We attended Gamescom 2023 and got to play many upcoming titles across the gaming landscape – AAA, indie and everything inbetween. In this mini-series of articles, NantenJex will be sharing his thoughts on the games he played from his hands-on experience and providing important information on each of the titles. Trailers and links to each of the games Steam pages (or closest equivalent) will be included in this article (although many are coming to multiple platforms so if you want to get the title on a platform other than Steam then please check your systems digital store).
TEKKEN 8
- Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series S/X, Windows
- Release Date: January 26th 2024
- Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1778820/TEKKEN_8/
Get ready for the next chapter in the legendary fighting game franchise, TEKKEN 8.
Despite my involvement in the Super Smash Bros. community I wouldn’t really call myself a hardcore fan of fighting games. So I was shocked to find that one of my favourite games of Gamescom 2023 was TEKKEN 8. I first played the series on PS1 before dropping off and returning TEKKEN Tag Tournament 2 Wii U Edition (because what else was I going to play) but it was the last entry, TEKKEN 7, that I really enjoyed. Not enough to play competetively mind you, but enough that I had a main I always played and was trying to learn combos (it’s Alicia if you’re curious).
Playing TEKKEN 8, while it doesn’t feel like a radically different game it does feel like a highly polished one with lots of little additions for playability and game feel that I really enjoyed. In particular, the way strong impacts feel in this game is very satisfying. Everytime I landed a strong attack it there was a moment of satisfaction caused by the slowdown and sfx and I think it’s a great improvement over the series predeccessor.
The game also introduces the Specail Style system and the Heat State system. The former is a simple control scheme for newcomers to the series, something other fighting games like Street Fighter and the Arc Systems games have been introducing recently. I didn’t use it but one of my opponents did and I think it’s a good inclusion, although probably a bit odd if you’re use to the usual TEKKEN controls. The Heat State system is a new gameplay mechanic where players can enter a temporary Heat mode where their attacks do more damage or they can unleash super strong attack. It’s a cool visual to look at but I must admit I had no clue how it worked. I always activated it by landing a strong blow and lost it by attempting to land another. It’s there.
Still, TEKKEN 8 was very fun and I may pick it up at launch when it launches next year, something I haven’t done for a fighting game (outside of Super Smash Bros.) since Dragonball FighterZ.
Battle Shapers
- Platforms: Windows
- Release Date: October 3rd 2023
- Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1421290/Battle_Shapers/
Battle Shapers is a blazing-fast, sci-fi FPS roguelite in which you shoot and smash your way through swarms of corrupt robots. Wield powerful weapons, abilities and game-changing new powers stolen from ruthless Overlords.
I must admit that when I originally went into Battle Shapers I wasn’t expecting much. Since the industry-wide pivot to team based hero shooters I have very much fallen out of the first-person shooter genre, but Battle Shapers really grabbed me and pulled me back in. It helps that the game takes from one of the only first-person shooters I’ve enjoyed in recent years, DOOM Eternal, and combined it with other games I enjoy like roguelites and Mega Man to make a really fun and fast-paced shooter.
Battle Shapers is a roguelite set in a future where robots are everywhere, until one day several evil robots called the Overlords appear and begin taking over. So it’s up to the player, controlling an android by the name of Ada, to defeat the Overlords and save New Elysium. You can tackle the Overlords in any order and when you do you gain their core, which can be equipped to change Ada’s abilities and weapons, as well as her outfit (see the Mega Man connection now?). Unlike the other robot game though, the Overlord’s aren’t weak to any one particular weapon. Instead, the difficulty scales with every tower you take down as when one Overlord falls, the remaining gain more skills and abilities to use against Ada. It’s honestly a really cool way of handling difficulty.
