder games shown off during the Xbox Partner Preview, Roadside Research is a friendly, comedic co-op simulator in which you and your friends are aliens secretly running a rural gas station. Your goal? Learn about humanity without arousing suspicion from the local government. Roadside Research could be hilarious, especially if you have friends to wreak havoc with you.

Total Chaos

• Released for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Xbox Game Pass, Steam, and PlayStation 5 on Nov. 20, 2025

Total Chaos comes from the same minds as Turbo Overkill, but rather than a cyberpunk first-person shooter we're getting a tense, narrative-driven, first-person survival-horror game. You'll be pitted against some horrific monstrosities equipped with only what you can scavenge and craft yourself — and you can get started now. Total Chaos is another shadow dropped title, and this one is also on Xbox Game Pass.

REANIMAL

• Coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Steam, Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, & Nintendo Switch 2 on Feb. 13 2026 — demo available starting Nov. 20, 2025

The team behind Little Nightmares is returning with a brand-new co-op horror game, and we got a fresh trailer during the Xbox Partner Preview — and news that you can preorder the game now. Reanimal isn't a complete departure for the studio, it's an evolution of what has made Little Nightmares one of the most beloved indie franchises, and I'm excited to see more.

EROSION

• Coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Xbox Game Pass, & Steam — launching into Xbox Game Preview on PC in Spring 2026

So many unique video games hit Xbox Game Pass, but Erosion still manages to do something different. This is an isometric action game, but every death actually forwards the world and people around you by a decade. It's also another game using the oft-forgotten "voxel" style, and it looks amazing. Erosion is coming to PC players first, but it'll eventually (fully) launch into Xbox Game Pass across the entire ecosystem.

ZOOPUNK

• Coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Steam, Epic Games Store, & PlayStation 5 in 2027

We're finally getting a better look at Zoopunk, a third-person, sci-fi action game revolving around an eclectic group of anthropomorphic animals. I'm already a big fan of this aesthetic, and this trailer showed off some high-octane combat. Zoopunk is still a long way from release, though, so we'll have to wait a while before we can play it ourselves.

CloverPit

• Released for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, & Xbox Game Pass on Nov. 20, 2025

CloverPit may be another roguelite, but it couldn't be more different than the last. This game sees you trapped in a room with only a slot machine and an ATM to keep you company, and only your skills and luck can keep you from plummeting through the trap door flow. It looks dangerously addictive, and it's actually available starting right now — including on Xbox Game Pass.

HITMAN: World of Assassination — Elusive Target

• Coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Steam, Epic Games Store, & PlayStation 5|4 on Dec. 1, 2025

HITMAN is one of the most iconic video game franchises of all time, and World of Assassination continues to evolve with new content and challenges. During the Xbox Partner Preview, we got a look at its most unique mission ever — you're tasked by world famous rapper Eminem to eliminate his legendary alter ego, Slim Shady. In more ways than one, this may be the wildest announcement from the Xbox Partner Preview.

Tides of Annihilation

• Coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Steam, Epic Games Store, & PlayStation 5

Tides of Annihilation has already made some waves since its announcement, and the latest trailer shows a complete boss fight from beginning to end. This Arthurian action-adventure title lays claim to gorgeous visuals and epic combat, with protagonist Gwendolyn bending the rules of reality itself as she attempts to save the world. This is one to keep an eye on.

Raji: Kaliyuga

• Coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Xbox Game Pass, Steam, Epic Games Store, & PlayStation 5

Raji: An Ancient Epic made a name for itself in 2020 with its vibrant visuals and satisfying combat, and now we're officially getting a sequel. Set six years after the first, Raji: Kaliyuga shifts from isometric to third-person action, with its gameplay, setting, and story expanding in some big ways. Raji: An Ancient Epic already supports Xbox Play Anywhere, so it's great to see the sequel follow its footsteps.

FAQ

How can I watch the latest Xbox Partner Preview?

The latest Xbox Partner Preview event aired at 10:00 a.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. ET on Nov. 20, 2025, and can be streamed in 4K and 60 FPS at YouTube.com/Xbox. There's also a separate stream for Audio Description at YouTube.com/Xbox, and another for American Sign Language (ASL) at YouTube.com/Xbox.

Alternatively, you can watch the show live (in 1080p and 60 FPS) at Twitch.tv/Xbox. Wherever you watch, there will be live subtitle support in English, Simplified Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Castilian Spanish, and Mexican Spanish, with more languages to come in the days following the show.

Original story:

Xbox players that have been waiting to dive into Konami and Bloober Team's remake of Silent Hill 2 may not have to bide their time for much longer. A store page for Silent Hill 2 is now up on Xbox and indeed, the game is actually available for purchase at the Xbox Australia webpage.

