My average screen time for the year increased dramatically at Gamescom 2025; it was to be expected considering I was there to play video games all day, everyday. However, when you’re playing so many consecutively, don’t they all just blur into one?
Not in the case of these eight games below. From the Wild West to the depths of Hell, here’s the games from Gamescom 2025 that I can’t stop thinking about.
Outlaws + Handful of Missions: Remaster
Available on: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Release date: November 20 2025
Few developers have done more for the preservation of video game history in recent years than Nightdive Studios. The Washington-based team has remastered the likes of Star Wars Dark Forces and System Shock 2; the next on its production line is another classic first-person shooter originally published by LucasArts.
1997’s Outlaws is set in the Wild West where we play as a retired Marshal named James Anderson who embarks on a quest for revenge. As was the case with Dark Forces, this remaster has stunning new cutscenes and visuals that are rich in color, as well as online multiplayer modes like deathmatch and capture the flag.
Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection
Available on: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 1/2, PC
Release date: TBC 2025
Atari’s upcoming Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is more like a virtual museum than a traditional bundle of old games. Included is more than three hours of documentary video that charts the history of the controversial fighting franchise, 90 minutes of archival footage, original artwork made by Mortal Kombat’s co-creator, John Tobias, as well as a bunch of notebooks and vintage adverts to peruse.
It’s not short on games either; there’s 23 in total with each one having different console variations tagged on. The fourth game in the series has been emulated for the first time too and is included here alongside the likes of Mortal Kombat 1-3 and Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance.
Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival
Available on: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Release date: TBC 2025/2026
I doubt anyone at Gamescom was quite prepared for what the Hellraiser: Revival demo threw at them. It opened with an explicit sex scene involving self-mutilation and of course, the Lament Configuration, a golden puzzle box seen in both the film series and Clive Barker’s original novels that has the power to summon Pinhead and his gnarly crew of Cenobites.
After the creatures show up, we’re left running (stark naked) through the labyrinthine walls of Hell, as main protagonist Aiden, before being accosted by a deranged cult back in the real world. That’s when the demo ushered in a wave of gory action involving visceral melee combat and gunplay. Hellraiser: Revival will be a lot to stomach when it comes out, but it’s shaping up to be a memorable (or mentally scarring) horror game.
Super Meat Boy 3D
Available on: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Release date: TBC early 2026
Dropping Meat Boy into a 3D world adds a brand new layer of complexity to a platforming series that was already fairly tough to begin with. Super Meat Boy 3D is reminiscent of its 2D predecessors – our diminutive block of flesh journeys through a series of increasingly bizarre levels to rescue Bandage Girl from the evil Dr Fetus.
Aside from just running and jumping through the game’s intricately designed (and sadistic) puzzles, you’ll have to contend with a different range of movement beyond just up, down, left and right. Meat Boy can now move forwards and backwards, plus there’s your perception of depth to contend with when leaping across ledges. Tricky as it might be, this new iteration was a romp at Gamescom.
John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando
Available on: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Release date: TBC early 2026
Film director John Carpenter of Halloween and The Thing fame knocked moviemaking on the head several years ago – he now just hangs out playing video games and watching basketball. Toxic Commando is precisely the type of game I picture him playing in his retirement.
It’s a slick co-op shooter in the vein of Left 4 Dead filled with wonderfully daft splatter punk gore and over-the-top action. I played a demo alongside three other players where we were tasked with ticking off several objectives while running around a vast woodland. You can steal cars to get around quicker, collect tons of different weapons and of course, take part in violent shootouts against hordes of zombies.
Reanimal
Available on: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, PC
Release date: TBC 2026
Made by the team behind the first two Little Nightmares games, Reanimal is an unsettling co-operative horror adventure set in a surrealist world; it’s somewhere between a Tim Burton and David Lynch movie.
Two players take on the roles of a brother and sister who are searching for their missing buddies on an island inhabited by some rather disturbing monsters. Working in tandem, you’ll have to solve puzzles and survive run-ins with these creatures in the game’s minimalist, yet challenging gameplay.
Nutmeg!
Available on: PC
Release date: TBC 2026
Part soccer management simulator, part deck-building card game, Nutmeg! is set in the 80s and 90s (so expect tons of questionable facial hair) and is inspired by the art of collecting soccer stickers, something that every avid footie fan in Britain did as a child.
You become the manager of a fourth division soccer team tasked with rising up through the leagues; responsibilities include handling press conferences, negotiating transfers and of course, winning matches. This is where Nutmeg! differs from other sports sims – your success in each match is determined through a set of cards. Playing one at the right time will influence the success rate of a tackle or a shot on goal, for example. It’s the Balatro and Football Manager mash up no-one saw coming.
Scott Pilgrim EX
Available on: PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S/One, Nintendo Switch 1/2, PC
Release date: TBC 2026
Scott Pilgrim EX is the first game based on Canadian author Bryan Lee O’Malley’s comic book series since 2010’s Scott Pilgrim vs the World: The Game. Just like that title, this new game (which is made by Tribute Games, the studio behind 2022’s excellent TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge) is also a bonkers side-scrolling beat ‘em up but this time, you can explore a sprawling version of Toronto.
The city has been taken over by a bunch of evil gangs and so the nerdy Scott Pilgrim and his pals, including Ramona Flowers and Lucas Lee come to the rescue. The brawling is weighty and the combos are satisfying to pull off, plus the rich artwork pops wonderfully across the screen.
