After two years of the pandemic, Gamescom has finally returned, and not without plenty of highlights. Each year, Gamescom attracts hundreds of thousands of attendees, and 2022 promises to be no exception. Featuring a wide range of events, announcements, and presentations, Gamescom is the highlight of the game industry calendar. In addition to bringing you the latest gaming news and announcements, the convention also lets you try out some of the most anticipated games that won't hit the market until much later (e.g., System Shock and A Plague Tale: Requiem). In the absence of E3, Gamescom 2022 is likely to be the biggest and most notable gaming event of the year. We attended the convention in Cologne, Germany, over the weekend and bring you some of its best highlights. Gamescom 2022 Highlights 1.   Age of Empires IV - Ottomans and Malians Update 2.   The Callisto Protocol New Gameplay Reveal 3.   Off the Grid - A Cyberpunk Battle Royale 2.0 Shooter 4.   Lies of P, Pinocchio-Inspired Steampunk Adventure 5.   Bandai Namco Lineup 6.   Moonbreaker Presentation 7.   THQ Nordic, Alone in the Dark, Wreckreation, and other games 8.   Dune Awakening Announcement 9.   Indie Games 1. Age of Empires IV - Ottomans and Malians Update One of the biggest Gamescom 2022 surprises for RTS fans is the coming of two new civilizations to the Age of Empires IV. The addition will be a part of a free anniversary update expected on October 25 this year. The trailer shows that Malians are introducing spear throwers and spear and shield wielders, while Ottomans are using new types of powerful siege units and a new kind of horseback unit. The update will coincide with the arrival of Season 3, which will also bring two new map types into the game. 2. The Callisto Protocol New Gameplay Reveal The Callisto Protocol is . With The Callisto Protocol, the developer Striking Distance aims to redefine the survival horror genre, and from what we've seen at Gamescom, it appears that they might succeed. one of the most anticipated sci-fi horrors of the year During Opening Night Live, Glen Schofield, the studio’s CEO, revealed a new gameplay trailer showing some combat elements, including stealth techniques and melee combat. The trailer ends with the main character sliced up by a giant fan at the end of a waterslide trap, which only adds to the overall goriness of the game and makes you wonder how you can escape this trap. The Callisto Protocol will release on December 2. 3. Off the Grid - A Cyberpunk Battle Royale 2.0 Shooter Off the Grid is one of the most exciting and mysterious projects announced this year that received significant attention at Gamescom 2022. Developed by and envisioned by Neill Blomkamp, District 9 and Elysium director, OTG is a cyberpunk Battle Royale 2.0 shooter game set in a dystopian future. According to game developers, an essential aspect of OTG's evolution is a strong emphasis on narrative progression, allowing players to control the story and influence gameplay via their choices. Gunzilla The game will allow 150 players to fight on a constantly evolving map, and players will be able to craft, customize, and trade their in-game items with other players. The OTG booth at Gamescom didn’t reveal any trailers but, through theatrical performance, allowed us to immerse into the game’s world run by corporations and make your initial choice of the faction you want to fight for. OTG will come to PlayStation®5, Xbox® Series X|S, and PC in 2023. 4. Lies of P, Pinocchio-Inspired Steampunk Adventure Lies of P, a Pinocchio-inspired action game announced in May by developer Round8 Studio and publisher NeoWiz, received much attention at Gamescom. The creators allowed the game to be tested on the booths, presented a new trailer, and announced plans to release it on Game Pass. Lies of P is an action-adventure game set in a dark Belle Époque world. During the game, the players will be put in situations where lying is needed to protect the protagonist and others. The official gameplay trailer revealed at Gamescom shows the complex world with steampunk-inspired surroundings and dynamic combats. Lies of P received the Best Adventure Action Game and Best RPG awards and is coming to PlayStation, Xbox, and PC in 2023. 5. Bandai Namco Lineup Bandai Namco brought three games to Gamescom 2022-Park Beyond, The Devil in Me, and One Piece Odyssey. All three games were playable at the company’s booths and attracted many visitors. Although each game was fun, our personal favorite of the trio was Park Beyond, a theme park simulator with advanced coaster-creation tools, colorful maps, and vivid characters. The game provides highly customizable rides, story-driven campaign modes, and in-depth analysis tools such as expense data, visitor feedback analysis, and monitoring of visitor trends. The game will come to Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X and Series S, and PlayStation 5 in 2023. 6. Moonbreaker Moonbreaker is a digital tabletop miniature turn-based strategy game that attracted much attention at Gamescom. Developed by Unknown Worlds, the developer of Subnautica, and based on a new world created by bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, Moonbreaker is a game that can win millions of hearts and last for years. It is a tabletop RPG in which players collect, paint and battle their miniatures of fantasy and sci-fi creatures. The game is not based on any existing tabletop game and introduces a new world with its lore, rule set, and creatures. Moonbreaker will be available on PC and macOS for early access on September 29. 7. THQ Nordic, Alone in the Dark, Wreckreation, and other games Austrian video game publisher THQ Nordic came to Gamescom 2022 with an impressive lineup of nine games, two of which, Alone in the Dark and Wreckreation, attracted the most attention from the press and visitors. Alone in the Dark is a reimagination of the classic horror game that lets you experience a haunting story through the eyes of the two protagonists. Set in the 1920s, the game takes you on an exploration path to solve the mystery of a missing person. Along the way, you’ll encounter monsters and solve many puzzles. Inspired by Burnout and Need for Speed, Wreckreation is a 400 kilometers big racing world that players can modify, shape and wreck. Wreckreation aims to be the ultimate racing world experience, where you can create tracks and race them together with other players, crashing and pulling off dizzy stunts along the way. Other notable titles from THQ Nordic presented at Gamescom are , , and . Outcast 2 Destroy All Humans! 2 - Reprobed AEW: Fight Forever 8. Dune Awakening The first trailer for Dune: Awakening was revealed at Gamescom 2022 Opening Night. There aren’t a lot of details about the game yet, but it seems that Dune: Awakening is going to be a survival MMO game set on the desert planet of Arrakis, where the main story of Dune is set. You can join factions, find and make alliances with players, manage your resources, and explore the planet. A significant element of the worldbuilding of Dune: Awakening is sandstorms that must be considered when building, as they can drastically reshape the environment. Dune: Awakening will be available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, but no release dates have been announced yet. 9. Uncountable Indie Titles Along with AAA games presented by big studios, Gamescom was also a showcase for some great-looking games from smaller publishers and developers. , an award-winning indie video game publisher, is one of the most notable participants of the expo, which brought several interesting playable demos of the upcoming games. One example is Deadsuit - Ghost Song, a sci-fi horror platformer in which you go deep beneath the surface of the desolate moon of Lorian, battling strange creatures and uncovering the secrets of the ancient alien world. Humble Games But, perhaps, everyone’s favorite of the indie section was Vikings on Trampolines. The game is precisely what its title is and lets you control a bunch of Vikings bouncing off the trampolines, attempting to stay alive by avoiding the ground. The game is as fun as it sounds, and after Gamescom 2022, it is one of the most anticipated indie titles of the year. Final Thoughts on Gamescom 2022 After two years of no significant gaming conventions taking place in real life, Gamescom feels like a breath of fresh air. Packed with events, hundreds of announcements, presentations, and dozens of playable demos of upcoming games, Gamescom is the largest gaming convention in the world that is worth attending in person and paying attention to. Picking the highlights from such a densely packed program is challenging, but we tried to do our best to inform you about some of the most notable events and announcements from the event. Hopefully, you found these highlights exciting and are now looking forward to playing some of the games presented at the convention. You can find more information about the event on its . website

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