There were several promising premieres at this year's Gamescom. — dpa
Video games trade fair Gamescom is reclaiming its place as a major event for new games announcements, and we witnessed several promising premieres at the opening night of the show, which ran Aug 20 to 24.
Helicopters
After a 17-year gap, Austrian gaming publisher THQ Nordic is bringing back helicopter simulation with Comanche, a game about the legendary combat helicopter RAH-66 Comanche.
The new edition is an online multiplayer game, and initial gameplay clips suggest more than a bit of inspiration from the well-known World Of Tanks or World Of Warships approach with fast duels against drones and combat helicopters.
The game is scheduled to launch with an early-access phase at the beginning of 2020. The last Comanche part so far was released in 2002.
Rockets
Kerbal Space Program 2 is a space construction game of a different kind, incorporating little green aliens, rockets, space and moon stations.
Players design space vehicles while discovering and cultivating an endless amount of celestial bodies. Spectacular accidents and misfortunes are inevitable. This space construction game for creative players is due to appear in 2020.
Nightmares
Bandai Namco once again wants to give fans of Little Nightmares the creeps. The little girl with the yellow coat is back and will be subjected to entirely new horror stories in Little Nightmares 2.
The hair-raising puzzle adventure is set for a 2020 release. New in the second part: A more defensive heroine that isn't quite a Rambo, say developers.
Turns
Turn-based strategy games are back. Humankind is about nothing less than the entire history of humanity.
Scenes of the game from Sega and Amplitude played at Gamescom show a title that evokes the Civilization series, but shots of a Neanderthal in a space capsule are raising our hopes for a more quirky take. Humankind will be released in 2020.
Deep space
Because you never can have enough space: Everspace 2 from Rockfish Games is a space simulation that brings new space battles, flights through asteroid and debris fields and explorations of planetary surfaces.
This open-world adventure promises to be significantly larger than its predecessor. Although the game has only been announced for 2021, the Hamburg developers are already showing the first game scenes this year.
Halo but different
Disintegration is set to tell a rather familiar story: Earth is being invaded by aliens, the rest of humanity takes up arms and enters battle. Disintegration is a shooter with high tactics and focus on multiplayer games.
Each player must use the special abilities of their character to help the team win. The new title, in which Halo inventor Marcus Lehto is also involved, is scheduled for release in 2020.
And finally, something new but also not-so-new: Arriving on the Switch for the first time is the beloved witcher-warrior Geralt. The sprawling landscapes of Witcher 3 will arrive on Oct 15 for players on Nintendo's hybrid console. As to be expected of this bloody and raunchy title, the age rating is 18 years. – dpa
