Day three of Gamescom was host to the Future Games Show, something we’re more familiar with seeing at E3. Also familiar are a lot of the games shown, as they’ve either debuted earlier in the week or been known about for a while, but a few new announcements offer plenty for fans of Souls-likes and metroidvanias in particular. As usual the whole show is embedded above and the individual games are below.

Warhammer 40K: Chaos Gate – Daemon Hunters

Developed by Complex Games (developers of other mobile 40K games) and published by Frontier this brand new turn based strategy game is a new entry in the Chaos Gate series which has been dormant since 1998. While the trailer is just CG guff, it’s very cool CG guff of the Grey Knights facing off against some of Papa Nurgle’s abominations. Daemonhunters is releasing in 2022.

Super Animal Royale

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Super Animal Royale at Gamescom this year but it is the first time we’re writing about it. This is a three-quarters perspective battle royale featuring cute animals murdering each other with various weapons. Do we really need to explain a battle royale game? Wake us up when one lets us play exclusively against bots and we’ll be interested. Super Animal Royale is out now and is free to play.

Life is Strange: True Colors

We get a nice cheery bit of gameplay from Life is Strange: True Colors that shows the protagonist discovering that an elderly shopkeep has advancing memory issues and offering to help her. No one will be seated during the thrilling “I can help you retrace your steps” scene! True Colors is releasing on 10 September 2021.

Sands of Aura

Action RPG Sands of Aura also got a gameplay trailer showing off a few seconds of action and inventory screen. Oh yeah! Scrolling through items, our favourite! We’re joking, the game promises deliberate and punishing combat, a welcome change from the usual ARPG fare of annihilating hordes of monsters with relative ease. Sands of Aura is coming to Steam Early Access on 21 October 2021.

Jurassic World Aftermath 2

The trailer doesn’t show much of this VR dino dodging adventure other than some rubble, a couple of tiny dinos, and the shadow of a T-Rex. We’d like to have more to say but the original game was Oculus Quest exclusive and it looks like this one will be following in its footsteps so our ability to cover it ends here. Aftermath 2 is releasing on 30 September 2021.

Project Relic

This one looks a lot faster than the average Souls-like with lots of running around and speedy monsters with huge attack ranges. There’s also a character with glowstick daggers so we’re just going to assume this is a bad acid trip at a rave in the woods. It’ll be quite a while before we get a better look at the game’s dark world though as it’s not due until 2023.

Moonglow Bay

There’s a voxel dog with his tongue hanging out! Sold! Look at the good boy! Who’s da bowsers? Moonglow Bay looks like a delightful little adventure with fishing, seals, and of course the blocky dog. The game is releasing on 7 October 2021 and will be on Game Pass.

In Sound Mind

Talk of a mysterious crash, rainy desolate roads, and a great big freakin’ skull chasing you through through shipping containers. Naturally there are spooky shadowy monsters too, gotta have cannon fodder. That’s what we call a good Friday night. This first person horror adventure looks like it has a lot of Alan Wake vibes. In Sound Mind is releasing on 28 September 2021.

Rustler

Medieval GTA is not a hard sell, especially when it’s full of silly things like a man getting squashed by a trebuchet launched bovine, a “pimp a horse” station, and guard horses with sirens and flashing lights. Rustler is releasing on 31 August 2021.

Salt & Sacrifice

The sequel to Salt & Sanctuary, this 2D Souls-like will be bringing one of the original game’s most requested features: online coop play. The game will feature both PvP and PvE gameplay. This will work by a complicated series of items and summons: using an item will attune the player character, allowing the summon of a random stranger to assist in your game but also open you to invasion by hostile players. Being invaded by hostile players will in-turn allow other players wearing a certain item to also join your world to hunt down the hostile invaders. There’ll also be different factions, with one even getting the ability to summon a powerful magical wraith by defeating a quota of zombies.

Timberborn

Beaver-based city builder Timberborn got a second trailer showing off its unique “timber-tech” world of industrious beavers and industrial progress. There’s not really anything new here but the premise is unique enough that we’re happy to see more of it regardless.

Trading Time

This island life sandbox is full of frogs! No, seriously, watch the trailer and you’ll see frogs absolutely everywhere. The goal of the game is to have a chill adventure while trading your way to repairing your ship in order to leave the island, presumably because you keep finding frogspawn in your underwear drawer.

SMALLAND

This survival crafting sandbox puts you in the role of a tiny bug sized person in a world filled with gigantic trees and dangerous insects to battle. It also looks like you’ll be able to build treehouses for your tiny person to live in. Hopefully squirrels won’t come for your nuts in the night. Ouch. SMALLAND is coming in 2021, with a demo releasing in October.

Dolmen

It’s been quite a while since we saw anything of this sci-fi Souls-like so this new gameplay trailer is a welcome surprise. We’ve also got a better idea of what the game’s about thanks to the narration: an installation on an alien world has become infested with creatures (and who knows what else) and it’s your job to grab your shooting and stabbing tools and get to work making mincemeat out of the various horrors within. We especially dig the Zerg-like creature designs. Dolmen is releasing in 2022.

MADiSON

Described by the host as a first-person psychological horror experience where you use an instant camera to develop pictures of demons and unravel terrifying truths. Cue the sepia tint, spinning camera, and sprinting through brightly coloured hallways to make it to a gas mask jump scare. Not our cup of tea but we’re sure horror game aficionados will get a kick out of it.

