After a good showing from Opening Night Live this year, I was hoping for some good things to come from Future Games Show. With over an hour and a half of reveals, it sure was a fun time watching the trailers. There was a bit of crossover with Opening Night Live, as games such as The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin and Cronos: The New Dawn also featured here. So, discounting those, what did I find interesting from this showing?

Well, after using that word, I have to lead with this one. Discounty is a game I first learnt of through Tiny Teams. I had considered giving the demo for it a go, then realised it came out this month. The trailer from Future Games Show served as a launch trailer, giving a general idea of what this supermarket-based life simulator is all about. Running the store, interacting with the people of the village, and discovering the drama as it unveils.

There is a lot to be engaged with here, it seems. How the store looks and what is sold will be entirely up to me, offering up a great amount of freedom. The villagers will also be reactive to the growth of the store, which provides an interesting moral-like system. Am I someone who will push to be successful above all else, or put the needs of the people first? Thoughts on this one will be coming very soon.

With Road Kings appearing at Opening Night Live, I did wonder if there might be any more trucking games on the way. Turns out, the greats are on their way to consoles. SCS Software confirmed that both Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator will arrive on Xbox Series and PS5 in the near future with a short trailer. It’s going to be very interesting to see how the consoles run them.

As, no denying it, there are so many controls for running the various systems. The basics can be mapped to a controller on the PC versions, with some systems such as radio control ignored. But even so, the hand occasionally has to get on that keyboard at some point. However, should that be handled well, console players are in for a treat with these two. They offer such a great gameplay core that can keep me invested for hours. No wonder that Euro Truck Simulator 2 is one of my most played games on Steam.

Some interesting new ones to watch for me, starting with Recur. A sidescrolling puzzler, time is tied to the direction of travel. Heading to the east makes time move forward, while heading west reverses time. Using this, situations such as boxes falling through a roof and a train flying off a broken bridge can be solved. I’m looking forward to seeing what other ways kaleidoscube can mess with time for some fun puzzles.

A voxel-based city builder, Town To City looks like it will provide a lot of freedom when it comes to making a town. Standard buildings, market stalls, structures such as fountains and plenty more can be used to help the town flourish. The growing population will have their own ideas for the town, which can be implemented for rewards. With this being a fully off-grid city builder, creations can really show a person’s create flair. Galaxy Grove will be launching Town To City into Early Access 16/September.

Witchspire caught my eye from that oh so lovely animated trailer. It gives a great idea of what this magical world has to offer. There’s befriending creatures found across the world, with battles against dark creatures to get stuck into. There also seems to be some building here. Witchspire is sure to enchant when Envar Games releases it to Early Access next year.

And lastly, Skate. Developers from Full Circle appeared to talk more about the vision they have for this next evolution of the series. Showing off a lot of pre-alpha gameplay to illustrate that. This MMO-style take on the series will see worlds populated with skaters as they trick, flip, grind, or even run around these locations. Now with the additions of climbing and swinging.

The trick system in general has been made better, with limitless possibilities for trick combinations according to the developers. New tricks, new ways to get into tricks… there seems to be a lot of ways to play in these locations. Which are looking so good. It was teased that an update players have been hoping for will be coming next week, so I reckon we’ll be getting a date for when Skate goes into Early Access.

There were so many announcements that came from Future Games Show, and even FGS Live that followed after. I still need to check out all those reveals, though I’ve already seen apocalyptic survival game God Save Birmingham. Its 14th century vibes are sure to be fun exploring. That ends my coverage of this year’s Gamescom, but there’s still a few more days for reveals and thoughts from the event to discover.

Images Taken From:
Discounty | Steam
Town To City | Steam