Skip to main content

Everything announced at Gamescom Opening Night Live

Before the show floor opened at Gamescom 2019, Game Awards creator Geoff Keighley hosted a preshow livestream dubbed Opening Night Live. The show was packed with announcements and reveals for hotly anticipated games like Death Stranding and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. If you didn’t have a chance to catch the fireworks, we’ve rounded up all of the announcements right here.

Gears 5

Gears 5 Story Trailer - Kait Unleashed

Microsoft showed off a new campaign trailer for Gears 5 that features a supercool paraglider you use on ice. We also got a brief glimpse at Horde gameplay, which will give players Ultimate abilities and the option to play as Jack, a hovering robot that can heal teammates. In addition to the Terminator crossover, Gears 5 will have a Halo: Reach character pack featuring Kat and Emile. The Gears 5 standard edition launches September 10 on Xbox One and PC, while the Ultimate Edition lands September 6.

Related Videos

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare - Gamescom 2019 2v2 Alpha Trailer | PS4

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is getting an early alpha on PlayStation 4 that starts this Friday, August 23, and runs through the weekend. The alpha is open to all PS4 owners and will feature the new 2v2 mode Gunfight.

Death Stranding

Hideo Kojima showed off a couple of new Death Stranding characters, including Mama, who has an invisible baby it seems. Mama’s baby was apparently born in the other dimension, but they are still attached by the umbilical cord. Mama cannot move from her location. This doesn’t make any sense really, until you consider that this is a Hideo Kojima game.

Kojima also showed off Death Stranding gameplay. After waking up, Norman Reedus’ character, Sam, has a nice bathroom break in the middle of a wide open mountain range (no trees around). Then he goes on a scenic stroll, climbs a mountain with an enormous retractable ladder, and enters a small building to watch a hologram message from Geoff Keighley’s character (yes, he’s in the game, too). After Sam fell off the side of a cliff, his BB (baby in the pod) started crying. Sam rocked it, and then it giggled and laughed for the duration of the trailer.

Death Stranding still seems like a really bizarre game the more we learn about it. We cannot wait for November 8, when Death Stranding launches on PS4.

Comanche

Comanche - Gameplay Teaser

The helicopter-focused simulation series is getting rebooted nearly 20 years later as a team-based online multiplayer game, featuring both choppers and fighter jets. You can get a sneak peek at the aerial combat early later this year in beta before Comanche enters early access in 2020.

Need for Speed Heat

Need for Speed™ Heat Official Gameplay Trailer

EA debuted gameplay for the recently announced Need for Speed Heat, the latest entry in the long-running racing franchise. The gameplay trailer showed off how the new loop works. By day, you race in a sanctioned series. Cops will still pull you over for speeding and other offenses, but things don’t get really hostile until night falls After dark, you take part in high-stakes street races to earn Rep. The risks are higher though, as corrupt cops will try to steal your wealth.

Need for Speed Heat also has a companion app called Heat Studio, which is available now on iOS and Android. The app lets you customize cars and then send them straight into the game.

Little Nightmares 2

Little Nightmares II - PS4 / Xbox One / PC Digital / Switch

The awesome indie horror game Little Nightmares returns with Little Nightmares 2 in 2020 for Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. The sequel has two protagonists, with Six being joined by Mono in her adventure. The journey takes place outdoors this time around. It will still be primarily about sneaking and defense, but the pair will have some kitchen utensils at their disposal for offense.

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne arrives September 6 on PS4 and Xbox One. If you absolutely cannot wait for the huge expansion, Capcom showed off gameplay featuring Velkhana, the Elder Dragon who serves as the main antagonist in Iceborne.

Borderlands 3

Borderlands 3 - Official Guide to the Borderlands

Gearbox outlined some of the new endgame content Vault Hunters will find in Borderlands 3. Proving Grounds is a new mode that sees players searching for clues to ancient writings and then squaring off against waves of enemies under tight time constraints. Six Proving Grounds challenges will be available at release. Additionally, the Circle of Slaughter player-versus-player mode from the original Borderlands makes its return in Borderlands 3.

