Gamescom returns to Cologne, Germany, this week for its 17th outing. With E3 in the mud, the video game industry needs physical events like it more than ever. Video game journalism continues to mutate into a promotional arm for publishers, but these events offer a chance for it to assert its independence. We need opportunities for journalists and personalities to speak directly with developers and publishers in a professional setting to continue.
As someone who won’t be in Cologne, my focus is mainly on Opening Night Live, hosted by Geoff Keighley. ONL is usually the weakest of the three Keighley events, but the current line-up has me more interested than I was by this year’s Summer Games Fest (a wet fart of a show outside of the Resident Evil Requiem bait-and-switch reveal).
Requiem will return to the stage at ONL, joined by Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, The Outer Worlds 2, Silent Hill F, Ghost of Yotei, World of Warcraft, and more. It’s a pretty stacked line-up, and with more reveals expected, it’s time to do a bit of speculating.
Call of Duty: Black Ops IIIIIII
My sights are firmly set on the Black Ops 7 reveal. Xbox has confirmed that it will cover “epic twists, developer intel, and the official start of a bold new chapter in Black Ops history” with additional details to follow on Call of Duty social channels after Opening Night Live. What that actually entails is hard to say. Last year’s ONL featured a campaign mission, but that was after the 30-minute briefing at Xbox’s Summer Showcase.
I’m keeping my expectations low and assuming it’s a campaign reveal with a few tidbits of intel for Multiplayer and Zombies. I’d love a cinematic that adds more context to the conclusion of Black Ops 6 Zombies, but we might have to wait a while for that one.
I don’t really buy into the whole “Black Ops 7 is the real Treyarch game” narrative, but I do think that if you know you’re working on two games that release back-to-back, you want to finish strong. If only Treyarch could have focused on delivering one game with two years of support, but I digress. COD gonna COD.
Survival Horror, Baby!
Horror is getting a strong showing this year with RE: Requiem and Silent Hill F, and I’ve got high hopes for both. I don’t need to see much more of SHf, though. It’s out in a few weeks! The Silent Hill 2 remake (Shutter Paw’s 2024 GOTY) breathed new life into the dwindling franchise; now, all eyes are on Silent Hill F to see if it can deliver a terrifying original entry that lives up to its name.
Over in Raccoon City, everyone is waiting for the inevitable reveal of a legacy Resident Evil character in Requiem. Despite how Capcom has positioned her, Grace Ashcroft is not the only character in the game. It might be time to drop the curtain, as we’ve already seen a lot of Grace’s side of the game, and Leon S. Kennedy stepping into frame would likely pop the live crowd.
Silksong, Hades and PowerWash
I’m tired of hearing about Hollow Knight Silksong at this point. The way I see it, there are only two potential venues left for a release date reveal (outside of Team Cherry announcing it on social media randomly): Gamescom or a September Nintendo Direct. It’s a coin toss, but given the presence of Silksong on the show floor, I may hedge my bets on the former.
Hades II is still on track for its 1.0 launch this year. Keighley was the one who originally announced the Early Access release at The Game Awards, so there’s a decent chance it pops up in Germany. I’ve finally jumped back into Hades on my Switch 2, and I’m having a blast, so this would be a timely one for me.
I make zero apologies for my love of PowerWash Simulator. It’s genuinely one of my favourite games of all time. Futurlab recently revealed the price of its sequel, aptly named PowerWash Simulator 2, but we’re still waiting on a release date. ONL would be a good place to share that information.
Ubisoft
Ubisoft has been unusually quiet this year outside of Assassin’s Creed: Shadows. So quiet that it didn’t even have a Ubisoft Forward, and you know how much Ubisoft loves a showcase. Maybe Yves Guillemot (or his son…) will arrive at ONL to reveal the Assassin’s Creed Black Flag remake. It’s beyond an open secret—announce it ffs!
I could also see the console release date for The Rogue Prince of Persia making an appearance. It’s been in early access for a while, and a recent Xbox storefront leak suggests it’s imminent.
Other than Far Cry 7, which has long been rumoured, there’s not much else I can think of for Ubisoft. It feels like the publisher should be circling the wagons after the criticism of the past few years and coming out with some killer games; instead, it seems to be going about its business quietly. It’s odd.
Xbox
Although Xbox has started to acknowledge that its games will launch on other platforms in its presentations, it isn’t screaming “PORTS!” from the rooftops quite yet. A Geoff Keighley event offers a more subtle stage to get that information across.
With Xbox confirming Indiana Jones for PlayStation at last year’s ONL, perhaps there’ll be another game crossing the ever-shrinking console divide. We already know Gears of War and Helldivers are swapping platforms on 26th August, but I’m sure there’ll be more movement before the end of the year. Could it be Halo’s turn? The Master Chief Collection has been whispered about for a while.
Odds and Ends
I’m increasingly convinced that the new Tomb Raider game is stuck in development hell. I’d love for Crystal Dynamics to prove me wrong here, because I’m in the mood for a brand-new Lara Croft adventure.
You can never rule out a Kojima appearance, but with the Death Stranding 2 World Tour ongoing, he’s earned himself a break.
There’s a Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 musical performance. I hope it leads to a Switch 2 reveal. I know it won’t, but I can dream. Nintendo will want that at a Direct.
Randy Pitchford will probably turn up. He always does when it’s Borderlands season.
Geoff will be wearing a sparkly item of clothing.
Number Bets:
- I’ll take over 3.5 celebrity appearances (both on-stage and in-adverts count).
- There will be over 2.5 Mech games. I will not care for any of them.
- Richtofen Sightings: 1. I’m feeling bold.
- Over 1.5 games trying to cash in on the Balatro craze
- Genre that appears most: Soulslike
Thank You and Good Night!
As always with Keighley’s shows, I’m looking forward to the unknown. Not the headline-grabbing announcements, but the smaller ones that weren’t on my radar—games like Mina the Hollower or ILL, which I discovered during SGF 2025. Even the worst showcases known to man have a few redeeming games. All it takes is one!
There are enough pre-announced games for me to know I’ll enjoy Opening Night Live 2025. Truth be told, I always enjoy Geoff Keighley’s shows. What can I say? There’s always something to talk about afterwards, even if it isn’t always related to the games on display. At the very least, we’ll get to revisit the funniest tweet of all time and get a laugh out of it.
It never gets old. Sorry, Geoff.
