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'Fe' is a stunning adventure about connecting with nature
Once, Andreas Beijer snuck up on a deer. He remembers tip-toeing through the forest, always downwind to ensure it wouldn't pick up his scent. "I managed to come really close," he says. "I could almost touch it, before it noticed me and ran away into the forest." Beijer is a creative director at Zoink Games, an independent studio in Sweden. His team grew up playing in the woods and wanted those experiences to shape their next game. "We were free," Klaus Lyngeled, the company's CEO and Creative Director said. "We could just run out in an area, play around and not have our parents look at what we were doing."
'Life is Strange: Before the Storm' is all about being a wiseass teen
Before she was the absurdly cool burnout who stole our hearts in Life is Strange, Chloe Price was just a normal, melodramatic teenage loner trying to cope without her best friend. Chloe doesn't have the ability to rewind time, like the original game's lead Max Caulfield. But, in the prequel Life is Strange: Before the Storm, she does have an impeccable wit and the courage to tell anyone off. As you'd expect, those are traits that can both help her and get her into more trouble.
'The Evil Within 2' is better because it spaces out the scares
The Evil Within 2 is weird, gross and scary, but that's okay. It balances all that with exploration and figuring out what the hell is going on. I can then get back to fleeing disgusting buzzsaw creatures -- or occasionally stabbing them in the chest -- at my leisure. The Evil Within was never about cheap jump scares, but the game was so consistently tense and bleak that many found it pretty hard to play through. The sequel, playable at Gamescom this year, looks to be a refinement of the original, making it altogether more playable, even if there's still usually something trying to kill you at every turn.
'Ruiner' is not just a cyberpunk 'Hotline Miami'
Ruiner might be one of the most eye-catching titles showcased at Gamescom -- something that's hard to achieve when every company is bombarding you with posters, flags and bags at every turn. The aggressive, manga-style protagonist and angry catch copy are difficult to ignore. It's also the first title to come out of Reikon studio, an indie Polish team founded by veteran gamemakers that had previously worked on The Witcher, Shadow Warrior and many more. (I really liked Shadow Warrior, okay?) Cofounder Magdalena Tomkowicz explains how she had grown tired of big gaming projects and wanted to recover the passion of making a game: This top-down shooter / slasher is the result of that. The Hotline Miami comparisons might be fair at the simplest level, but Ruiner seems to take that top-down gameplay mechanic in a very different direction. Oh, and a bunch of angry techno soundtracks alongside sharp character and environment design help drive things along, even if it can be a little overwhelming at times. Shoot, slash, dash and let the blood splatter.
'Shinobi Striker' makes 'Naruto' a serious online fighter
Naruto is in a strange place right now. The long-running manga series ended in early 2015, before its anime adaptation wrapped up in March this year. The spiky-haired ninja saved the world and achieved his dream of becoming the Hokage, or rather the leader, of the Hidden Leaf village. But now there's Boruto, a new series about his boisterous son. Both the manga and anime are relatively new and it's not clear just yet if either will replicate the success of the original series.
‘Swords of Ditto’ scratches that retro ‘Zelda’ itch
Washed up on the beach, you, young boy/girl/robot, are the hero that will save the island of Ditto. Or you'll fail and plunge the land into a hundred years of darkness until another hero is born. OneBitBeyond's The Swords Of Ditto lets you control one tiny adventurer at a time, and if when you die, the Big Evil (some sorceress of some kind) fries you on the spot, you won't live to fight another day. However, someone else will claim your hero's sword and continue the struggle. That's the crux, but it's how OneBitBeyond has executed it, in a top-down action RPG that leans heavily on SNES-era Zelda (and some Secret Of Mana), with a punchy cartoon style that belies the small team behind it all.
'Star Wars Battlefront II' adds tactical weight to space combat
As my T-65B X-Wing glides into view, I survey the scene up ahead. TIE fighters chase after nimble A-Wings, a flurry of green laser fire in their wake. A group of X-Wings circle an Imperial Cruiser, unloading proton torpedoes in a desperate attempt to lower the Empire's defences. To my left, I spot some TIE Interceptors headed toward my fellow X-Wings. Instinctively I barrel forward and harry them before a well-timed missile turns my ship into space debris. My heroics were short-lived, but I'm soon able to pick a new vehicle and rejoin the fray, gaining my revenge on the TIE Bomber that so casually stopped me before.
HP's Omen X is a monstrous, customizable gaming laptop
While companies like ASUS, Acer and NVIDIA are working on making gaming laptops thinner and lighter, HP is going in the opposite direction with its huge Omen X Laptop. It weighs a whopping 10.8 lbs, which is close to other 17-inch gaming notebooks. In exchange for being unable to carry it easily, you get an incredibly customizable notebook; one with enough graphics horsepower to handle anything you throw at it -- even 4K gaming.
Ubisoft's next ‘Anno’ game relives the age of trade and empire
The Anno RTS series focuses more on civilization-building than straight-up combat, and its later editions explored that premise centuries into the future. But the franchise's next entry casts back a couple hundred years to the past when mankind's maps weren't fully filled in. Today at Gamescom, Ubisoft announced Anno 1800, putting players in charge of nations setting sail for trade and diplomacy.