Of course, this is a roguelite game and so when you die you get sent back to the start, the Overlord revives and you go for it again. Thankfully, the cores are permenant upgrades and can be equipped back at the base, as well as combined with other cores to make even more abilities which is really neat. There are also movement upgrades that the player can unlock, like dashes and wall runs, which are permenant upgrades and add to the games very fast pace. The towers are made up of rooms with swarms of enemies and rooms with platforming elements and the encounters are very Doom-esque, encouraging the player to shoot first and punch immediately after. Sometimes the boss of the tower might even activate some kind of special trap just to mix things up (like homing drones). There’s never a dull moment and it’s absolutely enjoyable.
Battle Shapers enters early access at the start of October with more content on the way over the next year. It’s gone from a game I had never heard of before to one I’ve got my eyes all over now and if sounds like your jam then make sure to check it out.
Bish Bash Bots
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, Windows
- Release Date: October 19th 2023
- Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1424860/Bish_Bash_Bots/
Bish Bash Bots is a unique mix of casual tower defense strategy and all-out brawling action. Team up in couch co-op / online play or go it alone and fight to save the world by building upgradable turrets, unlocking gadgets and bashing bots with giant hammers.
We’re in a great age of cartoon-y couch co-op games like Overcooked and Moving Out, and Bish Bash Bots is built to join them. The game is a Tower Defence title where up to four players have to protect an EMP from waves of robots, all while setting up various types of turrets and bashing the bots with melee attacks. It’s very fun with each of the four main characters having special abilities and skills unique to them. I only played as the red haired girl (you could only swap characters from the first menu so I couldn’t really try everyone out unfortunately) who has the ability to upgrade turrets quicker than the others, which turns out to be essential because in single-player this game does not mess around. There is a lot of variety in the type robots you have to defend against and if you’re not prepared you could fail quite easily. I almost did in fact (but I managed to pull through)!
Along with the robot variety – which includes everything from fast robots to flying robots, from robots that stun when you hit them to beatbox robots that send out shockwaves – the stage variety is also quite solid. The campaign has a variety of different worlds each with their own special gimmick. Some levels are straightforward paths that need defending with as many turrets as you can while others over pits to knock robots into, or big cranes that let you pick robots up and drop them on other robots. There’s even a level that requires platforming to get from one side to the other. It keeps the game feeling varied and adds to the craziness when things start going in the robots favour.
Another aspect of the game I liked is its visuals and dialogue. It’s very ‘Adventure Time‘-esque although not an exact copy. It has its own unique charms and the character designs are on point. The robots esepcially manage to look adorable while getting across what their unique gimmick is just by looking at them. You can also give the protagonists silly hats to wear, which can be unlocked by completing these side-missions in each level. If I had one piece of feedback for the devs, it’s that I wish each of the player characters hung around in the games hub in-between missions on single player. It would make swapping between the characters a lot easier and give some life to the blimp.
The game has a slightly busy release date unfortunately but you shouldn’t overlook it. At the very least, wishlist it and grab when you’ve got a party or some friends over. You won’t regret it.
RoboDunk
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Windows
- Release Date: September 25th 2023
- Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1557720/RoboDunk/
Cool robots, sky-high dunks, satisfying tackles and explosive weapons! Replayable single player and coop campaign: buy robots, upgrade their stats and unlock tons of new skills. Choose your path among different opponents, traps and rewards. Up to 4 players versus where every match is different!
An unexpected roguelite game, RoboDunk is NBA Jam meets Rogue Legacy, with robots. Although I would also throw Mario Hoops 3-on-3 in there as well as players have access to a variety of characters and weapons that can turn the game around, including screen wide lasers and homing missiles. The rogue element of the game shows up in the campaign where players can choose their next basketball match from a variety of options and win stat upgrades, new characters and skills that will help make their next games easier. It’s a clever implementation of roguelite elements into what is basically just 2 on 2 basketball.
The rules of this basketball are a little different however. The Dunk in the name isn’t just for show, players get more points based on how extreme their dunks are with the ultimate dunk causing your robot to launch itself into space and come zooming down for a meteoric dunk. It’s really fun to watch and is simple to pull-off as long as your weapon or partner can keep the other team from stealing the ball. Games in RoboDunk are also really short, although given the games roguelite structure that’s probably for the best. It keeps the game moving along and lets players quickly swap out bots and weapons that might not be working for them.
