As Resident Evil Requiem approaches its February release date, Capcom has announced a special Resident Evil Showcase set to reveal more information and gameplay.
Earlier this month, Nvidia published a Resident Evil Requiem trailer featuring clips of a busy city environment not yet seen in demos or other trailers, and ‘publicly’ removed from a massive zombie outbreak. The city was populated with cars and pedestrians (and monsters in hallways), making the snippet resemble an open-world city more than what fans are used to with Raccoon City. The trailer can be seen below, featuring NVIDIA DLSS 4 technology.
After this trailer, Capcom wants to keep the hype train rolling with another Resident Evil Showcase set to drop this week. Previously, the Resident Evil Showcase from October 2022 revealed Resident Evil: Village DLC and showed off new visuals for Resident Evil 4 Remake, giving fans a peek behind the curtain before launch. It appears Capcom is doing that again with their latest announcement.
Artwork for the Resident Evil Showcase predominantly features the gun seen on Requiem‘s cover. Resident Evil Requiem‘s director, Koshi Nakanishi, has previously suggested this gun will be important, and the gun’s prominence may be revealed in the Showcase. While speaking to AUTOMATON, Nakanishi detailed how boss fights will go in Requiem, stating, “However, rather than defeating enemies in a flashy manner as you progress through the game, like in games that emphasize gun shooting action, the style is more like Resident Evil and Resident Evil 2, where players expand their exploration area in a closed space and overcome obstacles using their wits.”
How To Watch The Resident Evil Showcase
The Resident Evil Showcase will air on January 15, and it “offers the latest information on the Resident Evil series.” Beyond new Resident Evil Requiem gameplay, details on other projects remain unconfirmed. The announcement states, “some of the games included in the show aren’t suitable for children,” which could mean other titles may be shown, but this is unconfirmed.
The Resident Evil Showcase will launch on January 15 at 5:00 p.m. EST and will be available to watch on the official Resident EvilYouTube channel.
Capcom has given the spotlight to Alex, Street Fighter 6‘s upcoming DLC character, in a new teaser trailer.
Check it out below. Alex joins the fray in Spring 2026.
Alex hails from New York and first appeared in Street Fighter III: New Generation , and specialises in Westling and kickboxing. Alex enjoys a friendly rivalry with Ryu and his interests include military fashion, city life, and training, although isn’t too fond of people who prey on those wearing than them, annoying people, and…broccoli? To be fair, I can’t blame him on that last one.
Street Fighter 6 launched in June 2023 for PS5, PS4, PC, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One. A Nintendo Switch 2 version arrived in June 2025 as a launch title for that system. You can read our full review of Street Fighter 6 here.
As the highly anticipated release of Resident Evil Requiem creeps ever closer, there has never been a better time to unearth the history of this pioneering series. Interconnected and deeply tangled like a tentacular T-Virus mutation, the events chronicling this nearly three-decade-long trailblazer are essential to understanding what will transpire in next year’s entry. So, grab your first-aid spray and check your ammo—let’s get started.
Resident Evil Zero: The Spark
Long before a steroid-obsessed Chris Redfield was punching boulders, the nightmare began with three architects of ruin: Edward Ashford, James Marcus, and the chillingly calculated Ozwell E. Spencer. After discovering the “Progenitor” virus in Africa – an ancient strain capable of radical biological restructuring – the trio founded the Umbrella Corporation. Their goal was nothing less than weaponised evolution, refined into what would become the T-Virus.
While the world saw a benevolent pharmaceutical giant, Umbrella’s real business lay in black-site laboratories and military contracts. This hubris inevitably backfired, culminating in a localised outbreak in the Arklay Mountains. Rookie S.T.A.R.S. medic Rebecca Chambers and escaped death-row inmate Billy Coen became the first unwilling witnesses aboard a derailed train crawling with infected horrors. Their investigation led them to a grotesquely mutated James Marcus, resurrected and driven by a desire for revenge. Though Marcus was finally destroyed, the damage was done – Rebecca fled toward the Spencer Mansion, while Billy disappeared into the forest, his fate deliberately left unresolved.
Resident Evil: The Mansion Incident
Dispatched to locate the missing Bravo Team, the S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team – including Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield, Barry Burton, and their commander Albert Wesker – sought shelter in the ominous Spencer Mansion. What appeared abandoned was anything but: the estate was a sealed ecosystem of zombies, experimental predators, and the Tyrant, Umbrella’s crown-jewel bioweapon.
