Talking Point: What Was The Best Surprise Of This Year's Xbox Summer Showcases?

Starfield, haha.
Fable.
Oh my, avowed (you guys should do an article updating what the dev said, how avowed graphics are early and will be upgraded)

Clockwork Revolution was the surprise for me but Starfield is tangible where all the others are not… loved the trailer for Outlaws but it was Ubisoft and they do great trailers but go MIA.

Wow no love in the article for the JRPG's shown....

Even though I will be playing it on PS5 I'm going to go with Metaphor Refantazio, game looked incredible and was not expecting that at all so was definitely a surprise. Starfield also looked great but it wasn't really a surprise as we all knew it was going to be shown beforehand.

In terms of Xbox Exclusives though im going with Clockwork Revolution, was not expecting that and it also looks really good and giving me strong Bioshock Infinite vibes. Hopefully it's not too far out.

Biggest surprise for me was being lucky enough to see 5 seconds of Hellblade 2 gameplay.

I understood the Starfield hype after the showcase.

The biggest surprise of the showcase was how critical it became after Sony completely dropped the ball on their dismal showing. I have never seen an ad with so much hype falling so flat. So what should have been a normal showcase for MS became something much larger - they had many more eyes on waiting to deliver than they would have had Sony gave people what they wanted.

They delivered. The only thing missing was a movie trailer for Forza starring Hockey players.

Clockwork Revolution was a real surprise.

South of Midnight, Clockwork Revolution (Project Cobalt) and Towerborne (Project Belfry) were all rumoured for years now, so neither of them was a huge surprise that came out of the blue.

Hence I will choose a small indie game shown in the extended showcase that went pretty much unnoticed, but looked fun as hell: Go Mecha Ball. It looks like a mix of twin stick shooter and pinball.

Clockwork Revolution was perhaps the biggest First Party Surprise for me although Fable was a surprise in what it showed off, but Fable itself wasn't really a surprise as it was expected. The biggest 3rd Party Surprise for me was Star Wars: Outlaws.

South of Midnight didn't really grab me but did enough to pique my interest and want to know more about it but I still don't know enough about it yet to be 'excited' or not. Towerborne on the other hand is a definite NO from me. I have no interest in Atlas games or JRPG's myself either.

I was expecting Starfield to 'impress' at its Showcase, but I wasn't perhaps expecting the game to look as 'impressive' as it did - considering we had a decent look a year ago. Its not just 'visually' more polished, but the Combat for example looked quite a lot better - so that was a Surprise but not the 'biggest' as it was no surprise to see it.

I would say that Hellblade was a 'mixed' bag. On the one hand, it looked like a mix of Real Life and CGi, Not something you want to see this deep into development. You want to see 'something' that looks like its Game-play and preferably on Console hardware. However, after watching the Extended Showcase and them talking about 'what' they showed and the context, it seemed absolutely incredible knowing it was showing us an actual cut-scene running on a Series X, that its 'part' of the Narrative we will actually 'see'.

That, and Fable both looking like CGI trailers, but are actually running on Series X was perhaps another Big Surprise. However, until it releases, I'll still keep a healthy dose of scepticism and pessimism - I remember Watchdogs, The Division etc showing us 'slices' of actual 'game-play' but when they were 'filled' with all the content etc, those 'ambitious' visuals were dialed back...

Flight Simulator was one of the only actual surprises and has given the only truly current gen experience a new lease of life with all those new gameplay elements.

Clockwork Revolution, was bioshocked by that 😁, and of course Starfield and Fable

Biggest Surprise - That Starfield actually looks like the real deal!
Post Redfall I had severely lowered my expectations but the game looks absolutely amazing and I can't wait now!

Starfield. Never really expected much going in as everyone kept saying Skyrim in space and that didn't excite me at all. The showcase just tickled me in places that I was not expecting.

Avowed, Obsidian has never missed for me and Outer Worlds length in a PoE world is going to be great.

Fable, not much to say other than the Forza Engine is very powerful and hope to see Xbox studios make more use of it. Maybe Halo ?

