With E3 dead and buried for a good few years now, Gamescom is the undisputed king of gaming conferences, offering gamers, exhibitionists, and media a means of coming together in perfect harmony to stage one of the grandest gaming shows on earth.
But, this isn’t just an expo to dress up in cosplay and buy more merch than you can carry. This is also a place to get a sneak peek at the most anticipated and exciting gaming projects on the horizon.
So, naturally, I made the pilgrimage to the Koelnmesse, racked up crazy numbers on the ol’ pedometer, and played a slew of incredible games set to steal our lives in the coming weeks and months.
We played a lot of games, and it’s a shame that we can’t talk about each and every one. But we want to highlight the cream of the crop, so here are the ten best games that we happened to see at Gamescom 2025.
Due to having attended SGF recently, we opted to pass on certain games, such as Capcom’s upcoming titles, so while they are incredible, they won’t be on this list. Also, we will be including games we attended extended hands-off sessions for.
10
Nutmeg
Unbelievable, Jeff!
I’ll admit that the inclusion of this one may be partly down to the fact that it taps into a very specific niche that I find myself enamored with. But, bias be damned, I want more people to know about this upcoming football-focused card game.
Nutmeg is essentially a perfect blend of football management sim gameplay doubled up with an addictive top-trumps-style deckbuilder where your Panini Sticker-inspired cards can help you control the midfield, boss your opponents, and ultimately come out the winner when the final whistle blows.
It’s a time capsule to the era before the Premier League took over English football, and comes packed with nostalgic fan service that will appeal to football fans, young and old.
But, above all, it’s a deceptively deep management sim that toes the line between meticulous planning and casual arcade fun perfectly. It’s a game sure to steal your free time, and one I cannot wait to dive back into.
9
A Storied Life: Tabitha
Your Life In Boxes
If you’re someone who loved the cozy catharsis of sorting items in Unpacking, then you’re sure to love A Storied Life: Tabitha, which effectively reverse engineers this experience, having you pack up the belongings of the recently deceased.
Much like Unpacking, this game tells a silent story through the items you find, and asks you to sort them into a Sell, Keep, or Trash pile. Which sounds routine, but due to the sentiment we all naturally attach to random tat, it’s a lot harder than you might think.
Combine this with a grid-based packing system reminiscent of Resident Evil, and a memoir Mad Libs mini-game allowing you to flesh out the story of Tabitha, and you have a game that is not only satisfying from moment to moment, but will pull on your heartstrings, too.
If you’re a cozy gaming fan and need a new game to look forward to, Tabitha is one that needs to be wishlisted, pronto.
8
Cronos: The New Dawn
Such Is Our Calling
Of all the games we have listed on this best of Gamescom roundup, Cronos is one of the few games you will have the chance to play very soon indeed.
We were treated to an extended preview of this ambitious horror epic, and we really liked what we saw. Cronos offers an enigmatic world to uncover, with a palpable atmosphere that keeps you on edge as you navigate the claustrophobic halls and dingy, dilapidated ruins. It also features Dead Space-style combat that will appeal to action horror fans.
However, this isn’t an all-guns-blazing sort of endeavor, as you’ll need to make every bullet count, manage resources carefully, and make full use of the world and its anomalies to make it out of each encounter alive.
Plus, you also need to make sure that enemies are truly dead, as one can merge with another to form a super-variant that can turn a near-victory into an uphill battle. It’s the first big swing from Bloober since The Medium, and from what we’ve seen, it could just be their best game yet.
7
Tides of Tomorrow
Life in Plastic, It’s Fantastic
I’d be the first to admit that I’m not the biggest fan of those ‘butterfly effect’ narrative-driven games with millions of different endings and hardly any actual gameplay. But I’m always open to seeing if one will buck the trend and change my tune. Something that Tides of Tomorrow looks primed and poised to do.
I’ve seen plenty of games of late push the ‘save the seas’ narrative, but Tides of Tomorrow goes all out to offer something new, placing you in a world of consequence where microplastics are so rife that you’ll need to find medicine to effectively stop yourself from becoming the trash that pollutes the waterlogged world you inhabit.
This need for meds serves as the spine of the story, but the standout feature is that your time in this vibrant bubblegum daydream of a world can be affected by those that come before, as asynchronous multiplayer is at the heart of the experience.
In short, ToT promises a player-driven narrative where your altruism and core decisions will shape the world of those that come after. Which, in a game about sea pollution, is a pretty profound way to hammer home the message if you ask me.
6
Valor Mortis
Napoleon Dynamite
A quick confession. I absolutely sucked at Ghostrunner, and was more than happy to fumble through with the most terrible times possible just to reach the end credits. So, when I heard that the Ghostrunner guys were doing a Soulslike, I was a little worried it would be another war of attrition.
But, after sitting down to play the opening hour or so, I was pleasantly surprised to find the gameplay is much slower, more methodical, and unmistakably Soulslike, while still feeling like a reactive, fast-paced epic like Ghostrunner. Truly, it’s the best of both worlds.
The first-person perspective is more than just a novelty. It’s a means of offering more immersive, intense action, and it’s what sets this one apart from its contemporaries.