The greatest betrayal, however, came from within. Wesker revealed himself as an Umbrella operative, orchestrating the incident to collect live combat data by sacrificing his own team. The plan unravelled when the Tyrant turned on its handler, allowing the surviving S.T.A.R.S. members to escape and destroy the mansion. Chris, Jill, and Barry emerged alive – but marked. Umbrella would never allow witnesses to walk away unpunished.
Resident Evil 2 & 3: The Fall of Raccoon City
Only months later, the nightmare went public. A T-Virus leak spread through Raccoon City’s water supply, transforming a thriving Midwestern metropolis into a necropolis almost overnight. Rookie police officer Leon S. Kennedy crossed paths with Claire Redfield, who had come searching for her missing brother, Chris. Together, they fought through police stations, sewers, and laboratories, uncovering Umbrella’s sins piece by piece.
Central to the disaster was William Birkin, a scientist who had perfected the G-Virus, an unstable pathogen that drove relentless mutation and regeneration. His daughter Sherry became both a target and a symbol of Umbrella’s moral collapse. While Leon and Claire escaped with their lives, Jill Valentine was enduring her own hell nearby. In Resident Evil 3, she was hunted relentlessly by Nemesis, a bioweapon engineered specifically to eliminate surviving S.T.A.R.S. members.
With containment impossible, the U.S. government made the unthinkable decision to sterilise the city with a nuclear strike. Raccoon City was wiped from the map, and Umbrella’s public image collapsed alongside it.
Resident Evil Code: Veronica: The Legacy Continues
Umbrella’s downfall did not mean its extinction. Claire Redfield’s continued search for Chris led her to Rockfort Island, a remote prison facility controlled by the unhinged Ashford lineage. There, the siblings reunited amid yet another outbreak – this time fueled by lingering Umbrella experiments and old family grudges.
More importantly, Albert Wesker returned. Having survived the mansion incident through viral self-experimentation, he emerged superhuman, ruthless, and fully independent. Though the Redfields escaped the Ashford Antarctic base, Wesker vanished with invaluable virus samples, ensuring that Umbrella’s research would survive, no longer centralised, but scattered across the global black market.
Resident Evil 4 & 5: Global Bioterror
The series pivoted dramatically with Resident Evil 4. Leon S. Kennedy, now a hardened government agent, was dispatched to rural Spain to rescue the President’s kidnapped daughter, Ashley Graham. There, he encountered Las Plagas – an ancient parasitic organism capable of controlling hosts while preserving intelligence, signalling a shift from mindless zombies to deliberate, organised threats.
This evolution of bioweapons is carried directly into Resident Evil 5. Chris Redfield, now a founding member of the BSAA, deployed to Africa with partner Sheva Alomar. They uncovered TRICELL, a corporate successor exploiting Umbrella’s abandoned research. At its centre stood Wesker, intent on unleashing the Uroboros virus to “perfect” humanity through forced selection.
The conflict ended in spectacular excess (yes, including a volcanic showdown and the infamous boulder punch), but Wesker’s death marked a turning point. Bioterrorism was no longer an isolated conspiracy; it had become a permanent, global arms race.
Resident Evil 6: The Global Crisis
That arms race exploded in Resident Evil 6. Spanning multiple continents and intersecting storylines, the game followed Leon, Chris, and Jake Muller – Wesker’s estranged son and a living genetic anomaly – as they confronted Neo-Umbrella and its C-Virus. This new pathogen blurred the line between infection and weaponisation, capable of tailored mutations on a massive scale.
While the heroes prevented total annihilation, the cost was staggering. Entire cities were lost, alliances fractured, and the illusion of control finally collapsed. The age of clean victories was over.
Resident Evil 7 & Village: The Winters Saga
The series then narrowed its focus with Ethan Winters, an ordinary man searching for his missing wife in the swamps of Louisiana. What he found was Eveline and “The Mold” – a sentient fungal organism capable of imitation, control, and psychological manipulation. Gone were global conspiracies; the horror was intimate, claustrophobic, and deeply personal.
That intimacy carried into Resident Evil Village, where Ethan’s pursuit of his kidnapped daughter led him to an isolated European village ruled by Mother Miranda. The truth was brutal: Ethan himself had died in Louisiana, unknowingly sustained as a mold construct. Yet even that revelation couldn’t stop him from making the ultimate sacrifice to save Rose.
In the aftermath, a weary Chris Redfield took responsibility for Rose’s protection, having uncovered a final, unsettling truth – the BSAA, the organisation he helped create, had begun deploying bioweapons of its own. History, it seemed, was already starting to repeat itself.
