JANUARY 2020
THE MAGAZINE FOR ALL THINGS XBOX
OXM GOTY AWARDS THE BEST XBOX ONE GAMES RANKED!
EXCLUSIVE XBOX ACCESS! ■
HUGE WORLD EXPLORED ■ SECRETS REVEALED ■ COMBAT TESTED
NEW DETAILS!
XBOX EXCLUSIVES!
SHOCKING FINAL VERDICT!
INTERVIEW INSIDE!
Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4 announced for 2020
Tons of new games coming from Xbox Game Studios
Huge review of new Star Wars game Jedi: Fallen Order
The Outer Worlds and Fallout devs talk exclusively to OXM
XO19
INSIDER
GAMES GALORE
Xbox charges into 2020 Microsoft’s XO19 event packed in some exciting announcements ahead of an absolutely huge year for all things Xbox
Reach out Halo Reach recently came to Xbox Game Pass, with Microsoft giving Bungie’s beloved shooter plenty of playable booths at X019. The arrival of the sombre prequel means every mainline entry in the legendary series is now available on Microsoft’s subscription service. The bump up to 4K on Xbox One X is a total game-changer.
Let’s address the Scarlett-shaped elephant in the room straight off the bat. Microsoft’s next-gen Xbox was nowhere to be seen at X019. That doesn’t mean the expo was a dud, though. Far from it. Held at London’s Copper Box Arena, exciting new games were announced during the three-day extravaganza, and there was a big focus on making Xbox Game Pass a truly irresistible service. While we’re glad to see intriguing new IPs from Rare and Obsidian, it’s hard not to feel a little shortchanged that Project Scarlett was MIA at Microsoft’s biggest gaming expo. Even though the next Xbox is due out Holiday 2020, developers wouldn’t talk directly about the super powerful console at the show. Instead, Microsoft seems more focused on announcing games that are coming to Xbox One is the near future than lifting the lid on its new system. Perhaps the most striking of these announcements was the reveal of a brand-new IP from Rare. Everwild is a completely fresh adventure that looks to be as hard to pigeonhole as Sea Of Thieves. Rocking the same painterly aesthetic as the online buccaneer, it offers online co-op in a fantasy realm filled with incredible creatures. Judging by the reveal, Everwild focuses on making you coexist with its exotic critters. Fantasy giraffe/stag beasties boast resplendent golden antlers that unfurl and blossom like
petals when alerted, but not once do the on-screen band of explorers look to hunt or hurt these animals. While it’s not yet clear what genre Everwild falls into, there appear to be elements of stealth and platforming. One scene sees a pair of adventurers help each other scramble up sheer rock surfaces, while another has a group sneaking past a herd of tusked rodent-like creatures – imagine a giant beaver mixed with a boar.
Wild at heart
With such a striking art style, Everwild should utterly flourish on Project Scarlett. We get a chance to sit down with Rare’s studio head Craig Duncan at X019, and even though the team is clearly excited about its new animal adventure, it’s currently keeping tight-lipped on the next Xbox. “Next year, we’re going to be talking about Scarlett and next-gen a lot more than we are this year. As a studio, we’ll always look at the platforms and what’s available to us, then try to build the best games on those platforms.” Rare is promising a game that offers “memorable, engaging and meaningful experiences for players everywhere to share”. We’ll bet all the money Everwild will be a 4K knockout on Scarlett. In the shorter term, Grounded lets you interact with all manner of critters too… albeit ones that are absolutely teeny. Obsidian’s newly announced co-op survival game shrinks your hero THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 009
INSIDER
BLIZZCON
2019
THAT’S SHOWBLIZZ
A storm of sequels Blizzard reveals new instalments in some of its most popular franchises BlizzCon sent Blizzard fans into a frenzy this year as it played host to two anticipated game announcements. First was Overwatch 2, the follow-up to everyone’s favourite multiplayer shooter. Then came the fourth entry in the popular isometric dungeoncrawler series, Diablo, which looks absolutely stunning – you can find out more about that by turning to page 26. Overwatch 2 will feature an all-new story mode, something players have been asking for ever since the release of the first game. This marks the first time the story of Overwatch will be told in-game. Previously, the plot was revealed via shorts on YouTube, but these only showed events that took place prior to the start of the game and didn’t move the story forward. The story for Overwatch 2 follows on from the ‘Recall’ event, in which gorilla scientist and Overwatch task force member Winston sent out a message to regroup the Overwatch team and save humanity. Now the heroes have answered the call and set out to put a stop to a terrorist group of AI robots called Null Sector which is causing chaos all over the globe.