Silent Hill 2 is listed for $100 AUD, with a launch discount bringing the price down to just $50 AUD. The game also noticeably supports Xbox Play Anywhere, meaning it's available for players across Xbox Series X|S consoles and Windows PC (via Xbox on PC) through a single purchase.

The remake of Silent Hill 2 first launched on PlayStation 5 and Windows PC (via Steam) back on Oct. 8, 2024. At the time, the game was noted to explicitly be a timed PlayStation console exclusive, meaning the absolute earliest it could possibly come to other platforms would be a year after launch.

Despite this, an Xbox version of the game still hasn't technically been announced, but it's now clearly a matter of when, not if the developers and publisher are choosing to make it known and available.

The team at Windows Central will be keeping an eye out, but we'd expect to see an official announcement extremely soon.

Silent Hill has come roaring back to life over the past year

While Konami's survival-horror franchise was dormant for years following the cancellation of Kojima Productions' Silent Hills, the series has returned in a fairly major way.

Silent Hill 2's remake has done well so far, garnering critical praise and selling over 2 million copies as of January 2025. Then, developer NeoBards Entertainment launched an entirely original game earlier this year with Silent Hill f.

Silent Hill f is set in 1960s Japan, and follows a teenage girl named Shimizu Hinako as she struggles to understand and survive the fog and monsters that have suddenly descended on her quiet hometown.

The game's story and themes have been heavily praised, and it quickly supplanted Silent Hill 2 as the fastest-selling game in the franchise, with over a million copies sold just a day after the standard edition's launch.

Looking ahead, there's far more to be excited for, with Bloober Team returning for round two by revisiting and remaking the original Silent Hill. Little is known right now, but after how well the team handled Silent Hill 2 remake, expectations are significantly higher than they would be otherwise.

Konami is also teaming up with Annapurna Interactive to publish Silent Hill: Townfall. The game is being developed by Screen Burn Interactive, the studio formerly known as No Code that was behind Stories Untold and Observation.

While Silent Hills may never come to fruition, Hideo Kojima is taking another stab at horror with OD, a game that's also a partnership with Xbox Game Studios. OD is bringing in horror directors like Jordan Peele (Get Out, Nope) for an episodic experience.

The first episode, titled "Knock," is directed by Kojima himself. We don't currently have a release date for OD, but from what has been shown so far, it's taking a lot of inspiration from the ideas Kojima previously explored with P.T, the infamous teaser for Silent Hills.

FAQ

ARC Raiders is a newly released extraction shooter that arrived on October 30, 2025, for Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PlayStation 5, and PC.

It launched to strong reviews, with many praising its progression system and the way proximity chat adds natural interaction between players during matches. You can check out our full ARC Raiders review for more details on the game.

The game has been breaking its own Steam peak player count every weekend since release. It currently sits at over 480,000 peak players on Steam alone, has sold more than 4 million copies across all platforms, and has reached over 700,000 concurrent players combined.

Its success has also led to a nomination for Best Multiplayer Game at this year's Game Awards.

That said, the launch has not been entirely smooth. The game drew scrutiny for its use of AI in text-to-speech, even though the voice actors involved gave consent. Embark Studios has since clarified that ARC Raiders does not use generative AI. Instead, it uses machine learning for enemy behaviour and procedural tools that are already common in game development.

Whether you're newer to the extraction shooter or have been playing it since day one, test your ARC Raiders knowledge with our quiz.

Hopefully you enjoyed the quiz. I tried to keep the difficulty fairly tame this time, but hopefully not too easy.

ARC Raiders has been a fantastic surprise for me. I’ve been having a lot of fun with friends, and it reminds me of my old DayZ days. The core loop of finding loot, talking to players, fighting players, and dealing with roaming enemies gives the whole experience a varied pace.

It is easily my multiplayer game of the year and more than deserving of its nomination at Geoff Keighley’s event.

Hopefully you scored well. Let us know how you did on X, BlueSky, Facebook, or Threads, and thanks for taking part in our quiz.

FAQ

Xbox is ramping up its Winter showcase season with a new marketing beat, slated for November 20.

A couple of weeks ago, we exclusively reported that Microsoft has a November Partner Preview event, with a heavy slant on Xbox Play Anywhere (XPA) titles. In fact, every single game at this event will be XPA-certified. Microsoft has been pushing Xbox Play Anywhere heavily over the past few years, as it approaches unifying its development tools between Xbox and PC.

