We just spent three days at the world’s biggest games expo – and boy, did we do a lot of gaming! While we were at it, we bagged a sizeable amount of goodies that we’d now like to give away.
Update: the giveaway will now run until 7 September. New prizes have been added at the bottom of the page. Click on the linked preview articles to find out more.
I love Gamescom. We usually spend the three-day expo dashing from press event to press event, playing brilliant new games and meeting passionate developers. At the same time, we always snap up loads of merch at our meetings with studios and publishers. This year, we took home such a staggering amount of loot that we’ve decided to share it with our Community.
Scroll to the bottom of the page to take part in the giveaway. You can see the goodies up for grabs in the header photo above (side note: my dog Lino isn’t included). Here are some more details:
At this year’s Nintendo stand, I played Kirby Air Riders. The hybrid between a kart racing game and Super Smash Bros. absolutely blew me away. In fact, it was one of my highlights of this year’s Gamescom.
As if all that wasn’t enough, Nintendo sent me off with a stylish backpack containing a Mario Kart World pen and the Gamescom issue of Nintendo Magazine.
My colleague Samuel tried out the latest Anno game. He was so taken with it that he played it once at a press event and then again at the public stand. As you’d expect, the game made it onto his list of Gamescom highlights.
He came away from the event with this mini model-making kit and a chain of golden laurel leaves. But what do you think might be inside the little packet in the middle?
I played half an hour of this mysterious zombie survival game from South Korea, using homemade weapons to fight the undead in a gloomy, medieval setting. Given its strange controls, unintentionally comical animations and discombobulating soundscape full of audible loops, God Save Birmingham didn’t quite manage to win me over. But to be fair, the game’s still at an early stage of development.
At my press appointment, I was given a mystery box. You’ll never guess what’s inside.
I unfortunately didn’t get to play any games at my meeting with Polish studio 11bit. Instead, I was given a peek at Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault and Death Howl. The former is a follow-up to indie hit Moonlighter, which involves collecting loot that you then sell in your store. Death Howl, on the other hand, is a strange cross between a hard-hitting souls-like game and a deck-building game. From a graphics point of view, it looks really interesting.
I snapped up a cool bag decorated with images from a variety of games from the studio and publisher, including Frostpunk, Moonlighter and This War of Mine. There are even three pins to go with it.
11bit Studios also handed over the Steam keys for three titles from their line-up: Frostpunk 2, The Alters and Moonlighter.
At this year’s Gamescom, I tried the «Anime GTA» for the first time – it and completely overwhelmed me. With gacha mechanics à la Genshin Impact, the game involves running and driving in GTA fashion through a huge metropolis. You also occasionally have to vanquish demons in another dimension (of course). To enter races, you tune your vehicles to the max. You can also buy property and decorate your house in whatever way you want. Oh, and there are numerous minigames that involve missions like serving food and drinks in a restaurant. It’s an incredibly random, overwhelming mix of genres.
At the press stand, I got my hands on a number of goodies, including a fan, stickers, pins and cards decorated with characters from the game.
We also picked up a few smaller gifts from the event in Cologne. As you can see in the photo (from top to bottom, left to right), we ended up with two stickers from indie publisher Thunderful, stickers and pins from roguelike Ball X Pit, a lanyard from adventure thriller Crushed in Time, a sticker from multiplayer roguelite God Breakers, three stickers dedicated to the beautiful 2.5D pixel adventure Replaced and a pin from The Alters.
Our most observant readers might have noticed that I didn’t describe every merch package shown in the header image. We’re currently working on previews for Sonic Racing Crossworlds, High on Life 2, Phantom Blade Zero and 007 First Light. We’ll be running giveaways for these goodies as part of each preview. I’ll update this article with links to the previews once they’re published. To make sure you don’t miss anything, give this post a like and follow me as well as the topic of gaming.
Update: 26 August Our preview of Sonic Racing Crossworlds is out now. The article includes our Tails stuffed toy giveaway.
Update: 28 August Our preview of High on Life 2 is out now. A key for the first game is included among the goodies up for grabs:
We’re giving away our Gamescom merch. Use the box below to let us know which goodie you’d most like to get your hands on, preferably mentioning the number. If you’d like a Steam key, please tell us which of the three games you’d like. Good luck!
You can read more about Gamescom here:
My love of video games was unleashed at the tender age of five by the original Gameboy. Over the years, it's grown in leaps and bounds.
