The second-ever Xbox Partner Preview just took place, and it gave us a deeper look at some of the third-party games coming to Xbox. It has been an odd year for the Xbox, as its first-party lineup is finally starting to take shape with titles likeSenua’s Saga: Hellblade 2andIndiana Jones and the Great Circle, while fans are also concerned about the future of its platform in the wake of the decision to bring some of its gamesto the Nintendo Switch and PS5. This showcase demonstrated that third-party studios are still in full support of Xbox and by showing off some of their games that are on the way to Xbox Game Pass.
We got more in-depth looks at games likeTales of Kenzera: Zau, Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, andThe First Berseker: Khazan,received release date confirmations for games likeFrostpunk 2and the Xbox version ofFinal Fantasy XIV, and were even pleasantly surprised by a few new game reveals. Check out the rest of this article for a full rundown of everything Microsoft showed off during the March 2024Xbox Partner Preview.
11 Bit Studios takes center stage
It turns out that 11 bit Studios was the third-party publisher with the strongest showing at this Xbox Partner Preview as it platformed three of its upcoming games. Most notably, it announced a new Xbox console exclusive calledCreatures of Ava. InCreatures of Ava, players save creatures from an infection called The Withering and then get the help of those creatures to solve puzzles and further explore its fantasy world. It looks like The Legend of Zelda by the way of Pokemon, all with nonviolent combat that’s more focused on healing and restoring infected creatures than hurting them. It launches later this year on Xbox Series X/S and PC.
We also learned thatFrostpunk 2will launch on PC on July 25 and got our first look at gameplay forThe Alters. Both of those games will be on Xbox Game Pass when they launch this year.
Final Fantasy XIV for Xbox launches this month
Persona 3 Reload gets The Answer this September
Following a successful launch in February,Persona 3 Reloadwill receive new DLC calledEpisode Aigis — The Answer. It launches this September and finally bringsThe Answercontent fromPersona 3 FESto the remake. Before that, a March 12 update will add background music sets based onPersona 5 RoyalandPersona 4 Golden, while a May update will introduce costumes and a background music set based on the Velvet Room. All of this is part of the expansion pass forPersona 3 Reload.
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess gets a gameplay overview
Capcom’sKunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddessshowed off a striking sense of style when it was first teased last year, but we now have a better idea of how the game will actually play. In the trailer, we see that during the day, players are tasked with guiding a maiden and clearing its fantasy world of “defilement” to collect resources. They must then make tower defense game-style preparations before nighttime, with resources used to fend off hordes of enemies. Although players actively are fighting enemies on their own, it’s possible to command other units to help deal with the threats.Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddesslaunches later this year.
