With its many studios, Xbox intends to strike a blow in 2022. What to shake the hegemony of the PlayStation 5?
Like its competitor, the Xbox Series X isn't the easiest "next-gen" console to find. And if its little sister, the Xbox Series S, has reasonable stocks, games remain the sinews of war. Thanks to its GamePass, its subscription game service, Microsoft has nevertheless been able to forge important partnerships with third-party publishers, but also to take advantage of a rather significant year 2021 in terms of exclusivities.
But what does 2022 have in store for us? If there is one manufacturer whose projects are still rather vague, it is obviously Xbox, but the promises are nevertheless numerous, reinforced by the multiple takeovers of the last 3 years. Note that all of the games mentioned will be released on the first day on the Game Pass (PC and Xbox).
Starfield
It's hard not to start with what looks like one of the biggest exclusives of the year, all platforms combined. Starfield is the new project from Bethesda, which has belonged to Xbox for over a year now. And if we are interested in it, it is because it is above all the first original license from Bethesda Games Studios, the creators of The Elder Scrolls, for 20 years.
An impressive gaming background, and the promise of infinite space exploration (or almost). With its retro-futuristic side, its planets as dangerous as they are exciting to explore, the title may have been revealed many times since its initial announcement, but it remains very mysterious. But no matter: the “team-Skyrim” is at the helm, and we can already be sure to enjoy exciting quests and multiple possibilities to customize our epic thanks to mods.
There are still several unknowns: will the game have an experience that lives up to expectations from day one, or will it once again be necessary to rely on the fans to avoid bugs? Response on November 11.
red fall
Now in the hands of Xbox through Bethesda, the Spanish studio Arkane is currently developing a brand new license called RedFall.
No assassin, no stealth here like in Dishonored, but a cooperative FPS where vampires, cute little robots and human survivors intermingle. If no gameplay has been officially unveiled, some leaks have nevertheless surfaced, and we find a feeling close to a Left 4 Dead with different heroes representing classes, and enemies there also diversified against many weapons and capacities.
Contrary to the title of Valve, RedFall nevertheless seems to bet on an important screenplay around a new universe (telling the blood trance of vampires facing humans). The game also adopts a graphic bias between realism and cartoon. It remains to be seen if a PvP mode will also be there, while a summer 2022 release has been announced, although a delay could spoil the party.
Senua's Saga : Hellblade 2
Announced by surprise at the 2019 Game Awards (along with the Xbox Series X), it was also the first exclusive to have been confirmed on Microsoft's next-gen console. And yet, two years after its announcement, the game has still not come to an end.
Developed by Ninja Theory, which now belongs to Xbox, Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 obviously takes up the universe of the first opus with Senua. The young woman, still borrowed from dementia, will have to face new threats, which are particularly impressive if we are to believe the latest gameplay video released a few weeks ago.
In any case, the game promises to be one of the console's graphic flagships, and since its development has already started a long time ago, it is not crazy to hope for a release this year.
Scorn
What if the revival of the Survival-Horror genre happened to be a perfectly unknown licence? In any case, this is the wish of Scorn, whose release, a time scheduled for the end of last year, is now scheduled for the fall of 2022.
Developed by the Ebb Software studio, Scorn presents itself as a first-person horror adventure game, leading the player into a universe described as “nightmarish”. The objective will be to explore interconnected regions and in a non-linear way, while avoiding being killed in the process.
At a time when most games of the genre have chosen to go into action, this new license seeks in any case to impress us with its unhealthy atmosphere as possible.
Somerville
Announced with great fanfare at E3 2021, Somerville is an independent game imagined by one of the co-founders of PlayDead (Limbo). The result is a game that is ultimately quite similar to previous productions from his former studio, but with an atmosphere that is still bewitching.
We set the scene for you: a father tries to survive with his wife, his son and his dog in a post-apocalyptic universe where aliens are now kings. Visually, the game throws, and promises particularly interesting puzzles. With this exclusivity, Xbox could once again strike a blow within the indie scene.
And surprises!
Whether on the indie side or on the side of its partnerships, Xbox will undoubtedly offer many announcements and releases throughout 2022. But this year will be above all an opportunity for the manufacturer to show what it has in the belly when it comes to in-house exclusives.
With now around thirty studios under its wing, the Xbox division must now show its fangs, and it would not be surprising if among the many projects in development, some finally point the tip of their noses in the coming months. We think in particular of Avowed or The Outer Worlds 2, two productions signed Obsidian, whose respective developments would be more advanced than expected. Expectations are high for State of Decay 3 as well, as Halo Infinite could enjoy single-player DLC alongside the multiplayer follow-up.
And that's not counting the takeover of Activision-Blizzard, which will certainly only take place in June 2023, but which should allow the addition to the Game Pass of the entire catalog of the American publisher.