Push it to the limit
New competitive game modes are also coming, the first to be revealed is a tug-of-war-type mode called
‘Push’. Two teams go head-to-head to take control of a robot that pushes a barrier to one side of a symmetrical map. Defeat the team controlling the robot and it’ll start shifting the barrier in the opposite direction. The team that manages to push the barrier closest to their side of the map will be crowned winner. Interestingly, Overwatch and Overwatch 2 players will be able to play side-by-side in the PvP modes. Every map, game mode
“Overwatch and Overwatch 2 players will be able to play side-by-side ” and character, including new ones, will be available in both games to avoid splitting up the player base. Speaking of characters, the whole 31-strong roster will be returning, along with some fresh faces. The first newcomer to show up is Sojourn, who fans may already be aware of from Overwatch lore. More will be revealed leading up to the game’s release. Overwatch 2 will also debut two separate four-player co-op modes: Story Missions and Hero Missions. For the former, you control a team
Story Time Blizzard is known for its entertaining cinematics, and for Overwatch 2 you’re going to be treated to a whole lot more. In order to absorb the story of Overwatch, it’s been necessary to watch the animated shorts released separately to the game, but now the whole story will play out in-game. During the What’s Next panel at BlizzCon, it was confirmed that every mission will have intro and outro cinematics.
ABOVE All of Overwatch’s heroes will be returning for the sequel. RIGHT Overwatch 2 will have dedicated co-op modes where you can level up your heroes.
of characters associated with a particular moment in the Overwatch story. The mission we got to see is set in Rio De Janeiro and features Lucio, Tracer, Reinhardt and Mei. Hero missions, on the other hand, are replayable skirmishes and will let you play as any character you choose. There will be new maps as well as new abilities for each combatant, and during the Story and Hero Missions you’ll be able to level up your character. These changes, however, will not carry over to the PvP component of the game, in order to keep things balanced. BlizzCon has always been an exciting event for gamers, and with these new announcements there’s much to look forward to. News of a Diablo sequel and an Overwatch game with a full campaign? It feels like Christmas came early. ■
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P L A Y/ E J E C T
INSIDER
PLAY/EJECT THE THINGS PUSHING OUR BUTTON (OR NOT) Stealing the show Rockstar has revealed that GTA V has sold 115 million copies since launch, 5 million of which were shifted last year. Impressive! Get your freak on Phobia Game Studios has confirmed its ‘reverse horror game’, Carrion, will be coming to Xbox One sometime next year. Price to pay Epic has banned pro Fortnite player Jarvis Khattri for life after he was caught using aimbot software. Failure to launch Space flight sim Kerbal Space Program 2 has been delayed until fiscal year 2021, which means it won’t be out until sometime between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2021. You’re terminated! The competitiononly Terminator: Dark Fate themed Xbox One X console left us pulling faces similar to the one plastered on its surface. Red card Foul play has been reported in the FIFA community, with players using Discord to coordinate manipulation of matches during the Weekend League. M ore Xbox ne w s a t ga m esradar.co m/oxm
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PREVIEW Thanks to live cloud data, if it’s raining in real Seattle, it’ll be raining in the Jet City in-game
Microsoft Flight Simulator Aviation epic pilots a course towards classic status Dave Meikleham PUBLISHER XBOX GAME STUDIOS DEVELOPER ASOBO STUDIO ETA 2020
FLIGHT OF YOUR LIFE If you have all the hours to spare, you can pilot flights in real time. Looking for the most realistic experience possible? Flight Simulator has you covered. Depending on tail winds, a flight from London to New York City takes around seven hours, and Asobo says you can charter trips that last over an entire actual day. Best stick the coffee on.
We might not be able to see our houses from here, but we can damn sure spot the place in downtown Seattle where we had to convince a friend not to buy a three-foot long, $45 Alaskan crab leg. Said spot is Pike Place Fish Market, and we have just clocked it while cruising above Rain City in a CubCrafters light aircraft. Microsoft Flight Simulator is already astonishing. Even though it’s not scheduled to hit Xbox Game Pass until some point next year, it already offers amazing experiences. Asobo Studio recently helped us keep turbulence at bay during a guided hands-on session, and it takes only seconds to fall head over heels for the engine powering this absorbing sim. The underlying tech that is bringing Flight Simulator to sky-high life is really something else. Using real-time topographical detail sourced from Bing Maps, it’s able to recreate the entire flippin’ planet. No, really. Whether you’re jetting across Bali or Bognor Regis, you’ll witness geography that’s entirely faithful to the realworld equivalent on this spinning, waterlogged rock of ours. The first thing we plan to do in the final game? Fly a jet straight to Edinburgh’s Arthur’s Seat just so we can clock the precise spot where our games editor fell over at the base of the dormant
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volcano. All the cider may have been involved. Ahem. Flight Simulator provides a peek into an incredibly exciting future for videogames. This isn’t a simple case of serving up more polygons, higher resolutions or better textures. No, this is a game that uses current technology to deliver an experience that would have been entirely unthinkable on Xbox 360. Thanks to Microsoft’s Azure cloud streaming service, Asobo Studio is able to pull in two petabytes of data to accurately replicate current weather patterns and real-time flight data. We’re pretty awful at maths so we are not exactly sure what a petabyte is, but it sounds BIG.
