Photo Ops & Demos: A Surprise at Every Step

Gamescom's venue is vast. Unable to linger at every booth, we hurried towards Hall 7.

Before we could even stop at THQ Nordic's "Gothic Remake," we were drawn further forward to the distantly facing Konami and Krafton booths.

My colleague, a horror game enthusiast, turned left into the black-and-red themed "Silent Hill f" area to wait for a demo. Meanwhile, I was captivated by the predominantly white "inZOI" booth, where ceiling clouds and cat decorations everywhere created the game's initial atmosphere.

Next to "inZOI" was the booth for the new "PUBG" series title, decorated like an in-game combat street, also crowded with players.

Later, my introverted colleague returned from the "Silent Hill f" experience quite excited. They mentioned the game's horror atmosphere was quite good, while also expressing slight regret about being too shy to ask someone to take their photo. They could only capture a few ladies posing for a photo under the Torii setup, which was barely a check-in.

We then passed Sega's Sonic area and arrived at a futuristic, open space. This was the experience area for the immersive VR shooter and battle game "EVA: Battle Arena." The floor was paved with alternating black and white squares, creating a highly technological visual effect. 

Players wearing VR headsets moved around, shooting, dodging, and hiding, clearly fully immersed. Unfortunately, pressed for time, we couldn't try the laser battle ourselves and could only watch from the periphery.

In terms of high-tech exhibits, Amazing Seasun Game's "Mecha BREAK", which is just a few steps away from EVA: Battle Arena, was not far behind. Compared to last year's setup, this year's "Mecha Break" area had an even stronger cyberpunk vibe. 

Dazzling blue LED strips extended from a white 3D logo, above a display wall made of three giant screens showing live mecha combat footage from players on-site, interplaying with neon effects, attracting many players to stay.

Further ahead was the "Roblox" area. This UGC platform has had a stellar year, with total revenue reaching approximately $1.08 billion in Q2 and achieving the epic milestone of surpassing a $100 billion market cap at the end of July. 

Yet, when we arrived, its setup was surprisingly understated—no flashy scenery or elaborate installations, just very methodically arranged computers.

But precisely this simple layout made many passing players instinctively feel the itch to try it out, naturally drawn to the computers to start building scenes and making games on the spot.

Next to "Roblox" was "Call of Duty: Black Ops 7," just revealed for the first time during Opening Night Live. Set in 2035, its story continues from "Black Ops 6" and "Black Ops 2." But we'll have to wait until November to play the full version.

At the far end of Hall 7 was Microsoft's Xbox area. But with many more places we wanted to visit ahead, we had to reluctantly "leave in tears".

Gamescom "Playground"

Our next urgent destination was Hall 8, with Hypergryph's "Arknights: Endfield". 

Even before today, we had seen photos online of the "Arknights: Endfield" setup, but seeing it in person was still more stunning. A massive 50-meter-long banner spanned the corridor—my colleague and I couldn't even fit its entirety into a single photo.

Inside, the left side featured LEGO games, with a booth even shaped like LEGO bricks. On the right hand, it seemed to be Netflix's exhibition of "One Piece," with a straw-hatted "Luffy" coser standing on a pirate ship. Netflix had a sizable presence at Gamescom this year; besides "One Piece," "Stranger Things" and "Wednesday" were also there.

Finding the "Arknights: Endfield" booth, we couldn't help but admire Hypergryph's attention to detail in their exhibition design. The three large screens looked incredibly cool. The front of the booth replicated the game's base-building scene, with the "Protocol Core" standing prominently in the center; the surrounding conveyor belts could even actually operate.

Nearby, staff wearing caps with the "Endfield" logo and panda ears were diligently popping popcorn, filling the area with a sweet aroma that attracted even more players.

While the yet-to-be-released anime-style game "Arknights: Endfield" drew the eyes of younger players, the neighboring "World of Warcraft: Midnight" booth was likely filled with “veterans” who had been playing for over a decade. "World of Warcraft" officially announced its next expansion, "The Worldsoul Saga: Midnight," during Opening Night Live and opened pre-orders for version 12.0. The game has now been around for 21 years.

Exiting Hall 8, we followed the "Arknights: Endfield" banners in the corridor to Hall 9. The most eye-catching feature inside was Nintendo's iconic red walls, behind which were various new games that will soon be launched on Nintendo's consoles.

By this point, our colleague obsessed with card games had already broken away from the "main force," heading straight for the "Pokémon" area. 

He later told us that during our split, he had quietly moved from "Pokémon Pocket" to "Pokémon Legends Z-A," queuing for forty minutes to play the new game before rejoining us. We, of course, strongly "condemned" his solo sneak peek.

Meanwhile, we arrived at "Honor of Kings: World." It has to be said, seeing the "TiMi" logo in a foreign country felt somewhat familiar. Character artwork of heroes like "Lu Ban Master" and "Xi Shi" formed a circle around the gameplay area below.

The game had released a new PV, "Awakening Currents, Stirring Anomalies," during Opening Night Live. Its unique Eastern fantasy aesthetic clearly sparked the interest of many players—by the time we arrived, there was already a long queue. But having missed the pioneer test, my colleague and I were determined to wait, joining the ranks.

Next to "Honor of Kings: World" was the Hero Games area, featuring the anime-style game "Duet Night Abyss" developed by Pan Studio. Compared to its display at Bilibili World, "Duet Night Abyss" was noticeably more restrained at Gamescom—overseas players didn't get to experience the joy of riding a pig on-site. But the setup was still full of anime flair, and even players not trying the demo were taking photos of the central character sculpture. 

Hero Games also exhibited their recently announced new open-world survival crafting new game "CrisisX," reportedly scheduled for release in Q2 next year. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic world, and the monster installations that are about to “leap out of the walls” contributed to the vibe.

After leaving "CrisisX," our horror game enthusiast was once again rooted to the spot, captivated by Capcom's "Resident Evil: Requiem" booth—blood-red doors, broken walls, and wrecked cars exuded ruin aesthetics. Capcom also exhibited "Onimusha," with a setup featuring Japanese style doors that also created a strong atmosphere.

The final stop for today was Hall 10, the domain of indie games. Only a handful of major publisher games were here, like Tencent's "Interstellar Utopia" and NetEase's "Planet Party Time".

Honestly, at a glance, aside from everything being in English, the indie game area here was almost identical to those at China comic cons: posters of various art styles displayed vertically, players quietly queuing for demos, and developers interacting with players near their game booths.

A single computer and a headset were pretty much the entirety of each indie game stall. Yet, both players and developers were fully engaged, sharing opinions and suggestions, and discussing games they loved.

On the back side of the indie game area was a literal "playground." There was an inflatable castle and table football. The four people playing table football looked like a family—children, youths, and an elderly person.

Not far away, two young people were playing a game on a table resembling a ping-pong table, using their heads to hit a palm-sized ball. According to online sources, this is called Headis (a combination of heading and table tennis), a new sport originating from a park here in Cologne.

This corner of Gamescom seemed, on the surface, unrelated to video games. Yet, in a way, it aligned with the most essential meaning of games—happiness. This is probably the original intention behind the birth of games and the feeling players most want to experience at game expos.

The happiness from a €300 figurine and a F2P game can be the same. The joy from a 30GB AAA blockbuster and a 300MB indie game can also be the same. At Gamescom, within games, happiness knows no hierarchy.