Titled Towerborne, it sports a gorgeously stylized visual aesthetic. Set in a fantasy world, the action-adventure game will offer a three-player co-op experience where players will travel together through gorgeous sidescrolling environments and take on a variety of fantastical enemies in what look like adrenaline-fueled combat sequences. The game’s world is described as an “ever-changing” one, though it remains to be seen what exactly that will entail. Check out the announcement trailer below.

Towerborne is in development for Xbox Series X/S and PC, and will launch sometime in 2024. As is the case with all games releasing under the Xbox Game Studios banner, it will be available via Game Pass right at launch.

The Last of Us Remake Gameplay

The Last of Us is one of the greatest games ever made – even if a remake doesn’t make sense, one can’t deny the appeal of vastly improved visuals, gameplay improvements and even more content. There have been rumblings for some time about the remake but more recently, insider Tom Henderson stated it would release in the latter half of 2022. VentureBeat’s Jeff Grubb corroborated the same with sources claiming it would launch in Holiday 2022. Sony hasn’t announced a showcase for June, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get a bombshell announcement and gameplay at the Summer Game Fest.

Now, more new details on it may have emerged. In a recent episode of the Xbox Two podcast, journalist Jez Corden spoke more about the game, saying that the game will have some sort of a cloud-component, multiplayer gameplay, and a sort of social hub similar to Destiny. Where the multiplayer is concerned, Corden is unsure if it will be co-op or competitive.

Meanwhile, Stoic Studio recently also published a new job ad (via @IdleSloth84 on Twitter), which seems to suggest that the game will also have RPG elements, with mention of “loot and reward allocation” in the job ad, which also mentions “MMO or ARPG game experience” as one of its requirements. As per the ad, the game will also have scaling enemy difficulty, while the applicant will also be responsible for “working with ARPG to define all the specific weapons, gear and aspects.”

Interestingly, Corden also mentions that the game has been in development since 2019, which, in turn, means that there’s a good chance that it ends up getting revealed soon, and could possibly even launch launch this year.

With the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase set for June 12, if the game is indeed going to be revealed soon, there’s a chance that we hear something about it then. Either way, we’ll keep an eye out for more details, so stay tuned.

As it turns out, this isn’t the first time that Project Belfry had been mentioned. Jez Corden of Windows Central spoke on the Xbox Two podcast about an Xbox title called “Belfry.” Aside from the reference to bell towers, he was unsure about the title. At the same time, Corden was aware of Stoic Studio of The Banner Saga fame making a title with Xbox Global Publishing as well. In a recent report, Corden said, “It wasn’t until Jeff Grubb put the final pieces together on his show today that everything fit into place.”

In short, it’s Stoic Studio that’s developing Project Belfry and Corden noted that it would have “similar painted art styles to that found in The Banner Saga.” Neither the developer nor Xbox Global Publishing has confirmed the project’s existence so we’ll need to wait for an official announcement. But it’s sounding all the more exciting as time goes on.

The Banner Saga is a tactical RPG series in a Norse mythology-inspired world. It’s critically acclaimed for its visuals, story-telling and meaningful decision-making. The series concluded with The Banner Saga 3 which released in 2018 for PS4, PC, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. Check out our review for it here.

Described as similar to Vanillaware’s Dragon’s Crown, Project Belfry is reportedly a side-scrolling action game with a massive world to explore. The player has a belfry tower that serves as their base and they can create settlements out in the world to send resources back home. This allows for crafting items and weapons among other things. It also apparently gives Princess Mononoke “vibes” with its art.

Interestingly, the development team has been described as good with art but never having made this kind of title before. Granted, that doesn’t exactly narrow it down but the project in general sounds pretty cool. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime and hopefully, some kind of announcement from Xbox Game Studios in the future.