Developers who certify their games for Xbox Play Anywhere provide cross-save, and cross-buy capabilities to customers. Developers who sell their games via Xbox PC also enjoy a bigger cut of the revenue, although it does require them to maintain codebase parity between the different versions.

Microsoft revealed the event officially earlier today on the Xbox Wire blog, stating, "We’re excited to reveal that the next Xbox Partner Preview – our broadcast that shines a light on upcoming games from our talented third-party partners – is coming this Thursday, November 20. This show will include news on upcoming games from partners including IO Interactive, Tencent and THQ Nordic, plus some brand-new reveals and Game Pass announcements.".

The Xbox Partner Preview event will be streamed live on Thursday, November 20, at 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern / 6pm UK across Xbox's main channels on YouTube and Twitch.

Windows Central sources suggest this will focus on known titles for Xbox, although there could be some heavy hitting surprises. Silent Hill 2, for example, was recently outed via the Microsoft Store back end as launching on November 21. So it stands to reason that Silent Hill 2 will have some kind of big shadow drop at the event. We also have The Game Awards coming up, where I've heard Microsoft has some major marketing beats for some of its properties. Microsoft also typically has a Developer Direct event in January, where it features deeper looks at upcoming games, usually from first party — but occasionally third-party partners as well.

Both games, and platform hints too

Devices like the Xbox Ally are changing the way games are played on the Xbox ecosystem. Microsoft's "This is an Xbox" campaign has aimed to highlight the fact that you can access Xbox content on a plurality of devices. The campaign has been the topic of some ridicule, though. The campaign de-emphasizes Xbox Series X|S hardware, which has endured near free-fall sales declines since the pandemic rush.

Microsoft has its work cut out to convince core gamers that this strategy is going to be a long-term success. Scepticism of the Xbox strategy has hit an all-time high, and Microsoft hasn't done a great deal to waylay concerns. Price hikes, strategy changes, and a big retreat from community engagement showcases a different "Xbox" than people have become accustomed to. Despite all of it, the Xbox platform is still here, and still seeing huge developer support.

Microsoft landed a big win when it won Epic Games' Fortnite to the Xbox PC app, meaning that Fortnite PC gamers no longer have to install the entire Epic Games Launcher to access the game. The Xbox app comes with Windows 11 as standard, and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate also now gives benefits for Fortnite players across PC and Xbox consoles as well.

Xbox Play Anywhere has been a great band-aid to help Xbox console users transition their gaming to other devices, but the Steam Machine is throwing a wrench in the works. Valve's Steam platform is essentially a vision of where Microsoft would like to take Xbox Play Anywhere, albeit with years of maturity on top. Better dev tools, more open publishing criteria, and a library with thousands of games already "Play Anywhere" via Steam Machines, PC, and NVIDIA GeForce Now — represents a significant challenge to Microsoft's strategy. Xbox of course has Call of Duty, Fortnite, Minecraft, and Roblox within its umbrella, as well as full Windows compatibility. So I'd say it's too early to count them out just yet.

The Xbox November Partner Showcase should give us a glimpse into how much support Microsoft is winning from developers for its Xbox Play Anywhere strategy, when it all goes live on November 20, 2025.

The Xbox Ally has been (semi) available for four weeks now, and I've used it almost every day since then.

We exclusively revealed the Xbox Ally a few months ago, formerly codenamed Kennan. The partnership between Xbox and ASUS represents an unprecedented move by Microsoft into the OEM universe, where its traditional PC partners can leverage the Xbox brand for their products.

ASUS is the first of these (not counting the Xbox Edition Meta Quest ...) and, for a first attempt, the Xbox Ally is truly fantastic.

The Xbox Ally represents some of the closest collaborations between the Windows 11 and Xbox teams in the platform's history, as Microsoft works flat out to improve the gamepad-first experience on an OS specifically not designed for it. We heard the Xbox Full Screen Experience was put together in just over a year, as Microsoft decided to park its own Xbox handheld ambitions to bring something to market more rapidly.

The feedback will shape the future Xbox handheld as well as the next-gen Xbox, which are both going to sport full Windows. But, the vast majority of customers don't want to be essentially "beta testing" the future of the Xbox platform via a pricy device like this. Is it actually viable for the everyday customer?

This is not a full technical review of the Xbox Ally or Xbox Ally X, which can be read over here. Instead, this is a reflection of a month of near-daily use with the Xbox Ally, research of ongoing issues, and discussions with the community. Should YOU buy the Xbox Ally? Here are my thoughts on the current state of it.

What I love — The first step towards an exciting Xbox future

The Xbox Ally has completely changed my gaming habits over the past month. I wrote a piece on how the Xbox Ally has boosted my mental health, vastly reducing the amount of time I spend in bed doom-scrolling negativity, opting instead for the relaxing climbs of Winter Burrow or Monster Hunter Stories.

