According to certain Terran lore, God created the universe in seven days. Well, I got up this morning and made a small suburban village with a hospital, school, police station and a cafe in the space of 20 minutes. This is the backwater burg of Edwitherington. Population: 8 – one for every non-residential building in town. Major imports: ornamental lampposts, because I like to cultivate an old-timey mood. Major exports: traffic jams, because I’ve laid out my village in the form of a small crescent leading back to the freeway, which means that there are two traffic light junctions about 100 metres apart.
August has stomped into being, which means new games are heading to PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Instead of the usual summer slow season, we’re actually seeing quite a few major releases this month, including Star Wars: Outlaws, Madden NFL 25, Concord, and more. Below, you’ll find release dates for all the biggest games and expansions that have been announced for this year and beyond. Here’s what’s worth playing in August 2024.
The following list is divided by platform; you can jump to any one using the shortcuts below. And if you’re someone who likes to preorder, you can click the buy link to make sure it arrives on launch day.
PlayStation’s big game in August is the hero shooter Concord. Built in the grand tradition of Overwatch, Concord has you pick your unique hero, team up with other players, and duke it out against another team. Also out this month is Madden NFL 25, Black Myth: Wukong, and Ubisoft’s Star Wars: Outlaws.
August is a somewhat slow month for Switch releases, but that’s just an end-of-life-cycle-meets-summer-doldrums combination. The main Nintendo-published release this month is the spooky visual novel Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective club. Also out this month are Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, and Volgarr the Viking II, a sequel to a game whose first level I didn’t have the time/patience to beat. Maybe this one will be less punishingly difficult? One can hope.
August 2024 – Nintendo Switch Game Release Dates
Bare Butt Boxing – August 1
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter – August 1
Tomba! Special Edition – August 1
World of Goo 2 – August 2
Volgarr the Viking II – August 6
SteamWorld Heist II – August 8
Sam and Max: The Devil’s Playhouse Remastered – August 14
Dredge: The Iron Rig (DLC) – August 15
Farewell North – August 15
Core Keeper – August 27
Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club – August 29 – Buy It
August is in now way a slow month for Xbox owners, even if Microsoft’s hardware revenue is way down. We can look forward to Star Wars: Outlaws, an open-world take on a galaxy far, far away. Also out this month are Visions of Mana, a new Madden, a new Cat Quest, and more.
As usual, PC gamers can pick up most of the games console owners get access to this month. That includes Star Wars: Outlaws and Black Myth: Wukong, among many others. The big PC-only release this month is a big, spankin’ new expansion to the long-running MMORPG World of Warcraft. Neat.
August 2024 – PC Game Release Dates
Bare Butt Boxing – August 1
Hello Cruel World – August 1
Kitsune Tales – August 1
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter – August 1
Thalassa: Edge of the Abyss – August 1
Thank Goodness You’re Here – August 1
Tomba! Special Edition – August 1
Pantless – August 2
Realm of Ink – August 2
Unrooted – August 2
World of Goo 2 – August 2
Level Zero: Extraction – August 6
Volgarr the Viking II – August 6
Creatures of Ava – August 7
Arcade Paradise VR – August 8
The Burst(VR) – August 8
Cat Quest III – August 8
Preserve – August 8
Steam World Heist II – August 8
The Crush House – August 9
Madden NFL 25 – August 13/16
Stormgate – August 13
Sam and Max: The Devil’s Playhouse Remastered – August 14
Dawn of Defiance – August 15
Dredge: The Iron Rig (DLC) – August 15
Farewell North – August 15
Black Myth: Wukong – August 20
Dustborn – August 20
Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds (DLC) – August 20
Enotria: The Last Song – August 21
Concord – August 23
World of Warcraft: The War Within – August 26
Core Keeper – August 27
Star Wars: Outlaws – August 27/30
Supermoves – August 28
