E3 2018: All the Microsoft highlights you need to know about

The Microsoft conference at E3 2018 brought as many games as possible — at the risk of dulling the impact.

E3 2018 is the time to bring your triple-A titles, your big reveals, and the best things to astonish the audience. The goal is to make an impression, no more, no less. And Microsoft seems to have adopted the “more is more” approach, with Phil Spencer promising “50 games, 18 exclusives, and 15 world premieres.”

For those who watched, hearing someone seriously intone “world premiere” got old in about five minutes.

Note: This post will be updating as the conference continues, with major announcements and trailers added.

Halo Infinite

Is it any surprise that Halo is back? Is it any surprise that it’s looking better than ever? That’s really all you need to know … well, that and Master Chief is back. This is where Microsoft started, and if that doesn’t et a tone, I don’t know what does.

Fallout 76

Todd Howard of Bethesda arrived early on in the show to give a look at Fallout 76, which is an even bigger prequel to the Fallout series in general. It’s apparently four times larger than Fallout 4, itself no small game. Pre-orders apparently open June 15 — and appropriately enough, “Country Roads” provided the soundtrack to the trailer, since that’s where the action is.

Kingdom Hearts 3

It’s coming to Xbox for the first time, a fact that Spencer didn’t hesitate to mention. Nor did the trailer pull its punches by showing off a world set in the land of Frozen, showing Sora even getting to ice skate in battle. There’s a Wreck-It Ralph world, one for Tangled, and still more. But, of course, Anna and Elsa were the stars of the show — and they looked particularly good next to Sora.

Then again, we’re not going to be mad about the return of Hikaru Utada to sing another theme song. Is it “Simple and Clean”? Well, not yet, but we’ve had a lot of time to get used to that song.

Battlefield V

It had a short trailer that mostly focused on its story and atmosphere, but Battlefield V still had its moment to shine.

Forza Horizon 4

Cars? Cars everywhere. Roadsters new and old alike made an appearance in this trailer. Again, it was short and sweet — but then there was a full gameplay demo, showing off the British setting as well as the seasons. It’ll arrive on Oct. 2.

Tom Clancy’s The Division 2

Moving to Washington D.C., The Division 2 promised “urban warfare” and conspiracy theories! Oh, and other stuff, too. “How do you save a nation when its enemies come from within?” the trailer asked before heading right into captured gameplay. You’ll have to wait until March 2019 for it, though.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Lara Croft is back, and the trailer showed her trying to avoid a flood (and explosions). The new trailer also came with a note that The Croft Edition involves early access. But eh, we’re just here for more action.

Devil May Cry 5

Demons, hard rock, and revolver action. Oh, it’s good to be back in this universe. The trailer came with a confirmation that what was shown came from in-game. It’ll be out in the spring of 2019.

 Jump Force

Goku and Naruto are in a game together, and a generation of anime and game lovers just might have died a little bit. Oh, and Light Yagami of Death Note fame — alongside Ryuk, naturally — as well as Monkey D. Luffy of One Piece all appeared. Do you need anything more? If you’re a fan of the genre, probably not?

Gears Pop!, Gears Tactics, and Gears of War 5

It’s a mobile game! And it features Funko Pop! figures from the Gears of War franchise. That’s what you call a master troll.

Gears Tactics is coming to PC. It looks like a Gears take on the XCOM franchise.

While it took the show a while, we did get a confirmation of Gears of War 5, which drew the biggest cheers from the crowd yet. It’ll be here in 2019.

Cyberpunk 2077

It came last — and maybe it might have seemed like a bit of a weird disruption to close the show off, but then again, who can say no to more future-set games with all kinds of concepts? Cyberpunk 2077 also promised that it was coming all from in-game footage, and there’s no way not to say that it looked gorgeous.

Other announcements and notes:

• Microsoft has both Undead Labs and Playground Games under its banner, with Playground working on a new project. Ninja Theory has also moved to Microsoft Studios. Ditto Compulsion Games. Also, The Initiative has arrived, but it’s a new studio. Compulsion previewed a new trailer (with bleeps for swear words!) for We Happy Few.
• “War Mode” will be coming to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds this summer, and this winter will see another update.
• Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition got an announcement. It’ll arrive this winter.
• Xbox Game Pass got a lot of love as well.
• Even though the voiceover said “exclusive,” the screens said “console launch exclusive,” which is at least a slight difference.
• Cuphead DLC will be coming in 2019, with Ms. Chalice as a playable character.
• Battletoads also returns in 2019.
• Dying Light 2 got called a “bold sequel” after its trailer, which means you might need to be a little worried. But hey, it has some choice-based gameplay as well as so much parkour.
• Just Cause 4 is out in 2018 as well.

At the end of the day, sure, Microsoft brought so many games that it’s kind of ridiculous. But it makes it hard to focus on one standout thing that’ll keep attention — and there seemed to be a lack of new IP aside from new looks at things like Cyberpunk 2077.