With the October 28th release of Age Of Empires IV looming, last week’s Gamescom event saw a clutch of new reveals for the medieval strategy extravaganza, including a new trailer, a couple of live interviews, and - my personal favourite - an unexpected short documentary about trebuchets. In just three minutes, it told us a surprisingly large amount about history’s finest rock-chuckers, including the fact that they were sometimes armed with such strange ammunition as diseased livestock, dead bodies, and bee hives.
Naturally, then, when I spoke with AoE franchise creative director Adam Isgreen and game director Quinn Duffy following the show, there was one question I needed to ask more than any other. Indeed, so urgent was I to know, that I entirely forgot to say hello or introduce myself, instead opening the interview by blurting, “so, we’ll be able to shoot bees, then?”
I certainly know how to make an entrance.
]]>Out of all the games announced at this year's Geoffscom, action adventure game DokeV was easily my highlight of the show. Unlike everything else, which made some sort of sense, this game took a bold choice and made none. It made no sense at all. All we got was a barrage on the senses, and I respect that rogue attitude. Instead of opting for a PowerPoint presentation like its peers, it just blared K-pop at everyone for three minutes and then moseyed off like it was nothing.
]]>For some people their acts of wanton cruelty as children were burning ants. Others built rollercoasters to nowhere in theme park management games, launching their visitors to violent and abrupt death. I already have your money, you tiny fool. Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!.
So when I learned that the developers who did Tropico 6 are working on a theme park management game, I think I'd be forgiven for expecting a similar, tyrannical approach. But that's not the vibe for Park Beyond, announced yesterday at Gamescom's Opening Night Live and set for release next year. At least, it's mostly not that kind of vibe. Stephan Winter, CEO at Limbic Entertainment does say that you can charge people for using the toilets, and could set the price at a pretty despotic level if you wanted to. Johannes Reithmann, the creative director, is just very excited to talk about rollercoasters and Park Beyond's core theme: "impossification".
]]>Like a steady trickle of water from a clothesline, details on Viking survival sim Valheim's Hearth & Home update have been drip-fed to us for a good while now. But developers Iron Gate have kept its release date securely locked in their cupboard. That is, until they cracked it open at last night's Geoffscom to reveal that it arrives in three weeks.
]]>Look, I know part of what makes cults insidious is that they can seem so friendly and welcoming, but you have to admit that Cult Of The Lamb looks adorable. Announced last night at Gamescom by publisher Devolver Digital, it's about ascending to divinity by growing your flock, building your base, defeating rival cult leaders, and performing rituals. And it looks adorable! Surely this is one of the good cults. Check out the trailer below.
]]>The next big trailer bonanza hosted by everyone's pal Geoff Keighley has just come and gone. You can watch all of Gamescom Opening Night Live if you don't want to miss out on all the bants. If you just want to know who showed up with what, well we've got that list here for you.
]]>Car races and rockets to stop Sam bumping his bum are among the novelties coming to Death Stranding in its Director's Cut, shown off in a new trailer tonight. While the refresh isn't yet confirmed for PC, ah c'mon, surely we too will get to enjoy watching Norman Reedus do sikk motorbike trikks and boogy around his bedroom in his pyjamas. I'm so very glad all this exists in a ponderous game about trying not to trip over rocks or get eaten by oilghosts.
]]>On November 9th, you'll get another crack at not terrorising lots of tourists with your giant lizard attractions, because that's when Jurassic World Evolution 2 comes out. The sequel to Frontier Developments' dinosaur park management sim is very much like the original, but this one will let you build your parks all over the globe with plenty of new dinos.
]]>Imagine if Pokémon and Monster Hunter fused together and got a new game set in a modern-day city with chibi-esque characters running around. That's the vibe I'm getting from DokeV, a new creature-collecting open world game from Pearl Abyss, the developers behind Black Desert Online. They released a gameplay trailer during Gamescom Opening Night Live right when I was starting to zone out, honestly, but it's so colourful and full of energy that it dragged me right back in again. Take a look for yourself below.
