What you need to know
- ID@Xbox's latest showcase featured more than 30 independent game titles coming to the console in the next year.
- No, Hollow Knight: Silksong was not part of the showcase.
- Many titles, like Thunder Lotus' 33 Immortals and Enhance's Humanity, were also announced as Day One additions to Xbox Game Pass.
- Gamera Games announced five new indies coming to Xbox and/or PC Game Pass this year, including The Rewinder, which is available now.
- Updates to popular Game Pass titles Palworld, Vampire Survivors, and Brotato were also showcased.
Microsoft's program for independent developers and publishers, ID@Xbox, hosted a Spring Digital Showcase today. The showcase provided players a first look at some of the indies coming to the console in the coming months and included world premieres, updates for existing popular indies, and announcements for new Xbox and PC Game Pass additions.
Before laying out everything that was showcased today, there is an elephant in the room that must first be addressed.
Was Hollow Knight: Silksong shown during the Spring ID@Xbox showcase?
No.
Sorry, folks, but Hornet is in another castle. The question is an inevitable one that crops up whenever an indie showcase takes place, as fans of Hollow Knight continue to clamor for any information about the upcoming sequel. Xbox does seemingly have marketing locked down for Hollow Knight: Silksong, as it is an Xbox Game Pass inclusion. It is likely that the game will eventually show up during one of these ID@Xbox showcases or possibly even the main Xbox summer showcase when it is closer to release. In the meantime, we do know that the game has been given a rating (E 10+) and an Xbox store page. We can at least wishlist it while we wait for Team Cherry to finish working magic.
With that pressing question out of the way, let's press on and learn what was announced today:
ID@Xbox Spring Showcase - Game Pass additions
33 Immortals
33 Immortals is an action-roguelike for you and 32 of your closest besties playing as damned souls with a bone to pick. 33 immortals has been featured in a couple of past ID@Xbox showcases, but this time, we got a little more of a breakdown on what to expect from the actual gameplay, including a look at the fight against Lucifer. Players will need to work as a team to raid their way through an onslaught of enemies in an MMO-like experience. Don't have 32 friends? That's okay, 33 Immortals will feature instant matchmaking.
33 immortals is an Xbox console exclusive, and will also be available on the Epic Games Store and Windows store on PC. It is a day one Xbox Game Pass/PC Game Pass addition, though we do not yet have a release date for this one. It is an Early Access title, and players can sign up now to join a closed beta running May 24 through June 2.
All You Need is Help
PixelJunk Monsters developers Q-Games are back with a quirky co-op puzzle game featuring fluffy cube-shaped creatures and unique physics that require players to work together to solve puzzles. Help is the name of the game here, as players will need to rely on their fellow co-op players to help twist and turn their geometric shapes to fit into the designated spaces. The trailer shows players customizing their cube-characters with hats and glasses and playing minigames like soccer in addition to solving puzzles.
All You Need is Help is coming to Xbox Game Pass with a release window of Fall 2024.
Commandos: Origins
Claymore Game Studios brought the grit to the indie showcase with Commandos: Origins. This reboot of the classic Commandos franchise takes players to the frontlines of WW2 with war theaters in diverse biomes such as the deserts of Africa and frozen Scandinavian fjords across ten missions. It retells how the elite force of commandos from the original series came to be a team and allows players to experience the skills and capabilities of the 6-man Commandos squad from the very beginning.
There was no release date for Commandos: Origins; however, a closed beta will take place this summer. It will be available on day one on Xbox and PC Game Pass and via Xbox Cloud Gaming.
Dungeons of Hinterberg
Dungeons of Hinterberg has been a staple of ID@Xbox showcases since it was originally unveiled during Xbox's 2023 Summer Showcase. All that waiting has paid off, though, as we finally get a release date for the dungeon-crawling puzzler. Dungeons of Hinterberg's newest trailer showcases the Marsh Puzzle that players will encounter and the unique mechanics that players will utilize to overcome obstacles as they explore the Austrian Alps. Become a master slayer and harness magic, but don't forget to take a break and enjoy some coffee by the lake. It is a vacation, after all.
