Bethesda has announced that a new game in the Doom franchise is coming next month.
Unlike previous Doom titles, the upcoming game isn’t coming to PC or consoles, and instead, it’s arriving on mobile. Developed by Nova Scotia-based Alpha Dog, the game is called Mighty Doom.
“Mighty Doom is an adorably violent top-down, single-touch action shooter introducing the all-new Mini Slayer, set in the animated Doom universe. Run and gun your way through hordes of adorably violent demons, iconic levels, and challenging bosses as you level up, unlock powerful skills, and upgrade gear and weapons,” wrote Bethesda.
The game launches on March 21st, with pre-registrations now live for both Android and iOS. Pre-registration closes on March 19th, 2023.
Further, if you play the title during its global launch period (March 21st through April 20th), you’ll receive a free ‘Mini Slayer’s pack’ with keys, crystals and weapon skins.
Bethesda says that you’ll be able to take control of a ‘mini slayer’ in-game, which will be an all-new, miniaturized but mighty character based on the iconic Doom Slayer. “When an unknown energy surge rips through a Gibbo toy factory, the Mini Slayer is brought to life and transported to an alternate dimension. Your mission? Kill every demon that stands between you and your stolen pet bunny Daisy.”
Several Bethesda titles and other games are on sale on Steam right now following the recent Xbox Bethesda Developer_Direct. Check them out below out below:
Bethesda has confirmed that Redfall will officially launch on Xbox Series X/S and PC (plus Xbox Game Pass) on May 2nd.
The first-person shooter is being developed by Arkane Austin, the critically-acclaimed team behind Dishonored and Prey. It was previously set to release last year before being delayed to the “first half of 2023” alongside fellow Bethesda title Starfield.
Redfall‘s release date was confirmed during the first-ever Xbox and Bethesda Developer_Direct as part of a larger deep dive into the game. In Redfall, you play as one of four hunters who must utilize weapons and special powers to fight a vampire threat. The game can be played solo or in co-op.
In the new Developer_Direct demo, we get a better look at the game’s expansive open-world, environmental storytelling, side content and player customization options.
Besides hailing from a beloved studio, Redfall is particularly notable since it’s the first major Bethesda game to launch exclusively on Xbox Series X/S and PC following Microsoft’s 2021 acquisition of parent company ZeniMax Media. Therefore, many players have had their eyes on both Redfall and Starfield, which is also set to release exclusively on current-gen Xbox consoles/PC. A release date for Starfield has not yet been confirmed, although Xbox says it will get its own Developer_Direct showcase down the line.
On January 25th at 3pm ET/12pm PT, Xbox is introducing a new showcase format: the Xbox & Bethesda ‘Developer_Direct.’
Unlike traditional E3-style keynotes featuring dozens of games, Developer_Direct will focus on deep dives into a handful of titles. For the inaugural show, this includes:
The Elder Scrolls Online (ZeniMax Online Studios) — an unveiling of the 2023 Chapter Update (an ‘ESO Chapter Reveal Event’ will also take place immediately after Developer_Direct)
Forza Motorsport (Turn 10) — we’ll learn more about the next Forza game built from the ground up for Xbox Series X/S
Minecraft Legends (Mojang and Vancouver’s Blackbird Interactive) — an “insider’s look” into the PvP experience
Redfall (Arkane) — “several minutes” of gameplay from this vampire FPS will be shown
It should be noted that Xbox confirmed that Starfield will not be at this Developer_Direct and will instead get its own standalone show at a later date.
What are you looking forward to seeing? Let us know in the comments.
Xbox has announced that it will be holding its first games showcase on Wednesday, January 25th at 3pm ET/12pm PT.
Under a new format called ‘Developer_Direct,’ Xbox developers will offer deep dives into a small handful of games, rather than the sorts of E3-style events featuring dozens of titles. Windows Central first reported on the show earlier this week.
Specifically, Xbox is promising looks at:
The Elder Scrolls Online (ZeniMax Online Studios) — an unveiling of the 2023 Chapter Update (an ‘ESO Chapter Reveal Event’ will also take place immediately after Developer_Direct)
Forza Motorsport (Turn 10) — we’ll learn more about the next Forza game built from the ground up for Xbox Series X/S
Minecraft Legends (Mojang and Vancouver’s Blackbird Interactive) — an “insider’s look” into the PvP experience
Redfall (Arkane) — “several minutes” of gameplay from this vampire FPS will be shown
The Developer_Direct will be streamed to Xbox’s Twitch and YouTube channels.