Its superb ergonomics and boosted game access have, for the first time, made PC gaming handhelds a preferential place for me to play, rather than an incidental one. The ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go I own are both great, but they lacked that Steam Deck-like convenience and represented something of a chore to power on and actually get into a game.

With the full-screen Xbox experience, moving from "powered on, into a game" is seconds rather than minutes, no touch screen required or awkward tapping around the Desktop environment. The Xbox Ally X has a vastly boosted battery life over predecessor devices, too, eliminating the need to consider being near charging facilities for longer sessions.

If you use Xbox Cloud Gaming, Xbox Remote Play, or play less-intensive games in a low-power mode, you can easily get 4 hours of battery life out of the X and maybe 3.5 out of the Xbox Ally base model, which makes for good times unwinding before sleep. Replacing doom-scrolling with gaming is always a good shout.

Game performance across both devices is also very impressive. Some games aren't optimized for the Z2E platform, admittedly, with titles leveraging Unreal Engine Lumen in particular struggling. Silent Hill 2 Remake, Silent Hill F, and Cronos: The New Dawn sadly don't run particularly well as a result. However, games that are optimized run incredibly well.

I was surprised by the performance and quality of titles like Ninja Gaiden 4, Gears of War: Reloaded, Hogwarts Legacy, Forza Horizon 5, and various other more "intensive" titles. PlayStation PC titles like Ghost of Tsushima, God of War, and The Last of Us also run incredibly well, both on the Xbox Ally (with low settings, in some cases) and the Xbox Ally X (on medium/high).

Microsoft, AMD, and ASUS need to do some work on driver compatibility for some games, but there are still hundreds of AAA titles across Steam and Xbox PC that will provide an immaculate experience. And even more "AA" or "indie" games with retro-styled, or 2D graphics.

One thing I've really been enjoying with the Xbox Ally is exploring the Xbox PC store for games that are specifically more optimal for this type of device. I've been playing a lot more 2D or stylized games than I would have usually, such as Abathor, Hell is Other Demons, Ball x Pit, DUSK, Blood West, and Dragon Quest I & II remake.

I've also discovered heaps of Xbox Play Anywhere titles, many of which I didn't know even existed. When games are missing, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate with cloud or Xbox Remote Play supplements the experience too, and with the latest upgrades and solid Wi-Fi, both work extremely well.

Things like Remote Play, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Xbox Play Anywhere were all available before the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X existed, of course. But the ergonomics and user-friendly interface bridge the usability gap of trying to muddle through using the cloud on the web on your phone, or connecting a Bluetooth controller to the TV.

That console-like "it just works" experience is key to the Xbox Ally's viability as a gaming platform, with ergonomics more aligned with a first-party experience, and hardware less compromised than some of the other options out there. It's absolutely by no means a perfect experience, though, for a variety of reasons.

What needs fixing — There's a huge mountain to climb here

The vast majority of the time, I have no issues with the Xbox Ally, but there are plenty of Xbox Ally reviews whose experiences diverged heavily from my own.

Discussing the Xbox Ally with other content creators and reviewers, I found a familiar pattern here — with many of the issues revolving around Steam, and stepping out of the Xbox PC experience.

I think my experience with the Xbox Ally has been such plain sailing because I am an Xbox user, and I am using it as "an Xbox" just as the "This is an Xbox" marketing demands. It is, of course, a PC, meaning that you can step out of the Xbox experience and into other platforms like Steam — which aren't optimized for a device like this.

Steam and Xbox both fight for control over the Xbox nexus button, for example, which is frustrating as hell. There are a variety of small idiosyncrasies that frustrate the experience on the Xbox Ally to that end. I received a message the other day asking me if I'd experienced issues with the controls becoming unresponsive.

The Xbox Full Screen Experience doesn't "lock" windows to the device's display, meaning that windows can lose focus. Windows without focus can no longer detect controller inputs. You can fix it just by tapping on the screen, but a typical console user wouldn't realize that. You really need some decent Windows experience to navigate some of these issues, which betrays the messaging that this is truly a console-like experience.

Frustratingly, there are three separate apps for updating the Xbox Ally as well. The out-of-the-box experience requires literal hours of updates to get going. Just today, I received a BIOS update via the MyASUS app, rather than the ASUS Armoury Crate.

There's also Windows Update and the Microsoft Store for patches, too, and there's no way to open the Microsoft Store without exiting the Full Screen Experience.

