PETER HOSKIN reviews his five favourite games from Gamescom 2023

Technically, last year was Gamescom’s return from the locked-down years of the pandemic; the official reopening of the week-long gathering in Cologne, Germany, that now has a good claim to being the biggest video-gaming event in the world.

But this year — last week, in fact — felt like the proper return. The big players, such as Xbox and Nintendo, came along bearing big offerings, such as Starfield and the new Mario game. There seemed to be more people, more games, more action than in 2022.

It’s a weird and whirly experience for a journalist. Away from the main halls in the sprawling complex where Gamescom takes place, where teens dressed up as video-game characters queue to spend ten minutes with a hot new release, there are several ‘business’ halls where, I guess, business gets done — including the business of critics rushing around, from stall to stall, from free coffee to free croissant, to spend slightly more time with other new releases.

There seemed to be more people, more games, more action at this year’s conference than in 2022. It’s a weird and whirly experience for a journalist

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is out on October 20. Though my time with it was short, I can already see that ‘wonder’ is indeed the word

Fundamentally, a traditional 2D Mario, it’s got a refreshing new, peculiar-pastel look, some enjoyable power-ups, and innovative multiplayer options

So, yes, I got to play a bit of the new Mario. It’s called Super Mario Bros. Wonder and it’s out on October 20. Though my time with it was short, I can already see that ‘wonder’ is indeed the word: even though this is, fundamentally, a traditional 2D Mario, it’s got a refreshing new, peculiar-pastel look, some enjoyable power-ups, and innovative multiplayer options.

That said, I was already excited about Wonder. What Gamescom is really good for is moving games up my personal excitement rankings, from low positions — or even, in some cases, from nowhere — up to near the top. Here are the five that really got me slavering. My picks of Gamescom 2023.

PAYDAY 3 (September 21)

Payday 3 – stylish shooter about a gang of bank robbers pulling off a heist – is out on September 21

The most fun I had Gamescom — by some distance — was a four-player round of Payday 3. Me and my three new buddies donned headphones and microphones and became a highly skilled — or, in my case, somewhat less highly skilled — crew of bank robbers pulling off a heist.

It’s wonderful coordinating your actions, and just as wonderful when things don’t go to plan and armoured cops start rappelling down the rooftops. Which is true of Payday 2, too. But, from what I remember from playing that earlier sequel about a decade ago, this newer game seems considerably more ambitious and explosive.

PERSONA 5 TACTICA (November 17)

Persona 5 Tactica – following a gang of dimension-hopping teenage thieves – is released on November 17

One of the best games of all time, 2016’s Persona 5, gets turned into a tactics title. That means the same gang of dimension-hopping teenage thieves as before — Joker, Skull, Mona and all the rest — but with a new storyline and a new, grid-based, almost boardgame-y form of combat.

In truth, I was fairly sceptical of this project, despite it merging two things I happen to like a lot. The original Persona 5’s combat wasn’t too far removed from a tactics game, anyway, so… why? And Tactica’s cutesier art style didn’t immediately appeal.

But now that I’ve actually played through some of the earlier encounters, all that scepticism has faded away. Phantom Thieves forever!

PACIFIC DRIVE (2024)

Pacific Drive sees the player driving through the irradiated centre of a post-apocalyptic America

Driving through the irradiated centre of a post-apocalyptic America. For a certain type of person — that is, me — that already sounds like plenty of fun.

What makes Pacific Drive even more fun is the tremendous physicality of the car itself. You can look around its interior, fiddle with every dial and button, and then — when you do put foot to pedal — shake in your seat at every bump on the road.

I’ve played plenty of driving games before, but few that make the vehicle itself feel like such a presence and a friend.

ULTROS (2024)

Ultros is a refined form of gameplay. And not even screenshots can prepare you for those colours

If the new Mario is kind of psychedelic, then Ultros is full-on, no-holds-barred, retina-searingly mega-psychedelic. Honestly, the fluorescent colours of this game set on an overgrown planet are like nothing I’ve ever seen before in the medium. It’s crazy, but also very, very beautiful.

And it’s not just the look: Ultros’s hoppy platforming and slashy combat are very satisfying in the hands. If you’ve played, say, Hollow Knight, then you may know what to expect — but this is still a refined form of that type of gameplay. And nothing, not even screenshots, can prepare you for those colours.

THE INQUISITOR (TBC)

The obvious richness of The Inquisitor’s world — with its particularly dark spin on Christianity — and its narrative choices look set to give it its own life

A dark medieval fantasy, based on a series of books by a Polish author? Comparisons with The Witcher games were already unavoidable.

But now that I’ve been shown some of The Inquisitor’s gameplay, well… those comparisons are still unavoidable. There are cityscapes here that are reminiscent of the third Witcher game’s Novigrad. Nasty human antagonists who are worse than any monster.

However, the obvious richness of both The Inquisitor’s world — with its particularly dark spin on Christianity — and its narrative choices look set to give it its own life, free from comparison.

This is one of those games that has come from nowhere for me, and is now high up my excitement rankings.

Will all these games turn out great? Or, much like Cologne’s trays of currywurst and chips, will they seem amazing at the time, only to lose their allure in hindsight?

I don’t know… yet. I’ll need to play the final releases before I can arrive at answers.

But I do know that at least one of my Gamescom highlights from last year — Railway Empire 2 — has turned into one of my favourite games of this year. You can indeed scry the future in a glass of Kölsch.

I, ROBOT, AM READY TO RUMBLE…

Armored Core 6: Fires Of Rubicon (PlayStation, Xbox, PC, £59.99)

Verdict: Mechanised magic

Rating:

In many ways, Armored Core 6 is an old-fashioned gaming experience, which is apt for a series that goes back 26 years

Good job I’m ensconced within a massive, ironclad robot suit, otherwise I’d have done myself an injury bashing my head against this here desk.

Because Armored Core 6, a game in which you battle your massive, ironclad robot against other massive, ironclad robots, is pretty darn difficult. Or at least it is for me.

There I was, cutting a swathe through lesser mechs, when I’d run into some office-block-sized boss — and get stuck for half an hour, dying and dying again, until I… didn’t.

This is, however, the FromSoftware [sic] way, so perhaps I shouldn’t have expected anything less. The developers of last year’s Elden Ring and, before that, Dark Souls make notoriously tricky games in which the struggle is a large part of the point. They know just how to tickle your sense of accomplishment.

But Armored Core 6 is also different from those games. Where they’re expansive, full of spiralling paths to wander down and mysteries to uncover, this one is much more straightforward.

Your mech is dispatched to a chilly-looking planet, full of the ruins of civilization, to complete mission after mission. Many of these last about 15 minutes (until, that is, you run into a boss). Get in, get out. Next level.

In many ways, it’s an old-fashioned gaming experience, which is apt for a series that goes back 26 years.

And it’s also a compelling one. The combat is so smooth and kinetic, your mech so customisable, the landscape so bleakly majestic that I couldn’t resist going back in. Office-block-sized boss? Pfft. I’ll bash my head through it.