This October 17th, Xbox presented its most recent event which, despite lasting only 30 minutes, left a good taste in the mouth by presenting previews and gameplays of games from external studios better known as ‘Third Party’. Before the event and through official media it was known that news about the Alan Wake 2 DLC would be announced in this ‘Xbox Partner Preview’, as well as the new title Like Dragon and of course the mysterious but incredible Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, however, once again Xbox surprised us by presenting more than 10 titles of enormous relevance for its fandom.
Xbox Partner Preview surprises with focus on 2025 titles
As the title of the event mentioned, this event would focus on news or previews of titles from external studios or ‘Third Party’ games so previews of ‘important’ games from internal studios such as a new Halo, Gears of War E-Day, a bit more of Fable and Doom: The Dark Ages were almost impossible to see, the above was not a limitation for Xbox and neither did it make the event a disgrace or a disappointment with the Partner Preview being truly interesting, as most titles focused on the year 2025 and the future of being almost all highly anticipated and others unexpected.
Alan Wake 2’s DLC opened the event, “The Lake House”, as it is known, will be an add-on to this great psychological horror game from developer Remedy. The game is a visit to the Lake House, where the primary objective is to survive at all costs the horrors that haunt the protagonists we met in the second Alan Wake game, the DLC will have the same technical specifications as the first and will be released on October 22nd 2024.
After the success of Silent Hill 2 Remake, Polish developer Bloober Team are now preparing for another survival horror release but without the pressure that came with it, Bloober’s reputation increased with the release of the trailer for Cronos: The New Dawn, an awkward cinematic showing two people playing a game of chess with timing while in another plane they are in a never-ending battle, when one wins, the man eliminates the woman and there are noises of suffering. One of the best games of the event to be released in 2025.
The new Like a Dragon game titled ‘Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii’ was perhaps the most anticipated announcement not only at the Partner Preview, but at any event, the trailer not only shows great cinematics but a little gameplay of the combat and customisation that can be done within the game. With the title’s mechanics and story expected to be as interesting as every Like a Dragon installment, the yakuza pirate game will hit the market on February 28th, 2025.
Animal Well was presented as one of the indie games in 8-bit format and roguelikes, the game showed an extended gameplay, plus a unique horror narrative where reflexes will be vital to get out of this entertaining game alive, being already available for next-gen consoles for those who are interested. Also revealed was the manga and anime game Eden Zero now coming to this industry where it hopes to have the same success it has had in other sectors, it will be an action-focused RPG and will be released in 2025, according to the Xbox Partner Preview.
Indie game developer ‘Yellow Brick Games’ has created Eternal Strands, another of the best titles shown at the Partner Preview, with a trailer and gameplay that looks like a AAA game: Eternal Strands will be an open world focused on exploration, crafting and hunting, as well as combat against seemingly invincible enemies or ‘titans’, one of the first indie souls of the event that will be released in the first months of 2025 and will be exclusive to next-gen consoles.
Bellring Games, another indie studio showed the second Souls of the event, unlike the previous one, ‘Mistfall Hunter’ shows a cinematic and a narrative of a pure Souls. Once again a game that appears to be of AAA quality, having a setting within a continent inspired by ancient Norse culture full of enemies, where loot will be a key piece to transcend in the game. Launching in 2025 for Xbox X|S Series and PC, players will also have an open beta available to be announced.
One of the last games shown was ‘Phasmophobia’ an immersive horror game by indie studio Kinetic Games, Phasmophobia is a survival horror, horror and psychological horror game that will take us to investigate paranormal cases in certain locations. A game not suitable for those who are afraid of ghosts and very suitable for those who want to experience for the first time a game in the style of ghost movies, will be cooperative, and will be released on October 29th on the eve of Halloween on Xbox Series X|S.
Wrapping up the Xbox event was the best preview and one of the games that will compete for the game of the year in 2025, WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers. Little has been said about the game from 505 Games (Death Stranding, Hellblade, No Man’s Sky) and today it did so with its extended trailer and gameplay with incredible graphics, a massive battle where our beautiful heroine WUCHANG takes on tricky opponents in the enchanted lands of Shu to bring her sister back to life. Fallen Feathers is coming in 2025 to Xbox X Series X|S and the Game Pass service.
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