Abstract
- We go hands-on at XBOX Video games Showcase 2026 with the darkly humored Join Us, an upcoming open world sandbox sport that has you creating and managing your very personal cult.
- Fight was the central focus of our demo, sampling a number of weapons you should use within the sport, starting from pistols to machine weapons and serrated machetes.
- Join Us launches March 2027 for XBOX Sequence X|S, XBOX on PC, cloud and included with Recreation Move. Play it on each console and PC at no extra value with XBOX Play Wherever.
Join Us wastes little time in letting me understand how foolish issues are about to get. Shortly after navigating its cultist creator and adorning my robes in a brightly coloured yellow, white, and inexperienced checkerboard sample, deciding on a flying saucer as my cult’s icon, and insisting everybody refer to one another as a quantity, is once I set my expectations for hilarity – and was not disillusioned.

Join Us has all of the markings of an bold indie that, on the floor, describes itself as sandbox survival sport, nevertheless it feels a lot deeper than that. The ten-person crew at Wolf Haus Video games has seemingly saved throwing concepts on the wall and as a substitute of rejecting them, discovered methods to make them work. Wish to trip a deer? Positive. What if we had aliens? Sure. Wish to drive a forklift? In fact you do. And that’s a massive half Join Us’ appeal, is providing you with a big selection of strategies to each get pleasure from your time within the sport’s world and methods to your occasion of cultists to infiltrate the native populace.
Exiting the cultist creator display screen, I quickly discovered myself in a giant outside compound with dozens of fellow cultists adorned in my colours, all in a synchronized dance, guiding me to a makeshift impediment course to get a really feel for the controls and a check of my indoctrination – capturing a pig (or not) on the behest of our nice Chief. I’m then despatched to the Home of Enterprise (a barn) to obtain my orders: journey to the close by county of Bedford and unfold the great phrase of our little cult. And by spreading the great phrase, we imply violently.

Bedford is extremely rural, surrounded by wilderness, navy bases, an deserted circus, and rusted automobiles. That is additionally dwelling to the beginning of our personal little compound, situated simply outdoors of city, that includes a number of followers already on-site, pounding drums, caring for chickens, and harvesting tomatoes. It isn’t lengthy till the locals arrive to take offense to our presence by speeding in weapons blazing.
Fight was one of many central focuses of my hands-on time with Join Us, giving us a pattern of the number of weapons you should use within the sport, starting from pistols to machine weapons and serrated machetes. Biking by way of weapons was a breeze and fight felt fairly good for the present state of the demo construct — it has good bones and can little question see some additional refinement main as much as its full launch subsequent yr.

After we took care of the invaders in a particularly bloody battle, I then conscripted different cultists in our compound to pile into a white van and drive over to the close by farm to take out the remainder of these ruffians whereas “Cielito Lindo” was taking part in on the radio – there are a half-dozen radio stations to cycle between whereas driving autos, due to course there are (the wall, keep in mind?).
As soon as we arrived on the enemy farm, I looted a close by weapon cache that uncovered a grenade launcher, flame thrower, and chainsaw – that’s when the chaos actually began to unfold as we started to place these enemies out to a bloody pasture. It wasn’t lengthy till the flurry of explosions and hail of bullets attracted the eye of the native police who arrived on the scene and instantly opened hearth on us – even a police helicopter arrived – and actually laid into my character till he was toast. That was the tip of Quantity 14. My cult was gone, or so I assumed…
all these cultists again on the compound? In case your playable character is killed off, you’ll change over to any surviving follower to proceed your sport. You possibly can even swap into the physique of any close by cult member at any time, even throughout fight, with the long-distance swaps functioning like a cult-powered type of quick journey.

Join Us additionally options permadeath, which means the poor sap I used to be taking part in who received caught up within the hail of bullets again on the farm, is gone endlessly from the sport. Now in a newfound physique with a need to unfold our cult’s affect even additional, I hit the highway and discover extra of the huge surrounding space.
One such cease included a small neighborhood the place I walked as much as and transformed extra of the native populace – this not solely will increase my cult’s following however offers me some extra respawn choices ought to I fall sufferer to a different spherical of bullets. Pulling this off required affect that may be obtained by placing flyers up throughout city, handing out personalised autographs from our Chief, or simply threatening them to demise.
Quickly I had a half-dozen new followers adorned in a matching wardrobe, who hilariously ran over to the closest automobile, hijacked it, and drove to the compound – which left me with out a set of wheels, leaving me to stroll all the way in which again to the compound. Sadly, I handed by a police station on the way in which again dwelling and thus was a swift finish to Quantity 53.

There’s rather more to Join Us than dispatching a little bit of ultra-violence and exploration. Their official channels point out base constructing, farming, indoctrination of members, domesticating animals, and aliens. It’s far and wide – however that’s a part of its appeal. Wolf Haus desires to offer you one of many wildest and weirdest sandboxes so that you can play in and it looks as if they’re properly on their means in doing so. Take into account myself indoctrinated.
Search for Join Us to launch in 2027 for XBOX Sequence X|S, XBOX on PC, cloud and included with Recreation Move. Play it on each console and PC at no extra value with XBOX Play Wherever.