Additionally, Xbox confirmed that Starfield, the next game from Todd Howard’s The Elder Scrolls and Fallout team, will get its own standalone show in the future. All of the aforementioned games are set to release within the first half of 2023. Presumably, Xbox will keep with tradition and hold a major showcase in the summer (perhaps at E3) to outline what’s coming later this year and beyond.
Bethesda’s critically-acclaimed Deathloop will officially launch on Xbox Series X/S and Xbox Game Pass on September 20th.
The first-person shooter first debuted on PlayStation 5 and PC on September 14th. PlayStation had one-year timed exclusivity on the game, which is why we’re only now getting a formal announcement of an Xbox version.
One benefit of Xbox gamers getting Deathloop later, though, is that all post-release updates are ready from the start, including photo mode and accessibility options. Further, all Deathloop owners will get a free ‘Golden Loop’ update on September 20th, which adds a new weapon, new upgrades, new enemy types, cross-platform player-vs-player multiplayer and, most notably, an extended ending. Although Deathloop garnered much acclaim last year, many did criticize it for an anticlimactic conclusion. It’s unclear exactly what this new ending will add, but it sounds promising on paper.
In any case, it’s fitting that Deathloop is finally on Xbox, given that Bethesda and subsidiary developer Arkane are both owned by Xbox. Despite this, Xbox was legally required to release the game on PlayStation first as part of an agreement signed prior to its acquisition of Bethesda. This was the same case with Bethesda’s Ghostwire: Tokyo, which was released exclusively on PS5 and PC in March. As with Deathloop, Ghostwire is expected to come to Xbox one year after its PlayStation launch — presumably, some time in late March 2023.
Microsoft is inviting Xbox Insiders to preview a small selection of classic Bethesda titles on PC. As part of its $7.5 billion acquisition of ZeniMax Media, Microsoft is diving into the well of Bethesda’s catalogue and sparking new life to largely unplayable titles.
As part of this initiative, Xbox Insiders on PC can now preview Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders, HeXen: Beyond Heretic, HeXen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel, The Elder Scrolls: Arena and Quake Champions.
Many of the aforementioned titles were originally released in the early to mid-90s. However, severalstill have quite a cult following. This is especially true for The Elder Scrolls: Arena and Quake Champions. Access to the small array of classic Bethesda games appears to be a soft launch to gather feedback from the Xbox Insiders community.
Each game is available to download for free. It appears as though the majority of available titles operate via DOSBox emulation. This system is able to re-create and run software for MS-DOS compatible games. Many don’t consider it to be the most pragmatic solution. However, given that games like HeXen: Beyond Heretic and Quake Champions are available for free, players have little to no excuse to try them out.
Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders, HeXen: Beyond Heretic, and HeXen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel are all a part of Bethesda’s dark fantasy shooter series. Interestingly enough, Raven Software, which Activision later bought, is behind these titles. However, the studio now works on Call of Duty: Warzone.
The Elder Scrolls: Arena is the first game in the very successfulElder Scrolls series. It originally featured a smaller scope, seeing players travel between towns to compete in a fighting tournament. However, the games evolved into an open-world RPG with side quests galore.
There’s no word on whether these games will be made available to those outside of the Xbox Insiders program.
On Sunday, June 12th, Xbox officially held its big summer keynote, the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase.
Running for about 90 minutes, the event featured looks at more than 30 new and previously announced titles, including Bethesda’s Starfield and Redfall; Blizzard’s Diablo IV and Overwatch 2; three Persona games coming to Xbox and a special partnership with Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima.
Notably, many of these titles are coming to Xbox Game Pass on day one, and all of them will be playable within the next 12 months.
Overall, then, it was a pretty eventful show, so to unpack it all, MobileSyrup chatted briefly with Christina Verdermen, Microsoft’s North American Gaming Lead, at the Xbox FanFest event in Toronto.
Question: To start, can you explain what exactly you do in your role as North American Gaming Lead?
