Opening Night Live is the first night of Gamescom, hosted by Geoff Keighley, and serves as an announcement/hype event for the rest of Gamescom. Having never had the opportunity to attend one of these events before, my excitement was palpable but also tinged with apprehension for the following reasons:
Coming from the E3 era of surprise announcements and madness, there’s always a hint of what came before. Think back to Sony’s $299 announcement in 1995, SEGA shadow-dropping the Saturn (1995), Adam Boyes’ ad on how to ‘borrow a game from a friend,’ and, of course, E3 2015, where the trifecta of insane announcements happened: The Last Guardian, Final Fantasy VII Remake, and Shenmue III. These shocking announcements (and many more over the years) made E3 unpredictable and special. Shows today often don’t have the benefit of shock announcements, as leaks happen regularly these days.
The new type of reveal shows these days contain games that tend to be similar in stature and nature. Gaming today plays it safe with what they make—gone are the days of pushing creative boundaries in favour (mostly) of balance sheets and profits.
This writer is looking at this through the lens of a nearly 40-year-old gamer who still craves the days gone by when it comes to what gaming used to represent!
The show itself was an incredibly well-organized and slick experience throughout, with clearly a ton of time and money spent on making it run as effectively as possible. We had an excellent view and staff were amazing at answering any questions or queries should they arise. Kicking off at 8 p.m., we got a surprise reveal of Borderlands 4 from 2K! The audience reaction was huge, with cheers going off everywhere. Borderlands needed something like this to draw attention away from the recent movie, which flopped at the box office. Was this level of surprise a sign of things to come for the rest of the show?
Unfortunately, for 90% of the rest of the show, it was not. Over the night, it was counted (though possibly inaccurately) that around 17 live-service/co-op games were announced. These games carry an almighty risk for those publishers and studios, and for every Fortnite, Destiny, or Helldivers 2, there are many titles that don’t hit those heights, causing studios to go under chasing that golden dragon. This homogenization in gaming is common; if a firm has success with a type of game, others try to follow suit for a piece of that pie. Most gaming firms don’t look at what a successful game did well and try to adopt some of it to create something with their own stamp or a truly new experience. They try to rinse and repeat what has already been done, and Opening Night Live was no different. Over the course of the night, we saw a mix of FPS, Souls-like, and live-service games, with some JRPG/anime-style games thrown in for a bit of variety. This is not a criticism of the show, how it was presented or even the games themselves. Just an old-school gamers view on the world of gaming
However, that’s not to say there weren’t any personal highlights. There were some that really grabbed this writer’s attention, starting with Batman Arkham Shadow!
ONL Show Highlights
Batman Arkham Shadow
Pictured Above: Arkham Shadows Reveal Shot
ONL saw the first gameplay trailer of this new Batman title coming from Camouflaj for Meta Quest 3 in October. The trailer shows Batman showcasing a variety of his skills and gadgets and fighting criminals from a first-person perspective. You can see his hands in the gameplay, and you control these with the Meta controllers, choosing where to punch, when to move, and what gadget to use with relative ease. The action flowed nicely, with snappy combat elements, puzzle-solving, and, of course, swinging through the air in only a way Batman can. How the more stealth-oriented sections of the game will work in VR remains to be seen, but what was shown gives confidence that the team will have this nailed down come release.
Pictured Above: In trailer shots from gameplay trailer
One noticeable standout was the art style. Compared to the graphics of the Arkham games, you can see they have had to make some compromises due to it running in VR. However, what Camouflaj has done is utilize an almost cel-shaded, comic book style in the presentation, which represents the dark undertones of the Batman Arkham series perfectly.
Little Nightmares 3
Pictured Above: In-trailer shot
The third iteration in the series (of which Yu Suzuki is a fan) can only be described as a dark, whimsical adventure game that takes place in a mysterious world that blends dreams and nightmares. Presented in 2.5D, the game showed puzzles, some small combat sequences, and an art style that stands out among a crowd of photo-realistic games. The trailer’s reaction was electric and looks to have piqued the interest of both new and old players.
Goat Simulator Remaster
In one of the most tongue-in-cheek trailers of the night, we saw footage of the remake of Goat Simulator, which is set for release sometime during 2024. The trailer featured a human walking through a prison, with various references to characters gone by, street names clearly taking a shot at the number of remakes/remasters in gaming today, and some odd-looking doors before meeting our ‘friendly’ little goat in what could be the ‘GOAT’ of remasters.
Goat Simulator Remaster Trailer
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
Pictured: KCD2 In trailer
Announced some time ago, we got a release date trailer (February 11th, 2025) for Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. Set after the events of the first game, the trailer was mostly cinematic, showcasing the upcoming events with Henry looking to prevent an all-out war between factions. The first game in this series was noted for its incredible depth in playstyles and customization, as well as branching paths and dialogue. The sequel looks no different in that regard.
Pictured: In Game graphics overhaul. Looking good!
Graphically, it has received an update from the original, and one can only hope the developers have learned from the initial buggy release of the first game. Interestingly, they showed a snippet of the combat system, which looks very similar to the first game. How they make this system more accessible will be something to watch closely. The original system was notorious for being incredibly challenging (in some cases, frustrating) for players.
