Opening Night Live at Gamescom 2021 - Everything announced at the showcase

Geoff Keighley's Opening Night Live at Gamescom 2021 had some seriously big game reveals and updates. From the announcement of a new Saints Row to the release date reveal for Halo Infinite and a delay for Horizon Forbidden West, it was a pretty huge event. Here's everything that was announced:

Saints Row

A brand new Saints Row opened up the showcase with a trailer revealing the game. We got robot cat bike helmets, great hair dos, some brilliant sass, and some seriously huge rocket launchers. Simply called Saints Row, this is a reboot of the series rather than a continuation of the story from Saints Row 4. Set in the fictional American Southwest city of Santo Ileso, you'll be building your Saints Row criminal gang (and soon-to-be empire) from the ground up. Plus, it's launching on February 25, 2022 on PS5, PS4, PC, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Xbox One. 

Marvel's Midnight Sons

2K Games finally revealed the much rumored Marvel XCOM game, Midnight Sons. It's described as a tactics RPG where the relationships you form with your superhero team is described as being as important as all the fighting and abilities. However, rather than playing as any of the more recognizable characters you'll star as an all new, fully customizable hero called The Hunter. She's the daughter for Lilith, the Mother of Demons and the big bad that banded together characters like Dr Strange, Wolverine, Iron Man, Blade, Ghost Rider and more to defeat her. 

Call of Duty: Vanguard

The very first and seriously impressive Call of Duty: Vanguard gameplay dropped, showcasing the female sniper from the game's campaign, Polina Petrovna, who's voiced by Laura Bailey. The gameplay segment in question saw Polina attempting to get back home. She's initially unarmed and hurt, but quickly arms herself and makes her way through some buildings to get a better vantage point. Handily, she finds a sniper rifle, which goes just as well as you'd hope from a pro sniper against the enemy. Later on she's tasked with saving a comrade called Mischa, which involves some molotovs, gunfire, and a lot of screaming. We don't actually find out what happened with Mischa, but instead are taken back an hour before the demo starts to find out how Polina got into this pickle. 

Halo Infinite

Sticking to its 20th Anniversary release date even if it kills the series, Halo Infinite confirmed that some of it will finally be releasing on December 8. We also got a CG trailer introducing Spartan Commander Agryna, the leader of a new generation of Spartans, who will be important to the first season of Halo Infinite multiplayer. Microsoft also revealed a Spartan 117 themed custom Series 2 Elite controller and Xbox Series X. The Limited Edition Halo Infinite Xbox Series X pre-orders are live now.

Cult of the Lamb

Not exactly what we were expecting to follow Halo Infinite, but Cult of the Lamb is an upcoming game where you play as an adorable sheep who also happens to be a cult leader. You'll need to build your base, gather your… ahem… flock, bury your dead, and also defend them in various rituals gone wrong by the looks of things. No word on a release date on this one yet. 

Midnight Fight Express

Developed by one man in Poland, Midnight Fight Express is a top down comedy brawler heading to consoles in 2022. It's as much about the punches as the punch lines though with a range of funny costumes and moves to unless on its cartoon enemies. The moves are brutal, fluid, and bloody creating a fight movie feel to its brutal bouts. 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge

Ahead of the game's official release next year (release date still TBC 2022), we found out that April is another playable character for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge. She joins Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mickey, and seems to kick some serious ass along with the ability to revive the Turtles with pizza. 

Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles

The villainous Rui was the focus of this brand new trailer for Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles. As the game is completely recapping the events of the anime’s debut season, the battle between Tanjiro and Rui was always going to come into focus at some point. It’s excellent that fans of the anime will be able to play through the entire season, including the climactic boss fights with this Lower Five member of the Twelve Kizuki.

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania

After all the teasing, we finally found out that the new character coming to Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania is Morgana from the Persona series. We also got a look at all 12 of the party games arriving with the game, which ranged from tennis and bowling to canoeing and golf, along with football and snooker. Plenty to get the old ball rolling again to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Super Monkey Ball series. 

Splitgate

The portal shooter showed off a first look at what it's calling Season 0 which you can play now! There are new cosmetics, maps, and an all-new Infection mode. 

Riders Republic

We got another extended look at everything you can take advantage of with Riders Republic. However, it came with the news of a lovely extension to the Riders Republic beta until August 28. It's a chunky section of the game and it's more than worth jumping in if you haven't already. It's available now on PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC. 

