The Xbox Gamescom 2021 virtual event was held yesterday, hosted by Parris Lilly and Kate Yeager. They brought us teasers of upcoming games, as well as a plethora of developer interviews and exclusives over the 90-minute runtime. A virtual event, again, certainly didn’t reduce the impact of what was on show.
First up was Dying Light 2: Stay Human and developer Techland’s Tymon Smektala and Dawid Lubryka. Set for release on December 7th, the stunning graphics, parkour moves, and combat are prevalent throughout their trailer, as is the brutality of the world open to the player. Set over 20 years after the events in the first game, players exist in a city straight out of I Am Legend when it comes to visuals, fighting human factions, as well as zombies in what the devs described as a “Modern Dark Age” setting. With twice the number of parkour moves compared to the original Dying Light, parkour pioneer David Belle again played the role of consultant and mocap model for animations, of which thousands were apparently captured.
Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator, Jorg Neumann, then provided some updates on how well the console launch had been for MS Flight Sim, as well as providing details on “World Update 6,” which is set for release on September 7th. It improves graphics overall and details the Gamescom region of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Neumann also discussed the addition of local legends – lesser known but historically important aircraft and museum pieces, that are being fully scanned and given new life in the simulator. Reno Air Racing Association’s “STIHL National Championship Air Races” are also set for coming to the game.
A brief peak at a whole bunch of games from Humble Games was then shown, including <deep breath> Archvale, Next Space Rebels, Midnight Fight Express, Dodgeball Academia, Bushiden, Flynn: Son of Crimson, Unpacking, Signalis, Unsighted and Chinatown Detective Agency. Something for everyone, they’re all set for getting day 1 release on Game Pass.
A more detailed look at another Humble Games development, Into the Pit, was then shown. Coming to Game Pass on October 19th, it looks very much like a fast paced, Doom-like, shoot ‘em up only with you as a wizard hurling spells rather than bullets at tons of monsters and weird stuff. What was shown was loud, brash, and looked like it could be a whole lot of fun!
We then had a change of pace as Adam Isgreen from World’s Edge talked about the addition of accurate “Hands on History” videos to the upcoming Age of Empires 4. Made in conjunction with Lion TV, these help show the reality behind a lot of what goes on in the game. As an example, we saw what had been produced for popular in-game unit, the trebuchet! Age of Empires 4 launches on October 28th.
After a quick peak at the console release of Xbox Cloud Gaming, we were then treated to a deep dive into upcoming Wasteland 3 DLC: Cult of the Holy Detonation by InXile’s David Rogers. Set for an October 5th launch, Cult of the Holy Detonation sees you take your rangers into the Cheyenne Mountain complex in Colorado for a Wasteland-style dungeon crawl between two warring cults who are fighting over the ‘Holy Detonation’ – a pre-war science experiment that they worship. Expect insane, mutated, cultists, challenging missions and combat, big boss battles, body horror, and lots of creativity, fun and silliness!
Wonder Russell from Undead Labs then revealed the “Homecoming” update for State of Decay 2. It brings a fully remastered Trumbull Valley map to the game, along with six new bases and the “coolest” new weapons. First seen in the “Heartland” update, Trumbull Valley is now fully explorable and you can move your community there. Russell also thanked the community and revealed the game has hit 10 million lifetime players.
Hack-and-slash action RPG Stray Blade was shown next, presented by Leonad Kausch from Point Blank Games. Explore the lost valley of Acrea, from ruined castles to ice caverns, alongside your furry companion. Combat and exploration are the key elements of the game, where the landscape can change, depending on your victories, and time in the valley continues to move forward after you die. This means elements change and have moved on by the time you are resurrected. An interesting mechanic which adds more ‘life’ to Acrea, Stray Blade is currently slated for a 2022 release.
After briefly passing over the fact Crusader Kings 3 is coming to console soon (an adaptation rather than a direct port of the game – my review of the PC version can be seen HERE), we finally got a good look at the upcoming Psychonauts 2! A long 16 years after the original game (one of my absolute favourite games ever! Don’t get me started talking about the genius level design of that game or I won’t stop…), Psychonauts 2 picks up right after the original game left off, with protagonist Raz becoming an intern Psychonaut! Every level is different because they take place in the minds of each individual character.
Raz, once more, has to jump inside those minds and do battle with old enemies the Censors, as well as fighting Panic Attacks, Doubts, Regrets, and bigger evils like The Bad Mood! Double Fine’s Tim Schafer and Lisette Titre-Montgomery talked about why Raz is such a good character and how they wanted to create something that was true to the spirit of the original game. They are bringing back voice actors who had worked on the first game, and spoke about the importance of new Double Fine team members carrying the legacy forward. Psychonauts 2 comes out today – I backed it on Fig and can’t wait!
A quick gameplay trailer for Image and Form Games’ The Gunk was then shown, before the event was rounded off with an extensive look at Forza Horizon 5. Mike Brown and Don Arceta, from Playground Games, showed off the new FH5 inspired Xbox controller as well as a playthrough of an early part of the game, highlighting the superb graphic enhancements and the new environment of Mexico.
All these, and more, will continue to be shown off on the Xbox Twitch channel as well as at other virtual Gamescom events, including the official launch event hosted by Geoff Keighley. That can be seen on the Gamescom YouTube channel Weds 25th August at 11am PT / 2pm ET / 7pm BST / 8pm CEST!
Check out all of our Gamescom coverage here!