Akimbot – August 29
Bloodless – August 29
Gori: Cuddly Carnage – August 29
Gundam Breaker 4 – August 29
Shadow of the Ninja-Reborn – August 29
Squirrel with a Gun – August 29
Visions of Mana – August 29
Galaxy Highways – August 30
September 2024 – PC Game Release Dates
Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions – September 3
Age of Mythology Retold – September 4
Ace Attorney Investigations Collection – September 6
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 – September 9
Funko Fusion – September 13
Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster – September 18
God of War Ragnarok – September 19
Frostpunk 2 – September 20
Ara: History Untold – September 24
Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed – September 24 – Buy It
Lollipop Chainsaw RePop – September 25
October 2024 – PC Game Release Dates
Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE Plus – October 1
Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred (DLC) – October 8
Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero – October 11
Metaphor ReFantazio – October 11
Transformers: Galactic Trials – October 11
New World: Aeternum – October 15
TMNT: Mutants Unleashed – October 18
Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration Expanded Edition – October 25
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 – October 25
Sonic X Shadow Generations – October 25
Life is Strange: Double Exposure – October 29
November 2024 – PC Game Release Dates
Slitterhead – November 8
Assassin’s Creed Shadows – November 12
Avowed – November 12
Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake – November 14
Funko Fusion – November 15
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 – November 19
STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl – November 20–Buy It
Upcoming PC Games – Release Date TBA
33 Immortals – 2024
Age of Mythology: Retold – TBA
American Arcadia – TBA
Among Us VR – TBA
Anno 117: Pax Romana – 2025
ARC Raiders – TBA
Ark 2 – 2024
Atomfall – 2025
Blacktail – “This Winter”
Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth – TBA
Blue Protocol – 2024
Civilization VII – 2025
Clockwork Revolution – TBA
Contraband – TBA
Creatures of Ava – 2024
Crimson Desert – TBA
Doom: The Dark Ages – 2025
Dragon Age: The Veilguard – Fall 2024
Dune: Awakening – TBA
Ereban: Shadow Legacy – TBA
Everwild – TBA
Exodus – TBA
ExoMecha – TBA
Expedition 33 – 2025
Expeditions: A MudRunner Game – 2024
Fable – 2025
Fantasian Neo Dimension – Winter 2024
Fort Solis – TBA
Fragpunk – 2025
Gears of War: E-Day – TBA
Hollow Knight: Silksong – TBA
Hyper Light Breaker – Early Access Summer 2024
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle – 2024
John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando – 2024
Judas – TBA
Jurassic Park: Survival – TBA
Killing Floor 3 – TBA
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 – 2024
LEGO Horizon Adventures – Holiday 2024
Little Nightmares 3 – 2025
Lost Records: Bloom and Rage – early 2025
Marathon – TBA
Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics – 2024
Mechabreak – 2025
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind – TBA
Mixtape – 2025
Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin – Summer 2024
Monster Hunter Wilds – 2025
The Outer Worlds 2 – TBA
Perfect Dark – TBA
Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis – TBA
Phantom Hellcat – TBA
Post Trauma – TBA
Pragmata – TBA
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake – 2026
Prison Architect 2 – 2024
Replaced – 2023
The Rise of the Golden Idol – TBA
Routine – TBA
Scars Above – TBA
Season – TBA
Second Extinction – TBA
Shovel Knight Showdown – TBA
Silent Hill 2 Remake – TBA
The Sinking City 2 – 2025
Slay the Spire 2 – early access in 2025
Sleight of Hand – 2025
South of Midnight – 2025
State of Decay 3 – TBA
Steelrising – TBA
Stormgate – TBA
Star Trek: Resurgence – TBA
Starfield: Shattered Space (DLC) – 2024
Still Wakes the Deep – Early 2024
Suikoden I&II HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars – TBA
Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN’s board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on (long inhale) Threads, Bluesky, Mastodon, and the social network formerly known as Twitter.
