TheRetroArcade
Veteran
Posts: 9,647
Joined: Feb 2026
Joined: Feb 2026
GeoffTFO
This week, RPS took the downright heroic step of declining to live report on the latest Geoff Keighley trailer bonanza at Gamescom 2026's Opening Night Live. Under the wise guidance of editor-in-chief Julian "Walks Away From Omelas" Benson – and with the honourable exception of Oisin "Looking At Omelas Through A Telescope" Kuhnke, who was on regular evening freelance newswriting duty - we experimented with viewing the showcase as you ordinary humans do, partly because we've recently found that the returns aren't worth the effort of staying at our desks. Some of us may have even streamed the showcase in bed! Like wild beasts!
Personally, I wondered if removing the pressure to churn out copy might improve my opinion of the millionaire charisma vortex that is the Keighley vision for videogames. Perhaps I'll grasp the spirit of Keighleymas if I'm actually watching those trailers with both eyes, I speculated. Sadly, it was not to be, and it seems, I'm not alone in that feeling. Here's Julian with the first entry in our list of standout Gamescom 2026 announcements.
Developer: Iceflake Studios
Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Release date: TBA
Available on Steam, Epic (though not currently listed)
Julian: We went into Opening Night Live planning to write this round up so we were all watching with an eye out for a game we'd like to celebrate. An hour into the show I was worried there'd be nothing I wanted to shout about. Then, thankfully, there were trailers for No Law and Lego Skylines.
Still, it's hard to shout about those trailers.
This year really showed the weakness of a big trailer blitz. Lego looks colourful and lovely, but 42 seconds is barely a glimpse of a game. No Law was longer and looks to be a varied immersive sim. But immersive sims in montage leave out the most important bit: planning. It's not enough to have lots of tools in your toolbox,.you need to be able to analyse a situation and plan your approach. I'll be playing both games here at Gamescom, so I should have a fuller look at each game to share soon.
Geofffest and his ilk charge enormous amounts for blocks of brief seconds in their shows, putting great emphasis on short, vibes based trailers from publishers that have cash to splash. For many games, that's not a useful way to meet them, nor a sensible option when budgets are slim. It can leave a show like last night's feeling insubstantial, and suggest that next year doesn't have much going for it. But that's just not true.
After all, in 2027, we're getting Duskers 2.
Developer: Unrelated Studio
Publisher: Unrelated Studio
Release date: TBA
Available on Steam
James: Slim pickings, weren’t it? Even amid a string of underwhelming Geoffcasts, this one was poor: a lovelessly fired-off barrage of samey swordfighters and likely doomed online shooters that managed to feel impatient and overlong at once.
I do, at least, like the look (and sound) of Lofsöng. The debut, self-published project from Italian devs Unreleated Studio, it’s an “art-driven” puzzle adventure in which words no longer exist – presumably killed off by games media writers so they won’t have to cover another Opening Light Live – thus leaving you to figure out the secrets of our deceased planet through sight and sound.
The proof’s in the puzzling, but the ones shown so far have an intriguingly geometry-focused vibe, and I’ve had a soft spot for being the lone lifeform on an otherwise barren planet ever since Exo One.
Developer: Dlala Studios
Publisher: Dlala Studios
Release date: TBA
Available on Steam
Oisin: An action game? That isn't a roguelike? Egads! Eureka! A third one of those beginning with E! Plain in name but not in appearance, Murals certainly caught my eye with its painterly look and vivid colour work. It’s from the team behind Disney's Illusion Island and the more recent Battletoads, so there should be a suitable amount of juice to be found here.
Murals is one of those "twists on classic fairytales," kind of ga...Read more: Full article on www.rockpapershotgun.com
What do you think about this?
This week, RPS took the downright heroic step of declining to live report on the latest Geoff Keighley trailer bonanza at Gamescom 2026's Opening Night Live. Under the wise guidance of editor-in-chief Julian "Walks Away From Omelas" Benson – and with the honourable exception of Oisin "Looking At Omelas Through A Telescope" Kuhnke, who was on regular evening freelance newswriting duty - we experimented with viewing the showcase as you ordinary humans do, partly because we've recently found that the returns aren't worth the effort of staying at our desks. Some of us may have even streamed the showcase in bed! Like wild beasts!
Personally, I wondered if removing the pressure to churn out copy might improve my opinion of the millionaire charisma vortex that is the Keighley vision for videogames. Perhaps I'll grasp the spirit of Keighleymas if I'm actually watching those trailers with both eyes, I speculated. Sadly, it was not to be, and it seems, I'm not alone in that feeling. Here's Julian with the first entry in our list of standout Gamescom 2026 announcements.
Developer: Iceflake Studios
Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Release date: TBA
Available on Steam, Epic (though not currently listed)
Julian: We went into Opening Night Live planning to write this round up so we were all watching with an eye out for a game we'd like to celebrate. An hour into the show I was worried there'd be nothing I wanted to shout about. Then, thankfully, there were trailers for No Law and Lego Skylines.
Still, it's hard to shout about those trailers.
This year really showed the weakness of a big trailer blitz. Lego looks colourful and lovely, but 42 seconds is barely a glimpse of a game. No Law was longer and looks to be a varied immersive sim. But immersive sims in montage leave out the most important bit: planning. It's not enough to have lots of tools in your toolbox,.you need to be able to analyse a situation and plan your approach. I'll be playing both games here at Gamescom, so I should have a fuller look at each game to share soon.
Geofffest and his ilk charge enormous amounts for blocks of brief seconds in their shows, putting great emphasis on short, vibes based trailers from publishers that have cash to splash. For many games, that's not a useful way to meet them, nor a sensible option when budgets are slim. It can leave a show like last night's feeling insubstantial, and suggest that next year doesn't have much going for it. But that's just not true.
After all, in 2027, we're getting Duskers 2.
Developer: Unrelated Studio
Publisher: Unrelated Studio
Release date: TBA
Available on Steam
James: Slim pickings, weren’t it? Even amid a string of underwhelming Geoffcasts, this one was poor: a lovelessly fired-off barrage of samey swordfighters and likely doomed online shooters that managed to feel impatient and overlong at once.
I do, at least, like the look (and sound) of Lofsöng. The debut, self-published project from Italian devs Unreleated Studio, it’s an “art-driven” puzzle adventure in which words no longer exist – presumably killed off by games media writers so they won’t have to cover another Opening Light Live – thus leaving you to figure out the secrets of our deceased planet through sight and sound.
The proof’s in the puzzling, but the ones shown so far have an intriguingly geometry-focused vibe, and I’ve had a soft spot for being the lone lifeform on an otherwise barren planet ever since Exo One.
Developer: Dlala Studios
Publisher: Dlala Studios
Release date: TBA
Available on Steam
Oisin: An action game? That isn't a roguelike? Egads! Eureka! A third one of those beginning with E! Plain in name but not in appearance, Murals certainly caught my eye with its painterly look and vivid colour work. It’s from the team behind Disney's Illusion Island and the more recent Battletoads, so there should be a suitable amount of juice to be found here.
Murals is one of those "twists on classic fairytales," kind of ga...Read more: Full article on www.rockpapershotgun.com
What do you think about this?