The show opens with a countdown. When the countdown hits zero, an Xbox E3 2019 logo is shown before fading to black.
A trailer begins in complete silence, before slowly fading in eerie music reminiscent of an old-school science-fiction movie. (
Something like this.)
The trailer is only one minute long and has a very interesting retro-futuristic style. The entire game is designed to look like science-fiction art from the 1950's and 1960s. Things are clean and bright, but not overly colorful. The trailer depicts brief flashes of some kind of war, then additional brief flashes of a world where the playable character appears to be much smaller than the inhabitants of the world. While it's clearly an environmental trailer, a few shots do focus on characters and dialogue. The trailer ends with a very 1950's inspired title card. The game is called "The Stolen Ship."
Another trailer begins while the music from the first trailer is still playing. This trailer is also very short. The game has the same retro-futuristic art style and look, but the characters and circumstances have changed. This time, you're in a first-person perspective and restrained. As the character looks around (the room is filled with scientists and bright lights shining on you), you see the character has strange golden skin. The lights fade to black and you hear loud banging and something moving quickly through the room. Alarms begin to sound and red emergency lights flash in the room. It's subtle, but you can tell that the character is moving through the room and the source of the obvious disruption. Another 1950's inspired title card appears for a different game, titled simply "Mutation."
Again, another trailer begins using the same soundtrack and art style. This trailer starts with two men in an office. It's a therapy session. One of the men is describing seeing flashes from a past he struggles to remember and how it still gives him anxiety. The therapist, referenced in the trailer as an "analyst" is intently taking notes. We later see a short clip of the therapist talking on the phone, telling someone on the other end that he thinks the man isn't who he seems. We later see a clip of futuristic police searching an apartment building as the patient and therapist silently hide around a corner. This game gets the same title card as the others, "Recall Mechanism."
More titles are shown on screen with only the minimalist space opera soundtrack behind them.
Inspired by the works of Philip K. Dick. (The games are based on Dick's short stories "Prize Ship," "The Golden Man," and "Recall Mechanism.")
A trio of narrative-based game experiences.
From the creators of Enslaved: Odyssey to the West and Hellblade: Senua's Sacrafice.
Xbox Game Studios is proud to present the Ninja Theory Science-Fiction Triple-Feature.
January 24th, 2020
*Please welcome, the head of Xbox, Phil Spencer*
Phil comes out and says that the Ninja Theory Science-Fiction Triple-Feature will take you to new worlds when it launches in stores and on Game Pass in January. He then talks about games as a unifier and how he thinks games are great. He waxes briefly and poetically about going to new places and feeling like the Xbox team is at the start of a special journey.
He talks about expanding the first-party last year and already seeing the fruits of their labor with Ninja Theory's game and he talks about how they're not done.
The first studio up is Ghost Ship Games (creators of Deep Rock Galactic). He says that they are huge fans of Deep Rock Galactic and loves the small, passionate team. He says they'll continue to work on getting Deep Rock Galactic to its full release.
Next up is The Behemoth. Again, he mentions how they love small, passionate teams and how they've been great allies of Xbox since 2007. No other information is given, but my assumption would be their next project would be a launch title for the next Xbox.
For the third small and passionate studio, Phil welcomes Dlala Studio to the XGS family. Phil says they have been blown away by the work they've done on Battletoads and that you won't need to wait long to see gameplay.
For the fourth new studio, Phil welcomes IO Interactive the Xbox family. He talks about how Hitman redefined sandbox shooters and that he's excited to see what they do next as they begin work on a new IP.
Now, five studios may seem like a lot, but the first three are very small (25 employees and under), so I don't think it's that outlandish. The last studio announced is Relic. Phil says that have long been fans of the studio and they are a natural fit with their work on the Age of Empires franchise, which they'll share more about at Gamescom.
He says that Microsoft has always been tight with Sega, so it made sense for both companies. He also says that the conversations about Relic allowed Microsoft and Sega to work out a few more requests that Xbox fans have made for a long time. Starting now, all future Sega games will release on the Xbox family of consoles, the Windows 10 store, and streaming through xCloud. Xbox fans will be able to enjoy the Total War (via Keyboard/Mouse support), Football Manager (again, via Keyboard/Mouse support), Valkyria Chronicles, Sonic the Hedgehog, Endless Space, Persona, and Yakuza series going forward.
In order to celebrate the new studios, Game Pass will get a slew of titles from those developers starting today (including Deep Rock Galactic (the first Game Preview game in Game Pass to my knowledge), Castle Crashers Remastered, Pit People, Sega Genesis Classics, and Hitman 2).
