Xbox Showcase Was a Cavalcade of Remakes
- Showcase packed with remakes, including Gungrave, Dragon Quest, Romancing SaGa 2, and Fatal Frame 2.
- Forza Horizon 6 revealed, and it’s set in Japan.
- New titles did get a look-in, including Hotel Barcelona and Winter’s Burrow, plus new Game Pass titles.
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Remakes And Reboots
Hot on the heels of Sony’s PlayStation State of Play comes Microsoft’s Xbox Tokyo Game Show 2025. Hosted by Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, the show focused on games content related to the Asian market, although other parts of the world were also covered.
However, with previous Xbox and PC-only titles like Microsoft Flight Simulator now appearing on PlayStation, the focus is on what Microsoft has planned to keep people using its game console. The answer, at least judging by the sheer amount of these in the showcase, appears to be “more remakes than you’ll ever need.”
A Gungrave remake led the charge, with other entries into existing series including Double Dragon Revive and, perhaps the most anticipated reveal of all, a new Forza game. Dan Arceta, the game’s Art Director, spoke about the setting in a respective news post on the Xbox site.
“While we’re not announcing too much in terms of detail right now, we’re excited to show fans the true breadth of beauty – both natural and urban environments – that Japan has to offer,” said Arceta.
“From the neon lights and towering buildings of Tokyo City – one of our most detailed and layered environments to date – to the serenity and natural beauty of Japan’s rural and mountain areas, we think players will be blown away by the open world of Japan that we have built.”
“And while we are not necessarily trying to recreate Japan and its environments like for like, our goal has always been to capture the country’s unique cultural essence and present it back in the most Horizon way possible.”
Didn’t Need it But They Made it Anyway
Gungrave is an early-2000s title getting the remake treatment but, confusingly, rather than being a new version of the original, Gungrave Gore Blood Heat is a remake of the 2022 franchise entry, Gungrave Gore. Built in Unreal Engine 5, which might end up working against it, Gungrave Gore Blood Heat follows series protagonist Beyond The Grave as he mows down hordes of monstrous enemies using twin pistols and a massive coffin.
Other than the Gungrave remake, the Xbox Tokyo Game Show revealed remakes of Dragon Quest 1 and 2, Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven, and Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly.
The original Fatal Frame 2 was released in 2003 and follows twin sisters stuck in a cursed town. However, rather than conventional weapons, players use a camera to combat ghosts. Koei Tecmo has said that the remake will be a complete overhaul, with release scheduled for early 2026.
Although not a remake, Double Dragon Revive takes an old school beat ‘em up series and, yes, revives it in 3D. Developed by Arc System Works, it lets players choose from four characters and gradually unlock details about them during the main Story Mode. There’s also an Extra Mode that acts as a series of minigames and episodes, and online/local two-player co-op.
¡Dios Mio, Un Nuevo Juego!
Another game with co-op, and one with a new IP rather than a remake or reboot, is Hotel Barcelona. Created by Hidetaka “Swery” Suehiro and Goichi “Suda51” Suda, it’s being released on Sept. 26 and drops players into a sidescrolling beat ‘em up. But, true to its developers’ history, it’s anything but a straightforward hack’n’slash.
“Instead of one specific movie, we wanted to create a love letter to the horror genre as a whole: ’80s slashers, ’90s cult classics, modern horror, and everything in between,” Swery said in a related news post. “Hotel Barcelona is a homage to horror itself.”
Upcoming ARPG Mistfall Hunter also got a look-in, with the reveal that the game’s launch (later this year) will also include an area called Solemn Needles. This is a desolate, sacred forest, where the Divine Anchor – a powerful relic that attracts enemies – sits alongside Hastine’s Fall, which is the site of a giant corpse that still radiates divine strength.
Winter’s Burrow was possibly the only game on show that was both cute and depressing at the same time. Players are tasked with helping a little mouse set up a cozy woodland home, but as they also face starvation and freezing to death. This one’s being released into the wild soon, on Nov. 12.
Something less depressing was the reveal of Starsand Island, an open-ended farming sim set on a beautiful island with multiplayer elements. The Nintendo-baiting Aniimo also received a new trailer, which highlighted the Pokemon-like ARPG and its cute evolvable creatures.
Game Pass Goodies
Xbox also looks to be banking on its Game Pass to do a lot of heavy lifting, in terms of bringing in new players and retaining existing ones. Of the above games, Winter Burrow and Forza Horizon 6 will be available to play through it, with other announced Game Pass titles including Terminull Brigade, Ninja Gaiden 4, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.
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