Hey, remember that 2017 roguelike called Midboss? Or that 2020 platformer called Super Bernie World, where you attempt to transform the US as a retro-fied Bernie Sanders? Yes or no, Kitsune Games have put out some good stuff in the past, and now they’re back with a Super Bernie World followup: Kitsune Tails. Again, it’s a Super Mario-inspired platformer, but this time it’s a wonderfully queer rescue mission inspired by Japanese mythology in a way that’s cutesy and colourful. And it’s out today!
Amazon has announced the August 2024 Prime Gaming lineup (Prime Gaming is a benefit of Amazon Prime membership).
Highlights include SteamWorld Heist, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Loop Hero, and various Tomb Raider games. 22 games are set to hit Prime Gaming in August, with new games added each Thursday throughout the month.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is the well-received 2016 action role-playing game from Eidos-Montréal and sequel to Deus Ex: Human Revolution. IGN’s Deus Ex: Mankind Divided review returned a 9.2. We said: “Layered, intelligent, and impeccably designed, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided’s gameplay rewards curiosity and creativity.”
Unfortunately the Deus Ex series is on ice after franchise owner Embracer reportedly canceled a new game that was two years into development, resulting in layoffs.
August 2024 Prime Gaming lineup in full:
Now Available SteamWorld Heist[GOG Code] – Command a steam-driven pirate crew in a series of epic tactical shootouts.
Now Available Deus Ex: Mankind Divided[GOG Code] – Play as Adam Jensen, an experienced covert operative armed with a new arsenal of state-of-the-art augmentations and unravel a vast worldwide conspiracy.
Now Available Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness [GOG Code] – Lara’s experiences changed her deeply. She’s become a darker, hardened, imperious version of herself. A desperate phone call from her former mentor Von Croy leads her to Paris. But as she arrives, she discovers that the old man was brutally murdered and a plot to frame her for his death is in motion.
Now Available Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation + Chronicles [GOG Code] – When Lara was only 16, she was tutored in archaeology by Professor Werner Von Croy, a world-famous archaeologist. Skip forward now, to find Lara in Egypt, minding her own business until a pool of quicksand pulls her underground, deep into an ancient tomb.
August 8 Gravity Circuit [Amazon Games App] – Follow Kai, a lone operative war hero who harnesses the mysterious powers of the Gravity Circuit, on an adventure in a futuristic world inhabited by sentient robots.
August 8 South of the Circle [GOG Code] – Experience a deep narrative story of the emerging relationship between Peter and Clara, Cambridge academics involved in a political conflict.
August 8 Loop Hero [Epic Games Store] – Wield an expanding deck of mystical cards to place enemies, buildings, and terrain along each unique expedition loop for the brave hero.
August 8 Trek to Yomi[Epic Games Store] – Play as the young swordsman Hiroki who is sworn to protect his town and the people he loves against all threats. Faced with tragedy and bound to duty, the lone samurai must voyage beyond life and death to confront himself and decide his path forward.
August 8 Kraken Academy!![Amazon Games App] – Make friends, free spirits and join forces with a magical kraken to save the world.
August 15 Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition [Amazon Games App] – Gather your party of heroes and continue the legendary adventure in this story-rich fantasy epic where every choice matters.
August 15 Beholder 3 [Amazon Games App] – When a high-ranking security officer saves you from prison, you end up a pawn in her schemes. Now you must eliminate anyone standing in the way of her secret plans and try to get your life back while working two jobs.
August 15 Hard West 2 [GOG Code] – Outsmart, outcheat and outgun your enemies in this turn-based tactics game set in a Wild West world where nothing is as it seems.
August 15 En Garde! [GOG Code] – Play as Adalia in her daring escapades full of sword-fighting, satire and shenanigans. Challenge the cruel Count-Duke and oppose tyranny with panache!
