Gamescom Opening Night Live recap: From unwanted guests to welcome reveals
What big game trailers were shown?
If you're reading this page, you probably already know that Gamescom Opening Night Live 2023 took place on Tuesday night (22nd August), kicking off the Cologne-based conference again.
Legendary host/producer Geoff Keighley treated fans to another evening of trailers, gameplay footage and special guests (and there were, unfortunately, some uninvited guests as well).
If you don't have time to watch Gamescom Opening Night Live in full, don't worry! We've got you covered with a handy recap of the biggest reveals and moments that you need to know about.
Keep on reading and we'll get straight to it. The watercooler talking points, the unexpected shocks and the games you need to put on your radar — we've got it all summed up below.
Gamescom Opening Night Live recap: What were the biggest moments?
With a showcase lasting two hours, it's fair to say that Gamescom Opening Night Live was a lot to process. If we had to pick four favourite moments/themes, they would be the ones we've listed below. (Don't worry, we've got more detail a bit further down the page!)
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Famous faces ahoy!
Although there were a couple of unwelcome appearances in the show — we'd rather not give any extra promotion to the the two people that stormed the stage and oddly claimed that Bill Clinton wants to play GTA 6, but hats off to Geoff for his stoic reaction — this year's Gamescom Opening Night Live featured plenty of cool cameos.
The most surprising special appearance of the night was made by film director Zack Snyder, who popped up with a new trailer for his two Rebel Moon movies. He also teased the gaming spin-off that will follow on from his brace of Netflix films.
Actors Troy Baker (The Last of Us) and Gemma Chan (Humans) also appeared on stage for brief chats with Geoff. Baker was promoting his new game Fort Solis and Chan was speaking about her role in Diablo 4: Season of the Blood.
Recognisable game developers like Bethesda's Todd Howard (showing some new footage of Starfield) also took to the stage. But despite rumours among the attendees, one person that did not appear was Death Stranding and Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima. And there wasn't any Elden Ring DLC stuff either.
Mortal Kombat 1 stole the show with its limb-ripping new trailer
Speaking of familiar faces, Mortal Kombat developer Ed Boon also appeared on stage, sharing a brand new trailer for the upcoming Mortal Kombat 1.
In the room, this absolutely blood-caked trailer definitely got the biggest reaction of the night, garnering gasps, laughs and a big round of applause from the audience.
In other fighting game news, we also got a developer cameo and a new trailer for Tekken 8. That one got a decent reaction, especially when it's surprisingly cute Arcade Quest mode was shown. Tekken 8 had its release date confirmed as 26th January 2024.
The transitions got really wild
One thing this show might get remembered for is its surprisingly jarring transitions. Geoff pointed this out a few times, but the best one definitely came when the dark fantasy of Lords of the Fallen segued straight into the primary-coloured family fun of Sonic Superstars.
On the topic of Sonic Superstars, the Gamescom trailer also confirmed the title's release date. This multiplayer 2D platformer is due to speed into our lives on 17th October 2023. And in other Sonic news, the 3D open-world game Sonic Frontiers is getting some free DLC on 28th September.
Alan Wake 2 looks properly creepy
The show ended on a spooky note, with Remedy's Sam Lake introducing a properly creepy new trailer for Alan Wake 2.
The trailer blended live-action scenes with in-game footage to create an unsettling experience that stylishly reintroduced the eponymous troubled writer.
Although the talk quickly turned to "no Kojima then?" among the crowd, this moody Alan Wake 2 trailer feels like one that will stick in the memory for a long time.
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What else happened at Gamescom Opening Night Live?
And that's not all! Besides the big moments, there were plenty of little thrills to enjoy along the way. These are some more Gamescom surprises that caught our eye:
- Payday 3 got a surprising introduction from Ice-T (see trailer)
- Little Nightmares 3 was announced (see trailer)
- Assassin's Creed Mirage showed some new footage (see trailer)
- Age of Empires 4: Anniversary Edition is out now on Xbox (see trailer)
- Call of Duty: MW3 gave us an extended look at gameplay (see trailer)
- Black Myth: Wukong showcased some very impressive action (see trailer)
- Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty DLC highlighted its vehicle combat (see trailer)
- Killing Floor 3 looked super gory (see trailer)
- Crimson Desert showed off some impressive graphics (see trailer)
- Zenless Zone Zero kicked off a lengthy section about HoYoVerse's multiple projects (see trailer)
- Ara: History Untold looks like a perfect substitute for a Civilisation game (see trailer)
And those are our highlights! Stay tuned to RadioTimes.com in the coming days, weeks and months as we'll have loads of insights to bring you from Gamescom and beyond. Watch this space.
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