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[analog_future]

A "C" from me. Decent showing but hit-or-miss games, uneven pacing and no mic drop surprises.

• Forza Horizon 6 looks predictably fantastic.
• Best of Reincarnation looks rough around the edges but fun and ambitious. Some Stellar Blade / Nier vibes. We'll see on this one.
• Man they're really just letting Double Fine do whatever they want, aren't they? lol. First a game where you play a lighthouse, and now a pottery battle game. Kiln is weird, niche shit, but I dig it. They spent way too much time showing it though. This needed 5 minutes, max.
• Fable looks good but not mindblowing. Nothing is screaming "GOTY tier" right now. Visuals are more uneven than I was expecting as well. The npcs/reputation/choices/world logic system sounds very, very ambitious. Again, we'll see.

Also, Fable's "Autumn 2026" release makes me worried that Gears of War: E-Day is getting pushed out of 2026.

 

[roosnam1980]

A

 

[StoopKidz]

I agree with what you have to say, but will probably be skipping everything but FH6 and Fable which are both in deep "wait and see" territory.

 

[GrayChild]

'A'

Phil Spencer is the one true savior of this industry!

 

[SHAKEZ]

Not gonna lie, Playground is carrying MS really hard.
Also Gamefreak with a budget and time can actually fucking cook, I guess that this is a middle finger to Nintendo.

 

[Labadal]

B+ from me.

 

[Punished Miku]

B+

Another great show. Forza H6 looks so much better than I was expecting. Can't wait. Beast of Reincarnation looks sick as fuck. I love the mix of action and turn based, the nature vibes and the wolf. Exceeded my expectations and I can't wait. Fable seems cool. Definitely very nice visually. Seems to have a real unique vibe, and a lot of depth to it. Combat doesn't look amazing, but seems fine. I like that the camera is pulled way back, so I have a feeling it will feel good to play and have a lot of variety of magic that they didn't show yet where you need to see a broader view of the battle. Kiln looked pretty weak but I'll try it out. I'm happy they're doing something original, but not really my genre.

No shadow drop, didn't quite rise to an A for me but very good show. Enjoyable watch as usual, with great production values and pacing.

 

[splattered]

A for me, about as good as these short shows can be.

Crazy to think that Microsoft still has a lot coming out this year in addition to these titles...

Took forever but the momentum is finally there i guess.

 

[Here]

Xbox is Kiln it!

Spoiler

D

 

[cormack12]

B seems fair, the games all looked reasonably good. Kiln might be a sleeper hit or it might just die, bit unsure. Really the biggest negative was just the number of games tbh

 

[Unknown?]

F.

They didn't show a new and improved notepad for Xbox on PC.

 

[Sebastian1295]

C and almost a D honestly. Fable looked off and very janky and that pottery game took wayyyyyyyy too much of the showtime.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

Forza looked amazing

Fable has my interest but needs a lot of work

 

[cormack12]

F.

They didn't show a new and improved notepad for Xbox on PC.

Ypu need a loicense for that guv'nor

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Fable looks pretty ambitious with those hand crafted npcs and routine systems. Lets see how everything else comes together.

Beast of Reincarnation, again, combat looks good. But I need to see everything else.

Will try FH6 and Kiln. Will play them longer if they are good.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

FH6 and Fable looked awesome. Beast of Reincarnation could go either way but at least looked interesting. Can't wait to make penis fighters in Kiln.

 

[Saber]

C.

Nothing of my interest besides Fable. And I was about to quit the video until they pick me back with great news of character creation. The game still rough so I believe theres lot to be done, hopefully it goes well.

Also have no confidence in Gamefreak. It could be a slop for all I can think.

 

[March Climber]

It's difficult to rate a dev direct because it's just a bunch of deep dives, but I'll give this a solid B+.

What was shown looked really good.

I think I'm pretty sold on the Game Freak game too.

My one issue is surprisingly with the new Forza Horizon. I think I just have to accept that the series lacks any edge it once had. They almost made Japan feel sterile, especially the night races that they showed in a few clips. It is an issue I've had with the series since 3.

 

[corgiix3]

I would say A but that teacup game gave me aids

 

[Xtib81]

Thank god for showing a ton of gameplay. That's all I'm asking for. That's a B

 

[Fbh]

B+.
All 3 of the main games they had announced would be in it looked great, I'm interested in all 3 of them.
Would have been an A but they spent way too much time on that Double Fine game that looks like it will have 5 active players after a week.

 

[GHG]

I'll vote once I've gone back and watched the Forza stuff, but everything I saw says D.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Kiln/10, that's the only answer.

 

[BusierDonkey]

B, this was probably the first direct they made where I didn't check out halfway through. The format still sucks with all the shots of people just walking around and the talking head shots, but there seemed to be more gameplay this time around.

Forza Horizon 6 looks really good, I like the detailed stuff they showed like visible tire wear and the new sound design for the cars. I also like that they have a progression system back in place with worthwhile unlocks. The GameFreak game looks nice, and I'm interested in giving it a shot. Double Fine's pottery combat game is weird but it's Double Fine so I think that was the point. Fable loos much better now that they've actually shown the gameplay as gameplay, looks like the old games but a lot prettier.

 

[MMaRsu]

B!

But fucking hell Double Fine.. another great flop incoming.. Man

 

[RedC]

'A'

Phil Spencer is the one true savior of this industry!

