Age of Empires IV and Halo: Reach for PC revealed at X019

Microsoft yesterday hosted X019 in London which is the ‘celebration of everything Xbox”. Personally, I did not have many expectations from the event, since I am not an Xbox user and Microsoft hasn’t really delivered mind blowing games for quite some time now, but I was pleasantly surprised with some of what was shown.

Firstly, they showed off the gameplay for the latest instalment of one of their most successful IP, Age of Empires. Age of Empires IV is the first new game we have seen in the main series since AoE III released in 2005. The trailer shows the sprawling landscape of the game with updated graphics which are quite promising. We also get a look at two civilisations, the English and the Mongols.

The other big announcement at X019 was the remastered version of Halo: Reach for PC scheduled to be released on 3rd December. No Halo game has released on PC since Halo 2 back in 2004. Halo: Reach for PC will be part of The Master Chief Collection for PC which is already available for pre-order on Steam and the Microsoft store. The collection includes Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, Halo 4 and Halo: Reach. Right now, only Halo: Reach will be released for PC, and other games will be available for playing as soon as they are ready since Microsoft has decided to take time to get the games right. Seems like a good move since Red Dead Redemption 2’s PC port has been facing a lot of issues. You can also buy these games separately.

Microsoft also announced Project xCloud, which will be their game streaming service. This will be available to Xbox Games Pass subscribers for free.

Speaking of Xbox Games Pass, they revealed their lineup for 2020, which includes all the Final Fantasy games from 7-15. Halo: Master Chief Collection, Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition (The latest remaster) and The Outer Worlds are already available now. This makes Xbox Games Pass one of the best passes available in the market right now.