*Exclusive*
It's Battletoads. The games looks largely like you would expect. It's a sharp, bright reimaging of Battletoads with some new weapon and vehicle variety thrown in for good measure. The artstyle is crisp and fun and the animation is fluid. The trailer ends with an ambiguous 2019 release date.
*World Premiere*
The Rocksteady logo flashes on screen. It's their new game. It's a raining in a dark, grim city with lots of lights. An aircraft lands in an alley and almost everyone thinks that it's Batman, but instead Rick Deckard steps out of the vehicle. It's a Blade Runner game. The year is 2019 and you're a police officer in Los Angeles. It's a third-person action game with shooting and melee combat. It has a meaty campaign that intertwines you with the events of the first movie (with several stories that weren't told in the movie). Deckard is a character in the game, but is not the sole focus. You create your own blade runner and the game has "GaaS" elements, including additional content after launch.
After the trailer, a brief demo is shown on-stage that has the character driving around in a flying car and hunting down a replicant. The game impresses and looks like GTA set in the future. The gameplay segment ends with a release window, 2020.
A brief Wasteland 3 trailer is shown with XGS branding. The game looks fun and lively and emphasizes the multiplayer gameplay. The trailer ends with a release date, October 29th, 2019 and an announcement that the game will launch on GamePass.
A brief Ori and the Will of the Wisps trailer is shown. It's mainly a teaser to announce the release date, August 16th, 2019.
A short story trailer is shown for Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order with play it first with EA Access voiceover.
*World Premiere*
It's a new Lego game, but this time the franchise is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It gets a really goofy trailer and has ton of references to the history of the series with a release date for September.
Gears of War 5 is blown out. It starts with a multiplayer trailer. Traditional multiplayer and horde mode return, but a new mode is shown off. The mode is called Blood-Fest and it's essentially a PvPvE mode that is a Battle Royale, but done in a very Gears of War fashion. There's a limited player count (24) and there's a ton of NPC enemies. You kill the NPC enemies to gain items and bonuses for fights with other players. Two maps are highlighted in the trailer, one that is a series of floating platforms (providing various amounts of cover) that move and the other is a decaying stone maze. (The idea that I didn't use was a MOBA-light mode where sides squared off with NPCs on their team and bosses along the way. There would be different "champions" to serve as the different classes and there would be bosses in the lanes you had to take down.)
The Gears 5 segment ends with Rod on stage playing through a small chunk of the campaign. It looks amazing, because the game looks amazing.
Phil is back out and he talks a bit about xCloud. No major announcement other than they'll start rolling out access to Xbox Insiders next week. The first three games available during the trial are Forza Horizon 4, Minecraft, and Halo: The Master Chief Collection. The initial devices will be Xbox One, Windows 10 PCs, and Android Phones and Tablets. More games, devices, and insiders will get access as they scale the service in the coming months before the release in Q1 of 2020.
A short Minecraft: Dungeons trailer is shown with a release date in August (I fully expect a livestream with some more details before E3).
A Cuphead DLC trailer is shown with a short glimpse at a few of the new bosses you'll be facing. After the trailer, Chris Charla is shown in a video reminding folks that there'll be a seperate jam-packed ID@Xbox Stream (announced before E3, but reiterated during the show) debuting Monday afternoon.
Batman fans that were left in the dark with the Rocksteady announcement don't have to wait long. Batman: Year One is coming from WB Montreal (Arkham Origins). It will serve as a virtual reboot of the Rocksteady Batman games (which will not continue). Gotham will finally not be in complete crisis in this game, although it will still be riddled with crime. The game's story will heavily feature Jim Gordon and be a bit more grounded in reality, like the graphic novel with the same name.
A trailer is shown for a new Sea of Thieves expansion. It's essentially a new winter biome with new playable islands. It adds new weapons, items (special cannonballs, food, etc.), animals, and a few new quest lines with a very basic story. Sea of Thieves "Shiver Me Timbers" will launch in the fall.
A trailer is shown for Tetris 99. It's coming to Xbox and available today. Xbox Game Studios will publish the game on Xbox and PC. It will be cross-play with Switch owners and included with Xbox Game Pass. Phil Spencer is out on stage with the new President of Nintendo of America, Doug Bowser. They talk about how Microsoft and Nintendo have a good working relationship. Ori and the Blind Forest is coming to Switch. They have another joint venture to announce. Phil says that the Xbox team had an idea they couldn't get out of their head, so they worked with Nintendo and Bandai Namco to make it happen.
