It’s been a strange year game show 2022; With two of the Big Three absent (Microsoft only showed a few Game Pass hits), smaller publishers’ schedules have been cleared to go all out and show off merch. result? A very entertaining and esoteric show with a heavy focus on horror, the spotlight shines on studios that might otherwise be overshadowed by their first-party counterparts.
Smaller publishers, then, have a killer show. Whether it’s Koch’s System Shock, Dead Island 2 and Goat Simulator 3, or Krafton’s Moonbreaker and The Callisto Protocol, Gamescom’s non-Ubisoft and non-Microsoft have had a lasting impact. But among them, there was one publisher that really stood out to me, and you might guess who that is based on what myself and Alex Donaldson have released from the show so far.it is Focus House Interactive.
First, there is evil west: This game sells you as a Wild West superhero, fully armed, angry at the vampire threat that could shake the nascent American frontier lands. Part Bulletstorm, part Devil May Cry, part Clint Eastwood, through the Tarantino West B movie, Wicked West has everything I want in a 2022 action game. Explosion, dirty mouth, tight and responsive gameplay, and the most ridiculous, over-the-top nonsense you could ask for.
Flying Wild Hog knows what it’s doing – just look at the Shadow Warrior series – so you know the game is in good hands. Whether you’re shooting from your six-player shooter at a dynamite box placed under the saloon’s balcony, dodging the teeth and claws of a vampire boss, or just wandering through a canyon that looks like H. R Giger is a dream come true , Wicked West keeps you engaged. I can’t wait to get the full thing and play it with a buddy, laughing all the time off my boots.
Next there are A Plague Tale: RequiemThe follow-up to the Sleeper of the Xbox One and PS4 eras – A Plague Tale: Innocence – Requiem is very similar: high-fidelity graphics, an emphasis on stealth, and a deep and disturbing horror that permeates every pore of the game. game. The first game left you feeling underpowered and vulnerable, just a child surviving in a world succumbed to plague and religious fascism, Requiem flips the script slightly.
During the hour-long demo at the booth, I experienced Amicia and Hugo’s story, from one paragraph to the next – Amicia was badly injured and seemed to be running out of energy. Hugo has been opening up to his sister about his relationship with rats—how he talks to them, feels them, controls them. At first, Amicia seemed cautious. These are just the fantasies of a poor, traumatized boy, right? Do not.
After encountering some soldiers, angry with Amicia for slaughtering some of them in the previous chapter, our protagonist siblings are caught off guard: Amicia falls to the ground, with a head injury that prevents her from moving on. Distraught and about to be stolen from his sister, Hugo shouts to the mouse – the real horror begins. You control the swarm, gnashing your teeth frantically, and you’re forced to chase the guards, chattering and peeling flesh from the bones of any creature in your path.
Aside from the grotesque nature of being willing to turn a five-year-old boy’s mind into a swarm of rats in order to viciously murder your enemies, this new mechanic opens up the straight-to-stealth nature of the series so far. Intersecting it with a few other mechanics – new ranged kills, more light and fire options, and improvements to melee combat – A Plague Tale: Requiem has everything it takes to recreate the success of its predecessor in a whole new generation. To be sure, it’s in the works. Just try not to lose your lunch while playing it.
After two hands-on demos, attendees at the Focus Home booth were directed to a demo room for the publisher’s next one or two: Atlas Fall and Alien: Darksiders. The former, as Alex already pointed out, feels more than just an XCOM clone, but the license it’s based on is also surprisingly real. It’s a strategy game with some Diablo-style loot systems that not only make it a unique prospect, but seem to really understand what makes Alien License so appealing. Moving on, Aliens: Fire Squad Elite, there’s a new spin-off in town.
Then there’s Deck 13’s Atlas Fallen: a mythical fantasy epic that casts you as a member of enslaved humans, gaining the power to tear angry gods from their thrones with divine gloves. Unlike the studio’s previous series, The Surge, it’s definitely not a Souls game, citing PlayStation’s AAA outputs like God of War and Horizon as inspiration. To me, it looks more like a modern take on Asura’s Wrath, or an old-school double-A action game… maybe even a game too human secretly wants to be. None of these are bad things. Anyway, give me more intermediate action-adventure fare! I love that shit.
There are four different corners to support Focus Home Interactive’s Gamescom 2022 effort, and then: On the one hand, there’s a highly sought-after sequel guaranteed to surprise anyone with a Game Pass when it launches later this year, with support coming from a team that seems Great action epic for a team that can’t play a bad game. On the other hand, there are two games that are not yet proven, but they have a good license or a good premise behind them, making sure they offer something that is at least worth your time (and hopefully your money).
Focus Home Interactive is proving that its platter can cater to so many different tastes that it has the ability to go head-to-head with “bigger” publishers. As the end of 2022 approaches, we’re starting to see a major shift in the way publishers operate: previously EA, Ubisoft, and other “untouchable” companies are starting to lose power, and smaller, more atomic companies are taking more space. Then there are the likes of Embracer and THQ Nordic, who are stockpiling IP and no doubt making long-term plans for the future of the console and PC markets.
So it’s refreshing to see Focus Home Interactive complete this show – to really understand where the appetite of the vast gaming audience is and give them the chance to try something exciting. Fresh stuff. For me, Focus Home Interactive’s win at Gamescom 2022 may just be the start of a whole new chapter for this intrepid French publisher.