Bartski
Gold Member
I'm not a reporter, but here are some pics I took with my phone on Gamescom 2024 expofloor. If you see something interesting and want me to expand on it - ask away.
So... how was it?
The GOOD:
- Xbox killed it. Sorry Team Blue. A massive presence, covering almost half of Hall 7, showcasing their upcoming first-party slate all across the AAA/AA, and indie board. With extra booths for games playable elsewhere. Contests, awards. Proper big-budget bombastic expo marketing, bound to leave an impression.
- Playable upcoming games! I got my hands on almost everything I hoped for, except Assassin’s Creed: Shadows. That one was a live gameplay demo run by the game director. Good call, though—the game didn’t look ready for them to pass the controller...
Here are other links to my quick impressions on the games I played:
Replaced
Khazan: The First Berserker
Phantom Blade 0
Reanimal
Crimson Desert
I also played Space Marine 2, Kingdom Come 2, Little Nightmares 3, Mechabreak, and many more. I tried out the Warcraft VR thing, which was my first full-body VR experience — pretty cool. The Indiana Jones and Starfield: Shattered Space video presentations I saw will 100% be released soon. Not much to add about the hands-off demo of Avowed—it’s all online as of yesterday.
- Socializing with fellow mutants! Even queuing was fun, meeting so many freaks next to which I’m doing rookie numbers on the nerd-o-meter felt refreshing, especially in the indie hall.
The BAD:
- PlayStation’s no-show. Absolutely zero presence from PlayStation in any form, which is ridiculous for an event of this scale. Before you ask—Nintendo wasn’t there either.
- Dreadful live bands. Singers who should never be allowed near a microphone.
- Fast lanes. Fully booked the second they went live, and the regular queue management was a mess in places due to poor floor planning, many were too short due to fire exits, leading to some camping shenanigans and mild frustration.
- Konami. Now expanding their pachinko market with card collector gaming in the merch hall. Despite previewing great, Bloober and Silent Hill 2 Remake nowhere to be found —not to mention MGS: Delta. Spare the shame and go home Konami, u drunk
- Bad audio in demo booths. Almost all of the hands-on demos had poor-quality headphones with no volume control. With the ambient noise levels so high, playing on mute wouldn't make much of a difference.
The UGLY:
- Indies. As much as I enjoyed spending almost the entire Friday in the indie hall, little about it had to do with games. Unlike the AAA/AA publisher halls, here 9 out of 10 times you had devs running their demos, just happy to show you their work in progress. Great time geeking out… but also a lot of just trying to be nice. Won't name names. Polish indie booth - a moment of silence. Which is weird with things like Holstein in the horizon.
On the bright side, here are a few I liked a lot:
Pretty sure I’ll be back next year—this time with a folding chair! Enjoy the gallery:
So... how was it?
The GOOD:
- Xbox killed it. Sorry Team Blue. A massive presence, covering almost half of Hall 7, showcasing their upcoming first-party slate all across the AAA/AA, and indie board. With extra booths for games playable elsewhere. Contests, awards. Proper big-budget bombastic expo marketing, bound to leave an impression.
- Playable upcoming games! I got my hands on almost everything I hoped for, except Assassin’s Creed: Shadows. That one was a live gameplay demo run by the game director. Good call, though—the game didn’t look ready for them to pass the controller...
Here are other links to my quick impressions on the games I played:
Replaced
Khazan: The First Berserker
Phantom Blade 0
Reanimal
Crimson Desert
I also played Space Marine 2, Kingdom Come 2, Little Nightmares 3, Mechabreak, and many more. I tried out the Warcraft VR thing, which was my first full-body VR experience — pretty cool. The Indiana Jones and Starfield: Shattered Space video presentations I saw will 100% be released soon. Not much to add about the hands-off demo of Avowed—it’s all online as of yesterday.
- Socializing with fellow mutants! Even queuing was fun, meeting so many freaks next to which I’m doing rookie numbers on the nerd-o-meter felt refreshing, especially in the indie hall.
The BAD:
- PlayStation’s no-show. Absolutely zero presence from PlayStation in any form, which is ridiculous for an event of this scale. Before you ask—Nintendo wasn’t there either.
- Dreadful live bands. Singers who should never be allowed near a microphone.
- Fast lanes. Fully booked the second they went live, and the regular queue management was a mess in places due to poor floor planning, many were too short due to fire exits, leading to some camping shenanigans and mild frustration.
- Konami. Now expanding their pachinko market with card collector gaming in the merch hall. Despite previewing great, Bloober and Silent Hill 2 Remake nowhere to be found —not to mention MGS: Delta. Spare the shame and go home Konami, u drunk
- Bad audio in demo booths. Almost all of the hands-on demos had poor-quality headphones with no volume control. With the ambient noise levels so high, playing on mute wouldn't make much of a difference.
The UGLY:
- Indies. As much as I enjoyed spending almost the entire Friday in the indie hall, little about it had to do with games. Unlike the AAA/AA publisher halls, here 9 out of 10 times you had devs running their demos, just happy to show you their work in progress. Great time geeking out… but also a lot of just trying to be nice. Won't name names. Polish indie booth - a moment of silence. Which is weird with things like Holstein in the horizon.
On the bright side, here are a few I liked a lot:
Pretty sure I’ll be back next year—this time with a folding chair! Enjoy the gallery:
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