gamescom 2013 Highlights: Diablo III, XCOM, Assassin’s Creed & More!
Today was the first day of the gamescom floor being open to the media. Tomorrow through the 25th the conference will be open to the public, meaning fans of games will have full access to hundreds of game demos for upcoming games. Here are some of the highlights from today’s news.
–Diablo III: Reaper of Souls is the name of the newly-announced expansion pack for Diablo III. Featured in the newest edition is a new playable class called the “Crusader,” which plays like a mid-range melee/minor magic user. As well, the level cap is raised to 70, a “Smart Drop” looting system has been introduced, a new act featuring antagonist Malthael and new monsters.
–
Elder Scrolls Online
will officially feature a subscription model. In an interview with
at gamescom Matt Firor, GM of ZeniMax Online, defended the decision by saying they will make a “commitment to have ongoing content at regular intervals after launch. This type of experience is best paired with a one-time fee per month, as opposed to many smaller payments that would probably add up to more than $14.99/month any way.”
–Dark Souls II will be going into a special closed beta exclusively for the PS3 on October 5. You can learn more about the registration process from the Dark Souls Facebook page starting September 5th, so make sure you tick “Get Notifications” so you don’t miss a thing!
-Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag writer Darby McDevitt said that “The main path in the game takes about 20 hours on average,” in an interview with NowGamer. He cited the naval battles involved create a different pace in the game’s exploration, resulting in a longer single player campaign than in previous Assassin’s Creed titles.
-Sonic Lost World revealed a new gameplay trailer at gamescom. The video also featured a “Deadly Six Edition” with more content if you pre-order the game before its October 18th release date.
–
XCOM: Enemy Within
has been revealed as an expansion
to XBOM: Enemy Unknown. New abilities, enemies, weapons, equipment and 47 new maps are in store for the upcoming add-on content. Right now Enemy Within is geared towards a November 12th release, just a few days before the
. The timing of this reveal is excellent for the team at 2K Games
for their recent XCOM title “The Bureau.”
-South Park: The Stick of Truth revealed some new screenshots at gamescom, including the UI for both in-battle and walking around scenarios. We’re still itching for a release date, which has not been confirmed yet. The goal is this holiday season, however.
-The Order: 1886, the PS4 exclusive, will launch sometime in 2014. Unfortunately most of the revealed information is behind closed doors with privy information given to select media outlets, but it seems that it may launch in late summer next year. I would have thought it would be released around late October/mid-November in time for Black Friday and the holiday season, but the sooner release the better!
-Xbox One UI screenshots were shown off at gamescom. Expect more stuff that looks like this:
They’re really sticking with their Windows 8 look, aren’t they? More info from the source; “It’s worth mentioning that there will be a new follow / follower mode when it comes to friends etc. Think twitter, and you get how this works. This basically means you can follow 1,000 players, and have unlimited followers, doing away with the 100 limit of the Xbox 360. A welcome relief for many.”
It will definitely help those big-name gamers with millions of Youtube and Twitch subscribers, or gamers who just happen to add almost everyone they play with online.
-Major Nelson tweeted that Microsoft will be providing a live show tomorrow from gamescom at 12 PM EDT/6 PM CET. It’s good of the company to give fans worldwide another look into the console on video for the first time since puling off more 180’s than a Tony Hawk vert trick. Perhaps they will even give us the release date for the Xbox One? We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out!
Check out our other gamescom coverage!
Those are the big highlights from gamescom Day 1. What news of the day sticks out for you? Let us know in the comments below!