Navigating the issues of the Xbox PC app also requires a lot of trial and error. My Xbox PC app still shows Windows Phone games and beta test clients, for example, that aren't even available to play anymore. There's no way to hide them. Some games are straight-up broken on the Xbox PC app as well, such as Death Stranding and Fallout 4 — the latter of which is particularly egregious given that Microsoft owns it.

It's not as if Steam and other PC clients don't have similar issues with abandonware, but Microsoft's nascent PC store isn't exactly setting a good example for itself. There's a ton of complexity and "caveats" to downloading games on the Xbox PC store, with EA and Ubisoft games not supporting cross-save compatibility, if indeed they will launch at all on the Xbox Ally.

The Xbox PC app also surfaces and recommends games that aren't fully compatible with the Xbox Ally, with no controller support, despite its "handheld compatibility" program.

I'm irritated that the Xbox PC app is missing tons of features that the Xbox console has. You can't hide games in the library, you can't sort games by date acquired, meaning titles will vanish into large libraries and become hard to find. The Xbox PC store search function isn't always up to par either, and it can be hard to navigate the drop-down menu and other elements with a controller.

The Xbox Game Bar "Xbox Guide" is also irritating, with navigation issues any time you need to click on an element that is "diagonal" from the cursor. There's no way to automatically upload game clips to the Xbox network from the Xbox Game Bar on PC either, requiring you to map into OneDrive, which can actually cause other issues as well.

Why can't I access apps like Twitter or Discord without first exiting into the gamepad-hating Windows Desktop, either?

There are plenty of other small issues that I could list here if we wanted to make the article 10,000 words long. The good news is that these are all relatively small issues that are hopefully easy to fix over time. Whether or not you're willing to wait for them to do that, given how much these things cost, wholly depends on you. Microsoft has a roadmap of updates for the Xbox Ally slated for 2026, but in an ideal world, we'd have had these fixes out of the box.

I've discovered a pool of Xbox PC / Xbox Play Anywhere games that work well on the Xbox Ally, and generally avoid Steam on this device owing to the weird issues navigating between the two environments. More games are being added all the time, and when they're not present, you can tap Xbox Cloud Gaming and Xbox Remote Play.

If you treat the Xbox Ally like an "Xbox," the experience is far better than if you try to treat it like a gaming PC. Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Xbox Game Pass users in particular are going to get the most out of this system. At least for now.

Yes, it really IS an Xbox — but that comes with pros and cons

You can use Steam, GOG, and other PC clients on the Xbox Ally, but until developers start optimizing their storefronts for gamepad use and the Xbox Full Screen Experience, it's always going to feel clunky. Microsoft naturally can't force them to do that, so its focus needs to be on improving the Xbox PC experience.

There are issues with the Xbox PC "Full Screen" experience, whether it's feature gaps with the Xbox console, anaemic support from PC developers, or compatibility problems — the challenges cannot be overstated.

RELATED: Best Xbox Ally / X Accessories

The Xbox PC experience has improved by a truly huge amount over the past few years, with more games than ever grabbing Xbox Play Anywhere. Xbox Cloud Gaming is also more viable as an endpoint, and Xbox Remote Play has become quite solid as well. The vast amount of investment required to polish up all these initiatives must be daunting, though, particularly as Valve's Steam Machine encroaches on the strategy.

Should you buy it? If you're an Xbox gamer familiar with the Xbox Series X|S ecosystem, Xbox Play Anywhere, and have Xbox Game Pass — the Xbox Ally is a truly great companion. Even if you buy the base model for more indie-style gaming, you'll find yourself gaming more, given that you can now take your experience away from the TV. You'll maximize your Xbox Game Pass value by leveraging cloud and Xbox Play Anywhere on top.

The biggest frustrations will come from PC-first gamers outside of the Xbox PC ecosystem. The Xbox Ally supports Steam today, but the experience isn't always the best, and likely requires some input from Valve to improve. Given the incredibly niche install base that the Xbox Ally represents and Valve's focus on its Steam Machine line, I suspect we won't see major improvements there in the short to medium term.

For Microsoft's side, improvements to the Xbox Ally are essentially improvements for the first-party next-gen Xbox, too. So, the gradual march of polish will continue.

Whether or not you're willing to participate in this experience as an early adopter depends wholly on your mileage, but even despite its relatively rough state, there's so much to play, and so much enjoyment to be had even more. Perhaps you even enjoy the early adopter experience (like me), to see how it'll evolve over time.

Even at this early juncture, for Xbox ecosystem users who want more ways to play, I cannot recommend the Xbox Ally enough. Steam users should probably continue to look to the Steam Deck for a truly polished experience, unless you want the raw power the Z2E chips offer — and don't mind putting up with some quirks.

