Gamescom 2022 Opening Night

Gamescom 2022 Opening Night Live was last night! Did you watch it? I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t as it was two hours long and filled to the brim with marketing speak. But never fear, I watched the whole thing and am here to give a quick rundown of what you missed all in under 1000 words:

Let's Begin...

First up was Everywhere. From the studio founded by Leslie Benzies, ex-boss of Grand Theft Auto maker Rockstar North. It’ll be out at some point in 2023. What’s it about? No idea. Next, Funcom announced Dune Awakening, an open world survival MMO.

Sony showed off the DualSense Edge wireless controller - a customisable controller for PlayStation 5.

The hotly anticipated The Callisto Protocol showed some gory in-game action and showed off enemy mutations. It also showed us one of the many ways our main character can die - this one involved a giant fan blade and being cut in half! We can all enjoy more dismemberment in December 2022 when the game is released.

Hexworks Studio revealed the sequel to Lords of the Fallen and have opted for “THE Lords of the Fallen” rather than chucking a “2” on the end.

Team17

Team17 then showed off Moving Out 2, coming 2023, following on from the much loved Moving Out!

For any Harry Potter fans that JK hasn’t alienated, Hogwarts Legacy got a brand new trailer. It’s due out 10th February 2023.

New Tales from the Borderlands is due out October this year.

Dying Light 2 is getting some lovely DLC in October called Bloody Ties.

Tortuga, a Pirate’s Tale got a short video with no release date, as did Team17’s Marauders.

This was followed with a trailer for upcoming Destiny 2 expansion, Lightfall. For those interested Bungie also did a separate FOUR HOUR stream to talk about the future of Destiny. The highlights were Destiny 1 raid - King’s Fall - is coming back this weekend and an extended look at Lightfall. Bungie also bragged about how they won’t be taking away paid for content from players in the future. Because Bungie live in a world where that is something we should be grateful for.

Coming Soon?

Sonic Frontiers was up next with a trailer and an 8th November 2022 release date.

French developer Parallel Studio revealed Under the Waves.

Goat Simulator 3 is out 17th November.

Return to Monkey Island got a fun new trailer and poked fun at horse armour DLC. It’s out on 19th September 2022.

Moonbreaker then got it’s moment in the spotlight. Early access (I shudder at that term) is at the end of September. The game looks like X-COM with miniatures. Miniatures that you get to paint in game with what was described as an “in-depth toolset”. Looks really interesting.

So Much News

Deck-building first-person shooter Friends vs Friends was up next.

We were then shown Lies of P, which answers the eternal question “What would happen if Pinocchio was in a SoulsBourne game?” It’s out next year.

Deck13 Interactive announced their new fantasy action RPG Atlus Fallen.

Blackbird Interactive’s showed off Homeworld 3. It comes out in the first half of 2023. They also announced Hardspace Shipbreaker will release on 20th September this year.

The HoYoVerse showed off Genshin Impact’s 3.0 update which is out now. They followed this up with a glimpse of their tactical role-playing game Honkai: Star Rail.

Squanch Games’ talking guns shooter High On Life continues to look baffling.

Telltale’s The Expanse gave us some gameplay and a vague “summer 2023” release date.

And out of nowhere a Killer Klowns From Outer Space game is on the way. It’s a 3v7 asymmetrical multiplayer horror game from Teravision Games.

The Excitement

We then got another bunch of short trailers for Scars Above and Wyrdsong. The Ottomans and Malians were then confirmed as coming to Age of Empires 4.

Gotham Knights was up next and surprised absolutely no-one by “confirming” Harley Quinn will be in the game. It’s out on 21st October.

The king of cutscenes - Hideo Kojima - then shared that he’s making a podcast, and it’ll be on Spotify in September. Why did he do this? Because announcing a game at a gaming convention just isn’t Kojima’s style. The strangeness continue with the announcement of a car that can connect to a games console. Perfect for those long drives where focusing on not crashing gets a little tedious.

Back to games! Fatshark’s first-person co-op game Warhammer 40,000: Darktide was up next and is looking great.

We were then shown trailers for Blacktail - A Witch’s Fate from Parasight and Phantom Hellcat, from Ironbird Creations. Neither had release dates.

Dorf Romantik comes to Nintendo Switch at the end of September.

The Outlast Trials was up next - a survival horror game with the option for up to four player co-op. I can’t wait to get maimed with friends.

Opening Night ended with Dead Island 2. Yes, the game is still happening and, yes, they haven’t learned anything and just showed a cinematic trailer,