Opening Night Live, Geoff Keighley’s Gamescom presentation, featured two hours of game reveals and updates, headlined by a sneak peek at the second season of Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout.
The content in season 2 will be medieval-themed, with costumes including a dragon, wizard, knight, and witch coming to the game. This theme will extend to several new levels, all of which are of a Dark Ages design. An addition to the gameplay seems to be the need to move objects around to reach an objective. Season 2 of Fall Guys will launch in October.
BioWare’s Casey Hudson, at no point mentioning what is happening with Anthem, called in to offer a behind-the-scenes look at the next Dragon Age game. Several developers on the game spoke about the process of making it and teased some of the story elements, while some concept art and very early gameplay was shown off with incomplete textures and models. The game is seemingly still very early in development
Unknown 9: Awakening, a new game from Reflector Entertainment, a new studio based in Montreal, was revealed. It’s a next-gen title focused around Haroona, a young girl who has grown up on the streets of Kolkata, India. Haroona can wield the power of the Fold, an invisible dimension on top of our own. Haunted by her powers, as well as visions of her own death, she ultimately finds a mentor who can show her how to harness her abilities and provide some answers. The title is a part of the Unknown 9 “story world” as Reflector dubs it. There will be books, comics, and podcasts set in the game’s universe, and an interactive experience that gives players a glimpse at the world is available through the game’s website right now.
Dan Vondrak, creative director at Raven, showed an extended cinematic clip from Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. In the clip, several military operatives discuss what seems to be the inciting incident for the game. A Soviet Union boogeyman by the name of Persius, who had previously stolen intel on nuclear weaponry during World War II and the Vietnam War, is now planning a direct attack on the West. The game will feature characters new and old from the original Black Ops game in a story with choices and branching paths. A multiplayer reveal is coming in September, and the game releases on November 13.
More details were provided about the Stasis subclass that will be introduced to Destiny 2 with its upcoming expansion, Beyond Light. This is the first subclass to be added since the original game was released in 2014. The subclass will give the Warlock, Hunter, and Titan classes the denominations of Shadebender, Revenant, and Behemoth, respectively. The powers of Stasis were shown to be ice-themed, with each class freezing their enemies before attacking. Beyond Light and the Stasis subclass are coming to Destiny 2 on November 10.
Gamescom also gave an extended look at the demo from the PlayStation 5 reveal event for Ratchet & Clank: Rifts Apart. The rift tether item was displayed in great detail, with Ratchet using it to pull parts of the level closer to him. The fabric of reality in the game is breaking, and the pair are shown to fall through different dimensions, seamlessly transitioning from one world to the next. Insomniac confirmed there are zero load times in the entire game, and the DualSense controller will allow for the various items and weapons Ratchet uses to feel completely different. For example, the character’s double-barreled blaster will provide tension in the triggers to signify when only one of the barrels has been used, and players will have to push through to use both barrels.
A detailed look at a level from the campaign of Star Wars: Squadrons was given, and The Sims 4 will be receiving a Star Wars-themed game pack titled Journey To Batuu. In it, players can explore the world of Galaxy’s Edge, the Star Wars part of the Disney theme parks. The final news from a galaxy far, far away came in the form of a gameplay trailer for Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, which confirmed the rumor that it indeed has been pushed back to spring 2021.
The studio Toys for Bob revealed the upcoming Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time will feature a collectible called flashback tapes. These can be found in the game only if the player has not already died in the level a tape can be discovered. Finding the collectibles will open up optional levels that flashback to before the events of the first Crash Bandicoot.
Annapurna Interactive indie game 12 Minutes was showed off at 2019’s E3, but this year’s Gamescom opening night revealed its star-studded cast feature James McAvoy and Daisy Ridley. The narrator is voiced by none other than Willem Dafoe. The game is coming soon to Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC.
Doc Brown of the Back to the Future trilogy, played by Christopher Lloyd, stopped by to reveal that Surgeon Simulator 2 had dropped on the Epic Games Store. Another game that was announced and made available immediately was Struggling, a puzzle platformer on Steam and Nintendo Switch.
Rounding out the trilogy, Age of Empires III will be getting a definitive edition. It will release on Xbox Game Pass for PC and Steam on October 15, and like the second game’s remaster, will feature new content.
The first expansion for Doom Eternal, The Ancient Gods Part One, received a gameplay trailer, as did Chorus, Bridge Constructor: The Walking Dead, Little Nightmares II, WWE2K: Battlegrounds, Override 2: Super Mech League, and Teardown, a Minecraft-looking game that features completely destructible environments, with players tasked with demolishing parts of a level before attempting to complete a heist in a specific time frame.
An extended gameplay trailer for VR title Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond from Respawn Entertainment was shown off, and game director Peter Hirschmann confirmed the game would be coming to the Oculus platform for holiday 2020.
Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground was revealed in a cinematic trailer. The strategy game is being developed by Gasket Games and Focus Home Interactive and will come to current-gen consoles in 2021. Arriving much sooner than that is Spellbreak, a multiplayer arena game that allows players to create their own battle mages. It will drop on all current-gen consoles and PC on September 3.
There was an overwhelming number of game reveals made during the two-hour presentation, which can be viewed in full on The Game Award’s YouTube channel.
