G’afternoon. Join us back here at 7pm BST / 2pm EST / 11am PDT, when we’re be liveblogging the Gamescom Opening Night Live main event. It’ll be fun, probs.
Hello. Hello. I’m here. I just ate an absurdly large pizza for dinner in 20 minutes which will probably prove to be a mistake. How are we all? Are we excited for Geoff?
WarderDragon says: I was going to be at Gamescom in person, for work – and for the second year in a row it fell through. I’ll watch along with RPS though!
A shame you can’t be there in person, but happy to have you here!
I’m excited to hear what James had for dinner.
Popeye’s, spicy chicken sandwich. Perfect every time, I don’t know how they do it.
Hi everyone, by the way.
Here we go! Geoff rises.
Strong trainers. 8/10.
A musical number to open, appaz. Starfield’s composer is here, tinkling the ivories.
That arch they keep showing in Starfield looks like exactly half of a massive MccDonald’s was destroyed.
CGI trailer for Starfield now, looks like.
A live action trailer! For a video game! It’s 2008 all over again!
Correction: the trailer has a real man, green-screened onto many, many CGI backgrounds.
He looked weirdly gleefull about blasting another spaceship to smithereens, presumably extinguishing the lives of everyone oncreen.
Oop, a stage invader. He’s juiced to play GTA 6, it seems. Geoff can barely hide his rage.
At least they noticed this one?
Todd is here! His jacket is blue!
Todd Howard onstage now. He’s actually meant to be there, so Geoff is calmed.
WarderDragon says: Stage Invader didn’t really get his message across, I feel.
Absolute scenes.
Bethesda have apparently built, at Gamescom, a 300-person theatre for people to watch Starfield’s intro scenes. Presumably no matinee showing of Barbie.
Todd’s talking about Starfield’s story, but is being intentionally cagey about specifics.
OK, here we go. First proper reveal of the evening.
Two children wearing masks are exploring a delaptidated, grimy environment while being stalked by gigantic, monstrous humans. It’s Little Nightmares 3! Made by Supermassive Games, instead of series creator Tarsier Studios.
Here’s that live action-ish Starfield trailer:
The Sounds Of Nightmares – a six episode podcast set within the world of Little Nightmares – is also a thing.
First two episodes are available now.
New trailer for Black Myth: Wukong next. Lots of beasties for Sun Wukong to fight, it seems, including a massive pig-headed fella I’m fairly sure I killed in Resident Evil 4.
A very poorly looking creature is having its chest sawn open before recieving implants that transform it into a horrific murder machine. A player is fighting them off using various guns.
Oh, it’s Killing Floor 3! Didn’t expect that!
Zack Snyder is here to talk about his new film, Rebel Moon. It’s not called FILMScom, Geoff.
Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition is out today on Xbox, btw. Got new console controls – wonder if those could come to the PC for Steam Decking?
I just realised I’ve gone until right now without knowing what Zack Snyder looks like.
“Anthony Hopkins plays this robot”
Geoff just called a film an IP. That’s it. That’s the post.
They’re also making a game with Super Evil Megacorp on development duties.
I can hear Anthony Hopkins but he doesn’t sound like a robot.
Anthony Hopkins is one of our greatest living actors, yet whenever I hear his voice all I can think about is Nate’s impression on the EWS.
Eulrich says: Anthony Hopkins as a robot seems like a bit of a waste
really don´t understand why actors having enough money for several lives still take such roles
You can always buy another house, I guess.
Time for an update on medievel open-world RPG, Crimson Desert. The trailer is mighty fighty so far.
Eulrich says: love the sheep scene, whatever this game is
Some truly excellent sheep, I agree.
And pretty! Some lush hills in whatever fantasy world this is.
Hot air balloons, magic puzzle solving, climbing trees, this has a bit of everything.
…also we’re fairly sure the main guy just drifted his horse.
Robots as well? What is happening
MEDIEVAL BREATH OF THE WILD WITH HORSE DRIFTING. SIGN ME UP.
Alright, I knew nothing about Crimson Desert and now I’m excited for it. Absolutely squirrel-mad game, judging from that trailer.
Eulrich says: the pitch seems to be “just cause, but medival”?
I mean that sounds better than “Just Cause, but Killer Bean”
Ice-T is here promoting his heist in Payday 3. We’re watching a group of very naughty people shoot a lot of guards in a warehouse. It all looks suitably heisty. That’s out September 21st.
Looks like Assassin’s Creed Mirage next. Back to basics stabbin’ is nigh.
Pretty standard AssCreed-ing, save for the full Arabic voice acting. Quiet shanking, climbing walls, jumping off roofs to the sound of an eagle etc.