Christina Verdermen: Sure. So I’m in a stretch role right now, so I’m basically responsible for all of our channel partner marketers, as well as our integrated marketing team for the U.S. and Canada. In my day job when I’m not on a stretch assignment, I’m the Integrated Marketing Communications lead for Xbox Canada, specifically — so working on showing Xbox to the world, specifically for Canadians.
Q: To that point, this entire console generation so far [the Xbox Series X/S and PS5] has been during COVID, so you’ve had to do a lot of promotion and events virtually. What’s it like, as everything has opened back up, to finally hold an event like FanFest?
Verdermen: It’s been amazing. First of all, can I tell you how nice it is to be in a room with people, with fans, that can give you real time feedback on what they’re seeing? And you hear the cheers — or maybe they’re not cheering — but the excitement is there, and getting to see our community and our fans all in one place. And them getting to see each other as well. You can just feel it in the air there — people have wanted and needed this. So it’s just so lovely to finally be back in person.
Q. Of course, you probably don’t want to pick favourites, but what’s the most exciting part of the showcase for you?
Verdermen: So I was learning a lot about all of this along with everybody else. There were a few things I knew about, like Forza, but other than that, some of this was all new, so I had to write it [all] down and star things I was really excited about. [looks at notes]
So, High on Life — very excited about that one. Big Rick and Morty fan, so that’ll be good. Forza is gorgeous. Oh my gosh, when you look at the ray tracing and how they brought that to life, [with the] dynamic daytime and the ray tracing of cars reflecting on cars. I never can think that games will get more realistic, and then they do — it’s mind-boggling what they can do. So that’s exciting. The Hot Wheels expansion for Forza Horizon 5 looks so fun. [Hideo] Kojima! It just felt like there was one thing after the other in terms of what to get excited for from Xbox moving forward.
Q: The overarching theme of the show was the fact that all of these games will be out within the next year. Why was it important to focus on that time frame?
Verdermen: I think it’s to share that there’s this constant amount of content. When you think about the graphic at the end, I think there were 50 games on there that are still to come. And so when you think about all of that — a lot of exclusives within that — the content that is coming for Xbox is incredible. And it just will continue to grow. There have been showcases in the past where there’s games that are going to come in a long time, which is also exciting to think about the future. But what’s happening right now, I think was really important for us to share. Like, ‘hey, this isn’t something that’s going to come out in six years; these are games you can play in the next 12 months and look at them all.’ There’s literally something for everyone — for every type of gamer, for everyone who wants to play — there’s something in it for them.
Q: Another throughline, of course, was Game Pass. What was notable was all of the League of Legends games coming to the service — all free-to-play elsewhere, but you get perks with Game Pass. Not to mention Xbox recently confirmed future Game Pass demos and streaming for non-Game Pass titles. People traditionally think of Game Pass as a Netflix-like service, but you’re adding in all of these extra features. Why is that strategy important?
Verdermen: I think it’s important because so you get new fans into the Xbox ecosystem. We want to make sure that we’ve got players [who] can enjoy any type of game through Xbox Game Pass. When you think about the things that came out in the [What’s Next For Gaming announcements, which included Game Pass demos and streaming expansions], the announcements that came in there, it’s really exciting to be able to give players an added kind of inside scoop to what’s coming. And when you think about that, you’re going to be able to preview new games and test them before anyone else. And that’s just an added benefit for being a Game Pass member, but then also for partners of the Xbox family, which is pretty cool.
Q: Absent from the show were Vancouver’s The Coalition [Gears] or Montreal’s Compulsion Games [We Happy Few], which are Xbox’s two AAA Canadian teams. I know you can’t reveal what they’re working on, but can you provide any update on how things have been going over there?
The Coalition’s last full game was 2019’s Gears 5.
Verdermen: I can’t give an update. But all I know is they’re working hard. You know, games obviously take a long time to make and the pandemic, I think, has set some back a bit in terms of just the way they all work. But they’re working hard, and we’re really excited to see what they come up with next.
Q: On that note, you mentioned how your job is a mix of the broader North American market and then Canada, specifically. So when you look at all of Xbox, what’s it like to have a few Canadian teams among the rest? Do you have a sort of fun or special relationship with them?
