Next week on Xbox is a two-headliner affair. Xbox Wire's release calendar for October 19 to 23, published October 16, is led by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 on October 23 and Final Fantasy Resonance on October 22. Around them sits the usual long tail of puzzlers, horror games and co-op oddities.
Modern Warfare 4 is the one most players will already have circled, and part of it is already playable. Xbox says pre-orders unlocked campaign early access on October 16, a full week ahead of the global launch, and that the game supports Xbox Play Anywhere. Xbox's one-line pitch promises a darker, more escalated story. Anyone with an eligible pre-order can start the campaign now, and everyone else waits for the 23rd.
Final Fantasy goes HD-2D
Final Fantasy Resonance is the more interesting release from a series point of view. VGC reported at its June reveal that it is the first Final Fantasy game built in Square Enix's HD-2D style, the pixel-art-meets-3D look the publisher has used across several recent titles. It also comes with the series' signature turn-based battles. Xbox Wire lists it for October 22 as a Play Anywhere title.
The game isn't built entirely from scratch. VGC reports it is based on the first season of the mobile game Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, which Square Enix says the console version "extensively rebuilds and reimagines". Players can recruit visions of characters from past games, including Cloud, Terra and Clive, who join battles and use special moves. The overworld is crossed by chocobo and airship, characters are voiced, and the soundtrack from Elements Garden, led by Noriyasu Agematsu, includes 33 newly recorded tracks alongside music from Brave Exvius. VGC lists PS5, Xbox, PC, Switch and Switch 2 as platforms.
The rest of the week
Xbox's list runs to more than two dozen games, so here are the ones that stand out, with Xbox's own descriptions:
- Shoresy: Legends of the North (October 19): a fast hockey RPG with a solo story and head-to-head play.
- Hail to the Rainbow (October 20): a first-person story horror-shooter, with a free trial available.
- We Were Here Tomorrow (October 20): two explorers trapped in a mysterious facility under the Antarctic ice.
- ESG Football 27 (October 20): adds an 11v11 mode and PlayStation–Xbox cross-play.
- Dreadway (October 22): online co-op survival horror for up to four players, built around voice chat.
- Moadra (October 22): open-world exploration and combat on the sand planet Protea VI, also Play Anywhere.
Xbox Wire's post says some of the week's games are coming to Game Pass, but it doesn't say which. Don't assume any of these is a Game Pass day-one release until Xbox confirms it.
What the slate signals
My read, and it is analysis rather than anything Xbox has said: the useful pattern this week is Play Anywhere. Modern Warfare 4, Final Fantasy Resonance, Moadra and a string of smaller releases all carry the tag. One purchase covering Xbox console and PC is becoming the default for this calendar rather than a bonus. The other is how far HD-2D has travelled. The look Square Enix has used across several recent titles is now carrying a Final Fantasy game to five platforms at once.
The next confirmed dates are the releases themselves: Final Fantasy Resonance on October 22 and Modern Warfare 4's full launch on October 23.
Reporting notes