'State of Decay 2' forces you to pick who becomes zombie food
State of Decay 2 wants you to decide who lives or dies -- and deal with whatever happens next. The sequel aims to double down on what made the 2013 original work: a more sophisticated game world, and both more elaborate skill trees and settlements, whether that's medical facilities or just better zombie-deflecting defenses. The invasion may be delayed, but you'll be in charge of your own survival when it finally hits in 2018. I got to see the game in action here at Gamescom, and if you've ever wanted an alternative to The Walking Dead where anyone and (nearly) everyone could die, this is for you.
'Cuphead' is as wondrous as it is difficult
Cuphead is a flashback in many ways. It hearkens back to the classical, hand-drawn animation style of the 1930s. And it's reminiscent of 2D, 8-bit-era platformers that were so tough, they wanted to make you throw your controllers against the wall. Those are both reasons I can't wait to play the rest of the game when it finally hits the Xbox One and Windows PCs on September 29th.
The first ‘Shenmue III’ teaser is comfortably familiar
There's plenty of big news flowing out from this year's Gamescom. Although the Xbox One X has dominated the headlines thus far, some other fan-favorite games are also vying for space at the event. Among them, the long-awaited Shenmue III. Today, eager gamers are finally being treated to actual footage from the title.
The first new ‘Age of Empires’ game in over a decade is in the works
It's been over a decade since Age of Empires III came out in 2005, but fans of the lauded RTS franchise, take note: Age of Empires IV is officially in development. At Gamescom today, Microsoft announced the next title in the much-loved series -- and that we'd be getting remastered versions of each of the previous games.
‘Star Wars Battlefront II' space skirmishes put Yoda in the cockpit
Star Wars: Battlefront II may have a single-player mode -- a first for the series -- but that doesn't mean multiplayer is taking a back seat. Electronic Arts showed off the large-scale, multiplayer Starfighter Assault mode for the first time in a live demonstration at Gamescom, dropping a few details along the way.
Brawl in the post-apocalypse in the next 'Overwatch' map: Junkertown
We're currently enjoying Overwatch's summer event (including our favorite addition, the grilldad Soldier 76 skin) and looking forward to the recently-announced deathmatch modes coming to the game. In other words, we weren't expecting much during Gamescom 2017. But for the second year in a row, Blizzard took the opportunity to announce a new map for its hero shooter: Fans at the show will be the first to tour the post-apocalyptic wasteland of Junkertown.
'Final Fantasy XV' coming to PC early next year
Square Enix has milked Final Fantasy XV, offering not only PS4 and Xbox One console versions, but also a (bad) free mobile game, branded Sony Walkman and even a cookbook. What it doesn't have yet, surprisingly, is a Windows version of the game, but that's going to change soon. Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition is coming in early 2018, NVIDIA announced during its Gamescom press conference, and is of course loaded with NVIDIA tweaks and features.
Microsoft unveils 'Minecraft' edition Xbox One S
How devoted are you to Minecraft? Devoted enough that you want your console to be a living, breathing representation of the construction game? If so, you're in luck. Microsoft has unveiled a limited edition Minecraft Xbox One S that drapes the entire console in Mojang's blocky art style. There's a grass block on the front, a transparent, redstone-laced bottom and a Creeper-themed green controller (there's an optional pink, pig-themed gamepad). Naturally, it'll include a copy of Minecraft (with the Better Together update).
Pre-order Xbox One X in a limited Project Scorpio Edition
The rumors were true. Microsoft is marking the launch of the Xbox One X by starting pre-orders for a limited Project Scorpio Edition for the console. It'll cost the same $499/£450 as the standard model, but this is more than a rehash of the Day One system that commemorated the Xbox One launch in 2013. On top of Project Scorpio lettering on the console and controller, the machine gets a "sophisticated and dynamic" pattern and an exclusive vertical stand to flaunt your early adopter status. Even the packaging has a twist -- it harkens back to the 2001-era Xbox.
The highs and lows of Gamescom 2016
Gamescom is over. The publishers have packed away their booths, and the lingering smell of sweaty, Kölsch-fueled gamers (and sweaty, coffee-fueled journalists) has finally started to dissipate. In the closing hours of our trip to Cologne, Germany, the "team" (Nick Summers and I) sat down to chat about our time at the video game show. Talking points include the lack of press conferences this year; the myriad ways I made a fool of myself in VR; Outreach's fresh take on space exploration; Sea of Thieves actually looking pretty good; Metal Gear Survive really not looking good and Titanfall 2's new focus on plot. That's a wrap on our Gamescom coverage this year -- if you missed any of our stories, you can find them all here.
'Star Citizen' presentation hints the game is coming together
We won't blame you if you're skeptical that Star Citizen will ever be a finished, shipping title. Even now, it's not so much a game as a collection of modules: you can explore space and get into gun battles on foot, but not much more. However, Roberts Space Industries just gave an indication that things might be coming along. The studio has shown a 52-minute presentation at Gamescom that illustrates a truly cohesive (if still imperfect) experience coming with the 3.0 alpha. You can board your ship at a space station, fly between planets, pick up missions and touch down on strange new worlds without transitions. It's all modeled as one seamless universe.
