Gamescom 2022 kicked off its Opening Night Live event on Tuesday, featuring more than 30 titles, from indie to AAA projects. The two-hour show was held in Cologne, Germany, with a live in-person audience, beginning the summer triggered by the cancellation of E3. Over the years Gamescom succumbed to a digital, online-only presentation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, the event is set to last four days – from August 24 to August 28 – showcasing developer interviews, concerts, on-site demos and more publisher presentations. Highlights this time include trailers for Dead Island 2, Gotham Knights, Telltales Expanse, New Tales from the Borderlands and Hogwarts Legacy.
For your convenience, we’ve listed the biggest video game announcements below at Gamescom Opening Night Live, hosted by Geoff Keighley.
dead island 2
Release date: February 3
Platforms: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox One, PC (Epic Games Store)
After spending years in development hell, Dead Island 2 finally showed its face at the Gamescom opening Night Live. Contrary to the name, the title is set in the middle of Los Angeles and features six playable characters, described as “larger than life personalities”, with unique dialogue that fits with the esoteric vibe of the game’s goal. sits. As expected with zombie-killing titles, combat is primarily based in melee with a touch of supernatural abilities, which you gain from getting infected. Fear not, as you are totally immune to being a brain eater, and can enjoy the visceral, blood-tinged gameplay.
Gotham Knights
Release date: October 21
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series S/X, PC
The upcoming soft reboot of WB Games Montreal’s Batman arc, Gotham Knights, showed off a new “Villain” trailer. Following the death of billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne, the rest of the Bat family reigns in the defense of Gotham City, overrun by unstable criminals belonging to supervillain factions. The new trailer offers a first look at the design of Harley Quinn, who appears to be locked in a cell before breaking up and running a crime campaign. Gooey Clayface also made an appearance, sending his filthy baddies out onto the field, while a slender Professor Pyg terrorized the streets at night.
Dune: Awakening
Release date: Coming soon
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series S/X, PC
If you believe that Denis Villeneuve’s feature film didn’t do enough justice to the Dune epic, here’s another medium to sink in. Dune: Awakening is an open-world survival MMO based on the classic novel by Frank Herbert, developed by Funcom. The trailer begins with voiceover from Paul Atreides’ “Fear is the mind-killer” monologue as he stares down a rock, revealing a deadly sandworm that ravages the surface of the desert planet Arakis. If you pay close attention, you’ll notice that his eyes are blue, indicating that he has mastered the art of spice aka “melange”—set sometime after the film, though it’s not a sequel.
Callisto Protocol
Release date: December 2
Platforms: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox One, PC
From the creators of Dead Space, comes The Callisto Protocol, a third-person space survival horror game that takes you on a deadly journey through an intergalactic space sewage system. Set on Jupiter’s dead moon Callisto in the year 2320, players must navigate their way through spooky corridors as they battle oncoming hordes of aliens and uncover the secrets surrounding the Black Iron Prison. In addition to firearms, your character is equipped with telekinesis, which lets you take enemies from afar, and dodge them with sharp razors and other dangerous areas.
Hogwarts Legacy
Release date: February 10
Platforms: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox One, PC
After announcing a three-month delay, Hogwarts Legacy has received a new trailer for its Gamescom debut. The latest trailer focuses on the use of dark magic in the upcoming Harry Potter RPG and the intricacies of succumbing to it. Players can befriend Slytherin’s student Sebastian Salo and uncover his family’s hidden secrets through his fellow quest line. Hogwarts Legacy tasked players with creating custom witches or wizards in the 1800s, long before the birth of the Chosen One, and embarking on a whimsical journey to save the wizarding world from falling apart.
New Tales from the Borderlands
Release date: October 21
Platforms: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC
After Amazon leaked last week, Gearbox Software finally unveiled the trailer for New Tales From The Borderlands. As the spiritual successor to Telltale’s narrative piece, this new story introduces a “trio of losers”—one of them wheelchair-bound—as they rebel against Tediore’s oppressive invasion. Like the original story, the story will be divided into five chapters, with a choice-based dialogue system that influences the threads of the plot. The sequel also gets a huge visual boost, thanks to the switch to Unreal Engine.
sonic frontiers
Release date: November 8
Platforms: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC
A story trailer for SEGA’s upcoming “Open Zone” title, Sonic Frontiers, was revealed on ONL. A mysterious stranger lurks in the wondrous landscape where the iconic blue elephant lives. The spiteful-looking child dislikes Sonic’s powers, saying it puts the world in danger. The trailer then cuts to the familiar fast-paced gameplay, as Sonic wanders around giant loops and platforms in search of the missing Chaos Emeralds—to try and save the inhabitants from the vast, mechanized menace.
Detail: A Telltale Series
Release date: Summer 2023
Platform: TBA
Telltale is back with a video game adaptation of The Expanse — now streaming on Prime Video — starring Kara G as the Carina drummer. Developer Deck Nine Games revealed a gameplay trailer that shows magnetic shoes for walking on walls and the use of Zero-G thrusters for swimming in the void. It features Ngameplay similar to other Telltale titles, where you can choose your own dialogues and press dedicated buttons during quick-time events. Stuck on the Artemis spacecraft, players must investigate a series of bloody murders as they venture through dark hallways and space debris.
p’s lie
Release date: 2023
Platforms: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox One, PC
Blending Victorian-era architecture with a steampunk aesthetic, Lies of Pi is a new Soul-like title that throws long-nosed Pinocchio into the bleak, gothic town of Crait. Blood-soaked streets are overtaken by nightmare living dolls, who are alive and killing everyone. Awakened by the voice of our Creator, players must venture into the night and face these mechanized enemies in punitive battles reminiscent of Bloodborne. You can tinker around the city with tons of weapon builds, spells, and melee attacks.
