Royal Blue’s Favorite Games from Gamescom 2016
Many gamers, casual and hardcore alike, know about the world-renowned Electronic Entertainment Exposition (E3 for short) that goes down every June in California, but not as many know about Gamescom. Gamescom is a video game trade fair that occurs every year in Germany, dedicated solely to video games and not the mega companies that create gaming consoles. This pushes names like Microsoft and Sony out of the spotlight so that notoriety can be paid to awesome games coming out, regardless of the platform they operate on. Now that the next PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are finally reaching their full potential performance-wise, gaming studios are looking to claim top spots in this new generation of consoles. These were Royal Blue’s favorite games from the massive trade fair this year.
For Honor (Xbox 1, PS4, and PC)- Release Date: February 14th 2017
In an age where the first person shooter game type is still dominating, it’s refreshing to see a massive studio like Ubisoft, making their next big flagship title a stab-em-up game instead of a shoot-em-up game. In an alternate future, samurai, Vikings, and medieval knights have been locked in a 3-way war for centuries, waging all-out war against one another. Using an atypical combat system, For Honor is less of a hack-and-slash game, and more of a calculated and tense dance between you and your opponent. We’re just hoping day 1 launch runs smoothly for For Honor, as Ubisoft is still doing damage control with how poorly Watch Dogs did on the market.
Battlefield 1 (Xbox 1, PS4, and PC)- Release Date: October 21st, 2016 
The best thing EA has done for their PR, at this point, was releasing the trailer for Battlefield 1 around the same time Activision released their trailer for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. Why, you ask? Because, tired of all these Halo wannabe games, people immediately sided with Battlefield’s return to the retro, and decided to make COD: Infinite Warfare the most disliked YouTube video in history. Battlefield 1 (as its name implies) takes place during World War 1, and features the amazing clashing of old and new technology that was associated with that era of war. Players will take part in massive battles on land, air, sea, town, and desert, in massive 100-player matches. If you’re a fan of larger-than-life military combat, you’ll definitely want to cop Battlefield 1 when it hits shelves in October.
Star Citizen (PC)- Release Date: TBA 
Star Citizen is a MMO FPS game for the PC, and it’s certainly one of the boldest games ever made for a number of reasons. First off, it is a PC exclusive title that will remain that way, considering there are currently no commercial PC’s in existence that can handle the games steep run requirements. Secondly, it is officially the biggest crowdfunded project in the history of the world, receiving well over $100 million on Kickstarter. This game is over 7 years in the making and still not complete, so as you can imagine, they’re aiming for a space exploration game that can also kind of do everything. We’ll let its creator explain the project in full.
Little Nightmares (Xbox 1, PS4, and PC)- Release date: Spring 2017
Little Nightmares is the creepy little surprise no one was expecting this year. The 3D platform uses an eerie and creepy environment, with a tiny young girl as its main character, as she explores a dark dangerous world through solving puzzles and running away from frightening pig cooks. If you’re an indie gamer, Little Nightmares looks like it’s already a great choice for you.
Final Fantasy XV (PS4)- Release Date September 30th, 2016
Finally, a game literally a decade in the making is almost here. Square Enix was looking to reclaim their Sony throne with Final Fantasy XV, as the last couple Final Fantasy games were struggling to find their place in the fast-paced future of gaming. Getting rid of the turn-based combat, FFXV adopts a style of play similar to that of the Kingdom Hearts series, trying to emulate the more popular action-packed gameplay styles of today. But the question all fans are wondering; is FFXV really going to live up to over a decade of hype?
What was your favorite title that was featured at Gamescom? Do you think all of these games will meet the big expectations of the gaming community? Or will some surely fall short of their potential?