Jasmin Gnu has taken to the stage to talk more about Gamescom the in-person event. If you’re not in Germany, you can visit the website and vote for games and stuff.
Trailer catch-up time. Little Nightmares III:
You can also read this website, of course. Our Ed and Katherine are there at the moment, and they’ll have loads of lovely words for you over the coming days.
Killing Floor 3:
AOE4:
Harada is here to talk about Tekken 8. He’s wearing – and I can’t emphasise this enough – a WONDERFUL shirt that comprises of classic Tekken character potrait renders.
Oh and there’s a new story mode for Tekken 8 that seems to take a lot of inspiration from Street Fighter 6. You can create a custom avatar and wander around a hub area playing on arcade cabinets.
Tekken 8 launches January 26th 2024.
Crimson Desert:
Payday 3:
Assassin’s Creed Mirage:
We’re about to see some in-game Modern Warfare 3 stuff.
But first, a bit of chat about ‘Open Combat Missions’: singleplayer missions that are a bit more open-ended than usual COD fare. You’ll have more of a choice between stealth and action, and how to move about the map.
Into a campaign mission now, with our shooty lads about to sneak out of a submarine.
Sneaking up the side of a castle now. Certainly looks COD-ish so far.
More walking around quietly. Tum tee tum.
I’ve just eaten a tube of Smarties. It was significantly more interesting than this.
Scratch that, a gunfight’s broken out. Our guy runs out of ammo almost instantly – not very special forces of him.
Ah, this looks like a remix of the gulag mission in the original MW2. Which is to say, we’re in a gulag.
A bit more shooting, a door explodes, and we’re done. I don’t mind the occasional COD but that wasn’t exactly a vintage trailer.
Oh! Some Nightingale news, now. This is the dimension hopping survival game that’s been floating around for a few years. You travel through portals, gather resources, build bases and fight some really inspired looking horrors.
The Mary Poppins umbrella bit in that Nightingale trailer is killing me. Comedy gold.
We’re watching some pretty epic fights right now. A player whipped out an umbrella and used it to float into a fight. It looks really cool! That enters early access on February 22nd 2024.
Action-packed trailer there for anime-style RPG Granblue Fantasy Relink – loads magic battles with some truly screen-filling monsters. Out Feb 1st 2024.
Next: new Hoyoverse game Zenless Zone Zero, an “urban fantasy ARPG”.
Plenty of urban so far, the fantasy must be coming up…ah, there it is. Dogboy main character.
Also giant robot fights.
Only glimpses of how ZZZ will actually play, but looks a touch DMC.
A Honkai: Star Rail update now. A game I got dangerously addicted to for a week back when it launched. We’ve got a character that uses what appear to be mahjong tiles to fight? It’s all very anime. As to be expected. It’s coming to PS5 soon.
Time for a look at Genshin Impact’s watery new region. Some pretty underwater bits to explore, and ugly magma crabs to fight.
We’re watching a story trailer for Lords Of The Fallen, now. Lots of large lads wearing grimy armour. Crumbling castles. Intense fights. An alternate reality. Blood. Lots of blood. This is a soulslike, after all.
Eulrich says: that is quite the cut from lords of the fallen to sonic
Intense tonal whiplash.
The tone change here, my goodness. From Lords of the Fallen we’re now on Sonic Superstars, which now has a release date: October 17th.
Time for an update on my favourite game: Sonic Frontiers.
October looking more rammed with every passing minute…
Cosplay contest now.
Sonic Frontiers is getting a final update that includes new challenges and playable characters. Hooray! That launches September 28th.
WarderDragon says: So far, I’m not exactly thrilled with the showing. Many, many sequels to franchises that aren’t for me.
Other than the horse drifting, same.
(We’ve been joined in the RPS Slack by our on-the-ground reporters Katharine and Ed. A relief – I was worried they’d died of dehydration, given how hard it is to find non-sparkling water in Germany.)
Also I may have misjudged that cosplay situation, all four of them just left without declaring a winner.
Anyway, here’s a fresh look at sci-fi shooter The First Descendant.
Eulrich says: >October looking more rammed with every passing minute…
oh boy, does it ever. Also the new mario 2d game in october (and i´m hype about detective pickachu, but that one might be niche)
I’m probably not allowed to talk about Super Mario Wonder but I’m so excited to play Super Mario Wonder.
Looks a bit. I dunno. Floaty? Flashy though. There’ll be an open beta September 19 – 25.
A trailer for… something new? A man is chatting on the phone to a woman as he scuba dives through a treacherous looking underwater environment. Under The Waves is out next month.
Little sizzle reel for Game Pass there.
Troy Baker, Roger Clark and Julia Brown are here to talk about Fort Solis. Our Edwin thought it was merely fine.