Resident Evil Requiem: The Final Reckoning
This brings us to the present. Thirty years after the destruction of Raccoon City, Resident Evil Requiem seems set to bridge the gap between the franchise’s origins and its future. The story introduces Grace Ashcroft, daughter of Outbreak’s Alyssa Ashcroft, who returns to a decaying Midwest hotel to investigate a series of recent murders and, hopefully, solve her mother’s murder at the same time.
In a potentially legendary crossover, she looks set to join forces with fan-favourite Leon S. Kennedy as they both must face their pasts and uncover the truth behind the Raccoon City Incident. With rumours swirling about Leon’s own infection and a return to the restricted “Dead Zone” of Raccoon City, Requiem is set to be the ultimate survival horror experience – a culmination of three decades of fear, shadow, and the enduring resilience of the human spirit.
The PlayStation Store’s Holiday Sale rolls on, bringing great prices to some of the best PS4 and PS5 games the digital storefront has to offer. That includes this very underrated Capcom action game that was originally released for PlayStation consoles in 2023.
Exoprimal is 84% off on the PS Store
Developed and published by Capcom, Exoprimal is currently 84% off on the PS Store. That brings its usual price of $59.99 down to just $9.59. PlayStation gamers who want to take advantage of this deal will have to act fast. The offer ends on January 22 at 2:59 a.m. ET.
Here is a description and trailer for Exoprimal, giving PS4 and PS5 players an idea of what to expect from the dinosaur action game:
“The year is 2040… Sudden dinosaur outbreaks have engulfed the globe in a crisis that threatens humanity’s very existence. Yet all hope is not lost. The corporation Aibius has developed a hyper-advanced AI called Leviathan that can predict the location of future outbreaks. This technology, along with Aibius’s revolutionary powered suits, or exosuits, gives humanity a fighting chance to stem the tide of the saurian swarms. Exosuit pilots, otherwise known as exofighters, are in high demand. Take the exofighter aptitude test and join the ranks of Aibius’s heroic pilots in their fight to stave off the extinction of the human race.”
When Exoprimal was originally released in 2023, it received mixed reviews. According to the review aggregate site Metacritic, it received an average score of 67 across 52 critic reviews. In our review, we gave it a 7 out of 10.
“Exoprimal’s biggest strength is that it’s easy to get friends into, and you’re basically guaranteed to have a decent time whether you win or lose,” reads our review. “The shooter doesn’t reinvent the genre, but it has enough going for its structure that helps it feel fresh — even when you’re running the same stage for the 20th time.”
The long-awaited Capcom PS5 game Pragmatais just a few months from launch. The company recently released a demo on PC, leaving console players eagerly waiting for its arrival on PS5. In a new update, it seems that time will be coming sooner rather than later.
When does the Pragmata PS5 demo release?
In an X (formerly Twitter) post from the official Pragmata account, it is confirmed that the console demo, which should include PS5, “will be arriving shortly.” An exact date is not yet known, but it’s nice to know that console players will be able to check out the long-awaited action-adventure before it launches in April.
Here is a description from Pragmata’s website, as well as a trailer, giving players an idea of what to expect from the upcoming Capcom action-adventure game:
“In the near future. Several years have passed since humanity discovered lunum ore. With it they researched Lunafilament, a material capable of replicating anything, as long as they have its data. One day without warning, they lost all signals to the lunar research station dedicated to the research and development of this Lunafilament. A response team was dispatched immediately. However, a massive lunar quake hit soon after they arrived. Hugh Williams—separated from his team, unconscious and badly injured—is discovered by a mysterious android in the form of a young girl. She is a Pragmata, created using Lunafilament.”
Pragmata will release for PS5 on April 24 on the PlayStation Store. Players can preorder right now for $59.99. The Deluxe Edition, which also includes the Shelter Variety Pack and Hugh & Diana Outfit Set, will cost $69.99.
For players who are unsure if they want to preorder Pragmata, check out our hands-on preview where we said, “from what we played, we’re very excited to try out the full game for ourselves.”
Right, get ready for some chatter about where the contents of our collective wallets have gone over the past year. Valve's list of the highest-grossing games on Steam in 2025 has emerged from the great mists, and in a nice revelation, features a larger number of fresh releases than last year's ranking. That's alongside all of the moderately to quite old stuff which more folks keep hopping on the train of with every passing 12 month period.
The funny thing about games is that while making them, if you put something in them, it's quite hard to take that thing back out again. Who knows what that might break! Which can of course lead to people finding things that were never meant to be seen, like cut parts of a game, which is pretty much exactly what has happened to Resident Evil 4 Remake through the discovery of a level all about Ashley.
