Geoff Keighley can finally head back to hibernation as the last big gaming event of the year has officially wrapped up. Last night saw Gamescom’s Opening Night Live grace our screens for two or so hours – packed with a whole lot of announcements and trailers, and properly kicked off the 4-day-long Cologne-based event.
And the crowd goes mild!
We still can’t decide what’s funnier, Geoff Keighley’s energetic entry as he exclaimed “This one hasn’t leaked” before throwing up a trailer for Borderlands 4 (yeah, right), or the most lukewarm reaction to a trailer we’ve ever seen from an in-person event like Opening Night Live. We blame Eli Roth for that one.
As for the trailer itself? It was… fine. The “not actual gameplay” tagline is rarely ever a good sign, especially when the trailer is simply an excuse to show off the psycho mask after 45 seconds of wondering ‘is this Borderlands 4?’ Unfortunately, that’s all Gearbox had in store for ONL – with no word of Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands 2 just yet.
Thank goodness for Troy Baker
Seriously, whoever’s idea it was to make Indiana Jones and the Great Circle a first-person title deserves to never feel the cold side of a pillow again. That being said, whoever’s idea it was to have Troy Baker filling the shoes of Harrison Ford’s iconic Indy narrate the Gamescom trailer should get a raise.
While the new trailer has somewhat eased our qualms since The Great Circle was shown off at the Xbox Showcase, gameplay wasn’t the focus here. Tucked away at the end was the news that Indy would hit our screens on 9 December as a Game Pass day-one title, before jumping ship to the PS5 in Spring 2025 (Autumn in SA).
There’s a Squid Game game now
Netflix does games now, you know. We’re baffled it’s taken as long as it has for the world’s largest streamer to milk the cow that is Squid Game, but something has finally turned up in the form of Squid Game: Unleashed – a cartoony multiplayer title that’ll pit you against others in a showdown to the death.
Having seen Squid Game, you might think the series’ heavy subject matter might not be the ideal setting for a videogame, but Netflix doesn’t care. And honestly, if the gameplay’s fun, neither do we. There’s no word on an official release date yet, other than Netflix confirming it’ll hit the app “soon”.
Bring back Sid Meier’s Pirates, you cowards
We won’t pretend we aren’t a smidge disheartened by the lack of love for Sid Meier’s Pirates! in the modern day. Until it inevitably receives the remake it so dearly deserves, however, we’ll have to make do with Sid Meier’s latest creation: Civilization VII.
Opening Night Live put the world onto the first bit of gameplay for the series’ latest direction, and, as expected, it’s a chunky piece of software that’ll let you bring history to heel. It’s landing on all the major consoles (Switch too) on 11 February 2025. If you’re after something more in-depth, here’s a 25-minute breakdown from Firaxis.
Why is it spicey?
Is it just us, or was the gameplay reveal trailer for Dune Awakening… lacklustre? Gamescom fed us five minutes of footage from the highly anticipated open-world MMO (and base builder?) that showed off the game’s character creator, the glorious world of Arrakis and, most importantly, sandworms.
Oh, and you’ll be turning your enemy’s blood into water necessary for survival. You know, normal Dune things. We couldn’t shake the feeling that Awakening was never meant to be a Dune title, arriving with a generic undertone that we wouldn’t be surprised if Funcom slapped Frank Herbert’s world onto once the rights cleared.
Dune Awakening will launch in early 2025.
You’re gonna want to see this
In case you needed any more convincing to drop what you’re doing and buy Black Myth: Wukong immediately, this final trailer featuring the furry-faced warrior might just do the trick. The game, which launched yesterday on PC and PS5 (Xbox coming later) has already proven itself to be Steam’s biggest single-player launch yet.
The GOAT of gaming returns
And now, for the main event: Goat Simulator Remastered. Easily the best trailer of the night, players will soon be jumping back into Coffee Stain Studio’s iconic sandbox world of GoatVille which quite literally puts players in the hooves of a goat, “beloved” bugs and all.
It’ll include remastered visuals and all the DLC from the original – even the mobile-exclusive one (Buck to School). An official release date has yet to be announced, though we know it’s arriving on all the major consoles sometime later this year. Seriously, watch that trailer.
