Tokyo Game Show continues, and following on from September 24’s PlayStation State of Play it was Microsoft’s turn to reveal brand new games and show new footage of those we already knew about. The event had a strong Japanese theme, featuring Japanese-developed action and RPG titles as well as games set in Japan, including Forza Horizon 6.
Japan has always been a tricky region for Xbox, where PlayStation and Nintendo are home favorites. But Phil Spencer kicked off the show in positive spirits, calling Japan “a source of inspiration for Xbox.” He added, “Our commitment to Japan and the broader Asia-Pacific region is unwavering. For years we have championed local game creators and connected them to a global audience through Game Pass and the Xbox platform.” Things then took a slightly odd turn as it began to sound more like a corporate apology with, “Together we’ve built strong momentum and growth in Asia, and will continue to listen, learn and thrive with these creators and communities.”
You can watch the full showcase below, or read on to see absolutely everything that was shown.
Gungrave G.O.R.E. Blood Heat
Third-person shooter series Gungrave began with the eponymous title in 2002, followed by 2004’s Overdose, before an enormous 13-year hiatus and the opportunistic 2017 VR title Gungrave VR. However, in 2022 the series came back properly with Gungrave G.O.R.E., before a 2023 Nintendo Switch version called Gungrave G.O.R.E. Ultimate Enhanced Edition that made over 100 changes to the previous version. Well, it’s getting overhauled again!
Gungrave G.O.R.E. Blood Heat is a “fully rebuilt version,” with a new engine, improved assets and a “modernized system,” whatever that might be. Beyond the Grave, the exquisitely well-named main character, returns to shoot squillions of enemies while carrying his own coffin on his back. Video games! Reviews generally found the 2022 version mediocre, with complaints of repetitive enemies and difficulty spikes, so this new version feels a lot like an attempt at yet another do-over. No word on a release date yet.
007 First Light – Gemma Chan Reveal
IO Interactive’s James Bond game, 007 First Light, revealed a new character. Eternals‘ Gemma Chan is a part of the cast of the spy thriller, playing Dr. Selina Tan, “a brilliant and passionate academic with a background in psychology and game theory whose role at MI6 is critical in Bond’s journey to earning the 00 status.”
As part of the reveal we got to see a bunch more of the game itself, including cars tearing around corners and through market stalls, as well as some gunplay and hand-to-hand combat, before seeing Tan in her MI6 office, asking Bond if he has any questions. “Please have questions.”
First Light is due out March 27, 2026.
Double Dragon Revive
It’s been 8 years since there was a new mainline Double Dragon beat ’em up, which is crazy. Although given how awful 2017’s Double Dragon IV proved to be, perhaps people didn’t miss it that much. Aside from 2023’s crossover spin-off Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons, the franchise has been quiet since, until the recent announcement of Revive.
It’s being published by Arc System Works, the company that developed the botched DD4, but this time is being developed by veteran developers Yuke’s, the studio behind many WWE games as well as recent Earth Defense Force entries. This is their first try with the Double Dragon license, so it’ll be interesting to see which way it falls. Not long to wait, given it’s out on all systems October 23.
Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake
Koei Tecmo Games’ Makoto Shibata, the director of every Fatal Frame game since 2001, introduced the remake of 2003’s sequel, Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly. The horror game has been completely rebuilt in Koei Tecmo’s modern engine, with a big emphasis on sound quality and improvements to the camera technology you use to photograph, and thus destroy, the game’s ghosts. The game also adds holding hands with your sister as a core element, and if Ico taught us anything, it’s that this makes everything 700 times more emotional.
It’s due out early 2026.
Animo
Nintendo’s lawyers might want to pick up their pens, because Animo‘s trailer features about 37 very familiar-looking creatures running around in the creature-capturing action-RPG. Here we go again.
Sudden Strike 5 
© Kalypso / Kotaku
It seems Microsoft forgot to upload the trailer for this one alongside all the others to their YouTube account, which hopefully is no commentary on the game itself being forgettable. Sudden Strike 5 was announced a couple of months ago, and isn’t out until next year, but we got to learn that the real-time tactics game has not only a “new doctrine system” but also an “armored train.”
Fallout 76 
© Microsoft / Kotaku
Bill Lacoste and Jon Rush popped up to give us an update on Fallout 76, listing the new features that have been added to the game this year, with the segment focusing on camps built by Japanese players. Nothing new here, however.
Monster Hunter Stories Series
Capcom’s cuddlier end of the Monster Hunter series appeared, with glimpses of turn-based Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection as well as the two previous games in the offshoot. You know what, this trailer is so joyfully colorful that it just made my eyes happy.
Bruce Lee in Hitman: World of Assassination
Thank goodness, no, you’re not being sent to assassinate Bruce Lee in Hitman World of Assassination‘s latest Elusive Target. Instead you’re protecting the man, as if he would ever need that. It’s all set at an international martial arts tournament at the Himmapan Hotel in Bangkok, where Lee has infiltrated the event as an agent and fighter. You have to aid him in his win, and indeed help him take out a vital target. Which all…I dunno, it seems a bit patronizing. Bruce Lee, who clearly couldn’t give permission to be in this, shouldn’t need baldy’s help at all.
