Nintendo Indie World Showcase April 17: How To Watch And Start Time

Today’s ID@Xbox Showcase has revealed Promise Mascot Agency, where players are tasked with playing as a Yakuza legend who was exiled to a job managing different mascots. Elements of driving, cooking, playing card games, and taking baths with your mascots are all important, apparently, to the health of the business.

Mascots include a large piece of crying tofu, a cat dressed for business, and a large pinky toe.

Promise Mascot Agency comes from game developer Ikumi Nakamura known for her work in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, Bayonetta, and Okami, as well as the studio behind 2020 indie darling, Paradise Killer.

Promise Mascot Agency comes to Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S in 2025.

During the ID@Xbox presentation, we got a creepy but intriguing look at Centum, an upcoming point-and-click adventure game scheduled to launch sometime this summer. The game is set to release for Xbox Series X|S and PC.

Centum sees you trying to escape a strange cell, but the announcement trailer hints that there may be more to the story. The environment of your prison shifts and changes, and the Steam page for the game says that you’re at the mercy of an unreliable narrator. Though the art style and situation are different, I get big Doki Doki Literature Club and Slay the Princess vibes from the trailer.

Centum does not feature a singular protagonist; rather, you’ll guide the ego states of multiple characters and influence how each relate to one another. This, in turn, shapes the story and can lead to one of multiple endings. In addition, the game’s Steam page says, “With hidden variables persisting between game runs, each playthrough offers new twists, ensuring that no two experiences are alike.”

This week, X-Men ’97 will premiere the first episode of its three-part Season 1 finale, “Tolerance is Extinction.” The X-Men have really been put to the test in the inaugural season of this revival series, with one of their own dead and another captured. Thankfully, reinforcements are on the way in the final trailer for X-Men ’97, which appears to confirm three new members of the team who will face their ultimate enemy alongside Marvel’s iconic mutant heroes.

Warning: the following contains spoilers from the latest episode of X-Men ’97 on Disney+. If you haven’t seen the installment or don’t want to know what happens, stop reading now.

The first new addition to the team shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who has watched this show since the first episode. Sunspot aka Roberto da Costa has been hanging around the X-Mansion and dating Jubilee for several episodes. And although the trailer doesn’t show his face, Sunspot finally gets his classic New Mutants costume while standing besides Jubilee at 55 seconds into this trailer.

Similarly, Storm’s new lover, Forge, has also suited up to join the X-Men for this crisis. A close up of Forge in-costume can be seen behind Storm at the 56 second mark. As with Sunspot, the trailer doesn’t show Forge’s face in the shot, but it’s clearly him.

Finally, the closing moments of the trailer feature a callback to the first X-Men live-action film as Cyclops gives his son, Cable, an X-Men uniform to wear. Cyclops’ line about “black leather” is a reversal of the “what would you prefer, yellow spandex?” quote that James Marsden’s character said in the film. There is a precedent in the comics for both Forge and Cable as members of the X-Men, but this is the first time that Sunspot has been portrayed as a member of the primary team.

Additionally, the trailer closes with some ominous shots of Magneto putting on his original outfit, rather than the heroic costume he wore with the X-Men. This suggests that once Magneto is freed from Bastion and Operation: Zero Tolerance, he won’t be returning to the X-Men. Instead, Charles Xavier is coming back to Earth, presumably to resume his role as the team’s mentor. But things may not go so well for the X-Men in the final battle, as one of the trailer’s final images features the X-Mansion in flames.

The next episode of X-Men ’97 will premiere on Wednesday, May 1 on Disney+.

While Jackbox Games has provided a lot of wholesome, family-friendly fun in recent years, longtime fans have wondered what a spicier version might look like. During today’s ID@Xbox presentation, Jackbox Games announced it’s answering the call with the Jackbox Naughty Pack, which will bring “spicy surprises” this summer.

The Jackbox Naughty Pack will include three new games with steamier themes than previously offered–in fact, they will become the first-ever Mature-rated titles in Jackbox history. While no specific details were revealed about the three games, the Jackbox blog post says more details are coming this summer.

The official blog post also notes that the Jackbox Naughty Pack has been requested by fans for a while now, with some actual comments from Jackbox Games’s social media included in the post. Some remarked that they “only ever play with adults (often when we’re drinking) so an [adult content] version is a FANTASTIC idea,” while others saying they didn’t realize Jackbox was a family game to begin with, and that they’ve “been playing it wrong.”

The Naughty Pack is the latest addition to the Jackbox Games portfolio, which has produced critically-acclaimed party games like Trivia Murder Party, Fibbage, Quiplash, and more. The company’s longest-tenured title is You Don’t Know Jack, the irreverent trivia game which debuted on PC back in 1995.

The Jackbox Naughty Pack will launch later this year. No platforms have been confirmed for this pack yet, but previous Jackbox releases have appeared on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, PC, and mobile devices.