If I were the foreman of an game refinery, I might be dabbing my forehead in anticipation right now because there is a lot coming down the pipeline in 2026. You may be looking at the telltale bulge of Grand Theft Auto, but I'm more focused on the amount of damn fine horror we've got in the plumbing.
We’re in the midst of the Street Fighter 6 Year 3 Character Pass DLC rollout, with Alex returning to the roster as the next add-on, and now we got a better look at him. Ahead of his “early Spring 2026” debut, Capcom shared a minute-and-a-half long trailer for him. This one is more about setting up his personality and showing his character design in the fighting game than highlighting gameplay, but it helps establish what to expect.
Like Luke, Alex is a character who was set up in sort of a “protagonist” role when he appeared in the Street Fighter series. He showed up in February 1997 in Street Fighter III. He’s known as a wrestler from America, and we see him in the midst of a match where he’s acting as the heel.
Here’s the full video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaGvmRTUUvU
Alex is the third of four Year 3 Character Pass add-ons for Street Fighter 6, with the fourth piece being Ingrid in “late Spring 2026.” This season pass focused on bringing older characters back into the fold. He follows Sagat, who started this latest run back in August 2025, and C. Viper in October 2025.
Street Fighter 6 is available for the Switch 2, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC, and Alex will appear as DLC in early Spring 2026.
All that trouble going on with Monster Hunter Wilds aside, for a good long while now Capcom has been doing quite well for itself. Multiple quite well liked Resident Evil games, fresh new bits like Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess and the upcoming Pragmata, and even a few remasters, namely for the Ace Attorney games (throw a dog a bone and give us a new one of those, though Capcom), but also for series like Dead Rising that also haven't had a new entry in a while. Well, for now at least, as a new report suggests a new Dead Rising might be in our future.
Have you rearranged your calendar and braced your nerves for the fresh nightmares that Capcom has in store for its upcoming horror game? Well, if so, we have good news: you can now pre-order Resident Evil Requiem at an 18% discount if you get it from Fanatical. For a series that's rarely cheap at launch (emotionally or financially), this is a pretty welcome treat.
A new clip from Resident Evil Requiem has emerged, showing the return of traditional zombies, but they’ll be back in a different form.
Resident Evil Requiem is less than three months away and while we’ve seen plenty of action, showing the new stalker enemy and new protagonist Grace Ashcroft, Capcom hasn’t revealed much else.
It’s unclear if Leon S. Kennedy will make a return, as rumours claim, or how the game will be structured overall. Director Koshi Nakanishi, however, has stated that, in terms of its balance between horror and action, the ninth mainline entry will be closer to Resident Evil 2 than Resident Evil 4.
It remains to be seen how that will play out exactly, but based on new footage, the influence of Resident Evil 2 remake is certainly clear in terms of the zombies.
The clip comes from a documentary titled Legendary Games Chronicle: Biohazard, which aired on the Japanese TV network NHK. While it predominantly focuses on the series at large, a small snippet features new gameplay from Resident Evil Requiem.
The 30-second clip shows Capcom developers playing a sequence where Grace is shooting a classic-looking zombie, before it lurches forward in an attack animation reminiscent of the 2019 remake.
This is the first time we’ve seen proper zombies in the sequel. Capcom did confirm zombies will feature in the game during a panel at the Tokyo Game Show, but they apparently won’t be as traditional as they first appear.
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According to reports from the panel, zombies in Resident Evil Requiem can undergo mutations in the middle of a fight, making them faster and more aggressive. While it’s unclear how this will play out, it does sound similar to the spider-like plagas from the Resident Evil 4 remake.
Aside from the remakes, traditional zombies have been absent from mainline Resident Evil games since 2013’s Resident Evil 6. Resident Evil 7 featured Molded monsters, while the last entry, Resident Evil Village, featured werewolves, vampire-like giants, and mutated babies.
It’s unclear how prominent zombies will be in Resident Evil Requiem, but it will be set in Raccoon City 30 years after its destruction in Resident Evil 3 – so all signs suggest it will harken back to the original trilogy for its enemy designs.
Resident Evil Requiem will launch across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC on February 27, 2026. A remake of Resident Evil Zero is rumoured to be in development, but hasn’t been confirmed yet.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – is the critical acclaim justified? (Kepler Interactive)
The Tuesday letters page is very sceptical about CD Projekt’s timeline for The Witcher 4, as one reader looks forward to the launch of Metroid Prime 4.
Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk
Blocked off Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is no doubt a brilliant game overall. But so far, I am finding the combat so frustrating I am about to give up.
