Xbox’s Partner Preview featured brand-new titles, plus gameplay and release date reveals

Microsoft held its second Xbox Partner Preview event on Wednesday.

The half-hour showcase, which can be rewatched in full above, featured the announcement of several new games, plus fresh gameplay for previously revealed titles, release date announcements and more.

In terms of new games, Frogwares revealed The Sinking City 2, “a Lovecraftian survival horror set in an otherworldly rendition of Arkham in the 1920s United States”.

In addition to coming to Xbox Series X/S in 2025, the game is being developed for PS5 and PC.

Creatures of Ava, which is being co-developed by Spanish studios Inverge and Chibig, “is an action-adventure game where players tame creatures to save their world from a life-consuming infection”.

Featuring a story co-created by Rhianna Pratchett, it will be released in 2024, initially on Xbox Series X/S and PC, including Game Pass for both platforms.

Milestone and Feld Motor Sports also revealed Monster Jam Showdown, which will be released this year for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store.

“The two powerhouse companies will once again join forces to launch Monster Jam Showdown, the brand-new official Monster Jam video game, bringing to life the most action-packed motorsports event on four wheels”, they said.

Sleight of Hand is a “third-person card-slinging occult noir stealth sim” from New Zealand-based development studio RiffRaff Games, which is helmed by Joshua Boggs, who previously directed the award-winning noir puzzle game Framed.

It will be a day one Game Pass release for Xbox Series X/S and PC in 2025, when it will also launch on Steam.

Confirming a recent leak, STALKER: The Legends of the Zone trilogy is now available for Xbox One and PS4.

Fully playable on current-gen platforms via backward compatibility, it includes the original STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl, its prequel STALKER: Clear Sky, and its sequel STALKER: Call of Pripyat

The Persona 3 Reload: Expansion Pass was also announced today. Featuring new costumes, background music, and extended story content, the DLC will be released in three waves.

Available with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, it will culminate with the release of Persona 3 Reload, Episode Aigis – The Answer in September 2024.

Capcom also provided a fresh look at Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, a single-player game set in a Japanese-inspired universe which “follows in the tradition of truly unique titles such as Okami and Shinsekai – Into the Depths”, according to the publisher.

The game is coming to Xbox Series X/S, Windows, PS5 and Steam. It will be available on Xbox Game Pass at launch.

Surgent Studios and EA Originals also offered the first look at gameplay from Tales of Kenzera: ZAU.

The game is coming to Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch on April 23, 2024.

The First Berserker: Khazan received a new gameplay trailer too. The single-player hardcore action RPG based on the Dungeon & Fighter universe is scheduled to be released on PS5 and Xbox Series X/ S.

11 bit studios released the following gameplay reveal trailer for The Alters, which will launch later this year for PC and consoles.

The sci-fi game sees players take on the role of Jan Dolski, “a simple worker who creates alternative versions of himself in a desperate attempt to escape from a planet where even sun rays can prove deadly”.

And Bandai Namco released an announcement trailer for Unknown 9: Awakening, “a third-person, narrative-driven, action-adventure game that follows the story of Haroona, a Quaestor born with the ability to venture into the Fold: a mysterious dimension that overlaps our own”.

“On her quest for powerful hidden knowledge, she will learn to master her unique connection to the Fold, which allows her to channel its powers into our world. But such power does not go unnoticed. Haroona quickly becomes the target of the Ascendants, a splinter faction of a secret organization known as the Leap Year Society, which wants to use the Fold to alter the course of human history.”

In other news, it was confirmed that Final Fantasy 14 will be released for Xbox Series X/S on March 21, while Frostpunk 2 will hit PC (including Game Pass) on July 24, 2024.