The Xbox Ally has become a preferred gaming endpoint for me, in ways the previous-gen Windows PC gaming handhelds simply couldn't. I'm excited to see where we'll be in a year's time.

Players who still subscribe to the top tier of Xbox Game Pass may have endured a massive 50% price hike recently, but one of the benefits touted alongside that increase is soon to arrive. As shared on Xbox Wire on Friday, the Fortnite Crew subscription is coming to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate on Nov. 18, 2025.

That means that Ultimate-tier subscribers will get access to the Fortnite battle pass, 1,000 monthly V-Bucks, and other goodies on a regular basis. Fortnite Crew normally costs $12 a month, so if you're already subscribed to both separately, you can save some money now.

Alongside confirmation of when this new feature will be dropping, Xbox Wire also shared that Fortnite is coming to Xbox on PC, and by extension, is getting Xbox Play Anywhere support.

By extension, that means players using the newly-launched ROG Xbox Ally handhelds will be able to download and play Fortnite natively, without having to install the Epic Games Store launcher.

Xbox Play Anywhere support comes at an interesting time

The newfound launch of Fortnite on Xbox Play Anywhere is quite interesting, as it comes at a time when the Xbox division is placing greater and greater emphasis on Xbox Play Anywhere as a feature for players to take advantage of.

The company is also exploring other avenues with the feature, bringing some games like id Software's DOOM: The Dark Ages to Blizzard Entertainment's Battle.net launcher.

Windows Central has even reported that there is a yet-unannounced Xbox Partner Preview event coming later in November that will be heavily focused on games with Xbox Play Anywhere support.

The timing is also interesting (entirely by coincidence) as Steam owner Valve recently announced its upcoming Steam Machine, bringing the idea and functionality of the Steam Deck to a console-like form factor.

Valve's device has many advantages, bringing in Steam players' libraries that can now amusingly include Xbox and PlayStation games, but the use of SteamOS means the usual anti-cheat drawbacks will be present. That means games like Apex Legends, Call of Duty, and Fortnite won't be playable on Steam Machine, at least for now.

Will Xbox players subscribe to Game Pass Ultimate for Fortnite Crew?

When the tier changes for Xbox Game Pass were previously announced, I argued that the reasoning actually made some sense, with Xbox trying to tackle a very valid problem with "black hole" games eating up player time, but that it wasn't likely to end up working.

That's still my opinion now, but I'm curious to see what happens in the weeks and months to come. If you're an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriber (or someone that regularly plays Fortnite) then please, let me know if you'll be taking advantage of this new combo.

Monster Hunter Stories and Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruins, two of my personal favorite Pokémon-like PC titles, have finally arrived on Xbox, as the Monster Hunter Stories Collection has now launched for Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.

What's even better is that these games can be played on the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X via remote play, so you can continue playing these awesome Xbox JRPGs whenever your main Xbox console is being used by someone else.

If you haven't heard of these games before, here's a quick refresher on why these games are awesome for both JRPGs and people looking for a true evolution of the Pokémon formula.

The Monster Hunter Stories series is a spin-off of Capcom's popular Monster Hunter franchise. However, instead of hunting monsters in semi-sandbox locales with action-RPG combat, you battle monsters in turn-based combat while seeking to befriend them as potential "Monstie" party members.

Each game has you play as a Rider, a special group of warriors who can tame monsters by using mystical artifacts known as Kinship Stones.

Together with your Monstie companions and other colorful characters you meet on your journey, you will travel the world to uncover mysteries, find new Monsties, and save the land from disastrous calamities.

What makes these games unique and fun is that they successfully combine the monster-catching gameplay formula of Pokémon with the gameplay mechanics, setting, and monsters of the Monster Hunter franchise.

For example, these games let your character fight alongside their tamed beasts in battle instead of sitting on the sidelines.

They can wield the iconic Monster Hunter weapons like Greatsword, Hammer, and Hunting Horn, lay down traps to ensnare enemies, whilst commanding their Monsties to perform powerful moves to lay waste to hostile monsters.

The Monster Hunter Stories games also offer diverse character and Monstie customization. You can equip your Rider with all kinds of gear to boost their stats, and equip your favorite Monsties with the genes of other Monsties to gain new abilities and become the ultimate killing machine.

I can't wait to return the world of Monster Hunter Stories on Xbox

As both a Monster Hunter and JRPG fan, I absolutely adore these games.

While their stories are fairly simplistic, they have charming casts of characters to root for and bright and colorful worlds to explore.

