This past Sunday, XBOX held their first XBOX Showcase of the post-Phil Spencer Era…

Dear Phil,

Thanks for all your service and everything you’ve done for XBOX and gaming, although I haven’t been an XBOX owner for some years now, I still think you did some great stuff.

-Ferdi

Ever since taking over as EVP and CEO of Microsoft Gaming, Asha Sharma has been very vocal on social media. This was our first real introduction to her, and it was the right amount of face time for a showcase. She made a quick appearance and announced that XBOX was going back to console exclusive titles. Next, we got into the games.

Before getting into our TOP FIVE brand new game reveals, I’d like to first mention some previously anticipated games that were shown.

Updates on Anticipated Games

FABLE is one of the most highly anticipated XBOX Game Studios upcoming titles. We’ve seen a couple of teasers and trailers over the years, usually with some big names – Richard Ayoade, Hayley Atwell. I own a physical copy of Fable 3 for Xbox 360, but never had the chance to play it. I’m looking forward to my first FABLE experience.

My wife and I enjoyed playing the original Minecraft Dungeons. It was a nice intro to dungeon crawling, but the game felt short and got repetitive since they had us running through the same missions over and over. I’m hoping Minecraft Dungeons 2 has even more levels to play through.

It was during this showcase that I learned that the Castlevania series began the year I was born. This means that Castlevania, Zelda, and myself are all turning 40 years old this year. Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse is also developed by the creators of Dead Cells. It’s kind of insane to think that this team created an original game influenced by Castlevania, and their next project is an official Castlevania game.

Since we first saw a trailer for Clockwork Revolution it’s been on my radar. This one is very Fallout meets The Outer Worlds, but set in a totally different setting. The gameplay and humor are what these games have in common.

TOP FIVE

1 | Gears of War: E-Day

Gears of War: E-Day is a prequel to the entire Gears of War franchise. This game still sports that classic style of gameplay, but with tons of new next-gen features. The protagonist is a younger, smaller build Marcus Fenix.

In the original games the heroes were built like NFL Blitz players, but they seem more realistic in their younger days. I fell off this franchise long ago, but I like the look of this one.

Gears of War: E-Day is releasing on October 6, 2026 as an XBOX Console Exclusive.

2 | Senua

The Hellblade: Senua series has had a complicated past. The first game, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice began as a PlayStation 4 exclusive before coming to Xbox One later on. The sequel Hellblade II: Senua’s Saga was an Xbox Exclusive.

This new game, Senua, takes place after the original two stories, but is also a standalone game for anyone who has not played either game. When I played the first game it felt like a AAA game, just shorter.

3 | Crazy Taxi: World Tour

Crazy Taxi was my most memorable game on the Sega Dreamcast. In fact, it’s the only game I really recall playing on the Dreamcast, although that was a strange time where we’d buy “burnt” games from kids in the hall at school — and they just worked.

I just want that classic Crazy Taxi feel with some Offspring (or punk rock), but I want it to feel like a driving game of today.*

*There has been some talk of some gen AI in this game, I hope the devs sort this out before the game releases.

4 | Magicians: The Devil’s Deal

Magicians: The Devil’s Deal is a magic FPS. It looks to be doing what Immortals of Aveum was trying to do, but with a unique story. Back when I played some of Immortals of Aveum, the magic combat felt great, but the story was pretty flat.

This trailer already has me interested in this story, and this world. Both games are totally different, and Magicians: The Devil’s Deal features magic and card tricks as weapons.

5 | Vivarium

The one thing that makes me sad about Vivarium is that it isn’t yet set to come to PlayStation 5 or Nintendo Switch 2. This game looks fantastic, like a Studio Ghibli movie meets Stardew Valley. I would love to play this on my Nintendo Switch 2 in handheld mode as I fall asleep at night.

At first I thought it was just the cutscenes that were created like a beautiful Studio Ghibli film, but the gameplay also has that look.

HM | Some Other Cool Games

I’m a sucker for any cult documentary or story. Join Us looks like a silly take on cults. I loved Cult of the Lamb, but this one uses real people and a “real-ish” American town.

Persona 6 was quickly teased. They basically said, we’re working on the next one. The latest Persona games have been remasters, remakes, and reimaginings. I gave Persona 5 a little chance recently, but I think I’m going to jump into Persona 5 Royale this year.

I don’t have much of a history with Spyro the Dragon. I’m sure I probably rented one of the games back in the day as a kid. Spyro: A Realm Beyond looks neat. The cinematics were nice, but the gameplay also looks fun. I wasn’t expecting gameplay from this one.

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Overall, XBOX had a pretty solid showcase, followed by almost an hour of a Gears of War: E-Day presentation. They are still selling Game Pass hard, even though they announced that some big games would not be Day One on Game Pass any longer — it felt like every game in this presentation was Game Pass Day one.

I’m also happy that XBOX doesn’t only mention whether a game is coming to XBOX or PC, but they also include PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch/Switch 2. I understand why PlayStation doesn’t do that, but it’s also kind of petty of them. It makes it fun for me (a non-XBOX owner) to watch this showcase and still get excited about many of these titles without having to google them.

What were your favorites from this year’s SGF XBOX Games Showcase?