Gamescom 2015: Microsoft Xbox summary and trailers

Xbox were first to do their conference at Gamescom this year and they have promised not only backwards compatibility but also full DVR functionality meaning that you can record shows in the background while you play. The DVR recordings can then be watched from any Windows 10 enabled device, such as your PC or mobile phone, as well as your Xbox One. Bother of these new features will be landing for free, for everyone in November 2015.

There were also some exciting new and some exclusive titles discussed with trailers to boot, so let’s have a look…

Quantum Break
The trailer for the Remedy Entertainment title Quantum Break started the show, voiced by a pretty impressive cast; Dominic Monaghan (LotR), Aiden Gillen (GoT), Shawn Ashmore (X-Men) and Lance Reddick (The Wire).
The trailer for the game, first revealed in 2013, sports some excellent graphics, though you can really see it has the same parentage as Max Payne. Without being personally hands on with the game it’s hard to tell how it will play, but watching the footage does create a feeling a déjà vu.
The Finnish studio have already said that players won’t be able to skip the full motion cut scenes, but apparently you won’t want to either. this is great news as there’s over 90 minutes of it, though not all in one chunk. The characters in the game actually look like the actors and this does make you wonder if it has been done on purpose to try and make the cutscenes feel more like an episode of a programme or short film.

Quantum Break is due for release April 5th 2016

Crackdown 3
Reagent Games are calling Crackdown 3 ‘the ultimate sandbox’ which is quite a statement to live up to. Powers, free running and transforming vehicles are all waiting for you in the futuristic world.
Crackdown 3 sees the return of Crackdown creator David Jones and it promises to bring you ‘the classic gameplay play in a brand new way’. The game’s multiplayer will feature 100% destructable environments and will connect to the Microsoft Cloud which increases the processing power available to the game rather than just using the Xbox alone. This has allowed the developers to create a world with more accurate and complex physics.

Crackdown is due for release 2016

Scalebound
Developed by PlatinumGames, Scalebound is also directed by Hideki Kamiya of Devil May Cry and Resident Evil fame. You play as a loner human named Drew who is mysteriously connected to his compainion the last dragon in Draconis, Thuban.
As a mother of dragons myself* I really wanted to like this, but I have to say I have reservations. The gameplay looks very much like that of DmC, to say nothing of the Dante-looking Drew or the soundtrack, and I wonder if playing Scalebound will feel a little too similar for anyone who has put in the hours with DmC. Again, as with Quantum Break, it’s difficult to talk about gameplay with out getting hands on, but it does all seem a little too familiar.

*ok, they may be an assortment of different lizards, but close enough!

Scalebound is due Holday 2016

Dark Souls III
Dark Souls III was announced earlier in the year at E3, but Gamescom has delivered us a little bit of gameplay action. Developers From Software aren’t saying too much at the moment but they have introduced the new Battle Arts system, that can be used alongside the usual attacking moves, like special abilities.
Many who have been hands on with Dark Souls III on the showfloor are saying that this feels like the most accessible of the Dark Souls game so far, but still by no means easy.

Dark Souls III is due for release early 2016.

Homefront: The Revolution
Set two years after the original game you play as Ethan Brady, a resistance leader trying to reclaim the city of Philadelphia from the KPA (Korean People’s Army) forces.
The game has a more open world feel than its predecessor which was often criticised for, amongst other things, being too linear. Players fight with weapons as well as their Gorilla Toolkit, GTK, which is added to through out the game by crafting items from salvaged resources giving more weaponry and tool options to help fight the KPA.

Homefront: The Revolution will be out 2016 on Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

Halo 5: Guardians
343 recently announced that they had scrapped any offline multiplayer gameplay for Halo 5: Guardians and so the multiplayer trailer shown at Gamescom needed to do some fancy dancing to please fans.
The trailer showed the Warzone and Arena gameplay modes as well as some new abilities, but also leaned towards about the eSports element of multiplayer Halo, as illustrated by the live demo of the eSports capabilities such as the 4×4 Slayer mode.

Halo 5: Guardians is out October 27th 2015.

Rise of the Tomb Raider
Crystal Dynamics showed off 6 minutes of gameplay in the Geothermal Valley which they claim is three times larger than any environment that have made before. We actually have some tombs to raid this time and the game looks to be a great continuation of the last with a third game in the rebooted series also being confirmed.

Rise of the Tomb Raider comes to Xbox One and 360 November 10th and PS4 and PC in 2016.