4 Announcements From GamesCom That Blew Us Away

Usually, E3 is where all the best stuff gets announced for gamers, but this year, developers, publishers and platform holders went huge in Cologne, Germany for Gamescom. It truly is a great time to be a gamer!

Rise of the Tomb Raider Only On Xbox One, At Least Temporarily

We’ve seen a lot of video game reboots over the years, but few have seen the level of success that Tomb Raider did. Sure, Square Enix has said that it wasn’t happy with the sales numbers, but critics loved it, and the Xbox One and PS4 re-release served as a reminder of just how great the game was. Now, the sequel – aptly named Rise of the Tomb Raider – is announced, but it’s not coming to the PS4, at least not right away.

At the Microsoft press conference, the company announced that it had reached an agreement with Square Enix to bring the game exclusively to Xbox One. Of course, this left a lot of gamers upset, and Microsoft, in typical fashion, changed its tune announcing that it’s just a timed deal, and that it will be released for other platforms at a later date.

Anger aside, we’re excited to see that franchise continuing, whether its an Xbox One exclusive, or available everywhere. If the team builds on the quality of the last game, we fully expect this one to be great. So let’s all come together, get over our hate for exclusives, and just be excited that this game is coming!

Shockingly Generic Name, but Awesome Looking Game: Hellblade

Before I jump into what Hellblade is, let me ask this: How was this name available? It’s so generic I find it hard to believe that a game named Hellblade never came out. This is the next game from Ninja Theory, the crew responsible for the fantastic Devil May Cry reboot, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, and Heavenly Sword (Heavenly Sword and Hellblade, I see a pattern here).

While not a sequel, Hellblade shares some serious similarities. Both characters use a special sword and/or blade to take out enemies in intense combo-focused combat. Apart from that, we don’t know much about the game. Ninja Theory has only been working on it for a few months, but just the pedigree of the developer, and the fact that this is a game that fits right into what the team is best at, makes me very excited to play it whenever it actually comes out. It’s coming to PS4 first, but we will see this beauty on Xbox One and PC later.

WiLD Is Looking Like It Could Be Crazy Cool

This game really received a lot of attention from fans during Sony’s press conference. The reason for the hype is the name attached to game – Michel Ancel, the creator of Rayman and Beyond Good and Evil is at the helm of this one along with his studio Wild Sheep.

Basically, the game is following the trend of the sandbox, choose your own adventure survival game that we are seeing so much, but it’s doing it with some pretty serious twists that change up the formula. To start with, they are promising a dynamic world the size of Europe. I feel like we need a little more explanation about that, because I don’t know if you’ve seen it on a map, but Europe is huge.

They are also promising changing weather and seasons to keep the world feeling fresh and exciting. However, the really interesting part of the game is the fact that all of the animals in the world are playable, meaning you can be a wolf, bunny, sheep or anything. If this promise is fulfilled, this could essentially be a game of infinite possibilities. It’s a PS4 exclusive too, so fans of the Sony platform could be in for a treat.

Hideo Kojima Is Working On A New Silent Hill – And There’s Already A Playable Teaser

There is so much to be excited about, that I could almost write a full article just about this. First, we find out that Hideo Kojima, the person behind Metal Gear, is going to bring his special brand of insanity to the beloved horror franchise known as Silent Hill. If that was all that came from this announcement, I would already be blown away, but there’s more. Guillermo del Toro, the man behind Hellboy, Pans Labyrinth, and plenty of other fantastic movies, is also lending his hand to the project. I am going to sound like an infomercial here, but wait there’s more: Norman Reedus, the actor who plays Daryl on The Walking Dead, is the main character.

You’d think a simple trailer (which they did show) and all of this news would be enough, but they took a step further, releasing a short, playable teaser to give gamers a tiny feel of what it would be like. Sure, many aspects of the teaser are different from the final game, but still, instead of some CD trailer that tells you nothing, they actually put something in the hands of gamers. For horror fans, it’s literally impossible not to be excited about this one. Too bad we will likely have to wait until 2016 to play it.

The Convention May Be Over, But The Excitement Lives On

Sure, Gamescom may have come and gone, but I couldn’t be more fired up for some of these games that are coming. I think Silent Hill stole the show, but each of these games brought their own special bit.

Of course, these games weren’t all that was announced, and for that we turn to you; what was your favorite announcement at Gamescom 2014? Hit the comments section below and let us know!

Photo: Gamescom