Dungeons of Hinterberg, developed by Microbird and published by Curve Games, will launch Day One on Xbox Game Pass on July 18. Windows Central's own Samuel Tolbert was encouraged by the game when he went hands-on, calling it "a colorful adventure" in his Dungeons of Hinterberg preview.
Humanity
The former PlayStation console exclusive, Humanity, is making its way to Xbox. The game is a puzzler where players control a Shiba Inu as it herds ever-growing and aimless swarms of humans through various trials with the power of a bark. As puzzles become more difficult, new interactions for the dog are introduced to help the humans reach the end of the puzzle.
Humanity is developed by Enhance, the team behind Tetris Effect, and elements of Tetris Effect's design aesthetic can clearly be seen in Humanity's art design. The game features approximately 90 levels of campaign challenges, but players can also design and share their own puzzles.
Humanity is coming to Xbox and Windows on May 30 and will be included on day one for Xbox Game Pass.
Gamera Games catalog
Gamera Games has partnered with ID@Xbox and Game Pass to bring their lineup of indies to the Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, starting with today's surprise launch of The Rewinder, developed by Misty Mountain Studio. In addition to The Rewinder, Depersonalization, Firework, Keplerth, and Volcano Princess will all be coming to Game Pass in the coming months.
The Rewinder
The Rewinder is a 2D puzzle adventure with a pixel art style inspired by ancient Chinese paintings where players embrace the role of Yun, a 'rewinder.' Yun has the ability to influence people's actions, which players will need to utilize to unravel a series of Chinese mythology-inspired mysteries in a small unnamed village. The Rewinder is now available on Xbox One and the Series family of consoles as well as Windows PC, and it is included in the Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass.
Firework
Developed by Shiying Studio and published by Gamera Games, Firework is a horror puzzle game where players must solve a "bewildering" mystery following a fire at a funeral. Firework will be available on PC with PC Game Pass this year.
Depersonalization
Developed by MeowNature, Depersonalization is a RPG with branching narrative and multiple endings, giving you the freedom to change the game's world with impactful choices. Create your own characters with their own personalities and stories, explore and investigate, and use the power of deductive reasoning to uncover the ending of a story of your own making.
Depersonalization will be available on PC Game Pass later this year.
Keplerth
Another one for PC Game Pass, Keplerth is developed by TARO and is a 2D sandbox RPG set on an alien planet ripe with dangers. Players can tackle the open world alone or with friends, fighting and farming their way to success, which may change their character to their core, especially when they are forced to manipulate their genes just to survive.
Volcano Princess
We love a good parenting simulator, and this delightfully weird fantasy sim from Egg Hatcher gives you the opportunity to raise your own daughter. Choose wisely when deciding how to bring up the child, as her fate and future can affect the entirety of the kingdom. Volcano Princess comes to Xbox Series X|S consoles and PC and is a Day One Xbox Game Pass addition later this year.
ID@Xbox Spring Showcase - Game reveals
While there were a lot of announcements for Xbox Game Pass, not every title that enters Microsoft's ID@Xbox program comes to the subscription service. There's still a massive amount of incredible indies released on a weekly basis that are telling creative and unusual stories or breaking the limitations of gameplay genres. Here are the world premieres and console reveals from the ID@Xbox Spring 2024 Showcase.
Centum
What happens when the narrator in a narrative-driven game is unreliable? Serenity Forge has teamed up with developers Hack the Publisher to bring that scenario to life in the newly premiered Centum. Starting as a prisoner trying to escape a cell, Centum aims to confuse and disorient you with every interaction in this twisted and surrealistic adventure. With large-scale 8-bit pixel art and what may or may not be point-and-click gameplay, Centum is queued up for a Summer 2024 release on Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC.
Keylocker
Serenity Forge and Xbox have more tricks up their sleeve, this time with Keylocker. Developed by Moonana Games, Keylocker is a turn-based JRPG with rhythm gameplay set in a dystopic world where all sound has been outlawed. Players take on the authorities, participate in hacking exercises as one does in a futuristic dystopia, and play concerts with your band as singer and songwriter, BOBO.
