The Gamescom Opening Night Live stream kicked off the yearly event today. There was a barrage of announcements, and even though it wasn’t entirely on the level of E3, there were some big ones. We’ve done a round-up of the Gamescom trailers, reveals, and announcements we felt had the most impact below.
Gamescom Opening Night Round-Up | 12 Minutes reveals illustrious voice cast
I previewed 12 Minutes at E3 2019 and loved the premise. It’s like a mini-Groundhog Day as a husband lives the same 12 minutes over and over to solve the mystery behind the mysterious man who shows up to his house to kill him and his wife. Now, the game has a voice cast to match its unique narrative. James McAvoy, Daisy Ridley, and Willem Dafoe will all be providing voices to the title.
Gamescom Opening Night Round-Up | BioWare says Dragon Age 4 is still in development
BioWare hasn’t been doing well. The studio’s last two games flopped hard, and it seems like the spark has gone. However, BioWare still has a chance to turn its fate around with Dragon Age 4. Although we haven’t heard much about the game, we did get a small look at some of the art the studio is working on and a confirmation that it’s still in development.
Gamescom Opening Night Round-Up | Doom Eternal: Ancient Gods: Part I DLC release date trailer
Doom Eternal is metal as hell, and it looks like we’re getting more gory goodness with the upcoming DLC. The Doomslayer once more takes on angels and demons in his quest to…. kill? This time we’ll be taking on ancient gods, which is great because it’ll give us something new to shoot.
Gamescom Opening Night Round-Up | Jurassic Park Evolution comes to Switch
Jurassic World Evolution: Complete Edition is bringing the base game and all its DLC to the Switch. You can learn more in our interview with Game Director Rich Newbold.
Gamescom Opening Night Round-Up | Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond takes you back to Normandy, this time in VR
War never changes…. location. Medal of Honor goes back to its roots by presenting the invasion of Normandy on D-Day once again. This time it’s in VR, though, which looks pretty cool.
Gamescom Opening Night Round-Up | Quantum Error looks like an FPS Dead Space
Dead Space is dead, and no game has jumped up to provide that unique type of space horror. Quantum Error is looking like a decent claimant, with plenty of meaty skeles and other undead-looking creatures.
Gamescom Opening Night Round-Up | Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart gameplay doesn’t look ratchet at all
Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart impressed us with its initial reveal by its innovative use of the PS5’s SSD to almost instantly load new levels. The extended gameplay demo looks excellent and was confirmed to be running on PS5 hardware. It’s a decidedly next-gen game and shows a peek at what we have to look forward when the new console launches.
Gamescom Opening Night Round-Up | Scarlet Nexus is very, very anime
No game has gotten cel-shading quite right yet. Despite chasing that “playable anime” look, gaming just hasn’t gotten to the point where 3D worlds are indistinguishable from animation created with film cels. However, Scarlet Nexus shows just how close we are to finally getting there. This game has a unique look with characters that seem straight out of an anime and enemies that are reminiscent of Bayonetta or Monster Hunter.
Gamescom Opening Night Round-Up | Star Wars Squadrons campaign gameplay
EA showed off a bit of the campaign in Star Wars Squadrons in a new trailer. Unfortunately, the trailer also showed the Star Wars franchise’s weakest aspect, which is the period between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. The new Extended Universe is incredibly dull, and doesn’t leave the plot very many places to go. Rae Sloane will be in it, which is good as she’s one of the few interesting characters in the new EU. However, it’s set in the year between the Battle of Endor and the Battle of Jakku, and we already pretty much know how things will go down the line regardless of what happens in Squadrons.
Gamescom Opening Night Round-Up | Struggling is a Cronenberg multiplayer game
This game is something special. I got an opportunity to play Struggling with the CEO of Chasing Rats Games, and it’s really a blast. This trailer debuted today, but the game was also released shortly after. You can check out our interview and gameplay here.
Gamescom Opening Night Round-Up | World of Warcraft: Shadowlands launch date
Yep, World of Warcraft is getting a new expansion. I’m not sure what’s going on in this trailer, but I assume that it’s exhilarating to the millions of fans that have kept the MMO alive for so long.