Soulstice

Soulstice is an action RPG where you’ll play as a warrior known as a Chimera (two sisters bound together, one living and the other a ghost) who must battle supernatural people-corrupting entities known as Wraiths. There are strong NieR Automata vibes in the gameplay shown, with flashy melee attacks with a huge sword and a floating companion, plus a brief glimpse of a side-scrolling platforming bit.

Vampire: the Masquerade – Blood Hunt

Sharkmob staff Jaqub Ajmal and David Sirland give a brief rundown of what to expect during the game’s Early Access window, beginning 7 September 2021. Initial testing will be server stress testing which will run until 13 September, followed by a day of downtime before the servers re-open on 15 September to start the game’s first season proper. Unlike other battle royale games, Blood Hunt will have an ongoing story and changing environments. Like other battle royale games it’ll have a battle pass with cosmetics and progression boosts.

Medieval Dynasty

This open world survival crafting sandbox about creating and managing your own medieval settlement has been in Early Access for a while but this new trailer comes with the news of a 23 September 2021 release date.

Imp of the Sun

Judging by the gameplay shown in this trailer Imp of the Sun will be a metroidvania that draws inspiration from Peruvian culture. You’ll be playing as an imp tasked by a god to recover their stolen power from the four corners of their empire. Imp of the Sun is releasing in early 2022.

Man Eater: Truth Quest

Shark-em-up Man Eater is getting its first DLC, Truth Quest, on 31 August 2021. The DLC will bring a new story, a new island to terrorize, new creatures to defeat, and new evolutions for your shark. The trailer shows an awesome Pacific Rim style beast that shoots a huge green laser from its mouth. There’ll also be more of Chris Parnell’s wonderful comedic narration.

Tails of Iron

Tails of Iron is an action platformer set in a dark world inhabited by mice and frogs, with the latter having invaded the former. As a survivor of the invasion, you’ll go on a journey of vengeance and murder everything in your way, with low-key gory deaths for some of the game’s larger enemies. Tails of Iron is coming on 17 September 2021.

Gungrave GORE

In this brief CG trailer Brandon Heat, ex-mafioso and current undead coffin-toting cowboy rides a rocket coffin into a group of thugs and murders a bunch of them with almost comedic goriness. We wish there were more to it, but as far as building hype goes they had us at the title. Gungrave GORE is coming in 2022.

Alaskan Truck Simulator

Not to be confused with SCS software’s Truck Simulator series. Alaskan Truck Simulator is from Road Studio and PlayWay, which should tell you exactly what kind of low budget jank to expect. Still, it’s a game about driving trucks through dangerous environments and that could be fun. Alaskan Truck Simulator is coming in Q1 2022.

War Hospital

War Hospital will put you in control of a British WW1 field hospital, tasked with treating injuries and building a small society of survivors and life savers amid brutal trench combat and constant artillery shelling filling up your limited hospital space. War Hospital is coming in 2022.

Jurassic World Evolution 2

Game Director Richard Newbold and confused uncle Jeff Goldblum joined the presentation to provide more info and waste our time with asinine comments respectively. We get a look at two new species; the derpy dolphin lookingIchthyosaurs, and a flying dinosaur called a cearadactylus.

Nine Years of Shadows

Nine Years of Shadows is a metroidvania about a woman seeking to end a curse on her people by returning colour to the land. She’s joined by a fluffy toy bear called Alpino that provides ranged attacks. Despite talking up their composers, the real stand out of the trailer is the beautiful and twisted pixel art, especially the giant creatures lurking in the backgrounds.

FAR: Changing Tides

Waterlogged adventure FAR: Changing Tides got a new gameplay trailer that recaps some of the gameplay shown yesterday but also plenty of new stuff like diving underwater, using a hose for something, and swimming around in ruined underwater facilities amongst shoals of fish and jellyfish. FAR: Changing Tides is coming in Early 2022.

Balsa Model Flight Simulator

Balsa, as the title suggests, is a game about designing, building, and flying model planes. You’ll be able to fly from a third person perspective or from on the ground with a remote and even engage in multiplayer battles or single player missions. Think Kerbal Space Program (the dev is former lead developer for KSP) but for model aircraft and you’ll be pretty close. Balsa is currently running a beta playtest via Steam and you can sign up via their store page.

TREPANG2

F.E.A.R. inspired hyper violent shooter Trepang is getting a sequel and if this gameplay trailer is to be believed (and it should be) it’s going to be a wild ride of non-stop blasting goons and doing sick acrobatics while shooting firearms at anything that moves. Just like the original, there’s only one thing to remember: No survivors. A demo is available via Steam.

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl

Smash Bros wannabe Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl dropped two new trailers for fan-favourite characters Catdog and April O’Neil being included in the roster of childhood defining pugilists. Why are they fighting? Which end does Catdog poop out of? Who picks up after them? All these mysteries and more will definitely not be answered when the game launches in Fall 2021.

That’s it for the show. That was a lot of games! Fans of Souls-likes got plenty to whet their whistles but for us the stars of the show were Balsa Model Flight Simulator and TREPANG2. Both games have a high pedigree and the potential to stoke interest in their particular niches. Man Eater: Truth Quest is an honourable mention too, the base game is a blast and a DLC full of new mutations and areas to terrorize is a no-brainer for the wishlist and would have been pick of the show if it were a full game. Other honorable mentions include Timberborn because building a beaver city looks great and Rustler because medieval GTA is not a hard sell.