Keylocker is coming to Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC this summer.
Fera: The Sundered Tribes
Fera is an open-world co-op survival game with crafting and RPG elements that blurs the line between genres by including monster hunting and colony sim mechanics alongside aerial traversal. You're the leader of a tribe of survivors in a post-apocalyptic world that is teeming with massive beasts. Armed with magic and ancient secrets, it is up to you to help your people survive and thrive in this new and dangerous world.
Fera: The Sundered Tribes is coming to Windows and Xbox Series consoles this year.
Hangry
Meet vicious beasts in untamed worlds, and then eat them. Dubbed a sci-fi "snack and slash," Hangry is an RPG where players become an insatiable mercenary tasked with finding the finest cuts of beastly meat the galaxy has to offer for Goutra, an alien chef in an underworld diner. In doing so, you get to travel through mysteriously delicious worlds, from barbecued woody forests to saccharine-covered caves. Track down and take down some of the most fearsome creatures in the universe and deliver the goods back to Goutra. Surely he won't mind if you have a taste, right? Right?
Hangry is coming to Xbox and PC from developers Game Pill, but no date or release window has been announced.
Jackbox Naughty Pack
Jackbox Games' party packs have become an indie darling for streamers hosting community game nights, and with more than a decade's worth of games under the studio's belt, there are plenty of options to choose from. The latest entry, however, may be a bit too sultry for some streaming platforms. For the first time, Jackbox Games is going mature with the Jackbox Naughty Pack. Armed with an M for Mature rating (as opposed to the franchise's more family-friendly T-rating in past games), Jackbox Naughty Pack will include three saucier games perfect for playing After Dark.
Jackbox Naughty Pack is slated to hit Xbox and PC later this year.
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage
Hot on the heels of the release of Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden and Jusant, Don't Nod is ready to hit us with another gripping narrative.
It's been nearly a decade since DON'T NOD broke into the indie game scene with Life is Strange. In that time, the studio went on to release Life is Strange 2 and Tell Me Why. The Life is Strange series was eventually handed off to Deck Nine under Square Enix, but that hasn't stopped DON'T NOD from going back to their roots and telling rich, coming-of-age stories powered by nostalgia.
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage will be the first of a two-part narrative adventure that follows four high school friends during the summer of 1995 through a life-changing event that leads the quartet to promise never to speak again. 27 years later, we rejoin the friends as they are forced to reunite and confront their secrets.
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage will launch in late 2024 on Xbox and PC.
Promise Mascot Agency
Every so often, there is a game revealed during these indie showcases that just leaves you staring at the screen through a squint and wandering, "What on earth did I just see?" Promise Mascot Agency was probably that trailer for a lot of people during the Spring Showcase.
Developed by Kaizen Game Works, the team behind Paradise Killer, Promise Mascot Agency is a genre-defying adventure set in the cursed town of Kaso-Machi. Players step into the role of a former yakuza who must recruit and train mascots and then help them when they inevitably make a mess of their work. This one's a wild ride that defies explanation; you're just going to have to watch the fever dream of a trailer to make heads or tails of it. Which is part of what makes it awesome? Maybe?
Promise Mascot Agency is coming to Xbox One and Series consoles as well as PC in 2025.
Stampede: Racing Royale
A 60-player racing game may sound like a potential traffic jam simulator, but developer Sumo Leamington and publisher Secret Mode Limited have found a way to make an online kart-racer battle royale sound fun. Avoid elimination in various races and battle modes across a multitude of maps while collecting rewards for winning. There are more than 400 customization items to keep you looking your best as you zoom past your foes.
Stampede: Racing Royale is coming to the Xbox Game Preview program this summer.
Sulfur
Extraction shooters typically require heading into a dangerous zone with a squad and hoping you all make it out alive. Sulfur is a little more risky, as you're all alone in this FPS roguelike extraction shooter. It'll be up to you to take out the enemies and find treasure while improving your equipment so you can hopefully make it out alive.
