It was not a great showcase, honestly, with little in terms of new games and a big focus on games like Dying Light 2 that we’ve seen a lot of already. There were a couple of new games, however, and some great new Forza Horizon 5 footage. Find it all below.
Dying Light 2 - new trailer
The new trailer for Techland’s zombie infested hop-skip-and-jump sim offered the backstory for its city setting, as well as showing more of its parkour and combat moves. There was lots of falling with style, including swinging with grappling hooks and landing on zombies to cushion your fall.
Microsoft Flight Simulator - world update 6 trailer
The Top Gun expansion is still under wraps, but we saw new footage of the flight sim’s world update 6, which is adding more accurate cities and new points of interest to Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It included plenty of shots of a fabulously detailed Cologne, which is only fitting for a Gamescom video. There were some other MSFS update announcements which you can read about here.
Xbox Game Pass - Humble Games day one sizzle reel
The stream then continued with a highlight reel of games from publisher Humble Games that are coming to Xbox Game Pass on their release date, including some lovely-looking indie games. They were: Archvale, Next Space Rebels, Midnight Fight Express, Dodgeball Academia, Bushiden, Flynn: Son Of Crimson, Unpacking, Signalis, Unsighted, and Chinatown Detective Agency. The latter is a gorgeous, noir-style point-and-click adventure and I’m all about it.
Into The Pit - reveal trailer
A fast-paced retro FPS about circle-strafing through dungeons and making monsters bursts by firing bullets from your hands. It’s from Tom Betts, who was one half of Big Robot, the other half of which was RPS co-founder Jim Rossignol. You can find more details in our full post about Into The Pit.
Age Of Empires IV - mini documentary
The strategy game sequel wants to teach you about history, and so we got a mini documentary about trebuchets, with a look at a real life recreation of the medieval military contraption. It was reflective of the research that went into making the game. There was no new look at the game itself, but apparently we’ll find that during Opening Night Live tomorrow, Wednesday 25th.
Wasteland 3: Cult Of The Holy Detonation
A trailer for Wasteland 3’s next DLC reminded me that Wasteland 3 exists. It focuses on a cult that worships the nuclear explosion that destroyed the world, crediting it with the creation of new mutant species, and wishing to share its radiation with everyone. It’ll be out on October 5th. They also made a disconcertingly big deal about how they’ve fixed loads of bugs in the base game.
Sea Of Thieves - Mayhem Ship set trailer
New booty is coming to Sea Of Thieves in the form of a Borderlands-themed ship set, complete with Claptrap figurehead. You can earn the ship starting now via the Making Mayhem event, which runs until September 7th.
State Of Decay 2: Homecoming - new trailer
The new DLC for the zombie survival sim is coming September 1st, which adds the first game’s Trumbull Valley map to State Of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition. Hence the name “Homecoming”. It’s a free update for all existing State Of Decay 2 owners - and all Xbox Game Pass players, natch.
Stray Blade - reveal trailer
A new action RPG with a slightly cartoon-y art style, in which you hack and slash with swords through various dark fantasy enemies and big bosses. Yes, it’s surface-level Dark Soulsy, but you’ve got a furry sidekick and its combat looks a lot faster paced.
Psychonauts 2 - new trailer
We’ve already published our Psychonauts 2 review - it’s good! - but there was a new trailer for the mind-diving platformer ahead of its release tomorrow. I’m gonna play this.
The Gunk - first gameplay trailer
Ah, this is more exciting! Originally announced last year, The Gunk is a new game from the creators of the Steamworld series, and it’s a third-person adventure about exploring a planet overrun with, well, gunk. It wasn’t mentioned during the stream, but a tweet has since announced that The Gunk will launch this December.
Forza Horizon 5 - intro footage
The show ended with a look at Forza Horizon 5’s branded Xbox controller and cover art before, finally, we got 8 minutes of footage of the game’s new intro. It featured several cars being airdropped from a plane into different kinds of races around Mexico, including off-roading down an active volcano in a Ford Bronco, racing a Corvette through a sandstorm, and haring around a jungle in a Porsche. It looked fast, fun and ridiculous, just as I expect from the Horizon series. Ed also got an extra glimpse of the game ahead of Gamescom, which you can read about here.