Let me say I am very early in the game (maybe three to four hours in). I have enjoyed the design, the music, the characters, etc. are brilliant so far. I am also really interested in the story, as much as I know so far anyway.
However, I find the combat awful. Specifically, the timings for parrying/dodging. I am quite used to specific timings. I love games like Elden Ring, The First Berserker: Khazan, and Space Marine 2, which all require timings to parry/dodge/block, etc.
But in this game, when to do it just feels random and really frustrating to know. Maybe it’s just me?
I am at the point where I’m not finding the game fun and ready to stop playing, which is a shame. So just wondering if anyone else felt like this and if so, what did you do? Brand
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Eternal appeal RE: Soldat’s feature. Enjoyed reading this but think the answer – if there is one – lies in which games you show them from the old days.
I used to have an old MAME setup, and the kids really loved Bubble Bobble and multiplayer Gauntlet and Gauntlet 2 but the undoubted winner out of the old school games was… Track & Field. They and their mates went into a frenzy trying to top each other’s high scores and beat the world records. No comments at all about primitive graphics or anything else.
I’ve always thought that graphics age, great gameplay doesn’t.
And if that doesn’t work, visiting retro arcades or the gaming museum in Sheffield might be an idea to show the games off? Paul
Sensible choice I do appreciate GC being outraged that Capcom are still not making a new Dino Crisis or remaking it. You would’ve thought with the Jurassic World movies still doing well it’d be more than worth the risk but apparently not.
It may not be a very exciting choice but I’m afraid Dead Rising has a much more solid history of success and, well, it’s zombies. I can’t say I’ve ever particularly liked the ones I’ve played but while more daring than most publishers, in trying risky ideas, they’re not silly.
The sad truth is Dino Crisis has never been a big hit and is about a subject that’s never really sold a lot of games. Compared to that, Dead Rising has been more successful and is about something that’s a very easy sell, whether you’ve heard of the game before or not.
We just have to hope that the next Monster Hunter is an even bigger hit and they have so much money sloshing around that they can afford to be less cautious than usual. I’m not holding my breath though. Trent
Running commentary In response to your reply to Freeway77’s email about cute ‘em-ups I can confirm it’s a term I’ve heard before and there are many great games/franchises that are in that genre. I guess it was probably more of a big thing in Japan but Twinbee, Parodius, Star Parodier and the Cotton series, that the original email, referred to have been around for around four decades.
To any fans of the genre I would recommend the Super Famicom Parodius game with the OTT Japanese commentary, I can’t remember what it’s called though. John Atkinson
GC: It’s called Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius (aka Live Chat Parodius). These are all famous games, in certain circles, but we’ve still never heard the term cute ‘em-up before and it seems unnecessary.
Killer app I really can’t agree Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the game of the year. I’m sorry but it’s far from perfect. I’ve played every Assassin’s Creed game to 100% and Shadows isn’t the best by a long shot. There is better games out there.
Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 isn’t on this planet as a good game; it pains me to say it, but Mario Kart World has to be, for me, that one game that sold the Switch 2. Even though people was moaning about the hardware it was the software and that one game that made gamers say yes, I want one. David
Time paradox As much as I love CD Projekt’s games there is something very shifty about that company. I don’t feel they ever really apologies for Cyberpunk 2077’s launch (maybe they did to their shareholders but not to us) and this whole thing about making three The Witcher games in six years makes no sense.
Unless they’ve got a time machine or going to hand the whole thing over to AI (can you imagine!) I don’t see how it’s physically possible. Even Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom, which used the same map as the previous game, took six years, so what gives?
Or is The Witcher 4 trilogy going to be a kind of large scale episodic content, where each one is set in the same game world? Whatever’s going on it’s clearly not the regular way of developing a game. The fastest any of these sort of games can be made nowadays seems to be about five years, so you should really be talking a minimum of 15 years, not six.
I really hope that CD Projekt has discovered some clever new way to get over the problem of games taking to long to make but assuming they’re not using literal magic I hope it’s not something that’s only going to make things worse.
The video games business is in such a strange spot at the moment, I really don’t understand what’s going on. Billison
GC: It seemed very odd to us too. There is no obvious explanation without more information from CD Projekt.
Milestone release Unusual to wake to good news, but a new Dead Rising game? Yes, please.
I’m actually just waiting on the Deluxe Remaster for the Xbox to get me to 100K Achievement points. Dead Rising was the first Xbox 360 game, so I thought the remaster would be a fitting game to help me hit the milestone.