Century: Age of Ashes

Developer Playwing Bordeaux confirmed the release date for free-to-play title Century: Age of Ashes, which will be dropping on Steam on November 18, 2021 with its dragon-slaying multiplayer battles. You can get your Founders Pack now if you're interested.  

UFL

An unexpected reveal was UFL, a brand new football game that's going to try and go up against the titans that are FIFA and PES. It will launch as a free-to-start game on all major platforms, and claims to offer a "fair to play" model… this one will be interesting to watch.

Lego: The Skywalker Saga

Finally, your chance to play all nine Star Wars films in one Lego-y package will atrive in Spring 2022. Pretty much every character and moment from all of Star Wars EVER is represented in a huge looking adventure. For reference, at one point Luke pulls up a communicator and reveals a system map of just about every location anyone's ever mentioned in the films and it looks like you can travel freely between it all. Obviously there's a campaign based off the movie plots, all rendered in Lego's trademark tongue-in-cheek style. 

Synced Off-Planet

Initially revealed in 2019, we got a fresh look at Synced Off-Planet's ripped-from-sci-fi premise: when nanomachines begin to consume the world, our only hope of survival is turning their own powers against them. We're set to get a deeper look at its blend of third-person shooting and companion-based tactics soon.

The Outlast Trials

The latest in co-op horror games, Red Barrel Games is bringing us The Outlast Trials. Playable solo or with up to three friends in multiplayer, you'll have to go up against various horrors in order to survive - as you'd expect / hope from an Outlast game. It's launching in 2022 and you can watch the first gameplay trailer above.

DokeV

The new game from Pearl Abyss is DokeV, a creature collecting MMO where you catch Dokebi - adorable critters based on Korean spirits that are powered by dreams. The gameplay trailer showed off a lot of the impressive-looking game, including the Dokebi themselves, various combat sections, and the plethora of ways you'll be able to explore the world. 

Jurassic World Evolution 2

We now have a release date for Jurassic World Evolution 2, and it's coming to PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC on November 8. You can pre-order it right now too. To accompany the announcement, we also got the first gameplay trailer for the dinosaur park game, including details on the dinos you can expect to look after, the new enclosures for the flying and aquatic reptiles, and more. 

Far Cry 6

Ahead of its October release Far Cry 6 revealed a new story trailer. In it Giancarlo Esposito Castillo's Anton Castillo is a President determined to make the island of Yara great again, no matter how many of his own people he kills. The reason? To create a paradise for his son to inherit, whether he wants it or not. As part of that we got to see the Viviro labor camps, where slaves work themselves to death harvesting a cure for cancer. 

Blood Hunt

Blood Hunt revealed the Toreador vampire clan in its Masquerade battle royale. Known as being a proud and beautiful race of bloodsuckers, the Toreador use abilities like a teleporting dash or a healing field for allies. Early access on Steam was also announced for September 7, so prepare your fangs.

Park Beyond

A brand new entry into the theme park sim genre is Park Beyond, from Bandai Namco and developer Limbic Entertainment - yes the ones behind Tropico 6. Focusing on the idea of "Impossification", the game will take classic rides and make them something quite special. Plus roller coasters with cannons to launch the carts is totally awesome and should definitely be replicated in real life. 

Jett: The Far Shore

Along with an October 5 release date, we got another trailer for the space exploration title Jett: The Far Shore. The trailer itself was channeling serious No Man's Sky vibes, especially with that choice of soundtrack, but looks as awesome as ever. It's launching on PC via Epic Games alongside PS4 and PS5.

Horizon Forbidden West

Ah the delay we've all been dreading / waiting for. Horizon Forbidden West is now confirmed for a February 28, 2022 release date. No new info on the game, but just a note to say the team is entering the final stages of development, but won't make that original Holiday 2021 release date. We also got a little surprise in the form of an enhanced performance patch for Horizon Zero Dawn, which upgrades the game's framerate to 60fps. That's available right now!

New World

Gamescom got a new trailer for Amazon's new MMO showing off a big ol' pile of mythical, magic tropes mixed with an interesting conquistador vibe. If you're interested, therhe's an open beta on September 9-12, before the game launches on September 28. In terms of post-launch content, the developer wouldn't outright confirm anything but teased more supernatural element and weapons, plus more group content and expeditions.