]]>New World proved pretty darn successful with its last beta, racking up a whopping 200,000 concurrent players. But if you missed that one, then I have good news for you - it's getting an open beta on September 9th ahead of its full release on September 28th. The news was announced during Gamescom Opening Night Live, where we were also treated to a new trailer showing some of the pretty areas and evil beasts we'll encounter in Amazon's MMO.
]]>Now that Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 has seemingly fallen into torpor following unknown troubles behind the scenes, I'll not pretend I'm not thirsty for World Of Darkness murders. A battle royale wouldn't be my top of my way to entire that spookland but hey, maybe Vampire: The Masquerade- Bloodhunt will slake my thirst for a while. Or at least let me wear a cool jacket? The wait for this won't be long, as developers Sharkmob confirmed tonight that it'll enter early access on September 7th. See the new trailer below.
]]>Yes folks, the Saints Row series has been rebooted, bringing us a brand spanking new game called, er, Saints Row. It's coming soon, too: February next year. You may be broadly unsurprised, due to a tease tweeted by Geoff the Patron Saint of Games, and put on the old Saints Row website, amounting to less a tease and more a statement in giant neon writing reading "WE ARE REBOOTING SAINTS ROW."
Nevertheless, I am able to give you some new and unteased Saints Row factoids, delivered via an earlier press briefing. It's set in Santo Ileso, a fictional city in the Southwest of the USA - cowboy land, basically - and SI, like all good cities in the SaintsRowniverse, is beset by exactly three (3) distinct gangs with their own colour schemes and vibes. You and your mates are about to set up the fourth. Quoting the press release: "Ultimately Saints Row is the story of a start-up company, it’s just that the business The Saints are in happens to be crime." Please enjoy the cinematic reveal trailer below.
]]>During Gamescom Opening Night live, we saw the cinematic intro for season one of Halo Infinite multiplayer. It introduces commander Agryna, who tells us all what it really means to be a Spartan - which is apparently not just about running around shooting your mates with a needler. 343 Industries have also confirmed that the game is coming out on December 8th, fresh after today's cheeky little Microsoft Store leak.
]]>The next game from Sword & Sorcery developers Superbrothers comes out in October, and it's about a team of explorers scouting pretty planets. During Gamescom Opening Night Live, we got a new trailer for Jett: The Far Shore, revealing the release date and giving us another glimpse at the sci-fi universe we'll get to discover in our very own jetts.
]]>During Gamescom Opening Night Live, we got our first look at what to expect from Call Of Duty: Vanguard's campaign. Last week, Activision confirmed the game would be set in an alternate history World War 2, and the new footage of one of the opening missions follows a sniper stealthing around in Stalingrad. It's dramatic, cinematic, and it sure looks like a Call Of Duty game set in WW2. Take a peek yourself in the trailer below.
]]>Following rumours in June, XCOM and Civilization studio Firaxis have confirmed that they are indeed making a tactical game set in the world of Marvel superheroes. Announced today, the "tactics RPG" Marvel's Midnight Suns will see heroes including Iron Man, Wolverine, Blade, Ghost Rider, and Doctor Strange teaming up to battle Lilith, the mother of demons.
]]>German games show Gamescom officially kicks off tonight, returning as an online-only event for a second year thanks to the pandemic. Gamescom opens with Opening Night Live, a livestreamed showcase hosted by Geoff Keighley and Natascha Becker with promises of announcements and those old chestnuts, "world premieres." A new Saints Row is on the table, and that's all I need to know. You can watch the stream here below.
]]>Undead Labs did not come to Gamescom with news on the next game in their zombie survival sandbox series. No, they announced State Of Decay 3 in July 2020 with no information then fell silent on the topic. But Microsoft do have new news on old things. In a free update for State Of Decay 2, they're revisiting and revising Trumbull Valley, the original map from the original game. Everything old is new again. Or in this case, new again, again.
]]>We're big fans of gunk on RPS. The gunk leaking from a suppurating mouse pad; the years of collected gunk found beneath the keys of a keyboard; and now, The Gunk, an upcoming action adventure from the makers of the Steamworld series. It's due out this December and there's a new trailer below.