My favorite parts of these games are their challenging but fun, rock-paper-scissors-style combat systems, spending hours finding every single Monstie and splicing their genes to create an unstoppable army of Frankenstein-esque freaks of nature.

Now, Xbox fans will finally get to experience these games for themselves as the Monster Hunter Stories Collection is available for purchase on Xbox consoles at various retailers.

Not to mention, this game will be great for new fans to get caught up in the series in the lead-up to Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection, which is looking to be the biggest entry in the series yet with its darker story, expanded world, and calvadade of new recruitable monsters from Monster Hunter Rise and Monster Hunter Wilds.

FAQ

In this week's Steam Machine announcement, one of the biggest core strengths of Valve's massive PC store operation was often overlooked in the discourse.

The Steam Machine looks like it won't be as powerful as the PS5 or Xbox Series X on paper, but it honestly doesn't matter. Its biggest strength is arguably the Steam store itself, whose mature dev tools and open publishing practices has delivered a stream of mega-viral indie hits that PlayStation and Xbox often only enjoy delayed access — if indeed they get access at all.

Indeed, one of the key criticisms I often hear from game devs trying to work with Xbox revolves around how difficult it is to actually get things published on Microsoft's platforms. Microsoft has heard the feedback loud and clear, and announced the start of a variety of changes aimed to solve this gap.

Microsoft revealed today that it is making its publishing critieria public for the first time, since its inception over two decades ago. The new Xbox Game Publishing Guide will offer developers a variety of information about how publishing on Xbox works, all without the NDAs and embargos of yesteryear.

"By opening our Game Publishing Documentation, we’re removing barriers to learning and making it easier for teams of all sizes to understand what it takes to ship a game on Xbox," Microsoft's Ed Stewart explained."Whether you’re a first-time independent developer or a seasoned publisher, you can now browse the guide freely, share it with your team, and reference it throughout development. "

Microsoft says that improving access to its documentation allows people to plan, learn, and research processes around Xbox console and Xbox PC development without the headaches of signing up and getting approved access. The more open approach should also lead to an upswing in content on sites like YouTube as others help relay information as part of their educational content plans.

Indeed, Microsoft has also lifted all NDA restrictions on the documentation too, meaning that people can create content around the publishing criteria, discuss it within their communities, or in the Microsoft Game Dev Discord, also listed in the blog.

Microsoft says its public documentations for Xbox publishing will be updated in perpetuity, to ensure that everyone has the most current rulesets. The most recent updates includes onboarding info, wishlisting details, pre-orders and release configuration guidance, Xbox Insider Program and Xbox Game Preview systems, and new test services.

Microsoft also recently detailed some of its October GDK updates for Xbox publishing, showcasing improvements to Xbox keyboard APIs and other features to bring Xbox console and Xbox PC game dev closer together. Microsoft is pursuing Xbox Play Anywhere as a means to help bridge the gap between Xbox Series X|S console games and Xbox PC users, although the next-gen Xbox is expected to be more PC-like than ever, sporting full Windows.

In a universe where Microsoft's gaming efforts are aligning more closely with Steam than a traditional gaming platform, Microsoft can't afford for game publishing to be as closed and laborious as it was in the past.

I recently spoke to ID@Xbox lead Chris Charla about the publishing situation on Xbox. The full interview is coming soon, but Charla noted to me that this first step is part of a bigger journey to enhance the onboarding process for getting games published on the Xbox console and Xbox PC ecosystems. Microsoft has heard feedback loud and clear from independent developers on how Xbox and other platforms often make it needlessly tough to get their games out there.

Microsoft is exploring a range of investments to not only make the process easier technologically, but also philosophically, too. Discoverability should also get a boost down the line, and Microsoft ecosystem game developers also enjoy a better cut of the revenue on the Xbox PC store, upwards of 88% instead of the old-school industry standard of 70%.

Developers interested in shipping on Xbox PC or Xbox consoles are encouraged by Microsoft to sign up for ID@Xbox over here, and also join the MS Game Dev Discord here.

The new Xbox Game Publishing Guide can be read in full over here.

FAQ

I've been having a blast with The Outer Worlds 2, and it certainly feels more stable than a lot of high-profile video game releases these days — but I'd never go so far as to claim it's perfect.

I've encountered my fair share of bugs and quirks in Obsidian Entertainment's latest masterpiece, and one in particular annoyed me. Well, I suppose The Outer Worlds 2 team is listening in on me, because they just released a new patch that fixes that exact bug.

If you've been locked outside Otto's saferoom and believed you may just be an idiot, fret no more. It was a bug, and the latest update for The Outer Worlds 2 fixes it... Oh, and I guess there are quite a few other crucial patches in this release, too.

