Impressions from Games Com 2022 by Alrik Fassbauer:
(edited by HiddenX)
Hello there!
Well, I went to the Games Com 2022 video games fair in Cologne, Germany, on Thursday, August the 25th.
It was already hot, and even although I arrived there around mid-day (something around 2 hours after „high noon“, if my memory serves me right), it was already full.
Tickets were available only online, and through a special app for the cell phone device, as far as I can tell. I know only very little about cell phones apart from making calls and writing text messages with them.
I decided not to make that mistake from the last time to go to the merchandising areas when the fair was closing, which meant that I had only very little time to see things there, and go there first, even although I didn’t want to look at everything. ( I knew already from last year that most things offered there wouldn’t meet my taste. )
Plus, I planned to go to the Indie area second, and to take a more thorough look at the booths there than I had done in the previous years. With having in mind that some bigger names were missing from the Games Com , like EA, Nintendo, Activision Blizzard. The latter had a huge merch booth on the fair regardless.
As I had almost expected, the merch area was filled with lots and lots and lots of traders selling everything regarding Manga/Anime. It’s been so in the last years, and this trend continued. I have no idea why this is so strong there, but I have two ideas as to why: 1. both Manga and Anime are very popular among younger generations in Germany for 10 years or even more, I can’t say. 2. There’s a strong presence of Asian firms around Düsseldorf the capital of the federal state of Nordrhein-Westfalen, this is the federal state in which Cologne lies.
Some known bigger names were present in the merch area as well, as Square-Enix, Activision Blizzard, Panini (formerly Dino Comics), but not many.
I was drawn to one booth I had had in mind to check it out: The one of the game I’m playing for a few weeks now: Genshin Impact. See my „first impressions“-article about that.
Unexpectedly by me, I found that there was a long queue there. That was too long for me, as I wanted to see other things first in the fair.
This was a first taste of what I came to believe later: That this game is one of the bigger newcomers on the fair - more about that later.
On to the Indie area. Since some bigger names were missing, visiting people had more leisure to visit other firms, which they apparently did.
The Indie area was as busy as ever. No chance compared to the past years. Apart from that, they got a slightly bigger exhibition space, and, as far as I can tell, they were a little bit more booths there.
The big hall also contained other exhibitors, among which were a few rather unusual names. The German army, for example, has always been present at the Games Com. But now there was Rheinmetall as well, which is a big builder of weapons of all kinds. I didn’t bother taking a closer look at the other names there, though. I rather concentrated on the Indie developers.
My first „being drawn into“ was by looking at a poster for a small game, which was advertised as „detective/mystery/horror“. Why there are nowadays only horror adventures being made is something I always wonder about. However, this one was unique in that it was taking place in Bavaria and voice acted only in Bavarian language! I don’t think that I’ve seen a full game being produced exclusively in a dialect before. (The Bavarian language actually has quite some differences from High German). This was interesting, as I have roots in Bavaria. I’m looking forward to that game, even although it perhaps might not meet my taste (I don’t play horror games).
Its name is „Totgeschwiegen“, which means „hushed-up“ in English. It takes place at „1866 Wolpertshofen“, which means it is about what people *believe* as well, (witches, perhaps, you know?).
I didn’t take a longer look at all games. A few more grabbed my intention, be it by setting, art style, or play style.
- Leif’s Adventure „Netherworld Hero“- it’s about a young knight and his ghost friend. Seems to be a co-op game, but I’m not sure since I didn’t play it. I liked its art style. As its protagonist’s name suggests, it has a Norse-vibe to it. It has fighting and jumping. https://www.leifsadventure.com
- Distant Bloom - some aliens and plants - a starship crew lands on a planet and needs to restore its plant life in order to survive. (Both crew and planet) It has an art style which I liked (it looks cute), and has a „farming sim“ vibe - but the other way round : You have to plant lots of plants in order to survive ! In time, the environment becomes greener and greener this way. (embertrail.com/distant-bloom)
- Lake Side. This is a cute looking city simulation game. Its look reminded me a little bit of the early Caesar games. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1552220/LakeSide/
- The Fertile Crescent - a game similar to the early Caesar and Settlers games. I liked the setting, since the Fertile Crescent is one of the far more important areas in human history (Real World).
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1674820/TFC_The_Fertile_Crescent/
- „Gibbon - Beyond The Trees“ - a game about Gibbons being driven out from their rain forest, and trying to find a new place. It is rather a „jump & swing“ game, compared to the traditional „jump & run“ games, as Gibbons are very good branch swingers.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1837330/Gibbon_Beyond_the_Trees/
- The Wandering Village - a game about building and maintaining a village on the back of a giant beast. If you’re not careful, then the beast might die - and thus the village with you. There was a model of that beat with a village on its back, made by the programmer, I was told (if my memory serves me right).