 

[MidGenRefresh]

F for where the F is Fallout.

 

[Magic Carpet]

2 good games 2 bad games. That averages out to a 50%.

 

[//DEVIL//]

I'm debating for the premium edition of forza or the standard edition. The price difference is kinda big to be honest. I do not care about the extra days, but I am wondering about the content. because I do plan to play this game for years.

I am also wondering if I should get it on steam or MS store in case I ever get another xbox or next gen at one point, then I would have the game on both systems. ( but then again the next xbox probably is a PC so steam should be fine there too ).

 

[MayauMiao]

B because of Beast of Reincarnation saved it from being a C.

Didn't care so much for Forza and that potty game is just cringe.

Fable turns out to be meh at best, way to overhype.

 

[adamsapple]

 

[Matchew]

Forza looked great, but honestly looks like more of the same but Japan. Double Fine I guess just isn't for me. C

 

[Fess]

A

I love the Forza Horizon serie and FH6 looked great and is even releasing fairly soon.

And Fable looked even more impressive and they added a character creator and the people have daily routines, looked absolutely fantastic!

 

[Rocinante618]

• Gamefreak's game is interesting.
• Fable doesn't feel smooth or anything new. Visuals (UE5?!) aside the gameplay has a mash of different systems done poorly.
• Kiln while innovative, I'm not really interested. Cool but huh.
• Forza? Well I'm not into racing and I get Forza Horizon games just before the get delisted, so will do the same for FH5,6,…

Meh tier, did not expect to be mind blown and was not.

Rating: a stretched C

 

[Mayar]

There wasn't anything that interested me personally (I'm not a racing fan, unfortunately), and I have some questions about the Fable demo, especially the frame rate, and they presented the game in a very one-dimensional, lacking detail. But overall, the show was well-made and looked fine - C for me.

 

[Codes 208]

I gave it an F for Fable

JK, i gave it a C. The only game shown I even remotely had interest in was Forza and I dont even like Forza.

(As for Fable: Ive been playing xbox since the og and even back then i thought fable was overrated. I remember playing co-op with a buddy in 2 and thought it was just 'ok')

 

[Danjin44]

C
Beast of Reincarnation looking good but thats only game from the show that looks interesting to me.

 

[ExtendEmbraceExtinguish]

A. Due to fable's seemless combat, lower body hits and potential for combos.

Still looks early due to lack of npcs unless nextbox/ps6 versions will be the real deal due to current hardware limitations.

I really wanted to see a large mob.

 

[Darsxx82]

A for me, it's because FH6 and Fable are highly anticipated, and what's been shown looks incredible and delivers everything I expected from them...

That said, Fable performance of the gameplay footage, combined with the release date, Gears E-day, and GTA VI... has left me with doubts. Perhaps a delay to early 2027 wouldn't surprise me if it happened.

 

[Punished Miku]

A. Due to fable's seemless combat, lower body hits and potential for combos.

Still looks early due to lack of npcs unless nextbox/ps6 versions will be the real deal due to current hardware limitations.

I really wanted to see a large mob.

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing that giant castle town. And then the darker northern town as well. Basically looks like the big budget LOTR game we never got. Night time also looked dark as hell, like Dragon's Dogma dark. I think we have barely seen anything yet.

 

[Sephimoth]

Rare C

Should have been 30m

 

[rkofan87]

for fable alone it gets a b
give me Fable now

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

I think Kiln killed some pacing. But I went with A as I loved Forza.

 

[Fess]

I'm debating for the premium edition of forza or the standard edition. The price difference is kinda big to be honest. I do not care about the extra days, but I am wondering about the content. because I do plan to play this game for years.

I am also wondering if I should get it on steam or MS store in case I ever get another xbox or next gen at one point, then I would have the game on both systems. ( but then again the next xbox probably is a PC so steam should be fine there too ).

Gamepass or early access Steam are always my two choices. I'll decide what to do closer to launch. But I've had no problems lately with Gamepass on PC and the Xbox App, and I can start games from Playnite as easily as if they're on Steam, so I'm leaning toward the cheap GP route.

 

[pudel]

B

Fable looks surprisingly interesting. And Forza Horizon looks good as usual.

 

[PauloRoberto]

Anything better than C is because you are a FH fanboy (which is ok) or a Xbox zealot.

 

[GHG]

Just saw the Forza segment so it's a C... Just.

But that was the only thing they showed that I'm actually interested in at this stage.

Kiln is never, fable is wait and see.

 

[ExtendEmbraceExtinguish]

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing that giant castle town. And then the darker northern town as well. Basically looks like the big budget LOTR game we never got. Night time also looked dark as hell, like Dragon's Dogma dark. I think we have barely seen anything yet.

I unironically thought dragons dogma exploration in a well with pitch darkness and a lantern was the lotr game I always wanted. Hopefully playground can create a great game.

Og dd should be replicated by other devs as it has sp, and mp design in one.

 

[Bark]

C
Only liked Fable, but not day 1

 

[Punished Miku]

I unironically thought dragons dogma exploration in a well with pitch darkness and a lantern was the lotr game I always wanted. Hopefully playground can create a great game.

Og dd should be replicated by other devs as it has sp, and mp design in one.

Seriously. We haven't seen a dungeon yet, or a cave. I bet it gets very dark with some interesting lighting.