Slowly the Cubed3 dream team is getting used to the hustle and bustle of Gamescom. Friday was packed to the brim with appointments, news and gameplay demos. Time to eat? Not really!
About Fishing
What do you get if you cross Sega Bass fishing and Twin Peaks? Apparently a fantastic game! About Fishing was truly interesting, grabbing the attention immediately with its unusual art and sound as well as its gameplay loop; essentially existing in the space between narrative mystery adventure and super cool physics fishing title. The physics of the fishing are fantastic. Mapped to the mouse, players whip their rod around, pulling back to raise and pushing forward to cast. It’s intuitive and after a couple of failed casts the game clicked immediately. This is an immersive little fishing title.
Meeting the publisher was a really good time as they could fill in some background information and show Cubed3 some preview content! Points of note are, the game is a supernatural mystery thriller where players play as a girl who goes fishing and ultimately ends up involved in a bizarre story of somewhat spooky events. Cubed3 also got shown a special cameo from Ben Star, whose face is in the game! It’s unvoiced so his dulcet tones won’t be making an appearance here. In fact, the story scenes shown were very engaging, what is happening in the town?
Hopefully this game will come to life soon and spill the beans on its secrets!
Petit Planet
Animal Crossing might be cute, but is it THIS cute? From the makers of Genshin Impact come Petit Planet, a cosy life sim with some extremely charming visuals. Full of pop and charm, each part of this game was entrancing; dressing up, chatting, designing the planet and exploring the stars. This is a very promising game and the early demo content was surprisingly polished. Obviously there will likely be gatcha elements but Hoyoverse has proven time and time again that they make good, solid experiences that are extremely polished and high quality.
Megaman: Dual Override
Capcom is on a roll right now, banger hit after banger hit. Their RE engine is insanely capable and now it’s turned to the Megaman series. Taking on from Megaman 11, this new entry seeks to expand further on that game’s mechanics with the equipable gears and overdrive systems. The demo let Cubed3 sample three different customisations, essentially providing different difficulties. This press demo showed a few secrets the rest of Gamescom couldn’t try yet, such as a boss fight. However, we can’t discuss the details. Just know Megaman: Dual Override is a fantastic feeling game to play, it’s very faithful to the series’ past while experimenting with a load of tweaks and changes to the formula. Fans who have been patiently waiting are going to be mightily impressed!
Castlevania
Next up we headed back to Konami for Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse. Jumping straight into the game, the graphics and gameplay both felt modern and comfortable. Especially gameplay felt incredibly smooth, so that even a total novice was able to get a great amount of enjoyment out of the demo. Gameplay is not exactly straightforward either; by unlocking more abilities as the player goes on, it is possible to return to previous areas to discover hidden paths and other secrets.
Following the classic Metroidvania design style, players will have great feelings when blasting out a new tarot themed power or engaging in new traversal methods. In fact, the title had some very satisfying grapple mechanics that offered very smooth and fluid gameplay. Combined with the slide, players can literally dash through the map avoiding all damage. This feels like the breath of fresh air Castlevania has been waiting for. Rose Belmont is very interesting as a character and Cubed3 can’t wait to follow her story and see what Konami has in store for her!
Razer
At Razer, the Cubed3 team got introduced to a whole selection of amazing items. The Base Station V3 Chroma is the ultimate headphone stand, because it can do so much more than just hold your headphones. This RGB headset stand allows users to set up profiles to trigger when the headset is removed; look forward to a full detailed review on Cubed3!
The Prio Foldable Mobile Controller is the perfect travel companion for mobile gamers. Folded up it is small enough to fit in any pocked, and once unfolded that mobile gaming session can go ahead!
The Reclusa X Mini 65% is a keyboard intended for anyone who needs that little bit of extra customisation. It feels and sounds amazing, and with the hot-swappable design that is compatible with 3 or 5‑pin switches, customisation is a breeze.
Cronos: Lazarus
Cronos: New Dawn is a very cool horror title from Bloober Team, one of the few games that helped give them their big break! It’s great to see them making more content for it in Lazarus. This DLC is a prequel to New Dawn and follows a different traveller who has a very different adventure to undertake. Players will still be saving cats, reading notes and fighting baddies but now they have a much larger set of battle tools to work with. Change up the flow of combat with teleportation and distractions, control the flow of battle and feel the empowerment that comes with it.
Cronos: Lazarus is looking and feeling incredibly fun and is a very intriguing addition to Cronos: New Dawn.
Alien Isolation 2
Jump back in right after the ending of Alien Isolation 1! Players are now planet-side in a stormy basin being blasted by rain and wind. It looks incredible, a major upgrade from the first title. The demo had players find a crashed piece of space debris and deciding to check it for survivors, despite the protagonist’s sensible team member saying no, entering and finding… the Xenomorph. This is a great little showing and it proves Creative Assembly has absolutely cooked these last few years. This game looks and feels like a continuation but almost everything is extra polished, expanded or enhanced. The alien is even smarter now and caught us right as the demo was meant to end! This is one for horror fans; no doubt at all that it will be fulfilling the dreams of all Alien fans.
Stranger than Heaven
Punch, kick and stab through five eras and across five cities in Stranger than Heaven. This is the latest from RGG Studios and damn, is it impressive. This is a complete evolution of the Yakuza design language where everything has been tweaked, nipped and tucked into a very focussed and thrilling experience. Players had the chance to try out three different cities and eras, but just through combat scenarios let me tell ya, this combat is sublime. It’s very skill based, has fantastic weight to the system and is surprisingly complex and strategic. This might be game of the year from its gameplay alone! Let’s hope the story is also awesome and RGG can stand tall again!