I’d actually like to get it to 99,999 but I’d have to work it out and never play the Xbox again, so I’ll abandon that plan. Anyway. Thanks for the good news guys. I just hope it isn’t a letdown like Dead Rising 4 and forces mech suits on you that break after two minutes. Bobwallett
Indie legacy The release schedule for this week is pretty packed with games I’m interested. Starting with Marvel Cosmic Invasion, a port of Viewfinder to the Switch, and, of course, Metroid Prime 4 finally coming out.
But among these games there’s also the Simogo Legacy Collection, which I’m hoping doesn’t get lost in the pack.
Simogo makes varied and interesting games and it’s great that they’re bringing out this collection, so their older titles are no longer locked behind legacy releases on mobile.
I’m particularly looking forward to revisiting Year Walk and Device 6 but seeing their older titles that I’ve never played and the extra content is very appealing to.
It looks like they’ve put a lot of effort into this package and it’s really cheap too. I hope GC has time to review it and bring more people’s attention to the games of one of the more interesting devs out there. Euclidian Boxes
Inbox also-rans When can we expect your best games of the year list? I always look forward to it. Also, if you haven’t got one, a database of all your reviews would be great, where you can filter it down into scores, genre, year etc. It’d make it much easier to find some good new games to play. Bobbleheaddy
GC: We don’t have a filter system like that but our Top 20 of the year is always run over Christmas, usually just before New Year’s Day.
The problem with AI is not enough people care right now but once it takes over, and everything ends up looking and playing the same, suddenly everyone will be upset, but by them it’ll be far, far too late. It’s not going to be pretty Jonesy
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Did you own an Xbox 360 back in the day? (Microsoft/Metro)
For the Xbox 360’s 20th anniversary, GameCentral reflects on the console’s most influential games and how their impact is still felt today.
Today marks the Xbox 360’s 20th anniversary here in the UK (in the US, it was November 22) and it remains the odd duck in the Xbox line-up, as unlike Microsoft’s other consoles it was the most influential of its generation.
Ask anyone who was gaming during the mid-2000s and early 2010s and they’ll tell you that that despite the PlayStation 3, and Wii, managing to outsell it in the long run, that era belonged to Xbox and cemented the brand as a genuine competitor to Sony.
Since then, Microsoft has thoroughly squandered all the goodwill it accrued, with subsequent consoles enjoying much sourer reputations. The Xbox One failed to reach the same level of sales success and the Xbox Series X/S has done even worse.
Surprisingly (or perhaps unsurprisingly), Microsoft hasn’t acknowledged the 25th anniversary at all, but we wanted to look back at the games that defined not just the console, but that entire era of gaming… for better and worse.
Halo 3
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The problem with modern day Xbox is that not only have console sales dried up but most of its biggest game franchises have been run into the ground. Halo’s Master Chief was once the closest thing Xbox had to a mascot, and the release of Halo 3 was such a cultural event that even non-gamers knew about it.
Aside from concluding the storyline that began with the original Halo from 2001, technological advancements meant more people could enjoy online multiplayer, at a time when the whole concept of online play was still relatively new.
After Bungie moved on from the series, Halo’s never managed to reach that level of superstardom again, but it may earn itself some new fans thanks to the upcoming Halo 1 remake and its PlayStation 5 release.
Gears Of War
The Xbox 360 era is often remembered for its oversaturation of dirty browns and greys, with so many games utterly devoid of colour, in what the developers imagined was a more mature and grounded art style. Gears Of War is perhaps the poster child for those types of games.
It’s an approach that paid dividends, though. Gears Of War’s premise of big, snarling soldiers wielding bigger guns, and fighting a gritty war against hordes of grotesque monsters, made it a smash hit and a key Xbox franchise.
Inspired by Resident Evil 4, it popularised the idea of third party shooters in general, while virtually inventing the concept of cover shooters, with even modern titles still taking influence from it.
Just like Halo, Gears Of War has never returned to the highs of the original Xbox 360 trilogy by Epic Games, but it’s hoping to make a comeback with prequel game E-Day in 2026.
Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
A lot of Call Of Duty games released on the Xbox 360 during its lifetime but Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is easily the most important one as it’s what turned the franchise into a household name, selling more than twice the number of copies of any of the previous entries.
Aside from ditching the series’ Second World War setting for a modern day conflict, Modern Warfare kickstarted the series’ propensity for rollercoaster campaign modes full of incredible set pieces, while also perfecting the multiplayer formula that has served as the foundation for the series ever since.
It’s perhaps fitting that Call Of Duty now falls under Microsoft’s umbrella, although it isn’t exactly flourishing nowadays. Modern Warfare developer Infinity Ward’s next game is supposedly due next year, but the newest entry – Black Ops 7 – is off to a terrible start, critically and commercially.
