The schedule for Gamescom’s Opening Night Live is getting clearer and clearer. We’ll see at least 38 games during the two hour event, with host Geoff Keighley ready to reveal more as Thursday draws nearer. The event will mostly focus on already-announced games with a few new reveals sprinkled in.
We’ll update this story as more games are confirmed for the event.
Xbox team Xbox Game Pass and ID@Xbox
With the image above, the Xbox team has hinted at some Xbox Game Pass and ID@Xbox announcements for Thursday’s event. Xbox had originally decided to introduce Xbox news each month with Inside Xbox shows called Xbox 20/20. This led to a bit of confusion, however, when June seemed to pass with no Xbox 20/20 event, while July’s Xbox Games showcase gave us a number of massive announcements. Nobody was quite sure when we’d next hear more, or how Xbox news would be shared. Xbox head Phil Spencer said earlier in August that there were some “really great, strong announcements” about Xbox Game Pass on the way, and since the Xbox team has now decided to drop the Xbox 20/20 branding in order to be more “flexible” with reveals, it makes sense we might hear some of these during Opening Night Live, along with some ID@Xbox announcements.
Chorus
Chorus was announced during the first Xbox 20/20 stream in May, but the gameplay “global debut” planned for Thursday’s event will be the first in-depth look at the game since then. It’s a sci-fi combat shooter planned for 2021, in which you play as Nara, a warrior seeking to destroy the Circle cult. The game’s site says you’ll travel alongside Forsaken, your “sentient starfighter” — it’d be interesting to learn more about that during Opening Night Live.
Scarlet Nexus
We’ll have a “new look” at Bandai Namco’s action RPG Scarlet Nexus in Thursday’s event. It was also announced during Xbox’s first 20/20 stream, and followed up with a gameplay trailer in June. All we know so far is that you’ll be playing as Yuito Sumeragi, who has psycho-kinesis abilities and is aiming to become an elite psionic with the Other Suppression Force. We’ll hopefully learn more about this intriguing premise on Thursday.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga will have a gameplay world premiere during Thursday’s show. The game was announced at E3 in 2019, and since then there hasn’t been a whole lot of info, although we do know this will be the biggest game of the LEGO series, featuring all nine movies of the Skywalker saga. You’ll apparently be free to go through the story in any order you like, and will come across the usual roster of familiar faces including Luke Skywalker, Rey, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Finn, Darth Vader, and Emperor Palpatine. We’ll find out more during Thursday’s event.
Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition (Win 10)
It’s been three years since Age of Empires: III Definitive Edition was announced. We’ve had little news since then, although just in the last month the game’s been rated in Australia and Brazil, hinting at an upcoming release. The Age of Empires Twitter account teased a Gamescom announcement just a few days ago, and now with Xbox’s confirmation, we can expect to hear more during Opening Night Live.
Wasteland 3
We’ve had a slew of information about Wasteland 3, and it releases the day after Opening Night Live, on August 28th, so it’ll be interesting to see what else inXile Entertainment has to show us. While we wait, check out what we know so far about the game’s post-launch permadeath mode for “hardcore” players, how it has at least ten different major endings, and the in-depth player choices. When Wasteland 3 releases on August 28th, it will launch into Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass for PC.
Little Nightmares 2
Little Nightmares 2 was officially revealed during last year’s Opening Night Live, and the gameplay premiere will debut during this year’s event. There’s not much detail on the game yet, although it looks as though there will be a new character — Mono — and perhaps some combat features.
Black Ops: Cold War
We’ll be getting a “world premiere new look” at Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. So far, all we’ve seen of the game is a short teaser trailer telling us to be ready for some sort of reveal tomorrow, on August 26th. The trailer set up a few key points: clips of an interview with KGB defector Yuri Bezmenov revolve around a Soviet spy, codenamed “Perseus,” and the “active measures” which might destabilise a country. The announcement itself hinted that the August 26th reveal might have something to do with Verdansk, and some players have even come across a missile in the Warzone map. From the looks of things, we’ll have some sort of announcement in Verdansk tomorrow, to be followed up with a full reveal on Thursday during Opening Night Live. You can see the cover art below (thanks, IGN).
Star Wars: Squadrons
Star Wars: Squadrons will also get a “world premiere new look” during the event. We’ve had a fair few details about this game already, and its October 2nd release date is now only a month or so away. While we wait to see more on Thursday, check out everything we know so far, including the “Instruments Only” mode meant to ramp up difficulty, the different types of starfighters, the first gameplay trailer, and the developer’s comments on how Star Wars: Squadrons will be backwards compatible but won’t get a next-gen upgrade.
Spellbreak
We’ll also have some announcements for Spellbreak, a “fantasy action-spellcasting game with epic magical combat.” It’s planned to launch sometime this year as a free-to-play game with cross-progression on Xbox, PC, PS4 and Switch. That all sounds like quite a lot to cram into one game, so it’ll be interesting to see more of it on Thursday. According to developers Proletariat, Spellbreak asks you to become the most powerful battlemage in the Hollow Lands. You can choose from six different classes, including the Pyromancer, the lightning-powered Conduit, and the Frostborn. It’ll have multiple game modes, the option to play solo or with friends, and a number of different biomes.
Mafia: Definitive Edition
Mafia: Definitive Edition will get a new narrative trailer during Opening Night Live to go with its first trailer, which introduced us to protagonist Tommy Angelo, and its 15 minute 4K trailer. Mafia: Definitive Edition had been planned to launch in just a few days on August 28th, but the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic caused the game to be pushed back to Septemeber 25th.
Destiny 2: Beyond Light
Thursday’s event will also give an “exclusive new look” at Beyond Light, the major upcoming expansion planned for Destiny 2, and due to be released on November 10th. Bungie says the expansion will take you to the ice moon Europa to " infiltrate the Golden Age Braytech facility" and bring down the “dark empire… united under the banner of the Fallen Kell of Darkness, Eramis.” Thursday will also give us a more in-depth look at Stasis, the new elemental power which can be used along with Arc, Solar, and Void. Stasis will work differently depending on your class, “from slowing down foes with Stasis fields to encasing and shattering enemies with destructive might.”
Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods, Part One
We’ll also get the first look at Part One of the campaign expansion for Doom Eternal, The Ancient Gods. Bethesda says the expansion will take you to new realms, to face new demons, and battle a new challenge. All very well and good, but also very vague: all we’ve seen so far has been a 40-second teaser trailer, and so this upcoming in-depth look will hopefully fill in a lot of blanks.
That’s everything that’s been confirmed so far, but we’ll update you when we hear more. Opening Night Live takes place this Thursday August 27th at 8pm CEST / 2pm ET / 11am PT — don’t forget to vote in our latest poll to tell us which game you’re most hoping to see during Opening Night Live.