Gamescom 2018

I was here for the first time 2 years ago with my brother, I remember the queue lines... but now I was leaving early in the morning with ex-colleagues from my ex company and had a full day, so I am glad and I find it kind that they still gave me an invitation towards this.

This year is the 10th edition of Gamescom, and it felt like it got much bigger than previously, as about 8 halls were full with all kinds of booths. The queue lines haven't gone away, but because there is so much to experience, they felt shorter in general.

I managed to play and thus preview 5 upcoming games. Diablo 3 on the Switch, or on any platform, is the first time I played it here with 4 players, and it's familiar but hectic too with all of the information on screen. It does seem to work though, as the camera follows your character around.

I haven't touched the FIFA series in over 100 years, but I played this against a former colleague, and it was fun to play soccer as a video game again, I didn't notice anything new or groundbreaking though.

Assassin's Creed: Odyssey looked and played stunning, but it's mind blowing for me that anno 2018, Ubisoft still hasn't learned about unit walking and animations that clearly looked bugged and glitchy as I played this demo, rode on a horse, selected dialogue options, fought some guards and sank 3 ships.

Playing as Geralt in Soul Calibur VI feels satisfying and appropriate, as he fits well into the arsenal of weapon fighters. I haven't played this serie since part 2, but the gameplay still feels the same, and I managed to remember moves from my mind(or muscle memory?) while playing Yoshimitsu.

For shits and giggles, I went to try out my first Farm Simulator experience with the 2019(or 19th?) edition of it, and it played terrible to me. The same developer and/or publisher also showcased Bus Simulator and a few others, and I'm not sure if they are serious or sarcastic to be taken.

Finally, I stood in the longest queue line, and I played 2 matches of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Mario and Mega Man's move sets are the same, and as for the gameplay and the speed of it, they honestly felt about the same as part 4, but everyone else has apparently said that it plays even faster, so I trust that Ultimate will become the best sequel seen yet. It's too bad that Simon wasn't playable yet!

As far as other games I wanted to try out, I really wanted to check out Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice too, but their queue lines looked way too long. Also, I kept looking for Capcom's games, but I could not find it, and thus I was unable to check out Devil May Cry 5, REmake 2 and Mega Man 11.

Other than video games, there was the inevitable "Cosplay Village" hall, but I skipped that and instead checked 2 huge floors of merchandise shops and goodies. All kinds of t-shirts, mugs, figures, accessories and other stuff were available, and although I was tempted, I did not buy anything.

Last of all, I found the retro gaming hall, and it was great to see older consoles being played around, and I'm not talking about Sony, Sega or Nintendo then, but also Amiga, ZX Spectrum, Atari, PC Engine and arcade machines. As far as I could discover, video games were not being sold anywhere, be it retro or modern, and this was a disappointment for me.

At one point I lost the group I was walking around with, but other than that, Gamescom 2018 was a nice edition to walk around, and although it was busy everywhere, I had fun, and I am looking forward to what's coming up!