The first in-person gamescom in two years kicked off with an Opening Night Live stream on Tuesday evening, with respected industry figure Geoff Keighley presenting a 2-hour showcase of upcoming games. The presentation included loads of world premieres, fresh looks at already announced titles, and updates on still more known projects.
You can watch the full two-hour showcase on YouTube here, which included sci-fi survival horror The Callisto Protocol, surprise adventure game sequel Return to Monkey Island, Gotham Knights (set in the Batman video game universe), irreverent open world zombie battler Dead Island 2, Hogwarts Legacy for Harry Potter fans, and much more.
Of course, a lot can be packed into two hours, and you can check out all the trailers here. However, we’ve decided to cherry-pick our top three games from the event, in no particular order.
1) Under the Waves
The name Quantic Dream summons memories of ambitious cinematic-style narrative games like Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, and Detroit: Become Human. But, Quantic Dream also comes with darker associations, given the company’s long history of toxic workplace allegations. All this said, Quantic Dream is just the publisher for Under the Waves, a narrative-driven adventure about the engulfing power of grief, set beneath the ocean in an alternate retro-futuristic 1979.
Developed by Parallel Studio, Under the Waves tells the tale of professional diver Stan, who is struggling to overcome a life-changing loss. As he explores the depths of the North Sea in his submarine and diving suit, the isolation of the deep sea reflects his state of mind, and as Stan retreads further into his self-imposed solitude, he starts to experience strange events far beneath the waves.
Described as “a love letter to the oceans,” Under the Waves promises to be a surreal mix of ocean beauty, poetic psychological exploration and submerged mysteries. It’s also been made in partnership with Surfrider Foundation Europe to support ocean preservation. Under the Waves is coming 2023 to PC, Xbox and PlayStation. Wishlist the game on PC here.
2) Scars Above
Space games had an especially strong showing during the Opening Night Live stream, which included a Dune MMO, survival sim Stranded: Alien Dawn, and long-awaited RTS sequel Homeworld 3. Then there’s Scars Above, an upcoming sci-fi third-person action adventure shooter.
From developers Mad Head Games, Scars Above sees the Sentient Contact Assessment and Response team (SCAR) – consisting of scientists and engineers – sent to investigate the appearance of a mammoth alien structure in Earth’s orbit. When the investigation goes wrong, scientist Dr Kate Ward wakes up alone on a mysterious, and very dangerous extrasolar planet. Kate must find her crew, unravel the mystery of this strange world, and survive.
With obvious similarities to Returnal, Scars Above is officially described as “challenging,” with “the rewarding feel of overcoming difficulty,” which does dampen our enthusiasm somewhat. That said, there’s exploration of diverse alien environments, and puzzles to solve, which may compel us to tackle the game’s no-doubt brutal battles. Scars Above will be playable on PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series S|X and Xbox One, and is currently set for release in early 2023. Wishlist the game on Steam here.
3) Lies of P
Steelrising isn’t the only Soulslike automaton tale on the horizon.
From NEOWIZ, Lies of P is an Action RPG based on the classic tale of Pinocchio. Of course, this isn’t a family-friendly take on the children’s story. Lies of P is set in a dark and cruel Belle Époque world, with Pinocchio reimagined as a puppet mechanoid who must fight his way through the disaster-struck city of Krat, a once beautiful place that has now become a living hell filled with unspeakable horrors. Your mission? To find Geppetto, figure out what happened in Krat, and fulfil your dream of becoming a true human being.
On the role-playing front, plenty of lying is required in Lies of P (like the game’s title suggests), and your choices during interconnected procedural quests will affect how the game ends. Meanwhile, combat and skills enhancement promises to be intricate, with 30 basic weapon types and over 100 possible combinations, and the ability to enhance and swap out your doll parts. Like Scars Above, expect this one to slather on the challenge as well.
Wishlist Lies of P for PC here. The game is also coming to PlayStation and Xbox consoles.
Notable mentions from Opening Night go to:
Wyrdsong, a dark, historical fantasy RPG that takes place in a fictionalized Medieval version of Portugal, a mythology-soaked setting with its own laws of nature and magic. Plus, an unreliable narrator. It’s super early days for Wyrdsong, but it comes from Something Wicked Games, which comprises industry veterans who have worked on the likes of Skyrim, Dragon Age, the Fallout games and The Outer Worlds.
Phantom Hellcat received a similarly brief trailer on the night, but this hack & slack platformer (from Ironbird Creations) oozes style thanks to its theatre setting, and calls to mind American McGee’s Alice… and maybe a tiny bit of Bayonetta. The official synopsis: When demons kidnap Jolene’s mother, the young woman must take the stage and save her – but in the world of plays, props and ability-granting masks, things are not always what they appear to be. Phantom Hellcat is coming to PC, Xbox and PlayStation. Wishlist here.
Finally, there’s The Outlast Trials, which is one of those sordid hard-R-rated titles that gives gamers a bad name. Sort of BioShock meets torture porn, The Outlast Trials is a survival horror game that can be played alone or with up to 4 friends as you face the sadistic mind control experiments of the Murkoff Corporation. As you may have guessed from the title, it comes from the makers of the Outlast series. No release date for this one (which to date is only confirmed for PC), but expect 2023. Wishlist here.