【Busty Lifeguards (2010)】

Halo?Busty Lifeguards (2010) Jack Sparrow in Sea of Thieves? A proper first look at Bethesda's long-awaited Starfield? A new batch of Game Pass games for subscribers? All here, and then some.

Microsoft and Bethesda Softworks kicked off their E3 2021 on Sunday afternoon with an extended onslaught of reveals and new trailer drops from the two storied publishers. It was notably the first E3 press conference for either of them since Microsoft's blockbuster Bethesda acquisition in 2020.

That's especially notable because both brands have, in recent years especially, tended to dominate many of the headlines coming out of E3 with their surprises and big-name exclusives. Now, with everything from Elder Scrolls to Halo to Doom to Minecraft all under the same corporate stewardship, two blockbuster press conferences have merged into one.

So let's get to it. Here are all the major reveals.

Hey look, it's Starfield!

We've known about Starfieldin an official capacity since 2018, but Bethesda has kept things pretty quiet since that early reveal. Now, in 2021, we still don't really have a sense of what this game is or how it plays. But. Crucially. Bethesda has committed to a release date. Expect plenty more info on this game, now confirmed as an Xbox exclusive, ahead of its Nov. 11, 2022 release.

Halo Infinite is real and it looks good

There's still no release date beyond "holiday 2021," but Halo Infinitecontinues to be a real game that people will play soon. And E3 2021 brought our first look at the game's hotly anticipated multiplayer mode. It looks wild.

Jack Sparrow in Sea of Thieves

Maybe the most unexpected reveal of this press conference? There's more going on with the coming update for Rare's intensely social pirates RPG Sea of Thieves, but the thing people will latch onto immediately is a new Disney partnership that's introducing a Jack Sparrow-focused story to the game. It's coming soon, too, on June 22.

Vampires from the Dishonored team

It's called Redfalland there are vampires. Arkane Studios, the team behind the Dishonored games and the upcoming Deathloop, didn't reveal a ton about its upcoming Xbox exclusive with the cinematic trailer that served as Xbox's "one more thing" mic drop at the end of the press conference. It's a co-op action game, there are vampires to hunt, and it's got a dark sense of humor. Count us in. But prepare to wait. Redfallis pegged as a summer 2022 release.

Forza heads to Mexico

Playground Games' open world Forza Horizon game is set to return in Forza Horizon 5, which moves the stunningly gorgeous racing series and its car racing festival down to Mexico. This fifth game in the series spun off from Xbox's classic Forza Motorsport games also lets players craft their own races and stunts in the new EventLab.

Outer Worlds 2 brought nothing other than jokes

The Outer Worldsis a great game from Obsidian Entertainment. Very much in the vein of classic Bethesda RPGs — in fact, Obsidian did Fallout: New Vegasfor the then-independent publisher — but with more sci-fi and more comedy. This trailer confirms the existence of a sequel. It doesn't show anything from the game, but it's a pretty entertaining watch all the same, like something that ought to exist in the Mythic Questuniverse.

Some trailers just looked cool as hell without saying much

The Outer Worlds 2 wasn't the only trailer to pop up with very little to share about the game, beyond a vibe. Xbox rolled out several just like it. They all look pretty cool, but end up working more to create a sense of hype and mystery around an upcoming game. And hey, they worked for the most part.

Contrabandis a cooperative game where you play as a group of smugglers in a fictional take on Southeast Asia in the 1970s. No release date, no gameplay, no nothing.

Here's a sequel to A Plague Tale: Innocence, the 2019 stealth game that didn't manage to fully deliver but which also looked gorgeous and featured some unique ideas. This sequel, A Plague Tale: Requiem, is revving up for a 2022 release and...that's really all we know. Stay tuned.

Atomic Heartlooks wild. It's set in an alternate 1955 Soviet Union where modern conveniences like internet and robots already exist.

And so much more....

Really, there's no way to share every single trailer that dropped during the press conference. Microsoft had its best showing in years, keeping the focus entirely on games — most of which will be on the Game Pass subscription service — and maintaining a steady pace of sweet trailers.

There's still more newly revealed (or just newly detailed) in-house Xbox games. Ascentand Replacedare action games with big cyberpunk vibes. Shredderslooks to be an epic snowboarding game. Somerville has a real Limbovibe to it, except it's an alien invasion apocalypse (and there's a cute dog). Speaking of cute dogs, Party Animalslets you play as an assortment of furry critters in a social game that looks like it takes a page from Fall Guys.

For fans of third-party publishers that have games on Xbox, there was plenty to get excited about. A first look at the gameplay in Battlefield 2042raised the hype levels beyond EA's recent first look. We also got a more significant glimpse at Ubisoft's Far Cry 6, including some gameplay with Giancarlo Esposito doing his terrifying icy villain thing.

Diablo II Resurrectedhas a release date now, Sept. 23, 2021. So does Twelve Minutes, the indie game starring James McAvoy, Daisy Ridley, and Willem Dafoe. Then we've got Hades, Flight Simulator, Age of Empires IV, Among Uswith 15-player lobbies, and Yakuza: Like a Dragonall coming to Xbox and/or Xbox Game Pass.

Also, Back 4 Blood. Remember Left 4 Dead, that old zombie survival game from Valve where you'd try to cut your way through hordes of the undead as you traveled from safe room to safe room before making an escape? Well Back 4 Bloodis a spiritual successor to that, and this reveal confirmed it as a Game Pass release. It also offered a first glimpse of the new player-versus-player mode.

There's more, too. I couldn't possibly touch on all of it here. You can find the full slate of Xbox and Bethesda reveals right here.