Flights of fancy
It may be rendering literally the entire planet, but that doesn’t mean Flight Simulator doesn’t deliver when it comes to micro details. Though we have only had a chance to fly between Redmond and Seattle, the latter city is recreated in scarcely believable detail. As we chart the sort of dangerously low course that would have the FAA sweating Airbus buckets, we instantly spot landmarks we’ve visited in real life. Whether picking out the bleachers at CenturyLink Field stadium or trying not to scrape the underside of our plane on the Space Needle’s extrasharp spire, Flight Simulator offers unrivalled virtual tourism. The actual art of flying is incredibly assured. Although we’ll add a quick proviso: we play the game with a special setup that includes pedals, a control stick, sturdy yoke control wheel, and ludicrously detailed dash complete with altitude and airspeed indicators. Thankfully, Flight Simulator works perfectly well with an Xbox One pad; the studio assures us the controls are flexible enough that only a little fidelity is lost in the transition over to pad play. With the option to either charter flights in real time or play reducedspeed versions of globe-hopping journeys, Flight Simulator isn’t just catering to hardcore aviation nerds. Whether you want to treat this as the ultimate tourist trip or a life-eating piloting crash course, the sky really is the limit for this amazing and ambitious simulator. ■
ABOVE Draw distance clocks in at 600km. We’re pretty sure that we can spot OXM Towers from here. FAR LEFT The engine can render both huge landscapes and intimately detailed streets.
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H OF FAIT P A E L A O TAKE T D N A L N-WORLD H E C P E O T T N S I E WE JO ITS LAT D N A O ANT E STUDI ADAM BRY 2 WITH TH T H G I L , DYING E M A G E ZOMBI
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e actually designed the initial part of the game so you could feel lost,” game designer Tymon Smektała tells us when talking about how the dev team at Techland is trying to put you in the same shoes as the protagonist of its latest open-world action RPG. Dying Light 2 begins 15 years after the events of the first game and takes place in ‘The City’ which is believed to be the last human settlement on Earth after a zombie virus has ravaged the planet. You play as Aiden Caldwell, an infected survivor looking for a cure. After arriving in The City you notice things aren’t quite right, with different factions fighting for control. Even though its citizens are oppressed, they’re afraid to leave, believing there to be nothing for them on the outside. Within these walls, Aiden soon finds himself as a key character within The City, with opportunities to both help or hinder its people.
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REVIEW Cameron Monaghan, who plays Cal, is Joker in Gotham. That must be where all the humour went…
PUBLISHER EA / DEVELOPER RESPAWN ENTERTAINMENT / RELEASE DATE OUT NOW / COST £49.99/$59.99
JEDI: FALLEN ORDER IS RESPAWN’S STAR WARS OUTING ACE WINDU, OR DOES IT SITH THE MARK? Order 66. The one you roll out when all 65 other orders don’t cut it. It’s Darth Sidious’ devastating coup-de-grace that’s the preface to Jedi: Fallen Order – it lingers in the hearts of all of its characters, both on the Light side and the Dark. Sadly, its boring story never capitalises on the rich potential. Sandwiched directly between Episode III and IV we meet our protagonist, Cal Kestis. Cal was once a Padawan and experienced the Emperor’s takeover first-hand, when he and his master were betrayed. Nowadays, he’s holed up as a scrapper out on Bracca – a planet where entire Star Destroyers are cut up for parts – listening to alien Rammstein. He’s hiding from his past, hoping the Empire doesn’t discover his identity. Of course, in true action adventure fashion, it’s not long before the powers that be do find out about
ABOVE You’ll be doing a hell of a lot of swinging and zip-lining. Sadly, it exacerbates the pop-in even more.
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his upbringing. And it’s here, right at the start, that Fallen Order displays one of its greatest weaknesses: a lack of emotion. Even long after an introductory pull on the heartstrings falls flat, the story never manages to give you any real reason to care about any of its characters or their motives. However, it’s a truly bombastic intro sequence thereafter, with Cal’s high-octane rescue from a group of elite Sith, the Inquisitors, carried out by Cere – an ex Jedi Master – and her alien friend Greez, who pilots a ship called the Mantis. Along with a wonderful little droid called BD-1, these two are your main companions, but much like Cal, they suffer from boring dialogue and some laughable grasps at emotional depth. Cere carries her own emotional burdens from the events of Order 66, and Greez simply seems to be disillusioned, but neither of them have enough personality to hang a campaign’s worth of camaraderie off of.
SAM WHITE
In one instance, Greez lionises about how he once had nothing to live or care for, but now you are his driving force. This comes after almost no screen time, resulting in the whole thing being totally unbelievable. It’s like entire portions of the plot were cut, such is the vertical spike of unearned emotions.
Spaced out
Using the Mantis to venture out into space, your task is to chase down the location of ancient tombs. This takes you to a handful of planets across the galaxy to locate a secret artefact that will, you’re told, help identify other Force-sensitive children. Cue a couple of convenient obstacles and detours along the way and you end up travelling back and forth to track down the game’s primary MacGuffin, running into a couple of interesting but underused antagonists en-route. The core game is a blend of Tomb Raider ’s climbing and puzzling, Dark THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 073