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1121640/The_Wandering_Village/
Other games which shortly caught my attention, but which I didn’t take a closer look at them because there were too many people there :
- Planet Of Lana https://store.steampowered.com/app/1608230/Planet_of_Lana/
- Brew Master https://store.steampowered.com/app/1569200/Brewmaster_Beer_Brewing_Simulator/
- Moonshine https://store.steampowered.com/app/1066760/Moonshine_Inc/ More on that later.
- Potion Tycoon https://store.steampowered.com/app/1485690/Potion_Tycoon/
- School Of Magic https://store.steampowered.com/app/1106680/School_of_Magic/
- Catch me ! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1741160/Catch_Me/
- Zombie Cure Lab - Unzombie the world ! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1620290/Zombie_Cure_Lab/
- X 4: Tides Of Avarice - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1701060/X4_Gezeiten_der_Habgier/
As the most crazy game idea I personally found the game „Vikings On Trampolines“. You really have to take a look it this! It looks like so much fun! https://store.steampowered.com/app/748810/Vikings_On_Trampolines/
You can see these and many more on the steam Indie page:
https://store.steampowered.com/sale/indiearenabooth2022
Steam general Games Com page:
https://store.steampowered.com/sale/gamescom
Ikonei Island is a game in the same setting as Earthlock. This is a setting which I had always thought would be a great setting for an adventure game. And, to my surprise, both developers at the booth agreed to me!
I had a very nice talk there, and, and I mentioned that I did like the original Earthlock game, but that I just couldn’t stand its UI, too. The person to which I have spoken (sorry, I forgot the name, as my name memory is particularly bad), agreed to me that „it had its issues“. After that I talked to the graphics artist (so I was told), and he explained the game to me. As far as I understood it, it is a game which is a mixture between farming, adventuring and more. I thought that this is a bit like this new, blooming genre of games like Stardew Valley, but for this particular genre I have no name, I must admit. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1550730/Ikonei_Island_An_Earthlock_Adventure/
I really like this setting and its art style, I must admit. It looks cute, but not overly cute.
In the Indie area, Daedalic, formerly rather known for adventure games, had a booth as well. They don’t do adventure games now, but they are at least still there, after a rather troubled past.
(edited by HiddenX)
Hello there!
Well, I went to the Games Com 2022 video games fair in Cologne, Germany, on Thursday, August the 25th.
It was already hot, and even although I arrived there around mid-day (something around 2 hours after „high noon“, if my memory serves me right), it was already full.
Tickets were available only online, and through a special app for the cell phone device, as far as I can tell. I know only very little about cell phones apart from making calls and writing text messages with them.
I decided not to make that mistake from the last time to go to the merchandising areas when the fair was closing, which meant that I had only very little time to see things there, and go there first, even although I didn’t want to look at everything. ( I knew already from last year that most things offered there wouldn’t meet my taste. )
Plus, I planned to go to the Indie area second, and to take a more thorough look at the booths there than I had done in the previous years. With having in mind that some bigger names were missing from the Games Com , like EA, Nintendo, Activision Blizzard. The latter had a huge merch booth on the fair regardless.
As I had almost expected, the merch area was filled with lots and lots and lots of traders selling everything regarding Manga/Anime. It’s been so in the last years, and this trend continued. I have no idea why this is so strong there, but I have two ideas as to why: 1. both Manga and Anime are very popular among younger generations in Germany for 10 years or even more, I can’t say. 2. There’s a strong presence of Asian firms around Düsseldorf the capital of the federal state of Nordrhein-Westfalen, this is the federal state in which Cologne lies.
Some known bigger names were present in the merch area as well, as Square-Enix, Activision Blizzard, Panini (formerly Dino Comics), but not many.
I was drawn to one booth I had had in mind to check it out: The one of the game I’m playing for a few weeks now: Genshin Impact. See my „first impressions“-article about that.
Unexpectedly by me, I found that there was a long queue there. That was too long for me, as I wanted to see other things first in the fair.
This was a first taste of what I came to believe later: That this game is one of the bigger newcomers on the fair - more about that later.
On to the Indie area. Since some bigger names were missing, visiting people had more leisure to visit other firms, which they apparently did.
The Indie area was as busy as ever. No chance compared to the past years. Apart from that, they got a slightly bigger exhibition space, and, as far as I can tell, they were a little bit more booths there.
The big hall also contained other exhibitors, among which were a few rather unusual names. The German army, for example, has always been present at the Games Com. But now there was Rheinmetall as well, which is a big builder of weapons of all kinds. I didn’t bother taking a closer look at the other names there, though. I rather concentrated on the Indie developers.