**World Premiere**
A trailer is shown for Katamari: Battle Royale. 99 people start dispersed on a map and grow in size until one person reigns supreme. Launching in July. Launching free on Nintendo Switch Online and into Xbox Game Pass.
After the Katamari trailer, we get a Banjo trailer! Unfortunately, he's just coming to Smash. After the trailer, we get a short message from Sakurai saying he's coming in the fall and thanking Microsoft for allowing his inclusion after being the most-requested character since the original.
**World Premiere**
A Banjo remaster trailer is shown. 4K/60/HDR on Xbox One X. It will include the first two games and Nuts and Bolts as a backwards compatible title. It's dated for 2020.
Phil is out again and thanks Doug and Nintendo. Phil says that he's been in the industry a long time, but he's never quite seen a lineup like the set of games they're about to show. He says they need no introduction.
**World Premiere**
The sound of night vision goggles starting up and the smooth voice of Michael Ironside fills your ears. It's a new Splinter Cell game. Sam Fisher is shown coordinating a heist. The gameplay appears to be similar to Metal Gear Solid V and the game features co-op play. Their appear to be "specializations" that each character can select as Sam calls on different parts of the team to complete different tasks (hacking, sniping, stealth, etc.). Splinter Cell: Exile. 2020.
A Halo story trailer is shown. It takes place some time after Halo 5: Guardians. Master Chief is in exile and the game starts with some ODSTs finding him (on the planet from the first trailer). Cortana is up to something crazy (maybe building some kind of crazy army in space) and Chief will need to find a way to go after her. I think the theme of the game will be if Cortana can be redeemed and how Chief handles it. I have high hopes that the game will be great.
**World Premiere**
The trailer for a new Onimusha game is shown. It's a complete reimagining of the franchise and it looks very similar to a game that maybe released in the last two weeks.
We finally get our first look at the new Avengers game. No gameplay is shown (although we may see it at a Square Enix showcase), but we get our first taste of what the story will be when we find out that Loki is the villain. Characters shown are Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, and Black Widow. Square Enix will neither confirm nor deny reports that those are the playable characters.
A short trailer is shown for The Outer Worlds. It is basically a condensed version of the Game Awards trailer with a little more gameplay. The end of the trailer also confirms that the game is coming to Xbox Game Pass at launch.
Cyberpunk 2077 is shown off in a gameplay trailer with some story elements. The game will look fantastic. They'll end the trailer with a May 2020 release date (planning to double-dip on current and next generation consoles).
A short video plays with several first and third party developers talking about the next generation. Phil is out on stage for the final time. He talks about how Microsoft is always trying to innovate. He says their innovation will take another step forward next year with the launch of the next generation of consoles. He confirms that there will be multiple consoles, but not much else. He shares that they're internally calling the initiative Scarlett, but provides almost no additional details. He says that now that we know when we'll be seeing the next generation of consoles, he wants to give a small taste of what we'll be playing on the next generation of consoles.
**Exclusive** **World Premiere**
The trailer opens with the shot of a beautiful farm, but the weather is bad. The graphics looks amazing and the trailer is clearly running at 4K/60. There's thunder and lightning and the lighting looks fantastic. The trailer cuts to a mother running with her daughter in her arms as it starts to rain. The wind is picking up and things are starting to look dangerous. The mother is approaching the house as a tornado is seen in the distance. The destruction looks fantastic. The mother throws open the cellar door and forces the girl in. She swings the door shut, sacrificing herself as the swirl of debris and darkness reaches her. The sound is amazing. It grabs you in the pit of your stomach, like the movie Twister.
The screen is completely dark. A female emergency responder opens the cellar door (the lighting and particles look particularly great here) and finds the girl scared and alone in the corner. The emergence responder goes to her, picks her up, and carries her outside, trying to chat with her as she carries her out. The beautiful farm is now destroyed, but the weather is perfect, sunny and calm. The girl appears to be in shock. The emergency responder starts to sing a comforting song. The final shot is the singing emergency responders back and the girl's face as she carries her out. The emergency responder's hair unnaturally rises up, as if the laws of gravity no longer applied to it. It's very subtle and just as you start to realize it, the screen hard cuts to black. Natural Forces is the name, listed in a plain, white, sans-serif font on a black background. No other information is given.
(The game is a mix of Life is Strange and Kameo. You play as the little girl as a teenager. She essentially has super powers. She lives with her grandparents after her parents died the day of the storm. It's a small rural town in the midwest. It was incubated at Rare and Microsoft loved the concept, so they greenlit the game as a collaborative project between small teams at Rare, Ninja Theory, the new team at Playground with assistance from Sumo Digital).
A short montage of trailers follows, marking the end of the show.
