State of Play
Summer Game Fest 2026
Wholesome Direct 2026
Xbox Games Showcase 2026
Nintendo Direct

Xbox Games Showcase

Today was the Xbox Games Showcase, and it always surprises me a little that I’ve started looking forward to it so much despite not being much of an Xbox person. In recent years, Xbox’s showcases have ended up having some of the most exciting third-party announcements for me.

I’ll go through the whole showcase, but don’t forget to check it out if you want to see the trailers I don’t highlight here.

They started with Gears of War: E-Day and then the new Fable game, neither of which I’m especially interested in, although I’m mildly curious about Fable. Then came the trailer for the Halo remake, followed by Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy, which also fall into that “mild interest” category for me.

And then it was time for Persona 4 Revival! I’m not in any rush to play it, since I played Persona 4 Golden already, but it looks absolutely beautiful and it will be out on February 18.

They showed State of Decay 3 and Metro 2039 (Metro is one of those series I might try someday but just haven’t ever gotten around to), and then a silly-looking game called Bad Magpie where you cause mayhem as a magpie.

Wo Long 2: Wings of Ember was also announced, and while I haven’t played the first one, it looked decently interesting.

Next up was a game called Join Us, and then a new game in the Hellblade series was announced, although this one is just called Senua, maybe to emphasize that it’s a standalone game.

They followed that with some new Fallout 76 stuff, DLC for Doom: The Dark Ages, and our first look at Crazy Taxi: World Tour.

You know, I have a vivid memory of trying a Crazy Taxi demo in a store once, as a kid. Even though I never played the full game, that memory is strong enough that I feel a strange sense of fondness for the series nevertheless.

There was a special limited edition Xbox, followed by Age of Empires IV: Raiders of the North, and a new trailer for Minecraft Dungeons II, and then they announced Magicians: The Devil’s Deal, which looks interesting and at the very least has a neat trailer.

Next came a “first-person action soulslike” about Napoleon called Valor Mortis, new content announcements for The Elder Scrolls Online and Microsoft Flight Simulator, and Where Winds Meet: Hidden Mountain.

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse got a new trailer and a October 15 release date, so I’m excited for that. I’m tempted to try some Castlevania games before that comes out.

The next trailer was for Vivarium, and then…

…Persona 6! Yes, it only got a tiny teaser trailer (possibly to avoid overshadowing Persona 4 Revival), but the little bit they showed has me intrigued.

And hot on the heels of that came a new Spyro game?!

Yes, after all these years of us hoping and wondering and clinging to random glimpses of purple, Spyro: A Realm Beyond has actually been announced! Spring 2027, so it’s still a long way off, but I hope it’s good. It sounds like it’ll have a big emphasis on flight, so we’ll see how that goes.

The show finished with Clockwork Revolution and Call of Duty, but my head was already filled with thoughts of Persona 6 and Spyro.

There were definitely some standout announcements in today’s Xbox showcase. Which did you like the most?

State of Play
Summer Game Fest 2026
Wholesome Direct 2026
Xbox Games Showcase 2026
Nintendo Direct

Summer Game Fest 2026

All right, tonight was the official Summer Game Fest live stream! Like with the State of Play, I’ll just be covering the highlights (it was a 2 hour stream), so I’ll link to the full stream once it’s available.

Anyway, they started out with some heavy hitters!

First up was Resident Evil Veronica, the long-rumored remake of Resident Evil Code: Veronica. I’m not sure why they dropped “Code” from the title for the remake, but I’ll be keeping my eye on it for sure.

Speaking of horror games I’m keeping an eye on, they followed with the first full trailer for Alien Isolation 2! Now, I loved Alien Isolation, and I’ve always been a little skeptical about whether or not a sequel would have the same excellent feel… but I’m cautiously hopeful.

The new game from the creator of Ico/Shadow of the Colossus/etc. also got a new trailer, now with the official title gen ATLAS, and it also looks potentially very interesting.

An action-adventure game called Blood Message was shown, and that looks interesting as well, and then the next highlight for me was also one of the moments that left me with the most mixed feelings.

Because it was a new trailer for Stranger Than Heaven. And it looks really promising! And it got a release date of January 15!

…and for some reason, Tupac Shakur is in the cast list. Now, they already had announced one dead actor’s likeness for the game, Bunta Sugawara, but that felt like they had done it because it was the sort of story he would have acted in. Now it’s starting to feel strange. Not a deal-breaker for me, as long as there’s no AI involvement, but it does feel very weird.

(Edit: the official press release confirms they are not using AI.)

A new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game was announced from PlatinumGames, and we got a new trailer for Control Resonant. I also found myself a little curious about Gundam Rogue Orbit, although I know next to nothing about Gundam.

Similarly, I found myself more curious than I expected by Virtual Fighter Crossroads, since the trailer had more of a focus on story.

1666: Amsterdam looks potentially interesting, and so does Lords of the Fallen II.

I’m also really curious about Star Wars: Zero Company, the Star War tactics game that we talked about previously, except I forgot all about it, so I was surprised all over again to see the tactical gameplay.

Meanwhile, The Blood of Dawnwalker and the DLC of 007 First Light both fall into that category where I’m mildly interested but don’t have any firm plans to play.

But how about a game I’ve been waiting for for a long time? Yes, after being cancelled and then un-cancelled, The Wolf Among Us 2 finally got a new trailer and a 2027 release window. I really hope it’s good. On top of that, the original is also getting remastered.

The next game that has me cautiously optimistic is Stellar Blade Blood Rain. I still haven’t played the original, but I intend to, and the new game looks interesting… but the developer has made a lot of pro-AI statements, so I’m withholding my excitement until I know if they used AI while making it or not.

(Update: it seems they used AI for the key art, so… there goes that.)

Finally, Summer Game Fest closed out with a look at a game that was easily the best announcement of the showcase for me: the first part of the Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy, officially titled Final Fantasy VII Revelation.

It looks really good! It also painfully reminds me that I haven’t played Rebirth yet, but it won’t be out until Spring 2027, so that gives me plenty of time to catch up.

In addition to the trailer, they also provided a five-minute deeper dive into the gameplay. It’s so funny to me that we jump out of the Highwind instead of, you know, landing it, but if that means we can fly the airship around the world, I’ll take it. The combat for Vincent also looks especially cool.

There’s a job system, too!

So while there was no Kingdom Hearts IV at Summer Game Fest, I can’t say it didn’t have some nice surprises for me. What are your thoughts on this year’s Summer Game Fest announcements?