Gamescom 2022 celebrated its Opening Night Live in Cologne, Germany today, its first chance to show Sonic doing a little loopy loop on a metal wheel since before the pandemic. Game journalist host Geoff Keighley, wearing slim-fit pants, announced several world premieres with great excitement during the ceremony and also introduced new footage for several already announced games such as The Callisto Protocol and Goat Simulator 3. While I can’t match Keighley’s enthusiasm—I think it’s because I’m partial to a pair of baggy pants—I’m bringing you everything we saw at Gamescom today. Ron Gilbert

Back to monkey island

John Walker of Kotaku thought that Return could be the “first properly good entry in the [Escape From Monkey Island] series from 1997” and will be released very soon, on September 19th. Gearbox

New Tales From the Borderlands

Silly and fun. Released on October 21st. Blackbird Interactive

Homeworld 3

Everyone has been trembling in anticipation of Homeworld 3 since 2019, when this third installment of the legendary space strategy game was first announced. This new trailer gets the blood pumping again, and you can wishlist the game for release in “first half of 2023” on Steam or the Epic Games Store. Dambuster Studios

Dead Island 2

The zombie survival horror game is alive! Since it was first announced in 2014! We saw a story trailer and some gameplay footage, and the latter was pretty bad for Gamescom, which censors some of the brain blood. There’s an uncut trailer out there if you really must. Neowiz

Lies of P

Gothic game Pinocchio (yes) Lies of P, first announced in May of last year, has finally revealed some of its gameplay, which is basically Bloodborne for puppets. Everyone was asking for this. It looks really slick. The Parasight

Black tail

The indie game about Baba Yaga, the Slavic witch my normal dad (it means grandma!) told me when I was a kid to get me to eat my figs (I had tummy issues), debuted a trailer showing first person archery and maybe survival elements? Just like in real life, you can be a good witch or a bad one. The game currently has a 20% pre-purchase offer on Steam until December 15th. We’ve also got more quick-hit information about:

Dying Light 2: Bloody Ties features arena battles and releases on October 13. We got some cinematics from the recently revealed Destiny 2: Lightfall expansions. Sonic Frontiers featured a little bit of story content. Fans remain skeptical. Starrail received a new trailer and announced a contest to win the character Dan Heng’s “Acrylic Stand” until August 28th. Goat Simulator 3 now has a gameplay trailer. Genshin Impact 3.0 has a new trailer and will be released on August 23rd. Gotham Knights will be released earlier than expected on October 21st. Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is available for pre-purchase on Steam ahead of its November 30 release date. So gross! Oddly named city-building puzzler Dorfromantik is coming to Nintendo Switch. It looks like this. Outlast Trials has a trailer for its closed beta tests, which will run from October 28th to November 1st, 2022.

Funcom

Dune: Awakening

One of Gamescom’s world premieres, the Dune: Awakening trailer didn’t feature Timothée Chalamet, so I don’t care because I’m #female. But if you’re interested, you can sign up for a beta test or wishlist on Steam. Deck 13

Atlas Fallen

A big-budget third-person action/adventure from Deck13 that traveled far and wide with audiences, Atlas Fallen kicks your ass on a desert planet. They have some sort of “sand bending” abilities. The part of the game near the edges feels very “psychoid”, but if only Souls had high speed sand surfing. Dunelike, perhaps. Brainwashing gang

Friends vs. Friends

What a great art style! The trailer opens with over-the-top creatures engaged in a tense card game that escalates into extreme violence. Seriously: brains, beheadings, the whole nine yards. Yes, I hate spoons too. The short game at the edges reveals that the game is a legitimate FPS with some sort of card or deck element. Beautiful, if dissonant. Deck 13

The Lords of the Fallen (reboot version)

Action RPG Lords of the Fallen first came out in 2014, but almost a decade later, it’s back with a reboot, baby. And remember to call this sequel “The” Lords of the Fallen — plain old “Lords of the Fallen” is his father’s name. Released in 2023. Some wicked games

Wyrdsong

RPG fans were thrown red meat in the all-too-brief debut trailer for Wyrdsong. There is an eclipse and a word for some evil power, but what really caught everyone’s attention was that they are from the creators of Fallout, Skyrim and Dragon Age: Inquisition. Some other upcoming games we have a glimpse of: Build a Rocket Boy

Everywhere

There are so many space games. This is one of those games. I don’t really know what Everywhere, a new game from former Rockstar Games lead developer Leslie Benzies, is about, or even when it’s coming out, but the trailer does reveal some real space-type stuff, like “a rocket” and “math .” The developers really talked about it, promising a little, well, everything. Is it another cryptocurrency? We’ll see! Striking Distance Studios

The Callisto Protocol

The Callisto Protocol, which is not Dead Space, but is from the creator of Dead Space and looks a lot like Dead Space, will be released on December 2nd, 2022. It also contains the key element of “violent alien beheading” and there is a new system “mutation” there now, too. Teravision Games

Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game

This might be niche, but I found the 1988 sci-fi B-movie Killer Klowns from Outer Space for free on YouTube when I was a kid realizing there was more to watch than Harry Potter. It’s an awful movie, but I watched it at least four times to celebrate my understanding that the world was too big and the art in it too weird. I approve of this gonzo game, which is from the creators of Friday the 13th. It’s coming out in “early 2023”. Unknown Worlds

Moonbreaker

Moonbreaker, a turn-based sci-fi game from the underwater survival game Subnautica, will be released for Early Access on Steam on September 29th. The big news here is that the world-building is by famous sci-fi author Brandon Sanderson. If you know Mistborn or The Stormlight Archive then this is very exciting. Deck Nine, Telltale Games

The Expanse: A Telltale Series

After imploding a few years ago, the Telltale adventure game brand is on the mend. Based on what we’ve seen, his new project based on the sci-fi hit The Expanse looks pretty high budget and even has some original gameplay ideas. It’s been a long time since The Walking Dead, but is Telltale coming back? Squanch Games

High on life

The guy behind Rick and Morty is also behind this weird comedy FPS where your weapons are annoying worms. Let’s call this a worm game. We also saw pieces from: The Pokémon Company / Mini

Oh right, the Pokémon car

Mini is teaming up to create a concept car that would make Pikachu proud (it’s electric!). No word on cost or actual availability. Keighley has done it again. My brain is huge with information. Out of all of these, what are you most looking forward to playing?