Marvel Future Revolution

Midnight Suns wasn’t the only Marvel game that got an exclusive trailer during Opening Night Live, as the Marvel Future Revolution mobile game also took to the stage. Not only did we get to see some impressive fights that had different universes of heroes meeting up, but it’s also ready to download now on iOS and Android.  

Tales of Arise and Luminaria

Aside from giving viewers a break from all the news with a cosplay musical interlude from violinist Lindsey Stirling, Bandai Namco also highlighted the Tales of Arise demo, which you can still play ahead of the full game, and the newly announced Tales of Luminaria mobile game.

Deadmau5 in Core

The big-eared musician announced an interactive concert experience coming to the user-generated platform Core. While details were light, Deadmau5, also known as Joel Zimmerman, promised this new [gagging noise] 'metaverse' experience will "keep up to date with real-life events", whatever that means. 

The Jungle Book costumes for Fall Guys

Fall Guys is collaborating with Disney for the upcoming King Louie event, which brings the characters of the beloved Jungle Book movie to Mediatonic's last-bean-standing extravaganza. New cosmetics will let you dress your Guy up as main character Mowgli, his companion Baloo, or antagonist Shere Khan, as well as King Louie himself. The event will run from September 3-12, with skins available for a few days at a time. The famous orangutan will be available throughout, with a handful of other cosmetics on offer too.

Replaced

Sad Cat Studios has officially released the catchy, atmospheric Void OST for its upcoming retro-futuristic action platformer. First revealed during the Xbox showcase back in June where we first heard the trailer song, Replaced sees you play as an artificial intelligence trapped inside a human body known as R.E.A.C.H. Set in a dystopian alternative take on '80s America with a distinctive 2D style, the action-thriller is slated to release in 2022 and now you can jam to the music. 

Age of Empires 4

New gameplay footage revealed ahead of the October 28 release date focused on three different points of history - the Hundred Years War, the Rise of Moscow campaign, and the Holy Roman Empire. The century-long conflict got a short collection of cinematic teasers, while we got to see how we'll turn Moscow into the centre of a great empire, expanding its walls and defending the growing city with Russia's famous Streltsy infantry brigade and Warrior Monks capable of fighting as well as converting enemy units. There was also a close look at the Holy Roman Empire, with its impressive technology, villager-inspiring Prelates, and the powerful Landsknechte knights. 

Valheim: Hearth and Home update

The release date for the long-awaited Valheim: Hearth and Home update was confirmed for September 16. After the game's massive success forced developer Iron Gate to delay its roadmap, a new animated trailer - showing a hero trekking back to his home (and hearth) after an epic boss battle - announced that we won't have much longer to wait for the first major update.

Crossfire X

We got a new look at the multiplayer part of Smilegate’s Xbox shooter, which included the reveal of maps that are both above and below ground, as well as some of the fancy tech the game’s soldiers use, such as invisible suits. Sadly, the closest we got to a release date is ‘Coming Soon’.

Genshin Impact

Gensin Impact showed off some brief Aloy gameplay, detailing her bow and cryo abilities in action, and confirming it's September 1st. The developer MiHoYo also revealed a Genshin Concert called Melodies of an Endless Journey to celebrate its first year anniversary.

Sifu

Sifu, the upcoming title from Sloclap games, has now got a confirmed release date after its initial slip to 2022. You'll be able to play the game on February 22, 2022. The release date was accompanied by a sneak preview of the game's fluid combat, which is - according to Keighley - very Batman Arkham-esque in its fluidity. Certainly looks that way from the trailer too. 

Death Stranding Director's Cut

Kojima revealed a big new trailer full of upgrades and additions for the Director's Cut and all its PS5 upgrades. For the core game there are a bunch of new delivery support tools like evolved stabilizers that act like jet packs to let you jump from any height. There's a catapult that fires cargo long distances for you to pick up later. And the upgraded Buddy Bot, a set of robot legs that will carry your burdens for you. On top of that there are new facilities to try out like a firing range to practice weapons skills and where you can compete for the highest score. You'll also be able to replay boss battles and see how your score ranks globally. Or, if you want to race you can even use jump ramps to leap chasms and pull tricks, or take on racetrack challenges to test your vehicles skills. And, perhaps most significantly, there are new missions and new deliveries where you'll infiltrate a mysterious facility to investigate what it holds. 

So that's your lot, all that's left now is to check out all the new games confirmed for 2021 and beyond.