Gamescom has survived its personal corona crisis and is even challenging the financial instability of the games industry. In 2024 it will have evolved towards some degree of stability again. Parties, e-sports and events are once again filling the void left by the cancellations of the big gaming companies. Geoff Keighley hosted the opening show as usual. Microsoft’s Xbox division once again managed half of the trade fair single-handedly, and even Robert Habeck was there again. Something resembling routine is returning – at a time when many trade fairs are struggling for survival, this can be described as good news.
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What we saw positively and what disturbed us, we have put together in our photo series.
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Top: Retro Zone
(Image: Heise Online, JPW)
The best games at Gamescom
Despite all the pretensions: As a game trade fair, Gamescom also lives by its games, which are shown in public halls, behind closed doors or in live streams. This year’s event is missing the really big headliner game that was at the 2023 game fair with “Starfield”. Filling the gap: “Starfield”, at least a little bit. With some information about a planetary rover and the DLC “Shattered Space” given via patch, Bethesda’s sci-fi role-playing game made headlines from time to time this year.
In addition, several games were preparing to fill the power vacuum in the public’s attention. The makers of the medieval role-playing game “Kingdom Come Deliverance 2” took advantage of the opportunity and demonstratively declared their game “Best Game of the Fair”. When we played it, “Kingdom Come Deliverance 2” entertained us and left us wanting more. But we saw the best game elsewhere at Gamescom: at the Microsoft booth, where “Avoided” was playable.
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The Obsidian role-playing game developed a strong story in just an hour of play time: we were taken to a jungle cave in the world of “Pillars of Eternity”, where we were allowed to talk to an oracle and cut down lizard people. The dialogues highlight the typical Obsidian humor, even the close battles that were criticized in early trailers generated too much excitement when played, while environments with many details and hidden nuances encouraged exploration. We hope developer Obsidian can do one better here after the good but not excellent “The Outer Worlds”.
Another twist
We also really liked “Civilization 7”, which we would have liked to try in a second round. The new graphic style is extremely successful, and the changes are also exciting – even if we are still a little skeptical about the age system. What effect does this have on the feeling of play when Egypt suddenly becomes France in the Middle Ages? We’ll have to wait and see.
“Empire of the Ants” amazes with wonderful graphics and some extremely funny game ideas, “Indiana Jones and the Great Circle” could make the first-person perspective in action-adventure socially acceptable again. “Dying Light: The Beast” looks entertaining, but ultimately it’s more of the same: the game was originally planned as DLC for “Dying Light 2”. After the story leaked, developer Techland decided to scrap the former DLC and rewrite it as a separate game. We didn’t like the post-apocalyptic survival game “Atomfall”, which left us with a somewhat gloomy impression when we played it. However, there’s still plenty of time for improvement before its release next year.
There were many other highlights to see in the indie area, where small teams and solo developers presented their projects to the audience. A selection of the most exciting indie titles from Gamescom 2024 will be showcased online on Haze later this week.
Press and business customers will leave the hustle and bustle of Gamescom by Friday evening. Saturday and Sunday are exclusively for private customers, who are traditionally the heartbeat of this biggest gaming fair in the world. We are confident that Gamescom will return to Cologne in the coming years – and we are confident that Nintendo and Sony will win honors again.
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