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 Release Date Trailer
Masters of Albion
In some circles, a controversial announcement, Opening Night Live saw the return of Peter Molyneux to the gaming landscape with his god game Masters of Albion. A disclaimer here—this writer has not followed any of the media controversy behind previous games/NFT games Peter worked on, so they won’t be discussed here. Many larger outlets will have that covered!
Pictured: Village Building by day
The game itself mixes a standard GOD game with a level of customization that is surprisingly in-depth. By day, you build your village and prepare for what is to come at night. By night, you are attacked by the world’s mythical creatures, where you have to defend your village using the weapons and various tools you created during the day. Additionally, you can take control of any of the people in your village to fight these creatures off in first-person mode as well as explore the world, which is very much inspired by the original Fable titles. Survive the night, and then you continue to build your village against increasingly difficult enemies.
Pictured: By Night defend the village!
What shouldn’t be missed is the satirical humour attached to this type of game. Peter Molyneux worked on Dungeon Keeper, Theme Park/Hospital, and other god games that all have that sort of humour built in. This trailer showcased some of that as well. Time will tell if this game lives up to the promise and whether it is given the space to do so.
The First Berserker Khazan
Commanding a Fist of the North Star artistic style, ONL saw the reveal trailer of the slasher/Souls-like game The First Berserker Khazan. Little was given away in terms of the story, with the trailer showing off a ton of flashy combat sequences and quite gory details. Slated for release in 2025, this is a title that could be a sleeper hit if everything comes together on this game’s initial promise.
The First Berserker Kazhan Reveal Trailer
Indiana Jones: The Great Circle
Pictured: Punching Nazi’s in the face. Credit: Game Awards 2023
One of Microsoft’s crowning games for 2024 saw a huge gameplay reveal trailer showcasing all elements of the mechanics while giving us a first proper look at the story. There was plenty of punching Nazis in the face, shooting, climbing, and puzzles—all capturing the look and feel of Indiana Jones without fault.
Showing off the mo-cap in great detail, Troy Baker plays Indiana superbly, clearly investing time in getting to know the character and all the small details that make such a difference.
The game itself looks superbly crafted, having benefited from several delays over the last few years to ensure the game is polished to that AAA standard most gamers have come to expect. The gameplay segments in the trailer ran super smoothly, locked at 60 fps to the naked eye, and showcased what will be a large, interactive world for players to explore at their leisure. This looks like it will live up to all expectations!
With a release date of December 9th for Steam and Xbox, anticipation rose as the game isn’t too far away! However, that was not all…. In perhaps the worst-kept secret in gaming (with Phil Spencer saying in February 2024 that it was not happening), it was announced that in spring 2025 Indiana Jones will come to PS5, marking a major shift in Microsoft’s 1st-party strategy. How this plays out in future games is only conjecture, but it looks like they will move to a more service-oriented model that can be played anywhere, anytime, with exclusives on their platforms timed before going elsewhere to maximize their market. This is a win-win for all concerned. Sony takes 30% of sales for a top title when it hits their platform, and Microsoft takes the rest. Of course, there will be concern around legitimate competition for Sony if Microsoft does move away from traditional consoles. One can only hope the quality of their games pushes Sony to continue releasing great titles themselves. If they do that, then people will be willing to wait a few months for games like Indiana Jones to hit PlayStation.
Indiana Jones Release Date Trailer
Show Closing (Mafia Old Country)
Pictured: Mafia Old Country Logo
Following the hype of Indiana Jones, there was ‘one more thing’ to show—a reveal trailer of Mafia Old Country! That’s right, a NEW Mafia title! Set as a prequel to the original game, it takes place in Sicily in 1900. While only a CG trailer was shown, the energy in the room was palpable. We can only look forward to what is to come from this new Mafia game!
Pictured: Mafia: Old Country in-engine shot.
The show itself was largely for the new-school gamer crowd, but it was very well presented, organized, and the energy in the room was there for all to see. That includes when Tencent Games accepted the environmental awards, and the hype was sucked out of the room. All in all, it was great to attend and see these things live and in action, but it does leave a taste of what we may have lost with E3 no longer around, especially for us old-school gamers.
An Aside
After the show, we decided to stop off to collect our thoughts before heading back to the hotel. Having met former Dojo staffer Flagship in the main hall corridors, we then saw someone synonymous with the Shenmue fandom… Michael Huber.
Once we stopped, he gave a sort of ‘I know you’ look before we commented that we were indeed Shenmue Dojo. At that point, a Shenmue fan embrace took place, and we spent the next 10–15 minutes discussing ONL—Mafia Old Country in particular, Times Square, Shenmue 4, and beyond! He was kind enough to take a picture before leaving with a request that if we see him on the show floor, we say ‘Hello,’ promptly followed by issuing him with a Stone Cold Stunner! Memories like that make shows like this—despite all the complaints—truly special indeed!
Pictured: Matt with Michael Huber. Photo Credit: James Macke
