Yesterday, we got a look into Geoff Keighley’s gamescom kick off event, Opening Night LIVE. This is one of Keighley’s big three gaming events of the year, which starts off with Summer Game Fest and ends with The Game Awards. Opening Night LIVE is the middle event, ever since Summer Game Fest was created as a virtual showcase to take the place the big summer in-person events during the pandemic.
All three of these events are long and full of game trailers, reveals, teasers, and world premieres. Sometimes it’s a bit too much and I end up forgetting about certain games.
What I realized yesterday during the presentation is that most of these new game reveals and world premieres are cinematic sizzle trailers. They don’t show any actual gameplay footage. You’re just watching a really cool short film that may give you the tone or overall look of the world where this story will take place. Some of them are built to show off that there’s a game coming soon based on some known IP (Intellectual Property), like DUNE: Awakening and Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game.
There’s nothing wrong with these cinematic trailers. They are made to build hype. Most of the time this just means that the game is far away from release, but the studio wants us to know that it’s coming.
With all of that in mind, even watching a gameplay trailer doesn’t give you the full feeling of actually playing a game. You get an idea, or your brain starts to compare what you’re seeing with other games you’ve played. Still, not the full story.
Recently, I have even watched developers play their game, while I interview them (remotely), and that still won’t give you the full impression of the game. The only way to see if a game fully clicks with you is by playing the game yourself — or some kind of demo.
Still, many of these gameplay and cinematic trailers did their job yesterday. Let’s take a look at my TOP FIVE:
1 | EVERYWHERE
What is Everywhere? I’m not sure, but this opening trailer had concept art, developer interviews, character design, some quick gameplay clips and world design. By the end of the trailer it seemed like we were watching a different game. I am very curious now to find out more about Everywhere.
According to the game director Everywhere is going to be a whole new world for gamers full of endless possibilities. They want it to be a game where players make their own stories, but what does all of that mean?
I hope we find out soon.
Everywhere is aiming for a 2023 release.
2 | DUNE: Awakenings
This was another one of those short cinematic teasers with no gameplay. At first, I was blown away by how realistic this character looked, especially his hair and beard. I’m hoping that the game itself will look something like or close to this teaser.
I chose this game because this is the second recent title we’ve seen based on the DUNE series, and it’s a completely different type of game from a different studio. The other game, DUNE: Spice Wars, is a real-time strategy game, while Dune: Awakenings is an open world survival MMO.
I can’t wait to see more of what DUNE: Awakenings looks like in action, but this is also good news that we can start seeing more DUNE games coming from different studios. There’s no release window yet, but you can sign up for an upcoming beta on the website.
3 | Moonbreaker
Moonbreaker may not even be a game for me, but it’s always neat when a big author, like Brandon Sanderson, teams up with a game studio to create a new game. George R. R. Martin teamed up with FromSoftware to help create the world of Elden Ring, which I tried out but realized wasn’t for me.
Moonbreaker is being developed by Unknown Worlds, creators of Subnautica. Seeing developers try something new rather than sticking to the same genre is a big risk, but can also lead to a big payoff. With the help of Brandon Sanderson I’m sure that the world and lore of Moonbreaker will be fantastic.
I’m not a painter of miniatures, but this game also includes a realistic miniature painting mode, so that players may customize their characters. I’m sure many miniature collectors will love this part of the game. I can even see some players mainly focusing on that aspect of the game.
Moonbreaker is a digital miniatures game with a beautiful, colorful art style. The developer described it as, “sort of Hearthstone meets XCOM, kind of.”
Moonbreaker is coming to early access next month, September 29, 2022.
4 | Life of P
Life of P takes the story of Pinocchio in a whole new direction, and I’m here for it. First off, I love the look of the dark world of Belle Époque where the game takes place. The character design of this Pinocchio is like a young, robotic, steampunk Timothée Chalamet.
The game is characterized as an action souls-like, which says that it will most likely be a tough game. When it comes to souls-like games it’s hard to tell if it will be a game for me, but I think that the story of Life of P has the potential to be strong enough to keep my attention.
Life of P is coming to consoles and PC in 2023.
5 | Dead Island 2
The original Dead Island was released over ten years ago — in 2011. I remember playing through the game multiple times with friends on my Xbox 360. It was sort of like a silly, zombie horror movie in a video game. I’m excited to see what they come up with next, after this long (although there were two other games in the Dead Island universe — Dead Island: Riptide and Escape Dead Island).
As the final reveal of Opening Night Live, I’m happy that we got to see a beautiful cinematic trailer followed by some gameplay footage of this bloody, zombie fest.
Dead Island 2 is coming to PC and consoles February 3, 2022.
I only picked five games to show off in this post, but in total there were over 30 game trailers during Opening Night Live 2022. You can watch the show in it’s entirety below:
That’s it for Opening Night LIVE 2022, but gamescom is just beginning. What big games, reveals, and news do you want or expect to see during gamescom?
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