Xbox One | Series: Editorial expectations for 2024

It has been many years since Bethesda registered the Starfield name. And as much to say that the studio, considered with its Elder Scrolls saga as the bosses of the Western RPG in the open world, will be expected at the turn. Leaving comfortable fantasy to move towards science fiction, Bethesda will have to continue to get out of her comfort zone and reinvent her formula, which would allow her to forget the few past wanderings. Bethesda is capable of making great games and it has proven that time and time again before. Hopefully Starfield once again allows it to touch the heights of style and that the adventure offers us long hours of exploration and exciting quests, while offering a flexible and developed RPG component.

It is impossible to talk about my expectations on the Xbox side without mentioning Starfield. The title produced by Todd Howard is sold as a “Skyrim in Space”. The player will be able to conquer The Settled Systems and discover planets. Thanks to his ship, the player will be able to visit space and discover new places. We know, for example, that there will be the city of Neon, a city resting on the water where artificial paradises are located on the street, New Atlantis, a megalopolis with multiple skyscrapers, or even Akila, a place lost in mountains. Starfield should offer many hours of exploration and there is something to be excited about. I hope that the Bethesda teams take care of the script as well as the staging, and that they manage to meet the release date for the moment set of 11/11/22. The video from E3 2024 showed polished technique and beautiful music by Inon zur, the composer of Fallout. The title will be available in the Game Pass from the day of its release. Strongly.

For 2024, aside from big expectations like Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, I especially wanted to talk to you about Tunic, an exploration game that will arrive on March 16. I had the chance to interview its creator this year, Andrew Shouldice, and I was totally blown away by his vision. This young Finn is looking to make a game where secrecy is omnipresent, where it is possible to discover something new in the same place ten hours later. To do this, Andrew Shouldice uses a few simple tips: a language that the player cannot understand, leaving the field open to interpretation; an isometric 3D view, useful for hiding secrets; and an emphasis on exploration, which encourages the player to delve into absolutely everything. And the creative has other tricks up his sleeve, like guides directly integrated into the game, reminiscent of the good old game manuals of the time. What to find clues on secrets or even playing techniques that the player does not yet know. No elements that make me say that the game is much more ambitious than it seems, with in addition to the visuals and gameplay successful. I think it’s going to be a good vintage, to watch closely.

Because A Plague Tale: Innocence was my 2019 Game of the Year, I obviously couldn’t forget its sequel in this list. It is true that I was more than rightly touched by the fate of Amicia and Hugo, and regularly seized by the Dantesque visions that Asobo’s game offered me (this crossing of a battlefield at night … unforgettable ). Requiem is still discreet, but the trailer unveiled at the Game Awards totally made me shiver. The game looks better than ever and I am very excited by the change of scenery that this trailer seems to suggest, offering a more “marine” side. The influence of The Last of Us is also more significant than ever, which is not a bad thing, on the contrary. In short, it will be “day-one” for me.

When its kickstarter was launched in 2017, Scorn had already won over fans of “Dark Science-Fiction” and “Dark Cosmic Horror”, but also of the universes of Lovecraft and HR Giger. The title exclusive to Microsoft-stamped platforms and developed by Ebb Software remains at the end of 2024 very mysterious, not to say stingy in information. We do not know much about Scorn except some obviousness related to the genre in which the adventure is part … and more … However, one thing is certain. Its distressing visuals and its nightmarish atmosphere worthy of the worst visions of hell titillate the survival-horror lover in me. This game promises to be a real artistic experience capable of taking you to the guts and just for that I am impatient.

After spending ten years at Playdead, Dino Patti, creator of Inside and Limbo nuggets, founded a new studio in 2017. Their first game will be Somerville, a narrative adventure immersed in a sci-fi world. In the aftermath of an apocalyptic disaster, the player will have to find a way to reconstitute a family which evolves in a rather striking rural landscape. The title displayed a very enticing artistic direction during the last E3, along with an impenetrable Inside-style atmosphere that we can’t wait to get into. So far, that’s all we know about this new title from Jumpship, which communicates on a promise: “Our commitment is to offer unique experiences that treat people with respect and help broaden the definitions of interactive media ”. We look forward.

Just eleven years after Skyrim’s release, Starfield is clearly billed as Bethesda’s next major project. If the developer / publisher has not yet revealed much in terms of gameplay or universe, the promise seems attractive for the moment by its very realistic approach to science fiction. In addition, seeing a studio as important as Bethesda working on a new license is always an event in the world of video games, especially when it comes to a title that promises to be massive in terms of the size of its content and size. his universe. And then, this is one of the first major games for the studio since its takeover by Microsoft, which has even more aroused my curiosity. What to wait until the announcement or even the release of The Elder Scrolls VI which still seems very, very far away?