Everything announced at today's Xbox Developer Direct 2024

In a recent interview, game director Jerk Gustafsson discussed the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. He explained the meaning behind the game’s title, MachineGame’s inspiration for its story, and what the studio hopes to accomplish with gameplay.

This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss Microsoft's Xbox Developer Direct 2024, our first look ahead at the year to come from one of the big three console makers.

To celebrate the first trailer of Bethesda's upcoming Indiana Jones game, executive producer Todd Howard stole a Golden Idol from the developer working on it. 

Microsoft’s second (hopefully annual?) Xbox Developer Direct went, like the first, exceptionally well. While we didn’t get a shadow-dropped killer exclusive – and let’s be honest, that’s not an expectation that Team Xbox probably wants to set – we did still get the surprise of a behind-the-scenes look at Square Enix’s upcoming Visions of Mana. Better yet, we got a good look at gameplay from Obsidian’s upcoming first-person RPG Avowed, we got the Hellblade 2 release date we’ve been waiting for, and best of all, we got the proper reveal of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, the new first-person (!) action/adventure/puzzler/whip-simulator that’s being executive produced by Elder Scrolls and Fallout director Todd Howard. I’m extremely pleased with Microsoft’s showing, and it helps set the tone for what should be a very good year of Xbox exclusives.

Xbox kicked off its 2024 with a jam-packed Developer Direct showcase, bringing reveals and updates on four upcoming releases from four studios, plus a bonus update from Square Enix. The 45-minute presentation, streamed live on YouTube and Xbox's other social channels late Thursday, took the covers off MachineGames' upcoming Indiana Jones game, provided a release date for the highly anticipated Senua's Saga, and revealed a release window for Avowed, Obsidian's next big fantasy RPG.

Barely containing his inner nerd as he lifted the curtain on the gameplay reveal for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Todd Howard explains that he's had almost everything about the game, down to granular plot points, planned out for years. 

Back in 2024 Microsoft and Bethesda announced a new Indiana Jones game was coming our way courtesy of producer Todd Howard and Wolfenstein developer MachineGames, but since then, very little else has been revealed. Rumors that the game may be launching this year have been making the rounds, but it’s been radio silence from Microsoft and Bethesda themselves.

Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 was featured in this evening's Xbox Developer Direct. Ninja Theory gave a further glimpse of the things they show when talking about Hellblade: motion capture, graphical fidelity, mental health representation, and stabbing. They also provided a release date: May 21st, 2024.

You might not realize it, but the character of Indiana Jones has quite a history in the video game space. When his movies were some of the toasts of Hollywood, Lucasfilm made various games about the character that took him all over the world and looked for all sorts of artifacts. But it’s been some time since that experience was felt in the gaming space, and the last two movies starring him haven’t helped matters. However, over at Bethesda, Todd Howard had a vision, which has been revealed as Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, headed up by Machine Games.

During the January 2024 Xbox Developer Direct, Ninja Theory announced that Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 will launch on May 21 for PC and Xbox Series X|S. It will also arrive on Xbox Game Pass at launch.

Ninja Theory showcased Hellblade II: Senua’s Saga during the Xbox Developers_Direct stream, confirming that the game will release on 21st May 2024.

We're going to get a look at some of Microsoft's big new Xbox games tonight, in a brand new Xbox Developer Direct. We've been promised a look at the new Indiana Jones game, Obsidian's new RPG Avowed, and Ninja Theory's Hellblade 2.