I’ve always loved a good video game showcase. Back in the heyday of E3, I would build my entire week around watching all of the showcases. It’s a little tougher to do that now, but whenever I can, I am seated for things like The Game Awards, Summer Game Fest, and all of the various Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo shows that arise over the course of the year.
But there has always been one exception, and that is Gamescom. Ever since Gamescom became a thing in the late 2000s, I’ve paid almost no attention to it. It always seemed a bit too soon after E3 to have anything worthwhile.
But with E3 now gone, it appears that Gamescom is slowly starting to have a slightly more important role in the game showcase hierarchy. At the very least, it seems to have taken on the role of the big show where actual fans can get hands-on time with a lot of upcoming games (Tokyo Game Show maybe being the other big example). Because of this and some decent hype I saw this year, I decided it was finally time to give Gamescom a go. This is the first year in my entire life that I actually watched some Gamescom coverage.
Admittedly, for the most part, I felt somewhat vindicated with my past stance. I didn’t come away all that wowed by the “Opening Night Live” showcase from Geoff Keighley this time around. While there were plenty of really good to great trailers, a lot of the AAA games felt like quick check-ins on games that we’ve already seen a lot of. If I knew nothing about any of these games, I think it would have been pretty cool, but almost anyone watching a Gamescom show is probably pretty plugged in. The other thing I watched last week was the “Future Games Show at Gamescom,” which I actually enjoyed a lot more. There were a few more indie debuts, and the AAA games seemed to have a lot more time to cook, which made for more impressive showings.
Even if a gaming showcase isn’t that great, I still enjoy watching them. If you truly love games, you should come away with at least a few new games you are interested in during multiple hours of game trailers. And that is absolutely the case here. While I didn’t think Gamescom week was super special, it at least made me want to tune in again next year and keep this as part of my rotation going forward.
With that, here are my top 11 winners of Gamescom week. For those who haven’t read my showcase “winners” lists before, I almost always need to see gameplay for a game to make it on this list.
11. Death By Scrolling
It’s hard for indie roguelites to really stand out these days. There’s just so many of them out there. It feels like everything has been done. This is why Death By Scrolling really impressed me at the showcase. This seems to be a top-down action roguelite where the screen is constantly scrolling up. So it looks like you will die if you don’t keep moving up the screen (kind of like some old school Mario sidescrolling levels). That’s a neat hook, but the action itself looked pretty strong, and the trailer showed some quick glimpses of its upgrade systems, and they actually seemed pretty deep, too. This one might have it all. At the very least, this trailer earned a wishlist from me.
10. Onimusha: Way of the Sword
It seems like every major showcase this year has had Onimusha in there somewhere. But each time, they are able to get me a little more interested in what they are doing. This trailer, in particular, showed more combat than I have seen from their other trailers, and it looks fantastic. It seems like you have a nice variety of options. The trailer also showcases the parry mechanic, and it looks really satisfying to me. This seems like it will be a surefire hit in 2026.
9. Deer & Boy
The “no dialogue heartfelt narrative platformer” seems to be a popular trend these days. But Deer & Boy still manages to stand out with its impressive art direction, production values, and music. The trailer shows off a really nice variety of environments and gameplay as well. Nothing better happen to that fucking deer is all I have to say.
8. Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes
I don’t know why I never watched this show. I usually love sci-fi, but I just never pulled the trigger on the time investment, despite hearing tons of hype. But that intro alone had me kind of hooked on the plot premise. From there, this appears to be a roguelike strategy game that looks pretty damn deep (and the previews I’ve read seem to confirm this). If we can get an interesting roguelike strategy game (somewhat of a rarity) combined with a compelling plot (once again, a rarity in this genr), then this one could be special. This is very on my radar now.
7. The Blood of Dawnwalker
There is a lot going on with this one. This is an ARPG, with a day/night cycle. You are a human by day and a vampire by night. There’s also elements of choice with the story. The developers also hype up that not acting or not making a choice is also a choice and can affect the world. It looks super interesting. It’s also very nice looking, seems to have deep RPG elements, and the combat looks pretty solid.
But I think I’m most intrigued by how this game uses time. It seems that a lot of major quests and other elements of the game will have time limits attached to them. Luckily, they seem to be transparent with the number of days you have to do the quests that have these limits. I absolutely hate open world games that have time limits, but don’t tell you what they are. It seems like you can effectively plan things out with your quests in this game.
