We are currently in the middle of gamescom 2024, and the Opening Night of the event has already kicked off things with a slew of new games announcements.
Big IPs
Superheroes of all fits are jumping into the fray by billing new video game titles.
The countdown begins for a Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO, the first entry in the Budokai Tenkaichi fighting game series for almost two decades.
Unsurprisingly, the next Call of Duty is on its way with Black Ops 6, but more surprisingly, a new Indiana Jones game has been revealed. Meanwhile, people are still worming their way along for Dune.
Marvel Rivals confirms a release date for near the end of the year, but more significantly, confirms that all heroes will be free to play upon launch.
More has been shown on the Mercenary companions that will be in Diablo IV’s “Vessel of Hatred” expansion.
There will also be a new entry to the Batman: Arkham series of games—but alas, exclusively for the Meta Quest 3.
Big Returns
A new Sid Meier’s Civilization boasts new major changes such as a variety of more combinations players can explore and a mechanic to the gameplay that now divides up the development of a world into three different Ages.
Street Fighter 6 and Fatal Fury are throwing some punches with more content, dropping gameplay trailers for Terry and Mai Shiranui respectively.
Capcom had even more to show off with additional footage for Monster Hunter Wilds.
After long anticipation since the first game, a sequel to Kingdom Come: Deliverance has also been revealed.
Little Nightmares 3 will be a new standalone sequel to the original series, the first entry without the original developer’s involvement, Tarsier Studios, and instead entirely developed by Supermassive Games.
A new Dying Light game will also serve as a standalone sequel against the original series.
One of the last reveals of opening night was the highly anticipated sequel to the Mafia, now revealed to officially be Mafia: The Old Country, taking place in 1900s Sicily.
And yet while the Borderlands movie has been spectacularly bombing, much to our chagrin, there is going to be another Borderlands game.
And Some New Faces
An interesting slew of various new original projects have also been welcomed into the mix of announcements, such as We Harvest Shadows, a strange hybrid between farming simulator and horror.
While Tarsier Studios is hands-off with Little Nightmares 3, they have moved on to announced a new game of similar cut with Reanimal, a horror co-op.
Science fiction and tech have been a recurring genre across these slate of games:
ARC Raiders is marketing itself as a new, PvPvE action survival shooter set in a future, ravaged Earth, while Revenge of the Savage Planet brings in a more cartoonish, tongue-in-cheek perspective while you travel your way across aliens world. A.I.L.A. a first person horror game, will be unmistakably tapping into today’s fears around AI.
Although aligning itself with the The Dark Pictures anthology, Directive 8020 will be attempting to explore another multi-linear tale within science fiction horror.
On anthologies—a new animated anthology series called Secret Level, created by Love, Death & Robots showrunner Tim Miller, will be exploring stories based on video games. Several IPs, teased in the trailer included The Outer Worlds, SIFU, and Mega Man.
While Sims fans still eagerly wait for further updates on Electronic Arts’ next big title, inZoi is a new character creation and life simulation game.
Although also emerging from already existing games series—albeit relatively niche—The First Berserker: Khazan will be a new action roleplaying game set in the Dungeon & Fighter universe.
On the more saccharine side of things, Infinity Nikki will be the first foray of Nikki, the dress-up, roleplaying mobile game franchise into a fully 3D rendered, open world setting.
And finally, Peter Molyneux still has more to say, attempting to bring back players to the world of Fable with Masters of Albion.
