Michael McWhertor
Xbox Game Studios and Bethesda Softworks held their debut Developer Direct showcase on Wednesday, offering new details and gameplay for games like Redfall, Minecraft Legends, and Forza Motorsport. While Bethesda’s Starfield was a notable absence — something Microsoft communicated ahead of time — there was at least one major surprise: a new game announcement and a surprise game release.
Here’s everything that was announced at Xbox Developer Direct.
Minecraft Legends arrives in April
Minecraft studio Mojang and Blackbird Interactive dived into Minecraft Legends’ PvP mode, which combines elements of action and real-time strategy games, and pits teams of players against each other to build a base, collect, resources, and raid each other’s strongholds. They also announced a release date: Minecraft Legends is coming to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X on April 18.
Forza Motorsport gets down and dirty in 2023
There’s still no release date for the new Forza Motorsport from Turn 10 Studios, but the racing game developer offered a closer look at its sequel on Wednesday. Forza Motorsport brings a fleet of more than 500 cars, with all the audiovisual fidelity that fans have expected of an Xbox showpiece for more than 20 years, as well as 4K resolution at 60 frames per second, with ray-traced light rendering.
For much more on Forza Motorsport, read Polygon’s interview with Turn 10.
Redfall launches in May
Arkane Studios’ Redfall, the first-person shooter that pits a group of survivors against an infestation of vampires in an overrun seaside town, is coming to Xbox Series X and Windows PC on May 2. Redfall will launch on Game Pass for Xbox and PC.
Hi-Fi Rush is a surprise launch
Tango Gameworks, the Bethesda Softworks studio behind horror games The Evil Within and Ghostwire: Tokyo, revealed its next project, Hi-Fi Rush. It’s a big departure for the studio; Hi-Fi Rush is a cartoonish rhythm-based action game with a colorful visual style that looks somewhere between Sega’s Jet Set Radio and Insomniac’s Sunset Overdrive. An even bigger surprise? It’s out now on Game Pass and Steam.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Necrom arrives in June
ZeniMax Online Studios’ MMO The Elder Scrolls Online gets a new chapter, Necrom, this June. It will return players to the alien lands of Morrowind and its unexplored eastern regions. Necrom brings with it a new playable class, the Arcanist.