Here are all Microsoft exclusives launching in 2017

The cancellation of PlatinumGames’ Scalebound has caused a lot of negative attention from fans and doubters of Xbox. While the loss of Scalebound is sad, as well as being a big hit for Microsoft’s 2017 line-up, Xbox fans do have a number of confirmed AAA exclusives, as well as some high-tier indie games, to look forward to this year.

1) Sea of Thieves

Sea of Thieves is undoubtedly a unique title. Coming to both Xbox One and PC through Microsoft’s Play Anywhere initiative, Sea of Thieves is an innovative take on pirate-themed gameplay. Instead of always being the captain, taking care of the wheel and weapons like in Assassin’s Creed 4, you can be any member of the ship’s crew whether it be controlling the sails or the aforementioned captain.

While Rare have been on a pretty dodgy streak since Microsoft bought them back 2002, Sea of Thieves looks to be a triumphant return for the studio. Sea of Thieves isn’t just about your ship, it’s about you and your crew. While travelling the seven seas and battling other crews is part of the fun, there is also treasure to find in caves and secret islands where you’ll have to swordfight the undead to finally get your pirate booty.

2) Crackdown 3

The Crackdown series was one of the gems of the 360. The original 2007 masterpiece was mainly bought by players since it came with the beta for Halo 3, a clever move by Microsoft since Halo was unimaginably massive back in the early days of the 360. I spent hundreds of hours working for the Agency; collecting orbs strewn around the city, lobbing cars at random civilians, climbing the tallest building of the game and jumping on top of the gang members who constantly spawned outside of the main base.

Crackdown 3 not only aims to bring back the feeling of classic Crackdown but also aims to deliver players unparalleled structural carnage in the form of a completely destructible environment in its online portion, with somewhat detailed but limited destruction in the game’s single player mode. While development has been rocky since the massive internet backlash on Microsoft’s original reliance on cloud-computing always-online services—which is why the always-online multiplayer will be fully destructible but the offline single player won’t be—Crackdown 3 should hopefully provide a fun, wacktastic experience for all.

3) Halo Wars 2

The original Halo Wars was a divisive game on the Xbox 360 with Halo fans either loving or hating it. Halo Wars brought the RTS to consoles in a fantastic way with CGI wizards Blur taking care of the cutscenes, Halo Wars was a delight to experience both in-game and in its story.

The sequel seeks to enhance the original Halo Wars experience and bring the RTS genre back to console—a genre which has gone massively underutilized this generation. (Seriously, where are the Command and Conquer games this gen?) This time the story will be more integrated with the fiction of the Halo universe and will revolve around a new villain, a Brute warlord, Atriox. Atriox’s faction, The Banished, will be the main antagonists and they look absolutely terrifying.

4) State of Decay 2

The original State of Decay was surprisingly one of the best open-world zombie survival games out there. Focusing on survival—proper survival—every character in State of Decay was expendable. If they had their own story related stuff to follow and they died, tough, they were dead. Forever. Interesting mechanically and in its world, State of Decay was a must-have title when it originally released on the 360, as well as its remaster on Xbox One.

State of Decay 2 will be a much bigger game and while developer Undead Labs hasn’t shown off too much of the game we do know that the second instalment in the franchise will include the much-requested co-op that was originally planned to be implemented into the original game as well as taking place in a “substantially larger” environment.

5) Cuphead

While Cuphead may not be a AAA release, it most definitely will have the polish of one. Consisting of completely hand-drawn animations throughout the entirety of the game, Cuphead’s amazing 1950’s style has drawn the attention of everyone since it was unveiled in 2013.

Cuphead is set to finally release sometime during mid-2017 and everyone at ICXM is aching to play through the gorgeous environments developer Studio MDHR has handcrafted for players. For such a small team with backing from Microsoft themselves, Cuphead is without-a-doubt going to be one of the most unique platformers that releases this year.

6) Voodoo Vince Remastered

It’s been thirteen whole years since the original Voodoo Vince released on the original Xbox and, well, a certain ICXM employee called Asher exploded when he found out this was getting a full remaster for Xbox One.

Releasing in early 2017, Voodoo Vince reminds us of a time when games focused more on providing a full gameplay experience instead of bombastic set pieces and on-rails sections. Following the wise-cracking Voodoo doll Vince, this 3D platformer should hopefully bring smiles to the faces of many gamers when it launches this year.

7) Forza Motorsport 7

While technically unconfirmed as of now, Microsoft’s dedication to yearly iterations of the Forza Franchise plus pretty much confirmation by Fanatec CEO Thomas Jackermeier of the game being in some form of development, we can expect Forza Motorsport 7 to not only be a great and full package for Xbox One and Windows 10 players but also a brand-new treat to play at the launch of Xbox Scorpio.

8) Below

While also not actually scheduled for 2017 so far, Below’s last release date targeted mid-2016 before it was pushed further back. Developers Capybara Games stated in their last blog post that the next update we hear about Below will also feature its firm release date.

What we know about Below for now is that it’s a top-down game where you, as a tiny sprite-based character, explores the deep, creepy depths of a mysterious island. Below will have a multiplayer, it will be a roguelike, it will have permadeath. Below will most definitely be an experience that Xbox One players will be excited to play when it launches, which will most definitely be sometime during this year.