Left 4 Dead
We’re sorry to list nothing but shooters so far, but it wasn’t for nothing that the Xbox 360 was nicknamed the ShooterBox, with Left 4 Dead in particular thriving thanks to the rise in online multiplayer – letting friends shoot zombies together without needing to be in the same room.
Between the co-op campaign, competitive multiplayer, and survival mode, there was little reason to play Left 4 Dead solo. That was also influenced by Valve’s PC focus for its titles, which naturally favoured the Xbox 360 and ensured that both the original game and its sequel never came to PlayStation 3.
Left 4 Dead also best encapsulates the era’s zombie obsession. In those days, it felt like every other game needed zombies for mass market appeal. You not only had dedicated zombie games like Dead Island, but other franchises began incorporating the undead, with Call Of Duty’s Zombies mode becoming a series mainstay.
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Let us stress that we’re not just highlighting good games with this list. This is about games that best exemplify the Xbox 360 generation and Bomberman: Act Zero encapsulates some of the industry’s worst traits at the time.
We don’t know what possessed Konami to reboot Bomberman into a gritty, armoured super soldier, fighting to the death in a futuristic dystopia, but this sort of extreme edgy attitude dominated games of the time. As with Gears Of War, Act Zero seems allergic to colour, with the colourful cartoon stylings of all the other games transformed into a blur of greys and browns.
Even if Act Zero had played as well as the regular Bomberman games, which it didn’t, the try-hard approach was so off-putting it was a complete flop. Although developer, and series creator, Hudson Soft were later subsumed into Konami as a whole, the series continues today and in full Technicolor.
Kinect Star Wars
Kinect may have been commercially successful but it seems fair to say that it was never actually popular. Despite being the fastest selling consumer electronics device ever, at the time, the Kinect is, perhaps more than any other single thing, directly responsible for the downfall of Xbox.
A motion sensing camera, that sat under your TV, it was Microsoft’s answer to the success of the Wii. The device was ambitious in how it offered games that could be played with just your body, with no controller required, but it never worked as well as the adverts pretended and almost all the games were awful.
Kinect Star Wars – a glorified minigame collection featuring Jedi power fantasies, pod-racing, Rancor destruction, and, of course, dancing – was particularly infamous, not only for its poor quality but the faked live demonstration that Microsoft used to promote it.
Unfortunately, Microsoft was so enamoured with Kinect in general it took its eye off the ball in terms of normal games, just as Sony was finally getting its act together with the PlayStation 3. Microsoft learned nothing from that and their insistence on bundling Kinect with the Xbox One, thereby increasingly the price and lowering the power of the console, sealed their doom as a console manufacturer.
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved
The indie game scene as we know it today owes a great debt to the Xbox Live Arcade service. It gave smaller studios and games a place to stand on their own, so as not to be overshadowed by the usual triple-A fare, and was an instant success.
One of the first big hits was Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved, which revitalised dual-stick shooters and made them a mainstay of that era of indie gaming, thanks to its old school vibes and colourful visuals.
Other early hits include Limbo and Braid, which were not only great games in their own right but things that would never be released physically by traditional publishers. Indie gaming was already a thing on PC at the time but with Xbox Live Arcade it suddenly became a mass market business.
Dark Void/Quantum Theory
The Xbox 360 era was a disaster for the Japanese side of the games industry. Almost all Japanese companies struggled with the technical leap from the previous generation and suddenly found they had no experience with the dominant genres of the time, particular first person shooters and online titles in general.
There were generally two different responses to the problem: either employan (invariably low rent) American studio to make games for them or try to mimic Western made games themselves.
In Dark Void’s case, Capcom partnered with American studio Airtight Games, to try its hand at a sci-fi cover shooter. It wasn’t very good, resembling almost every other third person shooter on the market, with only a jetpack as a unique hook.
Koei Tecmo, meanwhile, had a go with a Gears Of War knock-off called Quantum Theory. This one was made by a Japanese team but you wouldn’t know to look at it. Even ignoring how it was a pale imitator, it was an amalgamation of every gritty shooter cliché you can think of, without any sense of charm or novelty.
Lost Planet
Sticking with Capcom, the fate of Lost Planet encapsulates the whole story of the Xbox 360 generation, from a Japanese perspective at least. The original was a third person shooter desperate to ape the success of Halo, albeit with giant mech suits you could pilot.