Hotel Barcelona multiplayer
Xbox president Sarah Bond popped up to summarize things so far, as well as boast that everything at the show is playable on the Xbox Ally when it comes out in October. She then introduced a game launching tomorrow, the new game from SWERY and SUDA51, Hotel Barcelona, and showed off a trailer for its multiplayer.
Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake – Ocean Floor Playthrough
Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake producer Masaaki Hayasaka appears, showing us a brand new area of the forthcoming remake that didn’t appear in the original versions, the Ocean Floor.
The combined games are out October 30.
Rhythm Doctor
One-button rhythm game Rhythm Doctor looks nothing short of extraordinary. It’s out December 6.
Microsoft Flight Simulator World Update 20: Japan
Huge sections of Japan have now received the extraordinary Microsoft Flight Simulator treatment, as shown off in the trailer. It looks as mindblowing as everything else in the game, and is only spoiled by needing me to figure out how to fly planes to experience it. Given the game is still so state-of-the-art, and the updates are so new, it does seem odd that it’s persisting with the “2024” in its title. Seems like an odd marketing move to me.
Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven
1993’s Romancing SaGa 2 was remade in 2024 and released for Switch, PC, and PlayStation, with the Xbox snubbed. That’s changing today, as the Square RPG completes the set with an Xbox Series X/S version, and it’s out right now.
Starsand Island
Nauseatingly cute Starsand Island is out February 1 on Xbox, as well as PlayStation and PC. (Oddly nothing about Switch 2.) As is the case in approximately 53 percent of all life-sim games, you’ve left your job in the EVIL big city, in this case moving to the PERFECT IN ALL WAYS rolling hills and sandy beaches of Starsand Island. So farm, fish, and have relationships like you do, while butterflies flit around your head and a bluebird probably delivers your mail. BOO CITIES! BOO!
Project Evilbane
You’ll have to forgive me, but after a while these action-RPGs all start to look astonishingly similar to me, just a big whirling mess of swords, explosions, and purple lights. Still, if you need more, Project Evilbane has you covered. It’ll offer up to four-player co-op for missions and giganto-boss fights, but this reveal trailer doesn’t get too much into specifics. It’s still a fair way off, due in the second half of 2026.
Ninja Gaiden 4
A hefty four minutes were devoted to October’s Ninja Gaiden 4 and its approach to difficulty. Like the previous games in the action game series, it promises to be punishingly hard, boasting an AI that will scale with harder difficulty levels to better place enemies in stages and increase their numbers to adapt the challenge. However, at the same time there’s to be a “new hero mode” with “adjustable assists,” to help introduce new players to the franchise and get them, quite literally, up to speed. All the assists can be toggled off as you get to grips with things, or obviously can be ignored entirely if you’re an old pro. And the game’s not going to throw a fit if you decide you just want to switch to Normal or Difficult, even if you start in Hero Mode.
Not long to go now, as the game is out on October 21.
Mistfall Hunter
This latest information on Mistfall Hunter, which is sure to be one of the bigger soulslikes of the year, explores the game’s second playable map, The Solemn Needles. Glydhunters (that’s you) will explore this grim and bleached former forest to root out all its evils, and then take on the region’s mighty False God. There was no mention of a release date, but the game is still listed as 2025.
Winter Burrow
November 12’s woodland survival game Winter Burrow really does look like nothing else in the show, its cute and cozy cartoon graphics looking like a forgotten favorite cartoon you had on a VHS tape. It’s all about being a little mouse, trying to restore a childhood burrow, and then—like all mice—knitting sweaters, baking pies, and making friends with your neighbors. Oh, and you’re also trying to find your missing aunt.
Terminull Brigade x Evangelion
More swords, explosions, and purple noise in free-to-play co-op shooter Terminal Brigade, which comes to Xbox October 31. The trailer also reveals a crossover with Evangelion, due to come to the game November 30.
However, Terminull Brigade has been out on PC since the end of July, where it has a terrible reputation on Steam. It’s apparently riddled with in-game currencies, loot boxes and in-app purchases, but even more damningly for a game that requires you to want to keep playing, people report that it’s woefully brief and repetitive. Who knows, maybe the Xbox version will be more promising?
Age of Mythology: Retold – Heavenly Spear
Age of Mythology‘s 2024 reboot has proved a big success, and new additions have gone down well with fans of the original and newcomers alike. It’s nice when something works out! The next addition to the old-school real-time strategy game is Heavenly Spear, a Japanese-themed entry that arrives September 30 across Xbox, PS5 and PC.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7‘s Japanese multiplayer maps
Following Tuesday’s reveal of the next CoD‘s multiplayer, the Tokyo Game Show stream revealed more that will be set in Japan. They look astonishingly well made, and apparently Japan will be an integral part of Black Ops 7‘s multiplayer. It looks like a lot of work has gone in to properly representing the country, rather than just sticking a cherry blossom tree in the corner.
Forza Horizon 6
While already pretty much established through leaks and rumors, and then even accidentally leaked by Microsoft itself, the show finished with the reveal that Forza Horizon 6 will take place in Japan. Beyond that, we learned nothing useful, other than a very splendid-looking vista with Mount Fuji as its backdrop. And yes, brilliant, bring it on! We all want Forza Horizon 6! But it would maybe have been nice to see, I dunno, a car? Maybe driving along a road? It’s due next year, bar major slips.
AloJapan.com