Xbox Games Showcase 2023: Celebrating the Best of Gaming
The Xbox Games Showcase 2023 was a monumental event that showcased an impressive lineup of games from both big-time studios and independent developers. The show had something for everyone, including special projects from [email protected] developers, like Thunder Lotus’ 33 Immortals and Microbird Games’ Dungeons of Hinterberg.
Interviewing the Developers: Sharing the Stage with Gaming Icons
In a recent episode of the Xbox Podcast, Larry Hryb had the opportunity to interview the developers behind these projects. Hryb asked them about their experience of seeing their games being introduced alongside highly anticipated titles like Starfield and Fable.
Thunder Lotus’ Creative Director, Stephan Logier, expressed his excitement, stating, “It was amazing. It was a dream come true for the team, for me – it was so satisfying to be part of the community. I was in the room with everyone, with all the fans, and there was so much energy, and amazing content. It was really something, one of the best moments of my life. We’ve worked so hard for the last few years to make this happen, so this moment was exceptional.”
Philipp Seifried, co-founder of Microbird Games, shared a similar sentiment, saying, “It was absolutely amazing. We stayed quiet about the game for a year and a half. When we first started prototyping we did some initial screenshots and put them on Twitter, and had quite a good resonance, but then we stayed quiet for so long, and it’s been nagging at us that we can’t talk about the game. Having this shown for the first time at such an amazingly huge event – just being in that cinema in LA – it was one of the greatest moments we’ve had in years.”
Regina Reisinger, another co-founder of Microbird Games, added to the excitement, stating, “We were really excited, our hands were shaking a little bit in there, waiting for it.”
Awe-inspiring Game Reveals: 33 Immortals and Dungeons of Hinterberg
The game reveals for 33 Immortals and Dungeons of Hinterberg were met with great enthusiasm. 33 Immortals impressed with its unique blend of action-roguelike mechanics and the promise of 33-player co-op gameplay inspired by MMO raids. On the other hand, Dungeons of Hinterberg captured attention with its vibrant, comic book-inspired art style and the integration of life-simulation elements into its dungeon-crawling gameplay.
Press Appointments: Showcasing the Games to the Media
Following the Showcase, developers had the opportunity to showcase their games to the press. Stephan Logier shared his experience, saying, “All afternoon we played a version of the game with the press, and we had a lot of fun. It was really interesting to start playing in co-op directly with everyone, and we died a lot! Everyone was dying a lot and we saved each other, and so everyone started to use the unique power each weapon has – you need other players to take position, and so we were developing tactics to get rid of dangerous elites, monster elites that are really fast, so it was really fun. In a multiplayer game like 33 Immortals, the game really exists when players play together, the game dynamic happens in this moment… we were playing and talking and having fun together, and it was a really good moment.”
Release and Availability
33 Immortals will be available on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and Cloud. It will also be included in Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass from day one. An early access version of the game will be released in 2024 through the Xbox Game Preview Program.
Dungeons of Hinterberg is set to release in 2024 for Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and Cloud. It will also be available on Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass from day one.