InExile, Wasteland 3 is pure magic but just from the graphics and world from what they showed with Clockwork has me pretty hyped for their future.

Ones that were brilliant & I was pleasantly surprised by were, Metaphor Refantazio, (as were all the Atlus games), Still the Water Deep, Clockwork Revolution & Jusant.
Also keen to see more of Avatar & hoping it will be much improved on the usual Far Cry formula.
There were many titles that could be brilliant for Xbox. Both large & small studios.
Hoping Avowed will be worth the wait also, Obsidian tend to deliver on their games, even with their Bethesda like record with bugs. Lol
But I don't mind providing the game is fun & worthwhile.

Still, this year isn't all about exclusives & do think survival horror is going to have it good, Amnesia Bunker & Layers if Fear recently as well as Dead Space & Resident Evil 4 before that. Alone in The Dark & Alan Wake 2 I'm really keen for as well, fingers crossed they do well & are polished.
Wish to see more of Silent Hill 2 as well, don't forget that's only a timed exculsive as far as i can tell!
I have a sneaky feeling Aliens Dark Descent will be a sleeper hit also... fingers crossed!
Things are looking better for Xbox which is only a good thing for gamers as a whole.

@Zoidpilot4 Totally agree that the avowed graphics looked worryingly bad.

Avowed surprised me the most in a negative way the graphics just looked bad and then they said its been dialed back. I didnt really like the tunnel vision of the outer worlds so I am disappointed in hearing its not going to be a big open world.
Starfield from the adoring fan to the new birds eye view for building to it just looking fun was a great surprise. I am thinking it might just dethrone morrowind from my pantheon.

Star Wars: Outlaws. Even as a Star Wars fan I didn't have much hope for this game. It's now the game I'm most excited about. Somehow Ubisoft will probably screw it up though, just hoping this isn't the Watchdogs fiasco 2.0.

Star Wars Outlaws for me. Even based off a mere 10 minutes of gameplay, Kay Vess looks and sounds more interesting than any Disney Star Wars characters I've seen in while.

I was definitely surprised when the Monkey Island music started up. I'm very much looking forward to walking around those islands.

Star Wars Outalws also has piqued my interest. I hope it's great!

Flight Simulator 2024. Came out of nowhere for me, and as a Gamepass using Series X owner, I'm really looking forward to it.
Unfortunately, the same can't be said for a fair number over on the official forums, which have turned into a bit of a s**tshow.
The main argument seems to be that MS/Asobo promised a 10 year plan for FS2020 on PC, and are now moving on to a new, paid, sim without including promised features or fixing long-standing bugs.
Also, the 'missions' shown in the FS2024 trailer have been seen by many as 'gamifying' the sim, and there's quite a bit of anti-xbox sentiment going about again.

Had NO idea Project ReFantasy would be showing up. Not an inkling.

It was great to see the depth in Starfield. I guess that was the big surprise. Like that P5T is coming this November. Cool Neon White coming to Game Pass. Lot of 'nice'.

Clockwork Revolution was my favorite surprise, that game looks fantastic!

Persona 3 Reload and Towerborne, for me.
But, by a mile Path of the Goddess. I liked that feudal Japan heroic tale on LSD.

Starfield being the real deal. Im finally excited for it.
Avowed looking a bit jank, I really hope they turn that look around.
Hellblade 2. Im shocked they showed another movie and no game?
Forza Motorsport. Did this look pretty unexciting or was that just me? Underwhelming looks and an always onlive live service progression system are real concerns..
Clockwork revolution, love that bioshock style world and this is a strong looking title.
The Star Wars game looks good, the showing at the ubi show means im def keeping an eye out for it.

Good show, too little gameplay or dates shown, but at least fans know whats on the horizon.

Even though starfield was announced to be there and fable was heavily rumored/teased they were my biggest surprises. Starfield actually backed up a lot of the hyperbole around the game. I cringe when people like Sarah Bond call it "one of the most important rpgs ever made" but it really does look like it might define this generation of rpgs. Fable also nailed it, looks like a perfect blend of the old games with a new modern twist.