Finally, I can get past this dumb lock

The Outer Worlds 2 has been out for a week, now (if you count its 5-day early access run), and the developers at Obsidian are clearly hard at work smoothing over some of the rough spots players have discovered.

The latest effort is a patch rolling out across Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5 right now, and it brings with it a healthy number of fixes.

Most players will probably be more interested in the fixes for rare crashes, corrupted saves, and progression-breaking bugs in various story and companion quests. Those sensitive to noise may be glad to know the double-jump boots will no longer play at twice the intended volume (hooray!).

That's all good stuff, but I'm most excited for a very specific bug affecting a very specific puzzle in a very specific place. Hidden in Free Market Station is a wall of levers and a cryptic note hinting that there's treasure stashed behind a nearby locked door — if only you can solve the puzzle for how to correctly route power to the door without overloading the levers.

I first found the Otto's Lock puzzle before acquiring the story-related N-Ray Scanner I didn't know I needed, and eventually left. Hours later, I returned, only to find myself stumped once again. Had I truly been bested by the puzzle? Had video games finally crippled my faculties? A quick Google search revealed that, no, I was fine, it's the game that's the problem.

Plenty of other players have been left confounded by this tiny bug, which causes one of the levers to not truly activate when you interact with it. I'm glad I didn't have to wait weeks for a patch that fixed this bug (like I had to wait weeks for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle to fix the bug preventing me from getting 100% of the journal).

Look out for the update on your device at any moment. On my Xbox Series X, it came out to around 1.18GB in size.

Oh, and if you're looking for a sweet new gun in The Outer Worlds 2, there's one hidden in your ship (and an easy way to collect it).

FAQ

The Outer Worlds 2 has arrived, and you can spend dozens of hours exploring this vibrant sci-fi universe and collecting a veritable armory of powerful gear and weapons. It turns out, though, that one unique weapon is safely stashed inside The Incognito, your space-faring ship.

At first glance, it may seem impossible to obtain this special gun in the first half of the game, but there's actually a secret way to access it the moment you get past the prologue. Even better, this gun's unique ability is that it grows more powerful the longer you use it.

Here's everything you need to know about obtaining the Rookie's Reward submachine gun in The Outer Worlds 2, including the secret trick to unlocking its case and whether it's actually worth using during your adventures.

How do you get the Rookie's Reward unique weapon in The Outer Worlds 2?

Following the short prologue section in The Outer Worlds 2 (after you've wakened from hibernation and can travel to Paradise Island on Eden), you'll have free rein to explore the entirety of The Incognito, your trusty ship and home.

It's here you can find a new unique weapon to add to your arsenal, and you can do so the moment you're given the controls. Here are the steps, quick and simple:

1. Find the room in The Incognito with the Workstation, various lockers, and the locked cabinet.
2. Ignore the cabinet (it requires a Lockpicking skill of 11, which is very high), and turn toward the Workstation.
3. Climb on top of the boxes stacked in the corner next to the Workstation, and find the lever hidden behind them.
4. Interact with this lever to power down the cabinet and disable its lock.
5. Return to the cabinet and collect your prize, the Rookie's Reward unique weapon.

I wish I had discovered this secret earlier, because the Rookie's Reward is actually quite an interesting weapon, and its value only increases the longer you have it.

What does the Rookie's Reward gun do in The Outer Worlds 2?

The Rookie's Reward is an "assuming gun" based on its official description, and that largely tracks. This is a straightforward fully automatic submachine gun; unlike most unique weapons with special interactions or damage types, this gun's unique modification doesn't change its fundamentals.

Instead, the Rookie's Reward gains experience from your kills and assists, and it levels up over time. As you earn levels (simply by killing enemies with it), the Rookie's Reward will permanently increase its damage, fire rate, and magazine size — and each level earned will come with a celebratory explosion of confetti. Even among unique gear, it's unique.

You can earn levels relatively quickly with the Rookie's Reward, and the improvements are immediately noticeable. At first, this gun fires quite slowly and doesn't boast a lot of ammo, but even at level 12 (when I found it) I was still able to stay competitive in fire fights — and that's without any skill points in Guns or gun-related perks.

After about an hour of gameplay, the Rookie's Reward had reached level 5 and was considerably more effective at dispatching opponents. I assume this gun does have a maximum level (possibly level 30, the same as the player), but I haven't reached it yet and can't say for certain.

I'm enjoying the Rookie's Reward enough that I'm going to continue relying on it moving forward. My only complaint is that it can't accept a barrel mod, so I can't silence it or change its damage type. That aside, it's a fun unique weapon, and I'm excited to see just how much it can grow.

FAQ