August 15 Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical [GOG Code] – In a modern fantasy world, college dropout Grace is granted the power of a Muse – power she’ll need to find out the truth behind her predecessor’s death before time runs out. You’ll decide who Grace allies with, who she can trust, and who may betray her in this beautifully hand-illustrated roleplaying musical.
August 22 Grime: Definitive Edition [Amazon Games App] – Explore your surreal surroundings, parry and absorb the many enemies you encounter with living weapons that mutate form and function.
August 22 KeyWe [Epic Games Store] – KeyWe is a cute, co-operative postal puzzler starring Jeff and Debra, two small kiwi birds working in a whimsical post office. With no hands to help them, they must jump, flap, peck and butt-slam their way across an interactive landscape of levers, bells and buttons to get those messages delivered on time.
August 22 Figment 2: Creed Valley [Amazon Games App] – Face bosses in musical showdowns, make your way through puzzles, and explore unique environments set in the human mind.
August 22 Spells & Secrets [GOG Code] – Spells & Secrets is a deep and motivating rogue-lite experience that invites everyone to this rewarding genre with its adventure story. Free the wizard Academy of Greifenstein from magical creatures by using your spells in creative ways.
August 22 Young Souls [Amazon Games App] – Fight hordes of belligerent goblins, level up with hundreds of weapons and accessories, explore, and journey between worlds, as rebellious twins battle their way to save their foster father.
August 29 Arcade Paradise [GOG Code] – Manage profits, pick up gum, do the laundry and get coin to unlock arcade units and flip the family laundromat business to become an Arcade Paradise.
August 29 INDUSTRIA [GOG Code] – On the evening of the fall of the Berlin wall, a young woman plunges headlong into a parallel dimension to find her missing work colleague who has disappeared under mysterious circumstances. While the checkpoints in East Berlin are still being overrun by crowds of people, Nora escapes from this world, into unknown layers of time and into an unknown fate.
August 29 The Collage Atlas [Amazon Games App] – Journey through an entirely hand-drawn picture-book dream-world where every little detail has been lovingly-crafted with pen & ink on paper.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Hardened battle royalists will remember Caldera, the sandy island map of bunkers and palm trees in Call Of Duty: Warzone. It got shut down last year as Activision focused their efforts elsewhere, making the map unplayable. But you can now revisit those bullet-strewn beaches. In theory, anyway. Activision have released it as a 4GB open-source project that can be explored in a 3D model-viewing tool. That’s cool. But among their reasons for doing so, there lies a predictably grubby logic: they want people to use the data to train AI.
When Nintendo launched Metroid Dread in 2021, there was no doubt in our minds that it would inspire more fast-paced, gritty Metroidvanias later down the road. MARS 2120 is one such title; a sci-fi romp that attempts to capture the same magic that made Dread so special, but ultimately falls at almost every hurdle.
It starts off strong, taking place on the surface of Mars where you’re fleeing from an avalanche of rocks and rubble. It’s exciting stuff, but even during this introductory sequence, something about the controls just felt off. You’re blessed with a double-jump ability right from the start, but executing it never feels quite natural enough considering how often you’ll need to use it throughout the game. It’s not bad, as such, but it feels a bit too floaty for our liking.
Xbox returns to gamescom with over 50 titles to check out.
The Xbox booth will also include a theater, photo ops, a Gear Store, and more.
For those who can’t attend, check out the Xbox @ gamescom: Live From the Showfloor Broadcast on August 21-23.
Following this year’s jam-packed Xbox Games Showcase, we’re excited to return to gamescom and connect with fans in Cologne, Germany from August 21-25 to show off even more of what Xbox players have in store.
The community is what makes gaming – and gamescom – so special and there will be something for everyone this year, whether you’re on the show floor in Cologne or watching at home via our livestreams. This year the Xbox booth will be overflowing with exciting upcoming titles, one-off experiences and fantastic photo opportunities for games coming to Xbox, PC, and Game Pass this Holiday and beyond. We’ll also deliver three days of broadcasts live from the show floor, join up with our amazing community for another FanFest, and plenty more. Keep reading for more details on everything we’re up to at gamescom 2024.