Developed by Perfect Random, Sulfur is coming to Xbox One and Series consoles, as well as PC. No release window was given, however.
Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter
Odd Bug Studio and United Label previously announced Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter during another showcase, but the inclusion of the game in the ID@Xbox showcase further confirms its planned release for Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles, as well as Windows PC. The action RPG follows Arlo, heir to the Warden of the Wastes, through the snow-ravaged lands to the North as he battles the Dark Wings once and for all.
Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter can be wishlisted on Xbox now, but a release window has not yet been announced.
Times & Galaxy
It's journalism! In space!
Times & Galaxy brings humor and heart to rich stories relating to the everyday lives of more than 100 aliens just trying to live their best lives. As a new intern at the Times & Galaxy, you'll need to befriend those weird creatures, document their lives and stories, and bring the goods to the people to prove you are a reliable reporter. If you're lucky, you get to keep your job doing journalism. Too real, Copychaser Games.
Times & Galaxy is published by Fellow Traveller and will launch on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC in June.
Astor: Blade of the Monolith
Developed by C2 Game Studio and published by Versus Evil and tinyBuild, Astor: Blade of the Monolith is a stunning action RPG with fast-paced, hack-and-slash gameplay. Set on the planet Gliese, players must guide Astor through hordes of enemies with the help of an arsenal of runic weapons as he uncovers the secrets of his creators' demise. The Monolith is an ancient structure with immense power, but it also harbors the source of the evil that is ruining Gliese. Can you be the one to help Astor save the world?
Astor: Blade of the Monolith is coming to Xbox One, Xbox Series consoles, and PC.
Triple-I Initiative montage
In addition to a slate of new game reveals, the ID@Xbox showcase also presented a montage of titles that were previously revealed during the newest indie showcase hosted by the newly formed Triple-I initiative. The Tripe-I initiative seeks to create a space where high-caliber indies are put on a pedestal, changing the narrative to match what we often see for AAA gaming.
ID@Xbox highlighted those titles from the Triple-I Initiative that are coming to Xbox and Game Pass. The following titles from the Triple-I Initiative have been announced for Xbox:
- Kill Knight
- Shadows of Doubt
- Let's School
- Death Must Die
- Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn
- Cat Quest III
- 33 Immortals
- Never Alone 2
- Wizard of Legend 2
The montage also included games that are already available on Xbox, having recently released or featuring new content updates.
- Broken Roads
- Brotato: Abyssal Terrors DLC
- Dyson Sphere Program: Rise of the Dark Fog Stage II Update (PC Game Pass Only)
- My Time at Sandrock
- Ravenswatch: Fall of Avalon Update
- Risk of Rain 2: Devotion Update
ID@Xbox Spring Showcase - Updates to Game Pass Games
Palworld: Arena and New Pals announcement
If you thought you'd already caught all the pals in Palworld, Pocketpair has something to say to you: "No, you didn't." New pals will be showing up on the Palpagos Islands this summer, including a stick-wielding frog-like creature, a mushroom-headed dino, a caped bird with a headdress and powerful earth attack, and a levitating bunny-like pal. The new pals will be part of the first major content update for the Game Preview title that took the gaming world by storm when it was released in January 2024. A smaller content update was previously released that introduced the first Palworld raid, and plans for a Pal battling Arena have also been announced.
Vampire Survivors: Laborratory Update and Contra DLC
Surprise! Vampire Survivors has a brand-new update, and it is out now! The shadow-dropped content was showcased in a trailer that was more than just a little tongue-in-cheek, calling itself an AAAA update that is the most ambitious yet for developers Poncle. Showing off "running animations", "cart racing" and functional doors along with an actual brand-new train on one of the two new maps. There are also two new playable characters, two new weapons, one new evolution to uncover, and a new passive.
The most important addition, however, is six new achievements.
Vampire Survivors also showed off a teaser for the upcoming Contra DLC, which is coming to Xbox on May 9.
