The Gamescom 2022 conference celebrated its Opening Night Live kickoff ceremony in Cologne, Germany today, its first in-person chance to show Sonic doing a little loopty loop on a metal wheel since before the pandemic. Geoff Keighley, host, games journalist, wearer of slim-fit pants, announced several world premieres with great enthusiasm during the ceremony, and also introduced fresh footage for many already-announced games like The Callisto Protocol and Goat Simulator 3.
Though I cannot match Keighley’s same enthusiasm—I think it has something to do with my being partial to a wide-leg pant—I present to you everything we witnessed at Gamescom today.
Return to Monkey Island
Kotaku’s John Walker mused that Return could be the “first properly good entry in the [Escape From Monkey Island] series since 1997,” and it’s out very soon, on September 19.
New Tales from the Borderlands
Silly and fun. Out on October 21.
Homeworld 3
Everyone has been shivering in anticipation for Homeworld 3 since 2019, when this third installment of the legendary space strategy game was first announced. This new trailer gets the blood pumping again, and you can wishlist the game out in the “first half of 2023” on Steam or the Epic Games store.
Dead Island 2
The zombie-ridden survival horror game lives! After first being announced in 2014! We saw a story trailer and some gameplay footage, and the latter was too gory for Gamescom, which censored some of the brain blood. There’s an uncut trailer out there if you really must.
Lies of P
The goth Pinocchio game (yes) Lies of P, first announced in May of last year, finally revealed some of its gameplay, which is basically Bloodborne for puppets. Everyone has been asking for this. It looks really slick.
Blacktail
The indie game about Baba Yaga, the Slavic witch my regular baba (it means grandma!) told me about when I was a kid to make me eat my figs (I had tummy issues), debuted a trailer showing off first-person archery and perhaps survival elements? Much like in real life you can be a good witch, or a bad one. The game currently has a 20% off pre-purchase promotion on Steam through December 15.
We also got more quick-hit information about:
- Dying Light 2: Bloody Ties features arena combat, and is out October 13.
- We got some cinematics from the just-revealed Destiny 2: Lightfall expansion.
- Sonic Frontiers showed a little story content; fans remain skeptical.
- Starrail got a new trailer and announced a competition to win an “Acrylic Stand” of character Dan Heng, now through August 28.
- Goat Simulator 3 now has a gameplay trailer.
- Genshin Impact 3.0 has a new trailer and will be released August 23.
- Gotham Knights will be out earlier than expected, on October 21.
- Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is available for pre-purchase on Steam ahead of its November 30 release date. So gritty!
- Oddly named city-building puzzler Dorfromantik is coming to Nintendo Switch. It looks like this.
- The Outlast Trials has a trailer for its closed beta trials, which will occur from October 28 to November 1st, 2022.
Dune: Awakening
One of Gamescom’s world premieres, the trailer for Dune: Awakening did not feature Timothée Chalamet, so I’m not interested due to my being a #woman. But if you are interested, you can currently sign up for beta testing or wishlist on Steam.
Atlas Fallen
A big-budget third-person action / adventure from Deck13 that went over big with the audience, Atlas Fallen throws your bedraggled nomad ass onto a desert planet. They have some sort of “sandbending” abilities. The bit of gameplay near the ends looks very “Soulslike,” but if Souls had high-speed sand-surfing. Dunelike, maybe.
Friends vs. Friends
What a gorgeous artstyle! The trailer begins with ultra-cartoony furries engaged in a tense card game, which devolves into ultraviolence. Seriously: brains, decapitations, the whole nine yards. Yeah, I hate spoons, too. Brief gameplay at the ends reveals the game to be a legit FPS with some sort of card or deck-building component. Beautiful, if dissonant.
The Lords of the Fallen (reboot edition)
Action role-playing game Lords of the Fallen was first released in 2014, but almost a decade later, it’s back with a reboot, baby. And remember to call this continuation “The” Lords of the Fallen—plain old “Lords of the Fallen” is its father’s name. Out 2023.
Wyrdsong
RPG fans got thrown some red meat in the very brief debut trailer for Wyrdsong. There’s an eclipse, and word of some evil force, but what really got everyone’s attention was that it’s by the makers of Fallout, Skyrim, and Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Some other upcoming games we got glimpses of:
- Moving Out 2
- Tortuga: A Pirate’s Tale
- Under the Waves
- Where Winds Meet
- Park Beyond
- Phantom Hellcat
- The Finals
Everywhere
There are so many games about space. This is one of those games. I don’t really know what Everywhere, a new game from former Rockstar Games lead developer Leslie Benzies, is about, or even when it comes out, but the trailer reveals some true space-type elements such as “a rocket” and “math.” The devs really talked this one up, promising a little bit of, well, everything. Is it another crypto grift? We’ll see!
The Callisto Protocol
The Callisto Protocol, which is not Dead Space but is by the creator of Dead Space and looks an awful lot like Dead Space, will be released December 2, 2022. It also contains the key element of “brutally beheading aliens,” and there’s a new “mutation” system in there now, too.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game
This might be niche, but I found the 1988 sci-fi B-movie Killer Klowns from Outer Space for free on YouTube when I was a kid realizing there was more to watch than just Harry Potter. It is an awful movie, but I watched it at least four times in celebration of my understanding that the world was very big and the art in it was very strange. I approve of this gonzo game, which is by the creators of Friday the 13th. It’s out in “early 2023.”
Moonbreaker
Moonbreaker, a turn-based sci-fi game from underwater survival game Subnautica, will be out for Early Access on Steam September 29. The big news here is the worldbuilding is by noted sci-fi scribe Brandon Sanderson. If you know of Mistborn or The Stormlight Archive, then that’s pretty exciting.
The Expanse: A Telltale Series
After imploding a few years ago the Telltale adventure game brand is on the mend. Based on what we saw, its new project based on sci-fi hit The Expanse looks pretty high budget and even has a few novel gameplay ideas. It’s been a long time since The Walking Dead, but is Telltale back?
High on Life
The guy behind Rick and Morty is also behind this strange comedy FPS where your guns are annoying worms. Let’s call this a worm-type game.
We also saw bits of:
Oh right, the Pokémon car
Mini is collaborating to create a concept car that’d make Pikachu proud (it’s electric!). No word on cost or actual availability.
Keighley’s done it again. My brain is huge with information. Out of all of it, what are you most looking forward to playing?