My first „being drawn into“ was by looking at a poster for a small game, which was advertised as „detective/mystery/horror“. Why there are nowadays only horror adventures being made is something I always wonder about. However, this one was unique in that it was taking place in Bavaria and voice acted only in Bavarian language! I don’t think that I’ve seen a full game being produced exclusively in a dialect before. (The Bavarian language actually has quite some differences from High German). This was interesting, as I have roots in Bavaria. I’m looking forward to that game, even although it perhaps might not meet my taste (I don’t play horror games).
Its name is „Totgeschwiegen“, which means „hushed-up“ in English. It takes place at „1866 Wolpertshofen“, which means it is about what people *believe* as well, (witches, perhaps, you know?).
I didn’t take a longer look at all games. A few more grabbed my intention, be it by setting, art style, or play style.
- Leif’s Adventure „Netherworld Hero“- it’s about a young knight and his ghost friend. Seems to be a co-op game, but I’m not sure since I didn’t play it. I liked its art style. As its protagonist’s name suggests, it has a Norse-vibe to it. It has fighting and jumping. https://www.leifsadventure.com
- Distant Bloom - some aliens and plants - a starship crew lands on a planet and needs to restore its plant life in order to survive. (Both crew and planet) It has an art style which I liked (it looks cute), and has a „farming sim“ vibe - but the other way round : You have to plant lots of plants in order to survive ! In time, the environment becomes greener and greener this way. (embertrail.com/distant-bloom)
- Lake Side. This is a cute looking city simulation game. Its look reminded me a little bit of the early Caesar games. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1552220/LakeSide/
- The Fertile Crescent - a game similar to the early Caesar and Settlers games. I liked the setting, since the Fertile Crescent is one of the far more important areas in human history (Real World).
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1674820/TFC_The_Fertile_Crescent/
- „Gibbon - Beyond The Trees“ - a game about Gibbons being driven out from their rain forest, and trying to find a new place. It is rather a „jump & swing“ game, compared to the traditional „jump & run“ games, as Gibbons are very good branch swingers.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1837330/Gibbon_Beyond_the_Trees/
- The Wandering Village - a game about building and maintaining a village on the back of a giant beast. If you’re not careful, then the beast might die - and thus the village with you. There was a model of that beat with a village on its back, made by the programmer, I was told (if my memory serves me right).
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1121640/The_Wandering_Village/
Other games which shortly caught my attention, but which I didn’t take a closer look at them because there were too many people there :
- Planet Of Lana https://store.steampowered.com/app/1608230/Planet_of_Lana/
- Brew Master https://store.steampowered.com/app/1569200/Brewmaster_Beer_Brewing_Simulator/
- Moonshine https://store.steampowered.com/app/1066760/Moonshine_Inc/ More on that later.
- Potion Tycoon https://store.steampowered.com/app/1485690/Potion_Tycoon/
- School Of Magic https://store.steampowered.com/app/1106680/School_of_Magic/
- Catch me ! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1741160/Catch_Me/
- Zombie Cure Lab - Unzombie the world ! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1620290/Zombie_Cure_Lab/
- X 4: Tides Of Avarice - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1701060/X4_Gezeiten_der_Habgier/
As the most crazy game idea I personally found the game „Vikings On Trampolines“. You really have to take a look it this! It looks like so much fun! https://store.steampowered.com/app/748810/Vikings_On_Trampolines/
You can see these and many more on the steam Indie page:
https://store.steampowered.com/sale/indiearenabooth2022
Steam general Games Com page:
https://store.steampowered.com/sale/gamescom
Ikonei Island is a game in the same setting as Earthlock. This is a setting which I had always thought would be a great setting for an adventure game. And, to my surprise, both developers at the booth agreed to me!
I had a very nice talk there, and, and I mentioned that I did like the original Earthlock game, but that I just couldn’t stand its UI, too. The person to which I have spoken (sorry, I forgot the name, as my name memory is particularly bad), agreed to me that „it had its issues“. After that I talked to the graphics artist (so I was told), and he explained the game to me. As far as I understood it, it is a game which is a mixture between farming, adventuring and more. I thought that this is a bit like this new, blooming genre of games like Stardew Valley, but for this particular genre I have no name, I must admit. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1550730/Ikonei_Island_An_Earthlock_Adventure/
I really like this setting and its art style, I must admit. It looks cute, but not overly cute.
In the Indie area, Daedalic, formerly rather known for adventure games, had a booth as well. They don’t do adventure games now, but they are at least still there, after a rather troubled past.
„Honey, I joined a cult“ is a cult simulation game published by Team 17 as well. 