FIFA 20

FIFA 20 | Official VOLTA Gameplay Trailer

FIFA 20 doesn’t have a traditional story mode like recent iterations, but it does have a cool new mode called Volta that EA showed off at Gamescom. In Volta, you create a character and partake in 3v3, 4v4, and 5v5 matches in 17 indoor and outdoor locations across five continents. These include makeshift arenas overlooking the New York skyline and in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. Volta has both a single-player campaign and online leagues. Volta will be available in PS4, Xbox One, and PC versions of the game when FIFA 20 launches September 24.

Destiny 2: Shadowkeep

Destiny 2: Shadowkeep – Season of the Undying Trailer

The latest trailer for Destiny 2 makes it clear that the Vex are out for Guardian blood. In the trailer, the hive of Vex are shown to be assembling in staggering numbers for the Season of Undying, which kicks off October 1. The trailer focuses solely on the Season of Undying, which is separate from Destiny 2: Shadowkeep, the next paid expansion dropping October 1, as well alongside the New Light update.

More games

Gamescom’s Opening Night Live was packed with games. Below are a list of games that were announced or received new trailers.

  • Erica: An Interactive Thriller: Launches today on PS4
  • Kerbal Space Program 2
  • DCL — the Game
  • Predator: Hunting Grounds
  • The Cycle
  • Life is Strange 2: Episode 4
  • Humankind
  • Everspace 2 
  • Darksiders Genesis
  • Gylt
  • Remothered: Broken Porcelain
  • Port Royale 4
  • Disintegration
  • The Witcher 3: Switch port launches October 15

Editors' Recommendations

You need to get this oddball Zelda game for free before the 3DS eShop closes
legend of zelda twilight princess nintendo wii grandma grandmother reddit 755 hours

The day of reckoning is fast approaching: The Nintendo 3DS and Wii U eShop isclosing down on March 27. When that happens, you’ll no longer be able to make any digital purchases on those systems. Considering that several games on each platform only ever got digital releases, it’s creating a bit of a preservation nightmare. Hidden gems that never came to another platform, like Affordable Space Adventures, will be totally lost to time.

But it isn’t just obscure indies that are impacted by that change: One of Nintendo’s biggest franchises is about to lose a piece of its storied history. You’ve only got just over a week to grab a certain Legend of Zelda game before it disappears forever -- though it’s probably not one you’re expecting.

Read more
Skull and Bones: release date speculation, trailers, gameplay, and more
Two ships fire cannons at each other other a small island in Skull & Bones.

Ubisoft has a few notoriously troubled games in development that have left fans scratching their heads for years now. Aside from Beyond Good and Evil 2, the most curious game that has managed to avoid cancellation despite years of delays, restarts, and who knows what else behind the scenes is the pirate game Skull and Bones. It was first announced in 2017, and we've gotten almost nothing but bad news regarding this title in the years since. Despite having a playable build in 2018, for press only, the game has undergone major, if not complete overhauls.

Promised as a fully fleshed-out game built around the incredibly popular ship combat featured in Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, Skull and Bones was poised to make a big splash following that game's success. Gamers loved all the pirate activities seen in that game, so expanding on that should've been an easy move. However, public statements about the game have almost completely vanished, leaving many gamers high and dry regarding the status of this pirate epic. We pulled out our compass, plotted our course, and dug up all the details on Skull and Bones that you need to know.
Release date

Read more
Time is running out to play Battlefield 2042 for free
Crawford shoots enemies with a turret he place in Battlefield 2042.

If you want to try Battlefield 2042 for free on PC, your time is running out. You have just over a day to download and play it on Steam before it goes back to being a full-price release.
Battlefield 2042's free access period on Steam began on March 13, about two weeks after the start of Season 4: Eleventh Hour. If you go to its store page on Steam, you can download and play it for free until 12 p.m. ET on March 16. The game is also discounted on Steam during this time, so you can pick Battlefield 2042 up for $18 instead of $60.
If you don't want to buy the game directly but still want to continue playing after this free trial period, you have some options. Battlefield 2042 is included in multiple subscription services at the moment. It is one of March 2023's monthly PlayStation Plus titles for both PS4 and PS5 subscribers. Meanwhile, it's available as part of the EA Play game library, which Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S all have access to.
If you use the same EA account on those platforms, you'll be able to carry over all of your account progression and items and not lose any progress. As such, this free access period on Steam is a great time to check out Battlefield 2042 if you've been on the fence about picking it up. 
Battlefield 2042 is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Its free Steam demo ends on March 16.

Read more