The Biggest Announcements From Gamescom 2017

Final Fantasy XV PC Port and New Content

Final Fantasy XV might be coming up on a year old but there’s still plenty of new announcements that are keeping it in the spotlight. The big news from Square Enix out of Gamescom was that Final Fantasy XV is confirmed for PC and will be coming to the platform in 2018. The PC port will come with all DLC packed in, including the upcoming multiplayer mode.

Notably, game director Hajime Tabata has confirmed that the PC version will have mod support, something he’s hoped to include for a very long time.

“I think one of the biggest things [PC] players can expect is mod support,” he said in an interview at Gamescom. “We definitely want to do it. We haven’t actually managed to get our full modding policy or discussions on that finished but at the moment we do really want to do it. We’ll have the full details around autumn time.”

In other Final Fantasy XV news, a pocket version of the game will release episodically on mobile. The pocket version is to feature cutesy chibi style graphics, retelling the story of the game’s console version across ten episodes, the first of which is free.

Another Final Fantasy XV announcement that caught the eye this week was the somewhat bizarre collaboration with the Assassin’s Creed franchise. A surprise reveal trailer showed an Assassin’s Creed-themed festival overtaking the streets of Lestallum. Beyond some cool gameplay, in which we see Noctis climbing, running down narrow areas, and using the iconic hidden blade, it seems the free DLC will weave in a story of some sort, too.

The Assassin’s Festival will be available as a free download for Final Fantasy XV starting on Aug. 31, on PS4 and Xbox One. Fans will be able to access the event from that date all the way up until Jan. 31, 2018.

BioMutant reveal trailer

THQ Nordic announced a brand new IP called BioMutant. The open world adventure game was shown off via an announcement trailer which showed off a kung-fu Racoon traversing a lush open world that featured gorgeous tropical environments. Subsequent screen shots have shown off jet skiing and hang gliding traversal. Apart from that, though, not a great deal was explained about the story or the premise of its thematic setting, but it certainly looks like a world packed full of mystery and intrigue.

An Amazon listing has revealed more information about BioMutant, the next game from THQ Nordic. The game will be “a post-apocalyptic open-world ARPG that delivers real-time melee, shooter, and mutant ability action.”

Interestingly, Stefan Ljungqvist, head of studio at developers Experiment 101, stated: “I’m not a huge fan of collect/fetch quests,” and “that’s to have what we call secret discovers, or exploration, where actually find something interesting in the world and that will give you a small personal quest line.”

Music to our ears! We can’t wait to see more of this interesting looking game in the future.

Jurassic World Evolution

The focus of Microsoft’s 2017 Gamescom presentation wasn’t so much on brand new game announcements as it was about discussing the future of its upcoming Xbox One X. That being said, we did get one of “world exclusive” announcement in Jurassic World Evolution, a park simulation game from Elite Dangerous developer Frontier. The game isn’t actually Xbox One specific, though, and is set to launch across PS4, Xbox One, and PC mid 2018, we assume to coincide with the next Jurassic World movie.

Details on the game are scant, so far, though the CGI trailer suggests gameplay will revolve around building and managing the park’s dinosaur attractions. That includes dealing with emergencies such as the breakout of a hungry T-Rex, as seen in the footage.

The game is described by Frontier:

‘in control of operations on the legendary island of Isla Nublar and the surrounding islands of the Muertes Archipelago. Players will build their own Jurassic World as they bioengineer new dinosaur breeds and construct attractions, containment, and research facilities. Every choice leads to a different path and spectacular challenges arise when ‘life finds a way’.

Sims 4, Cats and Dogs

Sims 4 animal loving fans likely went potty for EA’s Sims 4 announcement at Gamescom — extremely cute furry pals are inbound for the life simulation game. The Sims, Cats and Dogs is a full Game Pack that adds a ton of new content to the game.

Players will be able to create their own pets, with the animals age, personality, and breed all able to be customized. You can even mix up breeds and, for the first time in a Sims game, you deck them out with all manner of different pet-centric outfits.

Players will need to look after their pets, assigning avatars to care out for their needs to keep them healthy. That includes regular visits to the vet. Speaking of which, becoming a veterinarian will be an optional occupation, allowing players to start their own clinic and tend to local animals in a community called Brindleton Bay.

The Sims, Cats and Dogs will launch for PC and Mac November 10th.

Project Scorpio Day One Edition / Pre orders live

Despite its big reveal back at E3 earlier this year, pre-orders for Microsoft’s upcoming Xbox One X console did not coincide with the announcement. At its presentation during Gamescom, however, Microsoft officially opened pre-orders and unveiled a very cool “Project Scorpio” edition of the console.

The Project Scorpio edition, which was unboxed by Microsoft’s Major Nelson via a stream, features a gorgeous gradient design and green Project Scorpio insignia. Just as the green color is a throwback to the original console, so too is the Xbox One X’s packaging, which features the same X pattern on the front. The special code name is also featured on the controllers.

While the Project Scorpio edition features only cosmetic changes from the standard model, in other news, Microsoft did also announce that over one hundred games are currently being enhanced for Xbox One X. These enhancements are all free of charge for those who already own the game.

Shenmue III Trailer

Back in 2015, fans of Shenmue went wild for the announcement that a third game would be entering development with the aid of a Kickstarter campaign. Unsurprisingly, it smashed its goal almost instantaneously, but there really hasn’t been much from the studio regarding the progress of its development since then. During Gamescom, we were treated to a fairly substantial trailer that showed off some spectacular vistas and some martial arts sequences.

Not everyone was entirely pleased with the facial animations of the game’s main characters, though. Many fans pointed out that stiff expressions looked dated for such a high profile game. Series creator Yo Suzuki has since stated that the facial animations were “mostly temporary” and that they were rushed in order to put together the Gamescom trailer.

Regardless, it’s great to finally get a bit more news about Shenmue III, and pleasing that it seems as though it’s development is well and truly underway.

SNES Themed New 3DS XL

If you haven’t been able to get your hands on a pre order for Nintendo’s SNES Classic, then you might be tempted by its newly revealed New 3DS XL SNES edition. The awesome design replicates the appearance of the European version of the nineties console, complete with multicolored buttons. Sadly, yes, that does mean that this version has only been confirmed for Europe, so far. The design is essentially a repeat of the Super Famicom 3DS XL that launched as a Japanese regional exclusive edition last year.

There’s no word on price yet, but we do know that the console is scheduled for launch October 13.

Nintendo is really playing on our nostalgia these days, between Classic console editions and clever console themes. We would suggest that, in combination with the upcoming Metroid 2: Samus Returns Remake, which is exclusive to the handheld console, this SNES New 3DS XL would make for one awesome package.

Anno 1800

After 2015’s futuristic Anno 2055, the series is going back to the historical setting that it arguably does best. With Anno 1800, the city building game takes players to the Victorian era. For the historians among us, you’ll remember that the period of time saw expanding trade routes and the colonization of foreign territories. It was a period of European history in which countries were forging grand overseas empires.

We didn’t really get any details on its gameplay or mechanics, but being an Anno game, expect the focus on economic management and occasional warfare.

Developer Blue Byte has promised a story-based campaign, as well as customisable sandbox multiplayer modes. Players will be able to construct sprawling metropolises, create logistic networks and expand their territory to foreign lands.

Anno 1800 has a winter 2018 release window.