I wish I was better at the game though, I seem to suck at basketball games unfortunately. But even then, something I can really appreciate are the visuals. It’s what first pulled me over to the game because each of the robots look like little toys. In fact, all the graphics look like they could be little figures that kids could play with in real life. And in fact, this is almost correct. All the robots do exist in real-life and as you play through the game you get to see photos of the real robots these are all built from. It’s super neat and gives the games its own unique aesthetic.
Savant – Ascent REMIX
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Windows
- Release Date: September 15th 2023
- Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2279330/Savant__Ascent_REMIX/
Get ready for an adrenaline-filled elevator ride through a robot-infested tower. Wield powerful magic, and acrobatic moves as you reclaim the Alchemist’s domain from a horde of mechanical fiends. This follow-up to the award-winning Savant – Ascent sets you off to greater heights!
Savant – Ascent is a survival game from a decade ago that was made as an accompanyment to the latest album from musican Savant. Now, a decade later, the game is being remade with new graphics, new modes and an entirely new soundtrack that’s exclusive to the game. Savant – Ascent Remix is a twin-stick shooter survival game where the only movement players have are to jump and dash between platformers as they ride an elevator skyward to the musical beats of Savant. You can grab power-ups and pull off super strong attacks that wipe out all the waves of enemies that come at you, but even then the game is hard. It’s definitely a title that expects you to replay it over and over again in order to master it
Vikings on Trampolines
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Windows,
- Release Date: TBC
- Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/748810/Vikings_On_Trampolines/
It’s all about trampolines! Stay on the trampolines and push your opponents off to win. Brawl against your friends or work together to save the kingdom. Big bosses, big minigames and evil balloons..? Play solo or local multiplayer for up to 4 players! Accessible controls: Only one hand needed.
Another game by D-Pad Studio (developers of Owl Boy and the above written about Savant – Ascent Remix), this game was described to me as Mario Party meets Cuphead and after palying it – yep that tracks. There are two modes, the campaign and the vs. multiplayer. The former is the Cuphead part, where up to four players battle against giant bosses to fight against an invading army of balloons (just roll with it). Meanwhile the latter has the four vikings facing off against each other across a variety of different levels, getting power-ups like throwing axes and heavy weights that make launching your opponents easier.
How does the game actually play though? Well there is no running around, in fact if you touch the ground then you lose. All players can do is bounce from trampoline to trampoline and try to knock your opponents into the ground or down bottomless pits. Sometimes these trampolines even move themselves to keep players on their toes. It’s essentially one big game of ‘the floor is lava’ and it is really fun. I was getting super into it as I played against the devs and even managed to win a game. I hadn’t heard of this title before Gamescom but now I’m really looking forward to its release (it also helps that the pixel art is incredible, as expected of D-Pad Studio’s titles).
Evolings
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Windows
- Release Date: September 21st 2023
- Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2281820/Evolings/
Embark on a captivating journey in Evolings! This minimalistic turn-based roguelike lets you face hordes of evil monsters by recruiting a team of deadly yet cute creatures. With challenges and a unique experience in each playthrough, Evolings offers a captivating fusion of strategy and charm.
The final roguelite on our list, probably the closest to a full on roguelike actually, evolings takes the rogue formula and combines it with monster battling games for some quick strategy action. Players pick a starter and then travel across a world, chossing which level they want to go to next until they reach that worlds boss. All the while the player is levelling up their evoling and collecting new evoling to join the party. What makes evoling stand-out from other games of its ilk is that evolutions happens through fusion. Find three types of a monster and you can fue them to make a tougher monster! Like combining three of the same ice cream monster to make a triple scoop monster whose great at freezing things.
The game is tough, but I also think it’s a little obtuse. While I was told that the game does tell the player the type advantages and disadvantages at the start, it’s still something you have to really think about. For example, demons are weak to candy and I’m not exactly sure why. The typings aren’t as straightforward as series like Pokémon and while I might get use to it eventually I do think there are ways it could be made clearer.
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