Gamescom 2024 Opening Night liveblog: How to watch and what to expect from Xbox, Capcom and more

That was a good show overall! Reanimal, Indy, Directive 8020 and Batman: Arkham Shadow were the highlights for me. Definitely looking forward to that Secret Level show too. Thanks for hanging out with us, folks!

That was a fun show! Plenty of spooks, cuteness and new game reveals. Mafia: The Old Country? Yes, please. Reanimal, Directive 8020 and Infinity Nikki are also standouts for me. Thanks for hanging with us, everyone! Now go play some games.

That's all, folks! Thanks for joining us for what was a surprisingly news-filled Gamescom stream. Be sure to check out our gaming hub for all the latest news from the event all week.

I recently saw a 30-minute hands-off preview of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and found it to be quite charming. The first-person perspective feels right to me, and Troy Baker does a great 1980s Harrison Ford. Read that right here.

The show ended with one last surprise. The Mafia series is making a return with Mafia: The Old Country from Take-Two studio Hangar 13. We learned a couple of years back that another Mafia game was in the works, but there hasn't been a peep until now.

The next entry will take us to 1900s Sicily (which is a super compelling setting and have a deep, linear narrative, according to studio president Nick Baynes. More details are coming in December, possibly at The Game Awards.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is coming to Xbox Series X/S and PC on December 9. It'll be available on Game Pass. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is also coming to PlayStation 5, but it's taking the scenic route to Sony's console: It'll hit PS5 in spring 2025.

It's been rumored for a while now that The Great Circle — a game developed by Xbox subsidiary MachineGames and published by Xbox — would also come to PS5. Just in February, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said The Great Circle was not heading to PS5 or Switch, though a handful of other Xbox properties were making the cross-console leap. That hasn't stopped the rumor mill from spinning, of course.

Read the full story here.

And there we go, a release date for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. It's coming to Xbox and PC on December 9. My Game Pass subscription expires in November, but sure, I'll re-up for another month. I still think the game looks great, and I hope it'll fill a Nathan Drake-sized hole in my heart.

Also, the rumors were true: the game is also coming to PS5, but not until next spring.

:D

Floh-toh-pee-ah. Yup, that was soothing.

That sure sounded like Ben Starr's voice in The First Berserker: Khazan. His performance is one of the best things about Final Fantasy XVI. If that is him in this new trailer, it's great to see him picking up another leading role.

Regardless of what Floatopia actually turns out to be, I really love saying its name. Try it, it's nice.

Apparently it's The First Berserker: Khazan. And it's also now on my list. It's coming from Neople and Nexon, and it's due out in 2025.

Borderlands is back. Borderlands 4 is the next entry in the franchise from Gearbox Software and 2K Games. It's due to arrive in 2025.

There's no gameplay in the announcement video released today. While that's a touch disappointing, it isn't much of a surprise for a teaser trailer or for a release that is still likely at least a year away. (And that's assuming no delays.) But the Borderlands games are known for their polished first-person shooter experience, particularly in co-op, and for their sharp sense of humor. Hopefully both of those traits will be returning in full force with the new game.

Read the full story here.

I missed the setup for the game currently on screen, but I'm digging this blood-soaked warrior with a high ponytail very much.

Vessel of Hatred will introduce a new class, Spiritborn, but, this is Blizzard, so it's going to be a paid expansion at $40.

I thought this might have been when we learned that Overwatch 2 is coming to Xbox Cloud Gaming but nope. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though. Until it's on my phone, I will remain somewhat engaged with the world around me for the foreseeable future.

Diablo's creature designs are still top-notch. The Vessel of Hatred DLC hits October 8.

Overwatch 2 remains one of my most-played games, but Balatro is quietly sneaking up on its position.

Call me when Moira gets a Sorceress skin ty.

Overwatch 2 is getting a WoW skin for Widowmaker, which is vaguely dope.

I'll take any opportunity I can to tell everyone with a Netflix subscription and a phone to play Poinpy. It's perfect.

Here's Peter Molyneux talking about his new game with Geoff Keighley:

Netflix has fully entered the video game sphere, purchasing Oxenfree house Night School Studio and Alphabear dev Spry Fox in the past few years. That's on top of a growing library of great games that are free to play for Netflix subscribers. Kentucky Route Zero, anyone?

Servicable seems accurate, Jess: What if Fall Guys was Squid Game?

Yet again, Netflix itself has missed the entire point Squid Game was making about capitalism and greed (or just opted to ignore it).

Squid Game Unleashed looks perfectly serviceable.

Masters of Albion is an open-world god game, and he doesn't appear to be asking for money up front so... I'll give him a shot I guess.

He really does love playing god, huh?

Molyneux had an amazing career in games, creating series like Black & White and Fable. Then.. it all went a bit wrong. He made a game called Curiosity: What's Inside the Cube? and then crowdfunded Godus, which never went anywhere particularly good. One of my favorite moments in game journalism is Rock, Paper, Shotgun opening up an interview with him with the question: Do you think that you're a pathological liar?

Where's the cube, Molyneux?

He's got a new game coming up, called Masters of Albion.

For some reason, Peter Molyneux is on stage.

Here's that trailer for Batman: Arkham Shadow

And one for Little Nightmares III:

A chill mountain herding game? Yes, please.

It definitely looks like a Little Nightmares game! I'm kinda more into Reanimal though?

Okomotive is taking a break from the Far series to make Herdling, which is due out in 2025. It looks like a beast-companion sim and I'm going to play it.

So this answers that question — Reanimal is not Little Nightmares III, and LNIII is actually in development at Supermassive, the studio behind The Dark Pictures Anthology. Well, damn.

I'll admit to being tempted back to VR too. I got very into Tetris Effect back in the day, but my Rift ended up gathering dust. Balatro VR anyone?

Gamescom is a fun, busy show and this segment is making me miss being there in person! Great to see it expanding to other regions.

Between a virtual reality take on Trombone Champ and Batman: Arkham Shadow, I might be ready to make the leap into VR. Batman looks good! I just hope it doesn't induce motion sickness in anyone grappling around Gotham. It arrives in October.

"No, I am the Batman!" - me, playing Batman: Arkham Shadow probably

We have an ongoing joke when covering game events at Engadget: There's always a "Sea of Thieves break" between all the new exclusive trailer drops that gives you time to breathe. For this show, that break has been provided by Hoyoverse, who have paid Geoff for some lengthy segments on Genshin Impact and Zenless Zone Zero to give our typing fingers a break.

From this trailer, I assume Zenless Zone Zero is a music video in video game form. I don't hate it.

Every time there's a Kingdom Come Deliverance II update, it just makes me want to see more about Fable.

Now we're getting another update on Kingdom Come: Deliverance II.

Here's that trailer for Secret Level. Pretty hype!

Secret Level will hit Prime Video on December 10.

Secret Level is an anthology series coming to Amazon Prime, featuring shorts set in the worlds of popular video games like Armored Core, Crossfire, D&D, Spelunky, Warhammer, The Outer Worlds and Sifu. Hot! Thanks, Tim.

I was too lazy to go through the process of fixing the processor issue I was having during the Marvel Rivals open beta so, uh, I didn't. Fingers crossed those problems are all ironed out in time for the December 6 release date.

It's good to see that all of the characters will be unlocked and free at launch. It'll be the same for future hero additions. If only Blizzard had realized that was the way to go with Overwatch 2 from the jump.

Oh hey, Tim Miller! It's OK, buddy. We love an emotional boss.