Animeph

Hello gamers! We are back to Gamescom after a two years pause because of the covid pandemic. That’s why we were very excited to get back to the holy halls of this convention in cologne. Our expectations were very high visiting the center of gaming once again. The whole city was celebrating Gamescom with cosplayers, bars and events coming together around these eventful days.

The famous games reporter Geoff Keighley also hyped up the event in advance with his pre-Gamescom show. It was amazing to see so many companies came to show their new products, technology and merch. A lot has changed since the last Gamescom before covid and new ways of gaming had emerge since then. It was very exciting to see new consoles showing their upcoming games and tools to provide even deeper emersion and experiences. Sony and Microsoft showed us the power of their new consoles and the devices around the console like the new upcoming VR glasses for Playstation 5 and the possibility to create even more realistic worlds. It was clear to see how the two big console companies are going separate ways to catch the audience. While Sony wants to connect the gamer into their network with exclusive games, Microsoft intendeds to commit their customers with a very competitively priced Gamepass gaming subscription. It seems like a new trend of gaming is not buying and owning games anymore, but to stream or rent them on demand similar to Netflix. I don’t know if i like this idea, but for now it offers alternatives to different audiences.

We also got the tell you about the games we experience at Gamescom in the press area. I have to say this year was a big year for the RTS (real time strategy) genre. Never before did we encounter that many new upcoming RTS games. Creative Assembly, the creators of the Total War Franchise, oferred us an exclusively look at what they plan for the future of their magnus opus Total War Warhammer 3 We are very exited and expect a lot to see in the upcoming future. From new factions and the immortal empire map to the reveal of a new historical title the list of new features was very exciting.

Moving on, THQ Nordic had a very promising collection of releases to present this year as well. And as a great RTS player myself, I was very exciting of getting my Hand on their new upcoming game Tempest Rising. This is the unofficial successor of the legendary Command and Conquer franchise. After a briefing about the development of the game, we got our hands on a playable demo of it. It plays amazing and you get the nostalgic feeling of playing the original classic immediately, but with modern graphics and improved gameplay. We cannot wait to see the release of this game. The Valliant or Spellforce Conquest of Eo were also two great upcoming Strategy games to look out for.

In Valliant you play a group of medieval mercenaries and have to fight a lot of small but meaningful skirmish battles against enemies in order to progress in this story driven tactical RTS.

Spellforce Conquest of Eo is a turnbased 3X strategy game based on the magnificent world of Spellforce. In this Prequel of the RTS game Spellforce you take control of the armies of one of ten great mages in this world and have to Conquer Eos, like the name of the game suggest. It plays like the little brother of Heroes of might and Magic. For all of you who like this genre, do keep an eye out for this game.

Another great thing about this years Gamescom was the revival of many oldschool games. Such as Alone in the dark, the legendary Horror survival games from the 90ies. Also Outcast 2 is one of two sequels we were looking for this Gamescom. Both are genre defining milestones on their own. Modern open world games rooted from Outcast and horror games like Resident Evil are inspired by Alone in the Dark.

If you like fighting games or anime games as we do, Namco Bandai is always a very important Publisher to look out for. At Namco Bandai we could lay hands on their upcoming fighting game for JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. Fans of this classic should definitely take a look. Sadly they didn’t have new information on their hit upcoming fighting game TEKKEN. However, they do have a new One Piece RPG. One Piece Odyssey looks like a JRPG based on the license of this great pirate manga from Oda Eiichiro. It has rather simple mechanics, but might be a interesting buy for younger audiences. Usually we would also mention Square Enix and Namco Bandai in one sentence, but unfortunately this year Square Enix did not have anything new to show. Surely in 2023 they will have news on their multiple ongoing Final Fantasy games and hopefully maybe even a glimpse of something new for the Nier universe.

It was also fun to take a peek at some of the smaller and new studios and their developments. Do take the time to kook around and you might find some hidden gems like the upcoming Cyberpunk actiongame Berlin 2087 or the upcoming DarkSouls-like game Lies of Pi. With the power of modern game engines, small Indi-developers are catching up to the big industry leaders and are compensating their lower budget with passion, original new ideas and responsiveness to the community.

Speaking of Anime, what would Gamescom be without anime and cosplay and a lot of merchandise? We dived into this the two big floors full of shops and merch. If you visit Gamescom, it is definitely worth it to stray a little from the gaming halls and take a peek into the shopping floors, as well as cosplay and entertainment areas. Below are some pictures.

What can we say. It was great to once again visit the German center for gaming and nerd culture and get to meet with people who loves and share your hobbies and passion. A great thanks to all the cosplayers we were able to speak to and photograph. Lots of very beautiful and well made costumes. All in all it was a pleasure to visit Gamescom 2022 and we will see you again next year.