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E3 2021: all the news from Microsoft and Bethesda’s Xbox showcase

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From Halo Infinite to the long anticipated role-playing adventure Starfield, Microsoft is promising a big show for this year’s digital only E3 conference

 Updated 
Sun 13 Jun 2021 14.46 EDTFirst published on Sun 13 Jun 2021 12.57 EDT
Halo Infinite is likely to be a star of today’s Microsoft E3 livestream
Halo Infinite is likely to be a star of today’s Microsoft E3 livestream Photograph: Microsoft
Halo Infinite is likely to be a star of today’s Microsoft E3 livestream Photograph: Microsoft

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Key events

All the announcements from Bethesda and Xbox's E3 conference

Keza MacDonald
Keza MacDonald

Virtual E3 is all a bit weird and disappointing but there were some great-looking games in Microsoft and Bethesda’s line-up. Here’s all the news, for those just joining us:

  • We saw the first “in-game” footage of Starfield, Bethesda’s science-fiction RPG, apparently 25 years in the making. It’s still just a teaser trailer that shows nothing about how the game actually plays, but at least we know it exists, and will be out on 11 November 2022. It’s an Xbox exclusive, which was not unexpected, but will be controversial nonetheless
  • The open-world chaos specialists at Avalanche are making a new co-op game called Contraband, which looked like it could be a heist game
  • Jack Sparrow is coming to Xbox’s swashbuckling pirate multiplayer game, Sea of Thieves, in a new expansion out this month
  • Party Animals, an amusing brawler with wacky physics, looks like Gang Beasts with cute critters and is out in 2022
  • Somerville, a survival horror game about a couple trying to survive an alien invasion with their toddler in tow (no parents will be able to play this), is also out in 2022
  • We saw loads of a rather revamped-looking Halo Infinite, and learned that its multiplayer will be free-to-play. That’s out by the end of this year
  • A sequel to rat-heavy adventure game A Plague Tale was announced for 2022
  • A snowboarding game called Shredders, which has a bit of an SSX vibe, will be out in December
  • A completely baffling game that has something to do with controlling robots with your mind, Atomic Heart
  • Replaced, a fascinating-looking cyberpunky action game featuring an intriguing mix of 2D and 3D art, is coming next year
  • The gorgeous Forza Horizon 5 takes the racing-tourism simulator to Mexico on November 9 this year
  • And lastly, Redfall is a new game from Arkane studios, and features a gang of young folks with supernatural powers battling vampires. I’m in. That’s for summer 2022.

Have a wee scroll back through the liveblog for all the trailers. Thanks for joining us - there’ll be plenty more E3 2021 coverage on the Guardian in the coming week.

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New Xbox exclusive Redfall announced

It’s something new from Arkane, makers of Dishonored and Prey. It’s an Xbox exclusive, an open-world shooter that you can apparently play alone or with friends. We’re seeing Heroes-esque young things with telekinetic powers, perusing a destroyed storefront. Then we see what happened: a supernatural firefight against VAMPIRES, assisted by locals who apparently worship them. They have a glowing purple Tardis and a robot dog? I’m into this. It’s called Redfall and it’s out summer next year.

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Keza MacDonald
Keza MacDonald

Xbox’s Phil Spencer has finally arrived to finish things up and quickly mention all the games we didn’t actually see (from Fable to The Elder Scrolls 6 to, um, Perfect Dark). Of course, though, there’s one more thing...

Keith Stuart
Keith Stuart

Forza Horizon 5 looks astonishing. Love the fact that they’re incorporating the work of real-life street artists into the urban scenery – a nod perhaps to Insomniac’s work with the Spider-Man games. The road surfaces are incredibly detailed, with rocks picked up and thrown along the track by speeding vehicles. Once again, the team has grabbed lots of telemetry and weather data to really capture the essence of the environment.

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Forza Horizon 5 announced

Keza MacDonald
Keza MacDonald

This looks a lot like a new Forza Horizon game - excellent news, as these are my favourite racing games ever, as much because of the scenery as the cars. There’s some extreme weather on display here, with sandstorms and active volcanos. It’s set in Mexico, taking us from rainforests to deserts and through Mayan architecture (best not crash into that). It’s out November 9.

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Ah it’s Flight Simulator now, one of the surprise hits of the year. We’re seeing lots of lovely aerial shots and swooping aircraft – and at last, a release date for Xbox Series X/S: July 27

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Keza MacDonald
Keza MacDonald

“Suddenly, and for no reason, people running! These pointless slow-motion shots make everything seem cool.” A tongue-in-cheek trailer here for The Outer Worlds 2 - the sequel to 2019’s comedy science-fiction RPG.

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Keza MacDonald
Keza MacDonald

“If history were in your hands, what would you build?” It could only be Age of Empires, the fondly-remembered historical strategy games. Honestly it doesn’t look that much better than it did decades ago but hey, Age of Empires IV is finally coming out on October 28.

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Keza MacDonald
Keza MacDonald

A rather nice-looking tactical Japanese role-playing game is next: Eiuden Chronicle (actually two games, out 2022 and 2023). Remember the whole of the 00s, when Xbox was always taking flak for the total absence of Japanese games on its platform? Feels like another century now.

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Keza MacDonald
Keza MacDonald

Fun news for arachnophobes: giant spiders are coming to Grounded, the honey-I-shrunk-the-kids multiplayer game that’s not technically out yet (it’s still in Xbox Preview). Last year’s spacestation paranoia game Among Us is also coming to Xbox.

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