Xbox Developer Direct 2025 live – All of the latest Xbox news from the big showcase

Each specific region has an associated creature that's doomed to wander if that Hazel must face and ultimately heal. These critters influence the music and more of their respective areas. And apparently a respective musical theme builds up over time during fights with them? Tell me more.

"Timing is everything." Spells interact with each enemy uniquely, opening up many different ways for dealing with opponents. With the right combos, cooldowns can be reduced and chains continued. Neat! Experience allows you to unlock upgrades to push things even further.

Manifestations of corruption are common enemies, called Haints. They have their own styles of fighting and weaknesses, so it's all about countering appropriately and combos. Combat looks fairly solid and dynamic with plenty of movement.

Lots of weaving-related weapons: spindle, hooks, and so on. Blends craft with mystical elements, but she still can parkour around because of course. As is right and good.

Voice actress Adriyan Rae here to talk about Hazel. Typical 19-year-old, but disastrous events cause her to tap into Weaving and redefine herself. Apparently the land itself chooses here; Weavers "can see the fabric binding our worlds" to perceive "mystical strands and stigmas" to reweave them and help afflicted critters.

South of Midnight explores Southern Gothic themes with a dark fantasy twist. Protagonist Hazel is front and center, but it's all the "macabre" creatures and characters she meets that will stand out.

Immediately shifting to Compulsion Games and South of Midnight. No time to breathe.

2025 will be "the Year of the Ninja," which, I mean, maybe! I hope so.

Lots more fighting. And there's the logo: Ninja Gaiden 2 Black is the definitive version with revamped graphics courtesy of Unreal Engine 5. Lots of characters to play – on console, PC, and Xbox Game Pass today! Surprise!

Maybe a remake of the initial Xbox Ninja Gaiden game? Definitely same sort of modern graphics as Ninja Gaiden 4.

Ryu standing on a roof, jumping, running, fighting.... a remaster of some kind? Sure looks it.

One last thing...

Goal seems to be combining speed and dynamism of PlatinumGames with the classic roots of the Ninja Gaiden series with dark hardcore action. Been in the works for "many years" with PlatinumGames. Coming Fall 2025! All the usual suspects plus on PS5.

Yakumo apparently has a slightly different fighting style, Raven and Nue, than Ryu. Various Obliteration and Ultimate Techniques return, but he'll feel different. Lots of variety, "limitless," for dealing with enemies. New movesets in Ninja Gaiden 4 as well as returning.

Lots of talk about mechanics for taking on multiple enemies, instant kills "never before seen in a Ninja Gaiden," and quickly swapping around. But there's also going to be tight and fast 1v1 fights. Players will need to keep an eye on enemies to understand their behaviors to really make the most of opportunities.

The lad Ryu is looking pretty good!

Tokyo is flooded with fiends and adversaries. Some cool jumping and parkour elements of Yakumo zooming around with the help of ninja tools and *squints* grinding on rails.

Lore drop from Yuji Nakao. Rain means the Dark Dragon is active (naturally) and Yakumo is a young ninja from the Raven clan, a rival of Hayabusa, looking to defeat the Dark Dragon.

And there it is: Ninja Gaiden 4. "After more than 10 years, the wait is finally over."

Classic action brawling; strong PlatinumGames vibe. "Ryu Hayabusa" namedropped; definitely a Ninja Gaiden of some kind then.

Dark rain in Tokyo, seems like PlatinumGames is involved. Looks like a new, modern 3D Ninja Gaiden?

Team Ninja logo preceded by a bunch of water. Fumihiko Yasuda talking about the reveal for a popular franchise.

Seems like maybe we're starting with the unexpected, unrevealed entry? Xbox Games Publishing.

Ah heck yeah, we're starting with people slowly walking around and looking at monitors. This is the good stuff. Also, juggling? Xbox using this moment to state we're going to hear directly from devs.