I also like this because even open world games that I love can have stories with a sense of urgency that gets kind of awkward from a role playing sense when you start doing every side quest on the planet. Cyberpunk 2077 is my favorite game ever, but it’s a little odd how long you can spend dicking around while you are on the precipice of death. The Blood of Dawnwalker solves that issue with its time limits, and those time limits seem very reasonable. I had seen a bit of this game but it hadn’t really grabbed me, but this little trailer did.
6. Ninja Gaiden 4
I’ve seen the past trailers for this game, and it is something I have planned on playing, especially since it’s on Xbox Game Pass. But this trailer really wowed me more than the others. It’s funny because this is listed as a story trailer, but the gameplay really stole the show for me. The long combos you can put together looked so good, and the bits of the boss design that they show looked pretty interesting as well. The story stuff seems cheesy, but between this trailer and the hands-on impressions I’ve seen, we might be sleeping on just how good this game is going to end up being. It skyrocketed up my most anticipated list from this trailer.
5. Cronos: The New Dawn
Cronos had a trailer at Opening Night Live, but it was the longer trailer at the Future Games Show that finally won me over. I’ve been wanting to be hyped for this game, as Dead Space is one of my favorite survival horror games of all time. I also really loved Silent Hill 2 Remake last year, which made me believe in Bloober Team a lot more than I used to.
But I’ve still been a bit skeptical. While the gameplay in Silent Hill 2 Remake was good, that game was still more carried by its story in my view, and that story wasn’t really made by Bloober Team. Also, maybe the failure of Callisto Protocol, which also had Dead Space vibes, has me a bit on guard. But the more I see of this gameplay, the more I get sold that this game will be good whether the story is interesting or not. I love the variety of enemies they show, and the gunplay and atmosphere both look tremendous. With only weeks to go until its full release, I am officially Cronos pilled.
4. Recur
This one was a huge winner for me. Recur appears to be a 2D game where time goes backward when you walk backward, and it goes forward when you walk forward. It’s kind of like the classic game, Braid. But that is a mechanic that you haven’t really seen used much, if it all, since Braid, so it still feels pretty unique. The game has a nice sense of style, too. The puzzles didn’t look overly complex in the trailer, but I imagine they will ramp up with time. I love this concept, and this trailer gave me a decent amount of faith that they will execute on it well.
3. Resident Evil Requiem
This makes it to the list based on its appearances on both Opening Night Live and the Future Games Show. The trailer at Opening Night Live was interesting from a story perspective, but it wasn’t enough to really make this list. The Future Games Show had a quick developer narrated trailer that showed some gameplay and made this game seem much different from the average Resident Evil game. You seem to play as someone not particularly equipped to take out monsters and other foes, and I’m really interested to see how that plays out. The trailer also showed off how you can play in either 1st or 3rd person, and both methods looked great. I like the Resident Evil series, but it’s not one that I get super hyped for usually. This combo of trailers has officially piqued my interest.
2. Valor Mortis
This one had my attention from the moment that I saw that this was from the makers of Ghostrunner. I loved Ghostrunner, but I couldn’t get super into the sequel. I think I was just ready for something different from them at that point, and that looks like what we are getting here. This looks like a first-person sword combat game, but with some guns in the mix. I thought it looked soulslike-y from the trailer, but I was afraid to call it that since people call everything a soulslike these days. After reading a preview, it looks like the devs are also calling it that, so I’m safe to call it a soulslike.
I’ll talk about this more with my #1, but a soulslike has to do something special to catch my interest these days, and between the first person perspective and a developer that has made a game that I really enjoyed in the past, this one really won me over right away. And the hands on impressions I’ve seen after were all completely glowing. This one might really surprise some people next year when it releases.
1. Phantom Blade Zero
I like soulslikes, but it’s becoming a genre where I increasingly don’t feel the need to play them unless a game looks special. Khazan and Wuchang both looked good this year for huge fans of the genre, but I felt no desire to play them. There’s a lot of soulslikes now, and they are generally somewhat long, and obviously, they can be a grind. It’s hard to carve out the time for them unless I HAVE to carve out the time for them.
And it’s becoming increasingly clear that I will have to carve out the time for Phantom Blade Zero next year.
I was wowed by this one from the first trailer, but this deeper dive won me over even more. I love the pace of the combat, and it looks so silky smooth. The weapon variety looks really nice, and it looks like you can do some stealth, which I always appreciate in this genre.
The developer talking about the exploration being very deep but also accessible was also appealing as well. This really looks like something somewhat unique within the genre, and it looks very well executed. I can’t wait for this one, and it’s not easy for me to say that with a soulslike. This was my biggest highlight of the entire Gamescom week.
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