More trailers! Tekken 8:
MW3:
Nightingale:
Trailer there for Expeditions: A MudRunner Game – another offroading sim in Saber’s series.
Time for Forza Horiz- sorry. I mean, The Crew Motorfest. A much smaller game in terms of scope, Motorfest trades the entire US for the island of O’Ahu. That launches on September 14th, and you can play a free five hour trial for a few days after launch.
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty now. Trailer starts with some funky new weapons and…ooh, Human Revolution-style sword arms.
A look at some new perks as well. One appears to let you punch people so hard they fly off into the sky.
Aw, no Idris.
Another cute perk I forgot to mention: picking up enemies and throwing them at other enemies.
There’s a lot of *stuff* in Phantom Liberty, no doubt – including stuff like overhauled AI. Much of it will come to the base game as well.
Oooh, Stormgate is next, an upcoming RTS inspired by Warcraft 3 and Command and Conquer. We’ve been given our first look at The Infernal Host, a demonic faction that thrive within dark energy zones.
The Chainsmokers are also advising the team on their soundtrack.
A break from games (which I think we could all do with) for the UN’s Playing for the Planet scheme to take the stage. They’re giving a sustainability award to Xbox.
Phil Spencer is here to accept, no less.
Time for Last Epoch, now. A fantasy action RPG. Each skill (all 100+ of them) has their own build-defining skill tree.
The game is recieving a new class: the Runemaster, a very powerful wizard from the looks of it. That class will be added in September.
Oh, I remember this Ben Brode chap. Once again he is stood next to Geoff, being excited about Marvel Snap.
Actually quite a good animated trailer, this, to mark Snap’s Steam release. That’ll be the one that lets to actually play it in widescreen.
Armored Core 6 time. We’re seeing a lot of big robots fighting one another across a bunch of grey enviornments. Looks flashy, though. That’s out this Friday.
Ed Boon is here to talk about Mortal Kombat 1. Mortal Kombat 1 is the 12th Mortal Kombat game, just FYI.
A curiously rap-soundtracked CG trailer for Warhaven, Nexon’s melee-focused multiplayer fighter. It’s going into Steam early access on September 21st.
We’re being shown a brand new trailer for the game. Shao Kahn (or his son…?) is the focus, but we’re also seeing the likes of Sindel and Raiden battering people to death. It’s graphically very impressive, and the new team-up mechanic looks like a lot of fun. That’s out September 19th.
Trailer now for history-spanning grand strategy Ara: History Untold.
Eulrich says: while there´s all the gamepass stuff – anyone here knows if you can use 1 subscription for all members of your house? for all the advertisement they do the gamepass website is not really a helpful source of information
Unsure if this helps, but I have a Game Pass subscription that my partner can use with her account on my Xbox? Not sure if that would work on PC, though.
The scale of this looks enormous. Seems like it could cover every major civilisation from the past few hundred years.
The first season of Diablo 4 may have only just begun, but we’re now being treated to a sneak peek for season 2, set to launch this autumn. Looks like there’s a plague. Turns people into zombies. Honestly, I have no idea why anyone would live in this place.
Season of Blood will feature new vampiric powers alongside new quests and story content. That’s out on October 17th.
First look there at Dustborn, Quantic Dream’s vaguely Road 96-esque road trip adventure. Out “early 2024”.
An almost Monty Python-esque trailer for Thank Goodness You’re Here, which looks like a comedy adventure game by Panic? Hard to process exactly what that was, but it looks grand!
Well, the first trailer in a long, long while, anyway. First announced in 2020, Dustborn was.
Seems like we’re ending on Alan Wake 2. Remedy’s Sam Lake says this trailer will focus on Alan himself, who’s stuck in The Dark Place.
AW2’s stronger horror flavour very much evident here.
Alan will still be using light to fend off baddies, he’ll just… be under psychic assault more often while doing it.
Aaaaaand that’s it.
Any favourites from the show James?
Got to give it to Crimson Desert, if I’m honest. A blooming flower of gleeful oddness.
Yeah I’m going to agree I think. They drifted on a horse. What more could you ask for?
Eulrich says: Well, thanks mates, have a lovely week at gamescom and everywhere else
Thanks so much for joining us!
Indeed, thanks all for tuning in. What did you think? You have about eight minutes to tell us (because that’s I set the liveblog to close)
Thanks all! Bye!
Alright maybe a few more trailers for the road. Warhaven:
Mortal Kombat 1:
Ara: History Untold:
Diablo IV:
Dustborn:
Thank Goodness You’re Here:
And Alan Wake 2:
Cheers folks! Enjoy the far less manic Gamescom coverage we’ll have on RPS for the rest of the week.