Quick reminder here at the front of show from Xbox that, essentially, everything is an Xbox. (Everything is not an Xbox, but, well. Marketing.)

And here... we... go...

If you've got any last-minute predictions on what Xbox is going to show beyond what's already been revealed, now's your chance. Call your shot! If you don't, you'll never ride eternal, shiny and chrome. Just a couple minutes left!

The little concept art for various games popping up is a nice touch, certainly. The scribbling noise as the images appear and disappear is strongly reminding me of Comix Zone. (I recognize there is a good chance that game came out before you were born, Dear Reader, so if you're not familiar you're just going to have to trust me.)

I'm not usually one to comment on waiting room music, but for the life of me Xbox has made me wonder here if I left the DVD menu for Interstellar running idle somewhere thanks to the deeply ominous soundtrack and ticking clock. Less than 10 to go!

Just 15 minutes to go until the "Developer_Direct 2025," as Xbox has deemed it, kicks off in earnest! Still time to grab a drink and hit the bathroom.

In other important news, our intrepid deputy news editor Iain Harris has relinquished the reins to none other than myself, US managing editor Rollin Bishop. If you've caught live coverage from us previously, chances are you've seen my handiwork. Which is all to say: buckle up.

So, what's the mystery game, then? We don't have long to wait, though one report doing the rounds says it's "a new entry in a legendary Japanese IP which has decades of history."

Xbox has been making some inroads with Square Enix lately, from Final Fantasy 14 and other, albeit non-FF7R and FF16-shaped, games. While we did see Visions of Mana at an Xbox show, it's far from guaranteed that ol' Square will turn up again. Not that it will stop me from dreaming about something Dragon Quest-shaped.

What say you? What's your best guess?

One hour warning, gang!

And then there's South of Midnight, the latest from We Happy Few studio Compulsion Games. We have yet to get a release date for this one, so we can only hope today is the day. As our Big in 2025 preview explained, South of Midnight's gothic folk tale could be Xbox's ace up the sleeve for the year. Are you looking forward to it?

Also, Clair Obscur's creative director put parrying in the turn-based RPG because he loved it so much in Sekiro. You absolutely get bonus points for that.

Clair Obscur has all the turn-based combat you'll remember from the likes of older Final Fantasy games and Persona, though creative director Guillaume Broche is often keen to remind that studio Sandfall Interactive is going its own way with this 'un. Namely, on big, flashy visuals that don't look out of place alongside all the other stunners of our time.

What's perhaps got me most excited is that Clair Obscur is set to offer 30 hours of main game. In a time of 100-hour epics, that's music to the ol' ears.

Of course, it's not just more Doom we're looking forward to. I've had my eye on turn-based RPG Clair Obscur since it was announced, and that was before they announced that the actors behind Gollum, Daredevil, and Shadowheart are linking up.

Last Summer Game Fest, Doom: The Dark Ages was reportedly ranked second as the most-wishlisted game of the event. Gears of War: E-Day was third, though it doesn't look likely we'll see that today. How highly does the new Doom game sit among your most anticipated games?

In fact, we got to speak to creative director Hugo Martin not after the new Doom was first revealed, who told us that id Software is making big changes to combat because the team came to the core realization that "every projectile mattered in the original Doom."

We also got into some of the secrets about how the team names the weapons. You see, the cool-looking Skull Crusher is called that because "it crushes skulls." Inspired.

One of the games we're excited most for is Doom: The Dark Ages. That's partly because the original runs on just about anything, but mainly as rippin' and tearin' is up there with some of gaming's biggest joys.

First things first. If you're still looking for a stream for the big event, you'll find 'em at the usual places like YouTube and Twitch. The show isn't set to start until 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm GMT, though you'll likely find the streams going live 10 minutes early to allow everyone to filter in.

And we're live! We still have some time until the showcase kicks off, though there's plenty to get caught up on and there's little doubt some news may trickle in as we get closer to the Xbox Developer Direct.