March’s Xbox Partner Preview has come and gone, and we’ve been bombarded by news on 19 games coming soon to Xbox (and presumably, given Microsoft’s current habits, every other console, too). The headlines are Hades 2 coming to Xbox and PS5 next month, footage of the intriguing Stranger Than Heaven, and the news that games have run out of titles. Oh, and old men are the new protagonist du jour.
You can watch the entire presentation via the video below, or if that sounds like a lot, scroll down through our breakdown of every game mentioned and the essential information.
Hunter: The Reckoning – Deathwish
First up was Teyon’s follow-up to RoboCop: Rogue City, Hunter: The Reckoning – Deathwish, which began with a deeply sinister cop revealing his true nature as his eyes darkened and he attacked a woman tied to a chair. We then switch to those brave enough to hunt such vampiric darkness, with extra-stabby crucifixes and the like. Tabletop RPG Hunter: The Reckoning was first made into a game in 2002, but it’s been a while since we’ve heard from the license. This time it’s an action-RPG rather than a hack-and-slash game, and it’s due in the summer of 2027.
Wuthering Waves
Astonishingly enormous guns and scalpels abound in free-to-play gacha game Wuthering Waves, which finally makes its way to Xbox after launching on PC and mobile in 2024, then PS5 in 2025. This is coming to Game Pass, but then it would have been free anyway…
The Expanse: Osiris Reborn
Owlcat Games brings us a cover shooter set in the sci-fi world of The Expanse, the long-running TV show about the life of those on the outer rims of galactic exploration. There’s to be a closed beta in April, with more details about how to sign up over on Xbox Wire. It’s coming to Game Pass too.
Grave Seasons
Delightful pixel graphics and a hint of farming sim belie the truth about this game from horror supremos Blumhouse. It’s more fun if you just watch the trailer for yourself. This is coming to Game Pass on August 14.
Serious Sam: Shatterverse
Serious Sam is back, but apparently in some sort of meta-universe madness as five different Sams from previous spin-offs get together to fight the endless hordes the series is so famous for, but this time in five-player co-op. It’s due sometime this year.
Stranger Than Heaven
An extraordinarily violent trailer for the deeply intriguing Stranger Than Heaven, a tale of the Japanese crime underworld set across multiple parts of the 20th century from Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. May 6 will apparently bring us more details about the game in an Xbox Direct. It’s not currently listed for Game Pass, but give the attention Microsoft is giving it, I imagine it’s desired.
Super Meat Boy 3D
The monstrously hard 3D platformer is demoed by showing a man losing his mind and destroying his apartment in fury at his constant failure. Which is fair enough. This long-awaited third entry in the Super Meat Boy series is due out as soon as March 31, and will be on Game Pass too.
Forever Ago
Get all lovey-duvvy and scrapbooky in this tale of an older man in a small town, which looked so very quaint and wholesome until the old dude apparently fell to his death through a broken flight of steps. This Annapurna-published game got what is called a “re-announcement trailer,” and is due on Game Pass in the fall.
Ascend to Zero
A frantic-looking action game where you can stop time to better attack your enemies, Ascend to Zero looks utterly brilliant in my opinion. Not long to wait as it’s out July 13, and it’ll join Game Pass, so there’s no need to pay extra to figure out what’s going on.
Dispatch
What else can I add? Dispatch is coming to Xbox this summer.
Alien Deathstorm
Developer Rebellion returns following 2025’s Atomfall with an FPS horror game that looks like it owes a lot to FEAR, and with a name that’s even more hilariously on the nose. Alien Deathstorm is what you’d call a game in a crime procedural about a kid who gets addicted to gaming. Seriously, was there nothing better? It’s memorable, I suppose, and let’s not forget this is the studio behind Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army. It’s going to be on Game Pass and out sometime in 2027.
Frog Squad
It’s a co-op game about vomiting frogs. I have nothing else to add, other than that it’s coming to Game Pass and out in June.
Bluey’s Happy Snaps
The world-conquering doggy returns in a new game that looks like it’s about…everything! There’s photography, running around, coloring in, and, clearly, the original voice actors. It’s out in the fall and will be on Game Pass.
Stalker 2: Cost of Hope
The first major expansion to Stalker 2, Cost of Hope, was announced. It’s due this summer, a couple of years on from the core game’s much-delayed 2024 release. Unfortunately, this trailer was almost entirely cutscene, and very little game footage.
Moosa: Dirty Fate
Another barrage of cutscenes, this time for third-person slice-em-up Moosa: Dirty Fate. Which is another very bad name. “Dirty Fate” sounds like the worst possible euphemism. This is set in feudal Korea, which makes for an interesting change, and is being made by Iggymob, who are behind Gungrave GORE. It’s not out until 2027, but it will be coming to Game Pass.
The Eternal Life of Goldman
A beautiful-looking 2D platformer in which an old chap appears to craft ever-more-powerful canes with which to attack stunningly animated enemies. It’s not entirely clear what the narrator has against the dude, but he seems pretty awesome to us. This is quite a change of direction, and a very welcome one, for Weappy Studio, who previously gave us the missable This Is the Police games in the late 2010s. There’s a demo out today!
Vaunted
A third-person tactical shooter from first-timers Lost Lake Games that looks quite Borderlands-brained, but seemingly all in Russian. This could be an interesting mix of genres, where apparently each of the three characters has a different perspective on the story being told, and the narrative will adapt if either of the other two, sticking on as companions, gets killed. It’s due sometime this year and will be on Game Pass.
Hades II
Surprise! The colossally popular action-roguelite will be available next month on consoles, on April 14 to be exact, and more excitingly, on Game Pass.
Artificial Detective
“All of humanity has disappeared. Sounds like the biggest missing person case of all time?” That’s a good line. It seems we’re playing a detective robot in a world infested by some sort of creepy modular evil-bots, in a third-person shooter that looks really neat! Unlike its title. Artificial Detective? What is going on, developers? Anyway, indie team Vivix has got until 2027 to think of something better.
