I really enjoyed the Xbox Developer Direct.
The games that caught my attention the most were Avowed and Visions of Mana.
Honorable mention for the Indiana Jones game.
I also really liked the style/design of the presentation itself.
Avowed is either going to be really good or really bad, and I can’t tell which it’ll be. The world looks great but only two playable races is annoying, and the dialogue looked really dull in that preview.
Ara was my highlight of the show. It really is just Civ 7 but in a different name, but it looks great.
Ara looks amazing visually, but honestly I dont have the patience for this kind of game.
Direct link: Xbox - Developer_Direct 2024
1:22 - Obsidian Entertainment, Avowed. Release date: Fall 2024.
They show the game’s world, the combat system, and touch a bit on the quest system and dialogue options.
9:22 - Ninja Theory, Senua’s Saga Hellblade II. Release date: May 21, 2024.
They talk about the story and theme of the game, show some cutscenes, and touch a bit on the combat system. They also delve into the sound design, and some behind-the-scenes about the setting and motion capture.
18:04 - Square Enix, Secret of Mana. Release date: Summer 2024.
They talk about the combat system, monster design, and show a glimpse of the mount travelling across the open world. The final segment is dedicated to the soundtrack, and how it changes to fit the moment-to-moment gameplay.
25:12 - Oxide, Ara History Untold. Release date: Fall 2024.
They talk about wanting to revolutionize the genre. They show procedurally generated biomes, and mention the attention to detail that went into crafting different cultures and societies from all around the world. The system is deep, requiring the player to explore and make choices that will change the society and the world around them to achieve different win conditions. No mention of Xbox, so I guess it’s still a PC-only release, at least for now.
33:10 - Machine Games, Indiana Jones and the great circle. Release date: 2024.
Hey, look, Todd Howard makes an appearance. There’s some cutscenes, but they show gameplay as well. It’s a first person adventure game set between Raiders of the lost ark and The last crusade. Dr. Jones is shown exploring ancient ruins, vast deserts, snowy mountains and the Vatican, following the trails of a man who stole a relic from the Marshall College and fighting some nazis along the way. But they also talk about the puzzles, which will take centre stage. Seems cool. The last bit is about the behind-the-scenes of the animators and composers, and they also talk about the other characters that will be part of the story.
Personal opinion below.
It’s a bit strange that only one has a fixed release date despite all of them supposedly releasing this year, with the biggest offender being Indiana Jones that only has a generic “2024” release date. That being said, they all showed glimpses of gameplay and different environments, suggesting there’s at least a good chunk of the game already built. I could definitively see Indiana Jones being postponed, though (not a prediction, just saying that I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened).
Avowed seems ok. I’m not a fun of first-person fantasy games (I like looking at my character performing sick moves in cool armour), but they certainly know what they are doing and the gameplay looks fun and snappy. Unfortunately, apart from the combat system and one limited character interaction, they didn’t show too much of the gameplay to give me an idea of what the moment-to-moment gameplay will be, so I’ll suspend my judgement on this one for the moment while I keep waiting for more info.
Senua’s really good, but I never had any doubt about this one. It looked good when they first showed it a few years back, and it somehow looks ever better every time, despite this being the third or fourth trailer I’ve seen in as many years. It gives me the impression they really care about crafting as much a polished game as they can. I’m very optimistic about this one.
I love that they spent half the time dedicated to Secret of Mana talking about the cute critters. I loved every second of it, I’m a sucker for cute animals lol. Unfortunately I always find action JRPGs to be hit and miss: sometimes the game drags just too much and the gameplay ends up boring me before I finish the game. I’m not talking about this game in particular, it’s just a generic statement on the genre, and it’s just a “me” thing, feel free to disagree. Anyway, I’ll keep my eyes on this.
I always love strategy games, so I’m curious about Ara History Untold, which I hadn’t heard before today. I’m not going to lie, I was not entirely impressed, but it got me curious.
About Indiana Jones, I’m already looking forward to playing it, no doubt! I hope the focus will be on puzzles and exploration, as they promised, instead of combat, but I am hopeful they’ll do a decent job.
Avowed looks a bit rough to me but I can’t pinpoint why.
Indiana Jones looks amazing though, I’m really surprised.
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