It was a mild success, so Capcom tried to follow that up with a multiplayer-focused sequel, trying to take advantage of the popularity of Gears Of War and Call Of Duty. It was less successful though and so their third attempt was to hire Californian studio Spark Unlimited – infamous for a string of cheap, poor quality games during the era – to make a more story driven sequel.
When that didn’t work out Capcom just gave up on the series altogether and, in the next generation, went back to making games themselves, as they, and the rest of the Japanese industry, found their feet again.
Resident Evil 5 & 6
Resident Evil had already shed most of its survival horror elements to become more action orientated with Resident Evil 4, but after that series creator Shinji Mikami left. You could tell immediately too, as the next two games became listless copies, devoid of the previous games’ innovation.
The fifth game wasn’t too bad, although it’s co-op mode was another obvious attempt by Japanese companies to copy trends initiated by Western developers.
Resident Evil 6 was when the series came off the rails, with Capcom publicly proclaiming they were looking for Call Of Duty levels of success. The game that resulted was a bloated mess, that wasn’t in the least bit scary, with almost no redeeming qualities.
Both games were commercially successful, but Capcom rejected the trivialisation of the franchise by taking it back to its survival horror roots with the soft reboot that was Resident Evil 7. And they’ve been on a roll ever since.
Fable 2
Although Microsoft certainly seem to think so, given how long they’ve been working on the reboot, it’s arguable as to whether Fable counts as a key Xbox franchise or not. It’s only had one really good entry and it’s indicative of Microsoft’s mistakes that they failed to follow-up properly on the successes of Fable 2.
Fable could’ve been Xbox’s answer to The Legend Of Zelda, with its morality system that allowed you to play as a good or amoral character, but instead the immediate follow-up squandered all its good ideas on more restrictive gameplay and an obsession with attracting casual gamers.
Things only got worse from there, with a typically shonky Kinect spin-off, which led to founder Peter Molyneux leaving developer Lionhead and then Microsoft shutting the entire studio down. Which was not a good lead in to the next generation.
A remaster from last year is apparently going to lead to a brand new entry in a long-running Capcom zombie franchise, but it’s not Resident Evil.
The last few years have been highly profitable for Capcom and that’s seen them gain the confidence to bring back a lot of what seemed like dead franchises. A new Onimusha is out next year and Ōkami is also getting sequel from the original director.
They’ve made new games as well, such as Kunitsu-Gami: Path Of The Goddess and the upcoming Pragmata, while promising to bring back other dormant series. They’ve not been specific about which ones they might revive, but one of the least interesting options is apparently what they’re going with next.
According to a new report, Capcom is working on a new Dead Rising sequel which will ignore all the entries in the series except the first one – which is an increasingly common thing to do with horror movie horror franchises.
The initial leak came from the generally reliable MP1st but has also been ‘partially’ corroborated by VGC. They suggest that Capcom is working on a ‘zombie action sequel’ with protagonist Frank West but can’t confirm it’s actually a Dead Rising game.
According to the original report, the new game is not a remake or remaster and has the codename Rec. It will star Frank West – always the most popular of the series’ various protagonists – and feature other returning characters, such as Isabela Keyes.
Supposedly, the game will be set in an enclosed Hollywood movie lot, with the antagonist being an ‘extravagant and deranged film director’.
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Interestingly, the new game will reintroduce the time limit mechanic that made the original so distinctive, but which was removed from most of the sequels. Frank will also make prominent use of his camera and while there’s no direct confirmation of saving survivors that does seem to be the implication.
It sounds like the director is fully aware of the zombie threat and is using it to create the ‘perfect movie’ by forcing people and actors to perform special trials.
Although it is just a rumour, it would fit a recent pattern with Capcom, where they release a remaster to gauge current interest in a franchise and then follow with a new game annoucement if conditions seem favourable.
Onimusha got a remaster in 2018 and confirmation of a brand new game some years later. Covid likely interfered with that one though and after last year’s Dead Rising remaster it may be that an official annoucement, of a new entry, comes relatively soon. The game itself, though, is thought to be several years away.
If the rumour does prove true it’ll be interesting to see what happens to other franchises Capcom has remastered recently. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective didn’t seem to do that well, and the future of Ace Attorney remains unclear, but Mega Man Battle Network was apparently much more popular than expected – and yet no new game has even been hinted at yet, just a remaster of the less popular follow-up series Mega Man Star Force.
Sadly, for Dino Crisis fans like us, Capcom’s dinosaur themed survival horror still hasn’t got its first foot on the ladder, as there’s been no remaster or any indication from Capcom that they’re interested in saving the franchise from extinction.
Ōkami is getting a sequel, so why not DIno Crisis? (Capcom)