]]>InXile have announced the next expansion for Wasteland 3 will arrive on October 5th, inviting players into a battle between two rival cults. Cult Of The Holy Detonation will take players to a new area in Colorado where some heavily irradiated people are worshiping some sort of nuclear experiment. You'd think people wouldn't worship something that was poisoning them, but hey ho, that's their problem... Well, actually this DLC makes it your problem, so uh, good luck with that.
]]>Gamescom 2021 is underway, and this evening brought the Xbox showcase stream. You can watch the stream archive in full, but if all you care about is new trailers, then we've gathered them together here.
]]>I think the most car fanatic thing I've said in my life is, "That's a roomy glove box isn't it?" So long as the atmosphere is ripe for a nice blast down a highway, I'm happy driving any old rustbucket. And that's why Forza Horizon 4 appeals to me. Even if you don't know your brake pads from your knee braces, it makes the simple act of kicking up dust on four wheels a cause for celebration.
And having seen roughly 15 hands off minutes of new Forza Horizon 5 footage, I can confirm that it does indeed look like a Forza Horizon game. Should we celebrate? Yes, absolutely. Let me take you through what I saw - and for added effect, I'd recommend sticking on some house music.
]]>During Xbox's Gamescom showcase tonight, I certainly wasn't expecting to find a new roguelite to end up obsessing over, yet here we are. Into The Pit is an upcoming "retro-FPS" that sends you into demonic-looking dungeons to shoot baddies with magic hand bullets. Like, the magic you shoot from your fingertips looks and sounds like it should be coming out of a gun. The trailer gives me gunless Doom vibes.
]]>Competitive multiplayer plane races are coming to Microsoft Flight Simulator with an expansion based on a real-world event with vintage WW2 planes, Microsoft announced today. This will see vintage aircraft zooming around in what the organisers claim is "the fastest motorsport on Earth". Microsoft also detailed plans for content updates, including the upcoming overhaul of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and the addition of both a vintage German aircraft and a newfangled German VTOL air taxi. Hey, it's Gamescom, gotta play to the German audience.
]]>Gamescom proper doesn't technically begin until tomorrow night, but Xbox are sliding in early with their very own announceathon stream today. While it doesn't seem like they have any new games to show, they have said we're in for some "in-depth updates" on previously announced things. So, perhaps some more Halo: Infinite or Forza Horizon 5 are on the, uh, horizon? Come and join us when the stream kicks off at 6pm BST (12pm PT) to find out.
]]>We've already found out courtesy of host man Geoff Keighley that the Gamescom Opening Night Live will be a two hour long showcase event. As ever with Keighleyvents there are guaranteed to be tons of trailers and some world premiers and exclusive looks at cosmetic crossover items or something of the like. Also as usual, Keighley has been dipping into the set list to sprinkle us with details about which games are going to show up. He's now dropped a handy hype trailer and hey, you can actually spot a couple games in here that he hadn't formally spilled the beans on yet.
]]>Xbox have announced the date for their next announceathon, which will take place as part of this month's Gamescom festivities. On August 24th, a day before Opening Night Live, Xbox say they'll be showing updates for existing and previously announced games. From the sounds of things, they won't have any brand new games to show, though they do have a nice line-up of upcoming things we could hear about: Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5 updates would be very nice indeed.
]]>This year's Geoffrication continues later this month with Gamescom Opening Night Live. For the second year in a row, the opening show for the event that's usually held in Cologne, Germany is being livestreamed right into your screens at home and hosted by Geoff Keighley. The man himself has just announced the times and show length for the next showcase-y event and it sure will be another long one. Pack a snack when you tune in at the end of this month.
]]>After skipping 2020 due to the pandemic, E3 returns this year as a virtual event. E3 tends to be the anchor for a summer of marketing events blasting announcements and trailers, with loads of publishers and websites and such holding their own showcases around then too. So here's our handy schedule of what's on when this summer, from E3 through to Gamescom. We'll keep updating as more events are announced and detailed.
]]>Gamescom's organisers have announced the event intends on making a return to the real world this year. They're calling Gamescom 2021 a "hybrid", with plans for both digital and physical parts of the event - though the number of tickets available for the in-person side will be "significantly reduced" from previous years. It'll run from the 25th to the 29th of August online and at Cologne's Koelnmesse, with the Opening Night Live Show taking place on the evening of the 24th.
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