The summer of gaming events continued this week in Germany with Gamescom Opening Night Live, hosted by Geoff Keighley. There were dozens of trailers and announcements, but we have chosen the cream of the crop to share with you here, including new trailers for Starfield, Alan Wake 2, Tekken 8, and Assassin’s Creed Mirage.
Starfield
Bethesda’s first new franchise in over two decades is nearly here, and just before game director Todd Howard took the stage at Gamescom, the developer shared a very expensive-looking live-action trailer for Starfield. Even if you aren’t entirely sold on Skyrim in space, it’s worth watching this trailer just to see the effort the team put in to bring the game to life.
Little Nightmares 3
Supermassive Games is best known for interactive horror drama titles like Until Dawn and The Quarry, but the studio is also responsible for Little Nightmares — a series of creepy 2.5D puzzle platformers that have been very well received. Little Nightmares 3 will add co-op to the equation when it launches on a variety of platforms in 2024.
Black Myth: Wukong
Yet another team is bringing its own flavor to the Soulsborne genre. At ONL, Chinese developer Game Science shared the latest trailer for its new game Black Myth: Wukong, which is based on the legendary classical novel “Journey to the West.”
Age of Empires 4
Age of Empires 4: Anniversary Edition launched on PC in 2021, but you can now play the latest entry in the real-time strategy series on Xbox One, Series S, and Series X.
Crimson Desert
Crimson Desert is an upcoming open-world action RPG from Pearl Abyss, the studio behind the popular MMORPG Black Desert Online. In this astoundingly huge medieval fantasy game, you’ll help out the townsfolk, battle opposing soldiers and beasts, solve puzzles, climb buildings, tame horses, hijack carriages, lay siege to castles, FLY… and go fishing.
Payday 3
If you were hoping that Ice-T would walk you through the Port Jersey heist of Payday 3 in a new trailer at Gamescom, boy, have we got some good news for you.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage
Anyone who thought the latest entries in the Assassin’s Creed franchise were too large and unwieldy will be pleased to know that Mirage scales down the world quite a bit. That said, Mirage’s recreation of 9th-century Baghdad still looks like a thrill to explore.
Tekken 8
The long-running fighting game series returns! Tekken 8 launches on January 26, 2024, with 32 fighters, a new single-player mode, an Arcade Quest mode with customizable avatars, plenty of costumes to choose from, and much more for fans of the series.
Nightingale
We are inundated with survival crafting games on consoles and PC, but Nightingale looks like one of the most polished and exciting to date. You can explore the Fae Realms to your heart’s content when the game hits Early Access on February 22, 2024.
Zenless Zone Zero
HoYoverse will try to follow up on the outsized success of Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail with a new action RPG called Zenless Zone Zero. The game still doesn’t have a release date, but as with all HoYoverse games, we’re sure it will make a splash when it’s ready.
Lords of the Fallen
Lords of the Fallen (2023) is the sequel to Lords of the Fallen (2014). Like its predecessor (of the exact same name), the new Lords of the Fallen is a Soulslike action RPG in which you pick a character class, customize your avatar, and wield magic and weapons to dispatch your enemies. The game also features online PvP for competitive players.
Sonic Superstars
Up to four players can play at a time in Sonic Superstars, the latest 2D Sonic game set to launch on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, and PC on October 17.
Sonic Frontiers
And in 3D Sonic game news, Sonic Frontiers is getting new DLC titled The Final Horizon on September 28, which will include a new story, new playable characters (Tails, Knuckles, and Amy), and new challenges to face in the game’s open world.
The First Descendant
Nexon describes The First Descendant as a “third-person co-op action RPG looter shooter” with strategic boss fights, exciting gunplay, and high-quality graphics. If you want to test these claims yourself, there is a crossplay open beta starting September 19.
Expeditions: A MudRunner Game
Saber Interactive has worked on Halo, The Witcher, Crysis, and more, but many gamers are bigger fans of their SnowRunner and MudRunner games. The latest off-road adventure game from Saber is Expeditions: A MudRunner Game, which looks like it will be a blast in 2024.
The Crew Motorfest
Ubisoft’s racing franchise hits the streets of Hawaii in The Crew Motorfest, which looks to take a page out of Forza Horizon’s book when it arrives on September 14.
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
Phantom Liberty is a paid expansion coming to Cyberpunk 2077 on September 26, bringing a new district, new story quests, overhauled AI combat, more dynamic events, redesigned perks, and an increased level cap to Night City. And even if you don’t pick up the expansion, many of these improvements will come to the base game in Update 2.0.
Mortal Kombat 1
I’m not sure if Mortal Kombat 1 will be the bloodiest game of 2023 when it comes out on September 19, but this trailer sure makes it seem that way.
Ara: History Untold
Xbox Game Studios teamed up with Ashes of the Singularity developer Oxide Games for a grand strategy game called Ara: History Untold. If you’re a fan of the Civilization franchise, this one should definitely be on your radar in 2024.
Diablo 4
The next season of Diablo 4, Season of Blood, begins October 17, featuring five new and returning endgame bosses and updates to renown rewards, storage, and more.
Alan Wake 2
Finally, Remedy Entertainment creative director Sam Lake took the stage to show off the latest trailer for Alan Wake 2, giving us a glimpse of the Dark Place.