Gamezebo was at Gamescom last week. And it was as busy as ever – quite often resembling the fiery pits of hell. There was some truly dodgy cosplay, constant noise coming from every angle, and teeming masses of sweaty hellspawn wherever you looked. That last one might have just been some of the attendees though. It was often hard to tell.

Fortunately there were some games to play and some intriguing projects to check out to help take our minds off all that. So here’s some of the things we saw during our walks around the (many) show floors.

Resident Evil Survival Unit

We didn’t have many organised media meetings as usual this year, but this was one of them – and it was a doozy. A joint effort from Joycity, Capcom, and Aniplex, this does feel very much like a joint effort between three companies. For better and for worse.

It starts like a traditional old school Resi game, with you in a hospital at the start of a – yes you guessed it – zombie invasion. We found the controls and movement to be spot on in this section, faithfully recreating the classic entries in the franchise. The cutscenes of doors opening and the slightly frustrating slow movement – it was all here. 

This is a game for mobile though, so perhaps inevitably there’s the inclusion of another mode – namely one where you have to keep your main base safe. So the game is a cycle of solo adventure and base protection. 

We’re not sure hardcore Resident Evil fans will be able to stomach that, but there is the welcome opportunity to see characters from various titles interact with each other (you can choose who you play as) – which they never have been able to before.

It’s going to be a free to play title and will be available later this year. If nothing else we’d recommend you give this intriguing collaborative title a try when it launches.

Gecko Gods

This was one we were personally very excited to play, and we got there early. Nobody was around and sadly a controller wasn’t set up so we had to struggle away with the mouse and keyboard controls – but you can still tell this might be a hidden gem when it launches on PC and Console later this year.

Revolving around navigating dusty mysterious locales as a tiny gecko, you can climb almost every wall and explore every crevice. We’re excited to play more of this one in a few months time. There’s a demo available on Steam right now too.

NACON booth

We quickly popped into the Nacon booth for a bit to see their latest kit for PC and Consoles. The Switch kit has especial prominence, including a rather large stand for the Switch 2 – pictured. Sadly it had no console in it, but it was more sturdy than we thought at first glance.

CrisisX

The very first step we made at Gamescom, the booth for this PC title from Hero Games was already teeming with people first thing in the morning. It’s an open world game where you have to survive against an endless horde of zombies. 

The introduction cutscene was very impressive – if not interactive in any way – and the actual gameplay seems solid enough, if not hugely original. This looks technically very impressive with how so many people can interact in the world, which to be fair was quite difficult to get across in an offline demo.

PaoPao

An upcoming PC and console title from developer ArtDock, this is a time management restaurant game where you can play as a range of cute animals. It’s nothing too spectacular, but the core mechanics seem solid enough and there’s a few side distractions such as being able to fish for ingredients to make the meals. 

eXtremeRate

We checked out this accessory focused stand in one of our quieter moments, and found a fair few cool things on show. The main thing that caught our eye were the translucent skins for the Switch and Switch 2 – pictured above. In terms of pricing it was competitive, and we’re likely to be reviewing a few bits and pieces from eXtremeRate in the coming months – stay tuned!

VECTOR

While ambling around the business area we bumped into the VECTOR booth, which offered something quite interesting – the chance for you to fully own your digital games via blockchain.

There’s an official site set up here, and you can join early access for the scheme which is looking to empower gamers and developers in an increasingly digital only world.

Neocraft booth

If you were brave (or foolish) enough to venture outside of the business areas – which we were, naturally – some of the booths on show were truly jaw dropping in both size and design.

One we checked out in detail was the AppGallery and Neocraft booth, which was always rammed whenever we went past. Neocraft are developers of Crystal of Atlan and Tree of Savior: NEO, two very accomplished mobile titles – and there were giveaways and presentations going on constantly showing the two games off. Here’s an interview about the booth in fact!

Would you like us to meet you at an event and cover you in a piece like the one above? Then please reach out, we love to hear from developers and publishers – just contact [email protected].