Verdermen: I live in Toronto, so I always have. I have a soft spot [for the Canadians] so I do try to prioritize sometimes. [laughs] And then when I think about like the studios, there’s just such pride? When you think about all of the talent that is in Canada, whether that is with our studios, with our internal Xbox teams, with our fans, and with our community, there’s just something special about the Canadian team — I’ll call all of those people part of our team. So I think it’s really fun and exciting to have that. But then also, today, to have everybody together in this one room was pretty special as well.
Q: During the show, [Xbox boss] Phil Spencer reiterated Xbox’s commitment to Japanese games and we then got announcements for [Team Ninja’s] Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, Persona ports and, of course, the Kojima deal. Why is it significant for Xbox to double down on those kinds of games?
Verdermen: Yeah, I think again, it’s showcasing the breadth of content that we have. And we’ve got incredible content. And we’re now pulling from different areas and genres within gaming to be able to bring that to our fans around the world, which I think is really important.
Q: The show opened with Redfall and closed with Starfield — two Bethesda games. Why was it important to have them bookend the show?
Verdermen: I can’t speak to the reason why they put it that in the way they did. But obviously, Bethesda is a huge partner of ours. And we know that they have incredible content, and so does everybody else that we showed in the showcase. But I think when we think about things like Starfield, that’s such a high and highly anticipated title, so we wanted to make sure that we were sharing the latest and greatest that was coming from that.
Q: With Starfield and Redfall now delayed until 2023, what should Xbox fans look forward to in the fall and holiday season?
Verdermen: I think when we look at the titles that were launched today, the amount of those titles that are launching in the fall, some as early as next week [like Naraka Bladepoint on June 23rd] — when we think about that, there’s a lot to be excited about. And when we think about Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, that allows for gamers to get in right now and then have so much to look forward to after the holidays, but then also for the next year to come after that. So we’ve got 12 months of incredible games to come — they should be excited, we should be excited — and then so much more.
This interview has been edited for language and clarity.
A full recap of everything that was featured during the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase can be found here. An “extended” look at some of these titles, as well as interviews with some of the developers behind them, will air on June 14th.
Bethesda-owned developer Arkane dropped a sizeable gameplay demo for its new IP, Redfall.
The game is a single-player/multiplayer experience featuring a post-apocalyptic world overrun by vampires.
Overall, it looks like a mix of Left 4 Dead and Arkane’s own Dishonored in terms of special powers. Check out the full demo below:
Redfall gameplay reveal is finally here! We couldn’t have done it without help from our partners at Roundhouse Studios and the patience and support of all our fans. Thank you all! 🖤 pic.twitter.com/LWrhXireNT
Following a recent delay, Redfall is set to come exclusively to Xbox Series X/S and PC in the first half of 2023. The game will also be on Xbox Game Pass on day one.
On June 12th, Microsoft is hosting the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase. The virtual event is being held at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles and begins at 1 PM ET/ 10 AM PT.
Although E3 is not officially happening this year, Microsoft is holding its annual conference. Designed to show off first-party titles the event will also show off games from third-party partners. This is the second year since the Bethesda acquisition. Thus ZeniMax Media studios are folded into the Xbox Game Studios umbrella.
The Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase is expected to run between 60 to 90 minutes. Like previous years, we can surmount that Microsoft will offer updates on previous games. The likely suspects this year are Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5. 343 Industries has been providing a clearer roadmap for Halo Infinite Season 2 and 3. The Xbox showcase could give us a look at the upcoming campaign co-op. Additionally, Forza Horizon 5’s success undoubtedly hints that meaningful DLC could be in the works.
While fans were extraordinarily excited for the imminent release of Bethesda Game Studios’ Starfield and Redfall from Arkane, both have been pushed back to the “first half of 2023.” That said, the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase is the best place for Microsoft to debut new footage and perhaps gameplay. If both will be missing the summer and fall, seeing something new will have to tide fans over for the time being.
On top of that, you have known quantities. Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, State of Decay 3, Fable, Everwild, Indiana Jones, and Perfect Dark could all make an appearance. While a few of these titles may show up in some capacity, most seem like they are at least another year or so away from launch.
That being said, the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase should offer some surprises and exciting moments, keeping the E3 spirit alive. If you’re eager to tune in, you can watch the event on the Xbox YouTube channel, the Bethesda YouTube channel, or Xbox’s Twitch channel.
