Gamescom might’ve been subdued in terms of announcements – at least compared to previous years – but it’s been quietly brilliant for unearthing interesting games. You might’ve seen our takes on the more big-and-obvious fare, from demos of Creative Assembly’s new thing Hyenas and Glen Schofield’s Dead Space-alike The Callisto Protocol, to a nice chat with Sonic boss Takashi Iizuka and hands on with Sonic Frontiers, a bit of time with Obsidian’s darkly brilliant Pentiment, and a look at Warhammer 40K: Darktide’s meaty gunplay.
But! There are more games than just these big, obvious ones coming soon, and they very much deserve your attention, so here’s a rundown of all the other clever, inventive, or just generally interesting curios that impressed us from the show.
The Great War: Western Front
Release date: 2023
Platforms: PC
A realistic, First World War RTS, The Great War: Western Front’s pitch may sound well-worn (and decidedly Gamescom), but it comes from a team with serious pedigree in Petroglyph, the developers of the original Star Wars: Empire at War and, much more recently, the very well-received Command and Conquer remake. It also comes with a nice twist: battles don’t have to be outright won or lost, like a traditional RTS, but simply ended at the right time. This makes it a game of “marginal victories,” as the developers put it to us, where it’s as much about conserving resources – or draining your enemy’s – as it is outright winning territory.