Very early on Wednesday morning (3 AM in fact!) Xbox kicked off Gamescom 2021 with their own pre-recorded presentation. The event featured updates for Microsoft Flight Simulator, State of Decay, Sea of Thieves and more.
Jorg Neumann of Asobo Studio talked about ‘World Update Six’ coming to Microsoft Flight Simulator soon, which adds new cities and map data to the game. There are new tours, landing flights and missions being added to the game, and ‘Local Legends’, a new system in the game that will add famous planes to the game that are specific to a particular area in the game. Competitive multiplayer is also being added to the game in the form of air races.
World Update Six will release later this year in November.
Adam Isgreen from World’s Edge talked about Age of Empires 4 and a key feature they’re adding to the game. ‘Hands-on Histories’ are videos spread throughout the campa[ign that total in about an hour and give you little history lessons.
Age of Empires 4 is scheduled to release on October 28th and launch as a part of Xbox Game Pass on PC.
Now coming to console gamers, Xbox Cloud Gaming will let you play games using XCloud Technology, targetting 1080p and 60fps. Of course, the most significant selling point of Xbox Cloud Gaming on consoles is the ability of Xbox One gamers to play Xbox Series X|S games and saving space on your console.
Xbox Game Pass subscribers will get access as part of their subscription later this year.
A Borderlands inspired ship called the ‘Mayhem’ is being added to Sea of Thieves tomorrow, and players can earn it during Gamescom, which ends September 7th.
The long-awaited sequel to 2005’s Psychonauts is out today, and it’s received rave reviews, including from our own Ciaran Marchant, who gave it a 10/10.
In The Gunk, you land on an alien planet and use a vacuum fist to suck up gunk and fight monsters. As the trailer progresses, it looks like there’s a lot more to this story than meets the eye.
The Gunk is being developed by Image & Form Games, the same studio behind the SteamWorld franchise and is releasing in December, later this year.
Forza Horizon 5
A custom Forza Horizon 5 limited edition controller was revealed in the opening of the Forza Horizon 5 showcase.
Most importantly, Playgrounds Games then showcased eight minutes of Forza Horizon 5 gameplay that started with a Ford Bronco Badlands being dropped off from the plane ala-Fast 7 before beginning a race down a volcano mountaintop. The cars then continue to switch up, and we see different areas of the Mexico setting. It seems like this could be the opening prelude of Forza Horizon 5.
Forza Horizon 5 is releasing on November 9th for Xbox X|S and PC.
That was everything showcased during the Xbox Gamescom Showcase. Tomorrow morning we have Geoff Keighley’s Opening Night Live event to look forward to watching.
If you’d like to watch the full presentation, check out the video below.
[He/Him] Dylan Blight is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Explosion Network, an independent Australian publication covering video games, film, television and pop culture.
Since founding Explosion Network in 2017, Dylan has written and produced reviews, news, interviews, features and podcasts across the entertainment industry, while overseeing the publication's editorial direction and content.
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