In the sphere of gaming, there are conventions and press releases throughout the year to keep gamers up to date. The most recent, and largely anticipated, of these big events was Gamescom in late August. The gaming news cycle thus became reborn once again, and talk over present and future gaming announcements, releases, and theories milled around the culture sphere, informing all varieties of gamers, from casual couch enjoyers to fervent devotees of the medium about all the relevant hype and excitement for those who may be interested.
This most recent Gamescom had something to be hyped about for the wide spectrum of gamers. Most notably, whether it be a new Batman Arkham VR game finally in action, a fully realized trailer for the new Indiana Jones game, to the long-awaited thrilling announcement of the classic Goat Simulator being remastered, there are many exciting news pieces.
Act 1 : A Borderlands Renaissance
The biggest gaming story that seems to have taken hold is the announcement of a new installment of the beloved Borderlands series of games, the newest addition since 2019 (a whopping 5 years ago). The announcement for the game that was shown was not orchestrated around the gameplay of the game, instead showcasing a fully cinematic computer generated animated teaser from Gearbox Software. However, despite not being specifically shown much, what was shown has sparked much theory and discussion in the Borderlands community as to what the game is actually about. The biggest theory that is circulating at the moment is that the game will be about alternate universes and parallel realities, in contrast to the previous games focus on vault popping, gear grinding, and interacting with a strange, fun, and sometimes corny virtual world. .
While this all sounds well and good, the makings of an interesting, fun, and zany video game, the announcement has also been met with caution and trepidation in regards to the poor reception of the previous game, Borderlands 3, mostly being down to okay gameplay with disappointing and annoying writing, janky systems and earworm humor. Fans are worried if Borderlands 4 will improve the seemingly glaring weaknesses of its predecessor or if it’ll regress the franchise further.
Another topic of discussion stemming from this convention is the probably planned timing of this announcement with the release of the critically-panned Borderlands film. Some have said, sarcastically, that this was a “cover-up story” for that film, but more likely the timing was to encourage new fans of the film to engage in the games as well, boosting sales, which sounds slightly comical in retrospect.
Act 2: Henry Cavill, the Ex-Witcher joins Warhammer
Another official announcement that came from Gamescom that has me personally intrigued is the series called “Secret Level,” a television special based on shining a light on certain popular video game worlds, such as Warhammer 40k, Dungeons and Dragons, God of War, Sifu and many more.
Alongside the announcement of the series in full was the revelation that the series was to be headed by the creators of ‘Love, Death, and Robots’, a critically acclaimed artwork of a Netflix animated (mostly) series. On top of this, it is going to be produced by Prime Video, which has a reputable history in video game adaptation, as they were the ones who made the Fallout TV show that captured the feeling of those games so well. Therefore, those interested and fans of these franchises can hope for a similar quality in adaptation.
On the topic of Warhammer in particular, there have been theories and minor announcements on Henry Cavill working for Amazon to make Warhammer 40k content, and so this series could potentially be the shoot-off point for this Warhammer/Amazon/Cavill collaboration to begin, which is exciting as Henry Cavill is a notorious Warhammer fan, which would ensure a certain tier of passion into any Warhammer project he is involved in. However, his involvement is only a theory in this case.
Act 3: Civilization; 3 Decades in the Making
Back to the bigger news of the event, a new installment of the beloved Civilization series of games has been officially announced, that being Sid Meier’s Civilization 7. The game was announced with a massive 25-minute gameplay showcase that covered what was changed to the formula with the new release, as well as a shorter reveal trailer.
The Civilization series is a franchise of classic empire-building games orchestrated around the idea of building a city-state that can stand the test of time across the history of the world. Every installation of the series since 1991 has improved the formula of the games substantially with new revolutions in technology and system innovations, up until the most recent game in 2016.
The 25-minute gameplay showcase shows much promise in terms of relevant innovation to the formula while maintaining a classic civilization feel, however, one statement that has fans worried is a dedication to streamlining some systems for a newer audience. However, in my opinion, this is not in its own right an “issue”, as the few cases that do spring to mind when speaking of streamlining systems (Dying Light 2, Mass Effect 3, Fallout 3) sour the idea not for the sake of simplification, rather for the removal of elements of the systems that make the game feel incomplete.
Overall, Gamescom this year had many interesting announcements this year, many without place to mention here. More than just announcements, there were many demo builds, interviews, and other shops set up to advertise and build hype for other new games coming out even sooner. I, personally, cannot wait to get my hands on the new games for the coming gaming seasons.
