Gamescom Opening Night Live 2024: what games are confirmed and what’s rumoured?

This year’s Gamescom looks to have a stronger line-up than usual, including Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6, Indiana Jones, and the next Dark Pictures.

Gamescom Opening Night Live might not be as significant as The Game Awards in terms of major announcements, but it does have a track record of throwing out the odd surprise.

Last year’s event saw the reveal of Little Nightmares 3 and Thank Goodness You’re Here!, along with lengthier showcases for Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty expansion, Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and Starfield.

Based on what’s been confirmed so far, along with what’s spinning in the rumour mill, this year’s Opening Night Live could offer up some genuine surprises. So what’s fuelling our optimism? Here’s a rundown of all the games expected at Geoff Keighley’s opening salvo for Gamescom.

When is Gamescom Opening Night Live 2024?

The presentation will be streamed live from Cologne, Germany on Tuesday August 20, starting at 8pm CET in Europe and 7pm BST in the UK.

There will be a pre-show hosted by Kyle Bosman prior to the main event, which usually holds some small game announcements. You’ll be able to stream the entire event on Gamescom’s YouTube and Twitch channels.

What games are confirmed?

A surprising amount of games have already been announced for the show, by host Geoff Keighley, Xbox, and various other publishers.

Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 will showcase a first-look at the campaign during the event, after Activision recently debuted this entry’s Zombies mode.

Indiana Jones And The Great Circle is also confirmed. While there’s no exact details on what will be shown, it’s very likely we’ll get a concrete release date for this year.

Although it was recently delayed to next year, Avowed is also expected to still feature, and Starfield’s first expansion Shattered Space is also locked in. So it’s a fairly big deal for Xbox, especially as Sony and Nintendo will not be taking part.

Opening Night Live is the opening kick-off for Gamescom, which, now that E3 is no more, is the largest gaming convention in the world. Although unlike E3 most of it is open to the public.

The convention takes place in Cologne, Germany and spans four days in total, from 21-25 August, with Opening Night Live taking place the day prior.

Will any new games be shown?

Geoff Keighley has explicitly stated there will be ‘new game announcements’, and we already know some of the titles to expect.

Little Nightmares developer Tarsier Studios is set to reveal its next game which, based on the initial teaser trailer, features a talking pig with its guts hanging out.

Supermassive Games has also teased the next instalment in The Dark Pictures Anthology for the showcase. The last entry, The Devil In Me, featured a short trailer for the next game called Directive 8020, which confirmed a sci-fi setting.

The developer is also working on Dead By Daylight spin-off The Casting Of Frank Stone and Little Nightmares 3, so it’s possible those could be featured in some capacity too.

What else could appear at Gamescom Opening Night Live 2024?

Following the Borderlands movie earlier this month, and many comments from Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford over the past year, there’s a chance Borderlands 4 could finally be announced at Gamescom.

Another possible candidate is Valve’s shooter Deadlock, which is already being playtested by thousands on Steam. The hero shooter leaked back in May, so it’s strange that it hasn’t been officially announced already.

Many games slated to come out this year are also likely to appear. These include Atlus’ Metaphor: ReFantazio, Konami’s Silent Hill 2 remake, Life Is Strange: Double Exposure, Slitterhead, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2.

The only 2024 game that definitely won’t be shown is Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which Geoff Keighley ruled out early this month.

So what wildcards could we see? Microsoft has already announced its sizeable Gamescom slate, but there’s a chance Fable, Perfect Dark, or The Outer Worlds 2 could sneak in.

There’s been no word about Kingdom Hearts 4 since it was announced two years ago either, although that’s probably more likely for the Tokyo Game Show in September.

Based on the amount of Tomb Raider rumours and crossovers recently, including a Lara Croft skin in Dead by Daylight, there’s also a decent chance we could see the brand new Tomb Raider title from Crystal Dynamics, which is believed to be open world.

When you consider Opening Night Live’s past though, it’s perhaps more likely we’ll be given some bizarre oddity instead, like that game based on Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon nobody has heard from since.

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