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Scene from "Cult of the Lamb": A satanic sheep fighting against hordes of monsters
Photo: Devolver
As in the previous year, Gamescom will also take place purely virtually in 2021 - and that's not good for you.
Large and small companies will be showing their games until August 27th, most of which will appear later this year.
To mark the opening, the game journalist Geoff Keighley once again called for the Opening Night Live - a two-hour show in which all video game tubes were shot.
How does that play ?!
For example in "Call of Duty: Vanguard," which is due to be released on November 5th. Laura Bailey comes on stage, she is an actress, plays the role of Polina, a sniper. She talks about the fact that many women fought for the Soviet Union in World War II, sacrificed themselves and then were almost forgotten by history. Then we see gameplay from the game: Polina in Stalingrad when it was surrounded by the Germans. She sneaks through a house, climbs up walls, balances on balustrades. It must not attract attention, it would be its end. Eventually she finds a sniper rifle and puts it on. Shoots over and over to dramatic music. We learn: It's just a "Call of Duty". It's about heroism, strong people, fame. This time, parcouring seems to be an important game mechanic,anyway. Of course, no mention is made of the fact that in the past few weeks - again - many cases of sexual assault and abuse of power have come to light at Activision, the company that publishes a new "Call of Duty" every year.
After all, the trailer consisted of gameplay, a rare commodity of the whole show.
There were clips lined up that showed rapid cuts and bold tracking shots and hardly differed from trailers for action films like those of Marvel.
But video games should now be played.
At best, they are experiences that players have and can influence.
These experiences are made at the gameplay level.
In other words: what matters is how the game plays, not how it looks.
AAA games look more and more alike, use the same stylistic devices, and stage their heroes and villains very similarly.
These trailers do not exactly resolve the suspicion of a lack of ideas in the gigantic productions.
Important issues, little time
But there are at least short moments in which small games, important topics and interesting people are given a platform.
A man from Poland, for example, who has been working alone on his indie game "Midnight Fight Express" for years.
The presence of AAA games helps these indie developers.
They are the magnets that attract the audience - and thus an audience for the smaller titles too.
For seconds, too, people have their say who say something about diversity.
Accessibility is also mentioned.
Giving more people access to video games regardless of how capable their bodies are - an important issue.
The show gave him about ten seconds.
Then advertising for Red Bull. Then a game in which the players roll a monkey in a ball through obstacles.
more on the subject
Gamescom 2020: Guns, blood and a shrug of the shouldersBy Matthias Kreienbrink
A lot of people worked hard on all of these games.
Developed ideas that they often had to fight to implement - and just as often were unable to realize them because they could not be marketed well enough.
Developers work in the games industry who develop games and do cultural work with a lot of passion and creativity.
And some interesting games have also been shown, which will certainly be a great pleasure once they are played (see photo gallery).
But at these shows, trade fairs and events it is usually about which trailer made the loudest boom.
The announcement that there will be a special edition of the Xbox Series X for "Halo Infinite" also fits in with this - so why not buy a second one straight away?
Prices for game covers
Finally, you learn that "Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope" is the best Switch game of the year and therefore receives a Gamescom award. A game that won't be released until 2022. So far there has hardly been any of it to be seen. »Elden Ring« was chosen as the best Playstation game. Nobody has played it yet. These awards are symptomatic of the show itself. This is where the covers of games are shown and extolled. They may all have substance - but that's not the point here. It's about selling. That can of course be pleasing, it's entertaining. At best, it makes games better known that would otherwise not get this spotlight.
But all of these games will not be playable as usual. Gamescom was actually always a trade fair for the public. Hundreds of thousands of players were able to try out games and then at best wish for Christmas. But due to the pandemic, this year's trailer sequence is not an aperitif to then pick up the controller and try it out for yourself. It is a firework of which in the end only the ringing in the ears remains. In other words, it was a pretty solid video game show.