INSIDE XBOX GAMESCOM 2019
INSIDE XBOX GAMESCOM 2019
Inside Xbox at Gamescom 2019 was a densely packed two-hour show filled with trailers, Gamepass announcements, accessory reveals, and exciting teases for XO19 in London. To start off the show, they revealed a brand-new gameplay trailer for Blair Witch, the Xbox One console exclusive horror game from Bloober Team. The trailer was absolutely gorgeous, bringing the horrors of the Blair Witch legend to life in dazzling 4K. An absolute must play for horror fans, it launches day one on Gamepass August 30th. After the haunting Blair Witch trailer, they announced the next titles coming to Gamepass, along with their release dates. Devil May Cry V, Stellaris, and Age of Empires: Definitive Edition (PC Gamepass only) launched August 19th, with Ape Out (PC Gamepass only) and Kingdom Come Deliverance launching August 22nd, Bard’s Tale IV on August 27th, and Blair Witch on August 30th. Also, new free DLC for Human Fall Flat (a popular Gamepass title) arrives on August 27th. As you can tell, August is absolutely packed with games and content coming to Gamepass. As for down the road Gamepass announcements, Dead Cells arrives on September 4th, and Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition launches day one on PC Gamepass November 14th.
GAME REVEALS
After the Gamepass section, the show moved on to cover a wide variety of topics. Gears POP was discussed next, with a humorous new trailer, and an announced release date of August 22nd. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint had a new multiplayer mode trailer, for their 4v4 Ghost War matches. Ghost War pits squads of four players vs four other players in intense bouts, which can take place on six different maps, two different modes, and gives players four different classes to utilize. After Ghost War, Borderlands 3 was up next on the show. Randy Varnell, story lead for Borderlands, discussed the story so far, said that players will explore multiple planets in this game, showed off new gameplay of the Beastmaster character, and gave further backstory to the villainous Calypso Twins. PUBG’s Season 4 was debuted and discussed with several developers from its studio, and launches August 27th. Wasteland 3 debuted a new trailer, showing off some of its unique, XCOM/RPG hybrid gameplay.
NEW XBOX ACCESSORIES
Taking a break from games, the show shifted to accessories. Xbox is always creating new controllers from which to choose, and debuted a couple of new ones at Gamescom. Their new Night Ops Camo (black with a goldish sheen in the camo) and the Sport Blue controllers were debuted, along with a matching shirt for the Night Ops Controller. A video documentary of every single Xbox One controller that they’ve ever made, and the ideas/stories behind them was announced as debuting August 26th on Xbox media platforms. This was an interesting array of products.
MORE GAME REVEALS
Back to the games, Empire of Sin showed off a new trailer, and had a couple of developers from the game sit down and talk with the Inside Xbox Hosts about this intriguing, Prohibition Era title. The survival game Vigor, made by the creators of DayZ, was then announced as exiting Game Preview and officially launching as free to play on August 19th. Sea of Thieves was announced as having a special set of Halo themed ship cosmetics available for free, to anyone who plays Sea of Thieves this week.
LOOKING AHEAD TO XO19
Aaron Greenburg, head marketing guru for Xbox, stopped by the show for a few minutes. He talked about Gears 5, and had some interesting things to say about XO19. First off, the event will run from November 14-16th, and tickets will go on sale on September 20th, with proceeds going to charity. Secondly, Aaron said that the show will be the biggest Inside Xbox of the year, with huge surprises. Last, but certainly not least, Phil Spencer, Matt Booty, Major Nelson, Aaron, and other Xbox luminaries are confirmed to be at the event. It certainly, sounds like Xbox is going ALL IN for the London event.
GREEDFALL & SURGE 2
The next title they showcased was a new in-depth story trailer for Greedfall, which launces September 10th. Greedfall is an incredibly ambitious RPG, which appears on par with the great Bioware titles. It is made by an independent studio named Spiders. This title certainly has my attention and appears to be a must play for fans of the genre. The next game discussed was Surge 2. There was in-depth game play trailer and discussion of new mechanics coming to the series. This gritty sci-fi combat game will launch September 24th.
DESTINY 2 EXPANSION
Bungie sent two representatives to discuss the latest expansion for Destiny 2. This was the first time Bungie has had a presence at an Xbox event in years, due to a previous exclusivity marketing deal with Sony and PlayStation. The new expansion brings some RPG elements to Destiny 2 and adds three finishers to combat. This expansion comes to Destiny 2 on October 1.
METRO EXODUS: THE TWO COLONELS
Next up was a story and gameplay trailer for the Two Colonels Expansion to Metro Exodus. Metro Exodus is an acclaimed post-apocalyptic game set in Russia. This is the third game in the Metro series, which is based off of the book series of the same name. This expansion is available on August 20th.
GEARS 5
To close the show, they discussed the latest for Gears 5, along with an in-depth breakdown of the reimagined Hoard mode. They also showcased the latest Gears 5 accessories, including the Gears 5 Xbox One X and controller. As a fun nod to the Halo franchise, they added two characters from Halo Reach to multi-player. These characters, Emile and Kat are voiced by their original voice actors. This is good fan service and shows the close-knit nature of the Xbox Family.
MY ASSESSMENT
This event was a good showing for Inside Xbox at Gamescom and provided a nice bridge to the upcoming real event in November at XO19.