There was a lack of big names at Gamescom’s opening night. Highlights like “Where Winds Meet” or “Dead Island 2” still provided variety.
Gamescom is back in Cologne, quite traditionally as a face-to-face event. So Geoff Keighley opened the show again in front of a live audience. The Game Awards host presented new announcements such as “Where Winds Meet” or “Moonbreaker” from the “Subnautica” makers as part of the two-hour “Opening Night Live”.
There were also game scenes and release dates for well-known titles such as “Return to Monkey Island”. In view of the many trade fair cancellations, the show lacked a bit of radiance, especially compared to the Summer Game Fest, but some innovations and fresh impressions still arouse curiosity. The most important of the 30 games presented at a glance:
“Where Winds Meet”
“A Winds Meet” by Everstone Games made for an atmospheric Far Eastern debut. In a setting reminiscent of ancient China, demon battles were fought with various weapons. During the presentation, the manufacturer was still stingy with concrete information about the action role-playing game. But the open world with its rough nature already made you want more – including wildly staged snowstorms and gigantic Buddha statues.
“Read of P”
Bloodborne meets Pinocchio – that’s probably the best way to describe Neowiz’s massive action game Lies of P. Whether it’s grilling spider monsters or fighting bizarre metal creatures with flaming furnace bellies: the art design in the city of Krat fascinates despite the somewhat choppy animations. Alliances with possible opponents and lying should play an important role. Pinocchio’s Nightmarish Quest for Mr. Geppetto is slated for 2023 for PC, PS5 and Xbox consoles and will be available from launch on Xbox Game Pass. The game even won the Gamescom award for “Most Wanted Sony PlayStation Game”.
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(Source: The Game Awards)
“Return to Monkey Island”
The new art design of “Return to Monkey Island” is a hot topic, but hardly any game is as hotly anticipated as Ron Gilbert’s new adventure for Windows and Nintendo Switch. The arm-waving marketing expert “Stan S. Stanman” unveiled an appropriately stupid pre-order extra, an explicitly useless horse armor for the inventory – alluding to the legendary controversial horse armor DLC for Bethesda’s role-playing game “Oblivion”. The release is planned for September 19th, performances are now possible.
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(Source: Devolver)
“Moonbreaker”
Unknown Worlds Entertainment says it loves surprises and variety in development. Therefore, the revealed “Moonbreaker” is very, very different from “Subnautica” and its successor “Below Zero”. The turn-based, competitive sci-fi tabletop tactics game revolves around figures that can be personally painted. The art design and the story by Brandon Sanderson are based on Firefly, the gameplay on X-COM. Interested parties can build a crew and start battles like on the game board in Early Access starting September 29th.
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(Source: The Game Awards)
“Hogwart’s Legacy”
Harry Potter won’t play in Avalanche Software’s Hogwarts Legacy prequel series. But the 19th century also promises authentic magic from the Unreal Engine. In the time of the impending goblin uprisings, the scenes focus on optional quest lines that seem darker than previously shown material. Players decide for themselves whether they want to engage in the dark arts. The action RPG was recently pushed back to February 10th, 2023. Then it will appear for PS5, PS4, Xbox One and Series X/S PC and Nintendo Switch.
“Sonic Frontiers”
In “Sonic Frontiers,” Sega’s mascot explores an often amazingly mature open world. Initial fan reactions were skeptical, but Sega apparently wants to stick to a tight schedule. In Cologne, November 8th was announced as the release date and new scenes of Sonic’s risky battles against prickly beings were shown, which apparently endanger the entire floating island world. In addition to the free upper world, there are also smaller levels with linear paths. The 3D platformer is in the works for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Windows.
“The Callisto Protocol”
At the Summer Game Fest, the horror action “The Callisto Protocol” by Dead Space creator Glen Schofield became a disgusting highlight. This time there were nasty tentacle enemies that turn into even nastier monsters if the tentacles don’t burst in time. The “Dismemberment System” also dismantled some extremities during the slide mini-game in the sewer. The horror begins on December 2nd, 2022 on PS4, PS5, PC as well as Xbox One and Series X/S.
Gotham Knights
The more the better? In Gotham Knights for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC (Steam/Epic), four spandex wearers swing their fists cooperatively: Batgirl, Nightwing, Robin and Red Hood. Compared to Insomniac’s Spider-Man games, however, Warner’s open-world settings still pale in comparison. When the sleazy Clayface and the evil influencer Harley Quinn appear, the shadows in particular don’t look particularly contemporary. The release date has been brought forward for a change, to October 25th.
“New Tales from the Borderlands”
Publisher 2K officially announced the adventure game “New Tales from the Borderlands” at Gamescom. Randy Pitchford, co-founder of the developer Gearbox announced personally that old employees of the adventure forge Telltale are involved in the implementation of the new story. Release is October 21st
“High On Life”
Many Rick & Morty fans already know how well Justin Roiland’s humor works in games. The studio Squanch Games, which he founded, presented further scenes from the shooter “High on Life” for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Windows in Cologne. Humans serve as drugs here, symbiotic aliens as weapons. Namely as weapons that comment non-stop on a boss fight with stupid sayings while the player swings through the arena with a harpoon. Madness is scheduled to be playable on December 13th.
“The Expanse: A Telltale Series”
Hardly any other science fiction series offers as much potential for entangled plot threads as “The Expanse”. The revived Telltale Games and Deck Nine (“Life is Strange”) could accommodate massively tricky decisions in the adventure of the series. In “The Expanse: A Telltale Series” heroine Camina Drummer faces the brutal consequences of a mutiny, which in the trailer only partially fits the style of the original. The release for still unknown platforms is planned for summer 2023.
“Dune Awakening”
Funcom’s newly announced Dune Awakening for PC, Xbox Series and PS5 combines the gameplay of survival games with the social aspects of MMO titles. The developers write that players should share a desert world on the desert planet Arrakis. There is no release date yet.
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(Source: The Game Awards)
“Dead Island 2”
To wrap things up, Deep Silver’s Dambuster Studios presented fresh scenes and fresh blood from Dead Island 2, which the team began developing four years ago. The splatter dance through seedy Los Angeles will be a homage to classic Hollywood horror films. At its core, the action focuses on melee combat, guns, and plenty of destructible environments, of course. A three-player co-op mode is also planned. The zombie slaughter will be released on February 3rd for PS5, PS4, PC (Epic) and Xbox consoles.
All in all, despite the absence of blockbusters, the opening show had a fairly varied mix of new announcements and fresh game impressions. Gamescom 2022 wants to make up for the absence of some big names with a colorful program of parties, e-sports events and other events. More details about the program can be found on our Gamescom topic page.
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