A recap/catching up on Microsoft’s conference.

Microsoft likes to use the term „console launch exclusive,” which is pretty much a fancy synonym of „timed exclusive.” No less than five games were announced as such during Microsoft’s show. A quick description (taken from the developers themselves) and trailer follow for all of them.
The Artful Escape will be published Annapurna. „The Artful Escape of Francis Vendetti is a video game about great expectations, famous folk singers, lingering shadows, space Gods, hallucinogens, individuality, reptile shops, and wild imaginations. It’s an action, adventure, exploration, narrative driven, musical-laser-light-battle kind of game and is the debut of release from Beethoven & Dinosaur.”

Odd Tales’ The Last Night will be launched by Raw Fury Games in 2018. „The soul of a cinematic platformer and the heart of a sci-fi thriller, The Last Night is set in a post-cyberpunk world with a deep, vibrant vision of the future. […] It’s not the kind of dystopia the genre is famous for, rather it depicts an alternate direction for society. One where the fight for survival doesn’t mean food and water, but a purpose for living. Human labor and creativity have been rendered obsolete by AI, so people are now defining themselves by what they consume, not what they create.

Charlie is a lower-class citizen who can’t interface with the systems and augmentations of the world around him, due to an accident during his childhood. He’s a citizen of the thriving metropolis, and yet he’ll never be a part of it. Then, a chance encounter offers him the chance to be part of something else and take matters into his hands.”

Coffee Stain Publishing, which is known for something called Goat Simulator, will be preparing a 1-4 player FPS called Deep Rock Galactic Dive. „In Deep Rock Galactic, join a team of badass space dwarves in this stylish one to four player co-op first-person shooter. Fight, dig and explore your way through enormous procedurally generated cave systems, uncover the riches, and make it out alive.”

The final two games are bigger titles than the previous ones, and they could be deserving a separate article, but we’ll stick to the bite-sized recaps. Number 4 is Pearl Abyss’ sandbox MMORPG, currently available on PC Black Desert Online: „Black Desert is a sandbox oriented MMO featuring next-gen graphics, full action combat and an immense seamless world full of adventure and danger. Travel through the lands in search of treasure and adventure or become one of the top craftsmen in the land. Set up trade routes and breed horses or compete against other guilds in epic siege warfare.”

The last game is a massive success on PC: Bluehole’s PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds sold over three million copies on Steam already, and the shooter will launch on X1 in late 2017. „PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds […] is a top three game on Steam with over 200,000 concurrent users, and has been one of the most played games since its early access started on that platform, with a passionate community constantly engaging with each other and sharing their exciting (and hilarious) gameplay on Mixer and across social media.

And thanks to Xbox Live, the fastest, most reliable gaming network, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds will have the support of a robust online infrastructure helping to bring this captivating genre to console.
Powered by Unreal Engine 4, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is a last-man-standing shooter where players are dropped onto a realistic 8 x 8-kilometer island. Starting with nothing but your two fists and a willingness to stay alive, players must fight to locate weapons, vehicles, and supplies as they strive to be the last remaining survivor.”

MMO, shooter, platformer – there is a variety of genres.