Xbox stirs hope for the future with a slew of new game trailers

Ahead of the release of the Xbox Series X later this year, Xbox revealed a handful of new trailers Thursday for upcoming first-party games, including an extensive look at Halo Infinite, a teaser for a new Fable game, and a look at a new game from the studio that brought us Life Is Strange.

All of the games shown in this lineup will be available for Xbox Game Pass subscribers both for Xbox One games coming soon and games launching alongside the Xbox Series X. This is lovely news for players who want to check out a bunch of new games but would rather pay for the monthly cost of Game Pass than shell out $60 a pop for many of these titles.

Many of the games shown are also going to be available on PC for all you desktop gamers out there.

Check out all the exciting new trailers and reveals below.

Halo Infinite

This long look at Halo Infinite‘s gameplay has pretty much everything a longtime Halo fan could hope to see. You’ve got a stone-cold Master Chief, classic weapons, some good old-fashioned slaying of Covenant aliens, beautiful scenery on a titular Halo ring, and even a short drive on one of the best video game vehicles of all time, the Warthog. There are plenty of new features to ogle including Chief’s grappling hook and what appears to be a more open world approach to the game’s campaign.

State of Decay 3

Things are not looking pretty in State of Decay 3. OK, they kind of are, because this game is visually stunning with its snowy environment and gross zombie-animals. We don’t see any human zombies in this trailer, focusing more on the outdoors and a nasty, wolf-eating deer, but surely they’re lurking nearby.

Forza Motorsport

Forza just keeps looking better and better. With each new Forza release we draw closer to reality. At some point, a Forza game will just be a real car that we get to drive around the world, right?

Everwild

This new game from Rare seems to harken back to years back when so many games coming out of that studio were full of life and color. Everwild embraces the worlds of magic and wildlife in a gorgeous-looking game that, based on that music, will surely tug at players’ heartstrings.

Tell Me Why

From the team that brought us the gripping story of Life Is Strange, Tell Me Why is a drama that touches on family and death, heavy topics that will unfold episodically beginning this year.

Outer Worlds: Peril of Gorgon

This expansion for Outer Wilds sends players on a journey to an abandoned research facility on the Gorgon Asteroid to uncover secrets and battle enemies in a whole new story rife with intrigue.

Grounded

This survival game looks like it’s part Fortnite (the original survival mode) and part Honey I Shrunk the Kids. Players have been shrunken down to the size of insects and have to work together to build up their defenses and acquire resources on a tiny scale to survive.

Avowed

Obsidian is a powerhouse studio for fantasy RPGs, and Avowed looks like it will carry that torch forward into the new generation of gaming with a new first-person approach. We have swords, magic, battles at castles, and forboding caves, and a similar look to Elder Scrolls games like Skyrim and Oblivion. 

As Dusk Falls

This dramatic journey of struggle and survival puts players into the shoes of its complicated, realistic characters in a story spanning 13 years of life. This new studio, Int./Night, is clearly interested in telling engrossing, captivating, and complex stories.

Psychonauts 2

Accompanied by the sultry, metal-tinged singing pipes of Jack Black, this first big look at Psychonauts 2 looks like a real trippy journey that hearkens back to the original 2005 game’s mind-bending platforming and cranial exploration.

Destiny 2: Beyond Light

A new trailer for the next step in Destiny 2 gives players a glimpse at the upcoming, icy action coming to the action MMO on Nov. 10.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2

Set near the site of the infamous Chernobyl meltdown, this trailer explores some genuinely creepy territory with genetic mutations and gross experiments, combined with the unsettling nature of walking around the aftermath of nuclear destruction. The last S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game came out in 2009, so it’s been a long time coming for a return to this series.

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide

The Warhammer universe is a massive one full of so many interesting and unique ideas. In Darktide, things look like they’re getting pretty dark and scary as a mass of shambling horrors reveals itself as an immediate and terrifying threat.

Tetris Effect: Connected

Tetris Effect is a gorgeous take on the classic puzzle game, and this Connected followup takes that idea and expands it into an online experience so you can play Tetris with friends and against strangers.

The Gunk

The Gunk features a well-equipped adventurer going on an otherwordly journey sucking up dark gunk to give way to new areas to explore and new life to bloom. We didn’t get a lot of information about this adventure but it looks pretty. And who doesn’t like doing a little cleanup?

The Medium

Murder! Mystery! Two realities are bending around each other in The Medium. One looks very realistic albeit very creepy, and the other has much more visible horror and even some magic built into its fabric.

Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis

PSO2 is back baby and it looks better than ever. This expansive fantasy action RPG that first launched in 2012 is getting a visual overhaul and new content for fans to hack and slash their way through.

CrossfireX

There’s always room for a new first-person shooter series, right? Right? This new take on first-person action has a whole bunch of staples that have popped up all around the genre for years and years. Does it offer anything new that we haven’t seen before? Unclear!

Fable

It’s been 10 years since the last Fable game and we finally have news of a new entry to the fantasy RPG series that allows players to choose their paths into good or evil. That duality comes across pretty strongly in this funny little teaser. Curiously, it appears to be called Fable rather than Fable 4, so perhaps it’s a reboot.