Officially, gamescom – the most prominent gaming exposition annually – began yesterday. But the “fun” started the previous night with gamescom 2022’s Opening Night Live (ONL), hosted by Geoff Keighley.
ONL is an inaugural live stream that highlights upcoming games. In the days leading to this year’s ONL, Keighley teased what we could expect. Highly anticipated projects like The Callisto Protocol, Hogwarts Legacy, and Sonic Frontiers made prophesized appearances along with some previously unheard-of titles.
Geoff Keighley hosts gamescom 2022 Opening Night Live.
The world premiere of Everywhere, developed by Build a Rocket Boy, kicked off the night. And with it came the total disappointment that comes with presentations like ONL.
In a cryptic reveal trailer, developers hinted that players would flesh out the world of Everywhere, but it’s uncertain what they meant. It was called bold, ambitious, a representation of the zeitgeist, and all the other things that mean something yet nothing at once.
Everywhere could be a quasi-MMO where players build a space adjoining others. Or, it could be akin to Media Molecules’s Dreams, in which players make micro-sized video games using an expansive toolset. We don’t know because we only saw some vehicular racing, third-person shooting, and competing art styles.
That’s not to speak ill of Everywhere or its developers. It’s impossible to blame a new studio for wanting to put out anything that might raise even an iota of players’ curiosity. However, the segment at ONL is symbolic of what it and presentations like it have come to be – or perhaps always were. An event that claims to offer something but delivers nothing.
The Everywhere trailer was hardly the only offender. The Callisto Protocol is a highly anticipated upcoming game from Striking Distance Studios, the CEO of which is Glen Schofield, famous for his work on the Dead Space series. Since its first announcement, media have unabashedly compared The Callisto Protocol to Dead Space. Who can blame them? Everything we’ve seen so far makes the games look nearly identical.
Keighley teased there would be something new to see from The Callisto Protocol, and technically there was. The footage Schofield showed was never-before-seen and introduced a new mechanic: Some enemies in the game will mutate into more powerful lifeforms during combat, another trait ripped from Dead Space.
A spiritual successor to Dead Space is obviously what Striking Distance is going for. There’s nothing wrong with that. Dead Space is a phenomenal series and one that players have been begging to return. But with a remake of the original 2008 game right around the corner, ONL should have been the opportunity in which Striking Distance drew a line between the two properties. The Callisto Protocol gameplay reveal was new, but it wasn’t original.
Live gaming showcases took off in popularity when the pandemic shut down the world in 2020. That year, Keighley curated the first Summer Game Fest, a three-ish-month-long event of live gaming broadcasts hosted by different media outlets and gaming platforms.
The steady drip-feed of broadcasts meant that the development progress shown at each was minimal. Not every upcoming game was shown during every broadcast, but there was some overlap, especially for major titles. Even this year, viewers saw “fresh” footage of The Callisto Protocol during at least three separate broadcasts. By the end of the summer, it seemed everyone was burnt out on the concept.
I haven’t felt any excitement since that first Summer Game Fest. Two years later, I think the mood surrounding gaming showcases is still somewhat languid and cynical. The season-long event is now somewhat shorter and offers fewer broadcasts, and I wonder if that’s a result of the sweeping apathy.
I don’t mean to sound like a fuddy-duddy. There were games at ONL that I’m genuinely excited about. Life of P is an intriguing souls-like inspired by the story of Pinocchio and a game I’ll be keeping on my radar. High on Life, too, seems to be a highly original and fun concept despite my contempt for Justin Roiland. And even though it didn’t bring anything new to the table, I’m still excited to play The Callisto Protocol because it looks pretty damn cool.
ONL and events like it are just a case of fool-me-twice anyway. I don’t know why I expect to watch one of these presentations and expect anything other than overhyped commercials and meaningless language. By the end, it hardly seems like anything of value was revealed. Regardless, I’ll still watch next year and forever and always.
