Gamescom Diary Day 2

I’m heading back into the centre of Cologne as I write this, ready for the second day of Gamescom. One of the best things about this, and I know it’s a hackneyed old stereotype, is just how cheap and efficient German trains are. A week of travel is costing just €30, they’re very rarely late (though that does actually happen), and they have double decker carriages. That’s pretty neat in and of itself.

But once you’re a few beers down, they’re not even close to being the best thing about Germany. I’m not staying in Cologne itself, but in a nearby town – hence the need to catch a train – and walking back from the station, there are rabbits on practically every patch of grass in sight.

They’re very flighty, hopping away as you come near and flashing their white bottoms as they do so. I’ll admit to drunkely trying to and failing to take photos of them in the dark, but they are terribly cute, and though I imagine they’re considered a bit of a pest, I’d take them over foxes any day of the week. Even the German word for rabbit, ‘kaninchen’, is cute.

Walking from the station came after a day with a lot of going around on foot. As a generally sedentary gentleman, the first day to a games expo is always a shock to the system. Just going from one appointment to another seriously adds up pretty damn quickly, so that I easily brushed past the eight mile mark. Not an inconsiderable distance, even for someone wearing as such remarkably silly shoes as I do; they have individual toes.

Today’s not going to let up either, but first I ought to try and reflect on yesterday. It’s already turned into a bit of a blur, but the two games I highlighted – Dark Souls 3 and Hellblade – lived up to that in different ways. There’s a lot of common ground between Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne, it seems, with a similar visual style evident and faster movement key to the evolving gameplay. Meanwhile, Hellblade was still very, very early, but does show quite a lot of promise with its fascinating attempt to tackle a Celtic warrior’s struggle with her own psychosis and internal demons.

Amongst others that I saw, EA also had a lot of good things to show, even too many for me to manage to see. From the stunning visuals of the all inclusive Need for Speed reboot to Mirror’s Edge Catalyst’s attempt to realise that open world free running dream of the original. The game that left me a little indifferent was actually Star Wars Battlefront, with the newly-announced Fighter Squadron mode. It was certainly very busy, with 20 players and 20 AI crowding the sky, but it lacked some of that visual pizazz I was expecting and the gameplay needs a little tweaking. Though likely in vain, I hope to squeeze in more time with each of these before my time at Gamescom is up.

Today is crammed full of similarly promising titles, from Fallout 4 to seeing what Techland have planned for Dying Light to the covers being taken off Homefront: The Revolution. I’m just glad I get to avoid the show floor once more, which as the show properly opens up to the public, will become a special kind of hell.