Shack Chat: What was your favorite reveal from Gamescom 2023?

Gamescom 2023 has come and gone. There were some incredible reveals that came out of Cologne, Germany to help bring gaming into a packed fall season. It started with Geoff Keighley's Gamescom Opening Night Live and went on throughout the week, offering a glimpse of what's coming later this year and beyond.

The Shacknews staff followed all of the Gamescom news througout the week. We're now decompressing by taking a moment to talk about what stood out to us from this year's show. These are our favorite reveals from Gamescom.

Question: What was your favorite reveal from Gamescom 2023?

Alan Wake 2 going to the Dark Place - Ozzie Mejia, Senior Darkness Editor

I have to emphasize this, because I feel like I haven't said it enough. I haven't played the first Alan Wake. I don't have time to play the first Alan Wake. I don't have the bandwidth to catch up with Alan Wake's story to this point.

With all of that out of the way, good lord, does this look amazing. I've been captivated by what Remedy's been cooking up since I got that first glimpse of Saga Anderson's investigation at Summer Game Fest. Now I'm seeing Alan's side of the story and things are about to get trippy. On top of that, it's going to get trippy in the most gorgeous way imaginable. I'm clearly not an Alan Wake fan, I'm not a Resident Evil guy by any means, but I am still pumped for Alan Wake 2 and this was the best way for ONL to wrap up.

Killing Floor 3 - TJ Denzer, Senior Zed Slayer

I've played a few co-op survivor shooters, but there has been nothing - not a single one - that ever came close to matching the fun, intensity, and challenge of Killing Floor. When we saw a glimpse of a Fleshpound being assembled in the trailer during Opening Night Live, I lost my mind. Though I would have happily taken new maps and guns from Tripwire for the foreseeable future, I have been ready for Killing Floor 3 for years. It’s going to be in the Unreal Engine, too. I can’t wait to see what they do with not only their weapons but their enemies. We saw the Fleshpounds being able to extend their battering ram arms like twisted whips. I can’t wait to see what other creepy amalgamations they come up with.

Mortal Kombat 1 - Asif Khan, Shacknews CEO/EIC/EIEIO

That trailer tho.

Payday 3 - Sam Chandler, Likes his tea, iced

You don't just get to drop an action-packed trailer of Payday 3 and reveal Ice-T as a new heist-giver and not have me pick it today. I was already stoked for Payday 3 - it looks like Payday 2 refined - and now you're telling me Ice-T will be helping with a heist? Color me somehow even more excited than I was before.

Mortal Kombat 1, Sindel and the General! - Dennis White Jr., Social Media Guru

Mortal Kombat 1 is really ramping things up with the game’s release less than a month away, and I really got a feel for how epic this new edition of the classic fighting game series could be with the newest reveal trailer. Sindel looks great, and seeing Shao Kahn as only a general who’s yet to earn the highest title is pretty cool. The new axe weapon is pretty interesting, and I’m really happy that they are trying something different with both character designs.

There’s also confirmation of a very young Raiden as Earth’s chosen one in a new tournament. With these trailers, we are also getting new Kameo reveals, and I don’t know, man…Motaro looks broken already. I’ve also got to say that I loved Sindel’s Fatal Blow and Fatality. It’s giving big Queen energy, and I’m totally here for it!

Little Nightmares 3 - Donovan Erskine, Quake Champion

The Little Nightmares series has been a delight over the past several years. While I’m sour about the breakup between Bandai Namco and the original devs, I’m a big Supermassive Games fan. Anything they’re doing in the horror world, I’m showing up for it. The atmosphere looks creepy, and the co-op elements look fun! Sign me up.

Little Nightmares 3 - Steve Tyminski, Spooky Scary!

What was my favorite reveal from Gamescom 2023? I could go a couple of different directions with this. Little Nightmares will always hold a spot for me since the first game in the series was one of the first horror games I received early to review. It was also one of the first games that I played at PAX East when I started to attend the convention. In addition, Little Nightmares was one of the first games I interviewed the developers for. It’s cool to see the series get a third installment since the first two were pretty creepy. There was one other game shown that piqued my interest. I saw the trailer for Thank Goodness You’re Here, and it got me thinking. It got me thinking that I have no clue what is going on in it. All I know is there was a ton going on, and I thought it was pretty humorous, so I want to hear more.

Those are our picks. What did you enjoy from this year's Gamescom? Join the conversation and let us know in the comments. Better yet, join us in the Official Shacknews Community Discord server and stay a while to talk games, news, and whatever else is on your mind.

Shack Staff

Shack Staff stories are a collective effort with multiple staff members contributing. Many of our lists often involve entires from several editors, and our weekly Shack Chat is something we all contribute to as a group.