I’ll concede, there are times when it feels a little more like a Bioshock-like rather than a Soulslike. But it’s hardly an unwanted comparison, and playing a small portion of this one has only made me hungrier for more.
5
There Are No Ghosts At The Grand
Who You Gonna Call?
Sometimes you come across a game that offers a gaming cocktail that you would have never mixed yourself, but as soon as you get a taste, you realize you can’t go back to a world where it doesn’t exist.
At Gamescom, that game for me was There Are No Ghosts At The Grand. A quirky and comical game that is effectively House Flipper meets Powerwash Simulator, with some musical theatre thrown in there for good measure.
The weird and wonderful writing is what immediately grabs your attention, but before long, you’ll be given the ability to renovate, decorate, and change The Grand and the town around the totally not-haunted hotel into something that’s more your style.
Sadly, the portion we played didn’t feature a lot of ghost-busting, but as we understand it, when you aren’t restoring the Hotel to its former glory, you’ll be sucking them up in your multi-purpose vacuum. If you’re not into people spontaneously breaking into song, this might not be for you. But if you’re a fan of a singsong, this is a must-play.
4
Hollow Knight: Silksong
Wipe The Clown Make-up Off
I’ll level with you. Had I known that this much-anticipated sequel was set for a shock release in mere weeks, I wouldn’t have waited in line for hours to play a 10-15 minute demo. That said, the one thing I learned from this short jaunt back into this world of bugs is that Silksong is indeed real, and it’s exactly what you would expect.
The game plays more or less the same as the last mechanically, with smooth platforming and 2D soulslike combat. The visuals and sound design are still out of this world, with Christopher Larkin offering yet another standout assortment, and boss battles are still a tricky test for even veteran Metroidvania fans.
But this is the main reason I can’t place Silksong any higher on this list, as there were no jaw-dropping revelations, thrills, or spills to report. It remains to be seen if this game will offer the same phenomenal world design, deep lore, and rewarding metroidvania sequence skips.
But don’t confuse this with skepticism. I have every faith that Team Cherry will pull it off, and we won’t have to wait too long to see if it all worked out.
3
Zero Parades
I-Spy A CRPG Masterclass
I’m very aware that a huge portion of the gaming community is completely unwilling to support this new iteration of Za/Um, mainly due to the new-look lineup of staff after a very heated legal battle. But, controversial as it may be, I’m not one of these people.
That said, I was naturally very skeptical that this team, or any team for that matter, could replicate even a fragment of the success and CRPG excellence of Disco Elysium. It’s hard to capture lightning in a bottle, and lightning rarely strikes twice. But Zero Parades has filled me with hope.
This espionage-focused new title looks like the real deal, with the bones of Disco Elysium clear to see through the art style, the ‘let the intrusive thoughts win’ writing, and the CRPG systems. But it’s clear that Zero Parades is very much its own beast.
It’s a much more solemn affair, with no Kim Kitsuragi companion by your side to be your moral compass. It’s a game where you play as a pre-ruined protagonist rather than one that ruins their life in real-time, and it’s a game where the end of history is the dominant theme that ties everything together.
Plus, upon asking the devs when we could expect this game to come to market, while they wouldn’t give us a concrete release window, they did say, “It’ll be sooner than you think.”
So, all you doubters and naysayers, it could be time to eat humble pie before you know it.
2
The Blood of Dawnwalker
There Will Be Blood
Going into my appointment with Rebel Wolves, I was rather reductively referring to The Blood of Dawnwalker as ‘Vampire Witcher’. But, as it turns out, that label is a pretty fitting one after seeing what this game has to offer.
This vast open-world RPG offers an eye-catching medieval setting where vampires rule the roost and blood is the most powerful currency, and you play as Coen, a Dawnwalker able to walk in the light during the day but who embraces the night, using his vampiric powers to bend the world to his will.
I mention this day/night split because it is, at least in my humble opinion, the most unique aspect of this game. As completing a quest during the day versus at night usually leads to a completely new experience that needs a very varied approach.
But, outside the structured time limitations and day/night considerations, this game also boasts fluid combat, a wealth of killer Vampire powers to play around with, and looks set to tell a compelling tale of bloodlust. One that we simply cannot wait to sink our fangs into.
1
Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival
Pleasures Of The Flesh
Of all the games that I played at Gamescom, the one that I went into with the least expectations of by some distance was Clive Barker’s Hellraiser Revival. Mainly because, thanks to Clive Barker’s Jericho, I had been burned before.
However, among a sea of incredible horror titles like Cronos, Resident Evil Requiem, and various others at Gamescom, Hellraiser stood out from the pack. Offering an experience that is equal parts grotesque, unsettling, terrifying, and fun.
The gameplay is very modern Resident Evil spec, offering first-person survival horror that fully immerses you in the surreal world Pinhead calls home. But this game isn’t just sadomasochistic gore and debauchery for the sake of it. It’s an unapologetically true-to-source-material game that is both a joy and a nightmare to experience.
The combat is appropriately cumbersome for a horror game, the visuals are crisp, the atmosphere is palpable, and the world-building and unique story serve as a fitting jumping-in point for Hellraiser virgins.
It was the surprise package from Gamescom for me, and I cannot wait for this horror epic to emerge as a horror juggernaut to rival the big boys.
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