Xbox Booth
This year the Xbox booth will feature over 50 gaming titles from Xbox Game Studios, Blizzard, Bethesda, and our amazing third-party partners – spread across more than 240 gaming stations – alongside amazing photo ops and experiences, and specially constructed theaters for exclusive looks at upcoming titles.
Attendees will be able to go hands-on with upcoming Xbox releases, including:
Age of Mythology: Retold
Ara: History Untold
Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred
Fallout 76: Milepost Zero
The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road
Towerborne
We will also host exclusive theater presentations of Avowed, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Starfield: Shattered Space.
Joining the Xbox booth for the first time, Blizzard Entertainment will make their return to gamescom with multiple offerings for Diablo and World of Warcraft. Ahead of the launch of the Vessel of Hatred expansion in October, Diablo will bring an exclusive public hands-on gameplay demo of the Spiritborn class to the gamescom show floor, with a Diablo Immortal Helliquary boss tournament taking place as well. World of Warcraft celebrates the launch of The War Within on August 26 with the power of a special immersive experience, giving gamescom attendants the chance to feel the thrill of Skyriding in Azeroth.
The Xbox booth will also have playable titles from our third-party partners, including Ubisoft’s Star Wars Outlaws, Studio Wildcard’s ARK 2, Saber Interactive’s Space Marine 2, Rebellion’s Atomfall, and the return ofGSC Game World’s S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl with an all-new demo. And in our Indie Selects area – dedicated to diverse, exciting upcoming titles from independent developers – we’ll host games including Maximum Entertainment’s Squirrel with a Gun, Noodlecake’s Winter Burrow, 11 bit Studios’ Creatures of Ava, and more.
The above is just a small selection of the titles playable on the Xbox booth. For the full list of playable titles visit here. Whatever you’re into, we’ll have something for you.
You’ll be able to find us in Hall 7 of the Koelnmesse, North entrance. See below for the consumer show opening times:
Thursday, August 22 – 10am – 8pm CEST
Friday, August 23 – 10am – 8pm CEST
Saturday, August 24 – 9am – 8 pm CEST
Sunday, August 25 – 9am – 8pm CEST
Beyond the Xbox booth, Overwatch 2 will also have a joint stand with Porsche, highlighting their new collaboration by featuring a life-sized D.Va statue modeled after the new all-electric Macan, along with an invitation for fans to enter a real-life rendition of an iconic Overwatch 2 map.
Game Pass @ Gamescom
This year at gamescom, Game Pass is turning up the fun with an exciting setup reminding players that they can discover their next favorite game across devices. Guests will have an opportunity to explore different sections dedicated to PC, Console, and Cloud as they learn about all the different ways to play their favorite games. In addition to exclusive gamescom 2024 prizes available through claw and gacha machines, guests have the opportunity to play the Big Green Button for a shot at winning exciting prizes like:
Game Pass tokens (PC and/or Ultimate)
NVIDIA GeForce Now cards
WD_BLACK PC and Console Storage
Cloud Gaming devices (e.g., Amazon Fire TV Sticks, and Meta Quest headsets) that can directly stream Xbox games
OMEN monitors
HyperX headsets, microphones, mice and keyboards
Gaming for Everyone
Xbox remains committed to the belief that gaming should be safe, inclusive, and accessible for all. We are ensuring that all areas of the booth are wheelchair accessible, Xbox Adaptive Controllers will be available upon request, and there will be select demo stations with adjustable-height desks and monitors. We also have multiple American Sign Language (ASL) and German Sign Language (DGS) interpreters and Audio Description tours in English and German for guests who are blind or visually disabled.
Additionally, we’ll have sensory aids and a quiet room for everyone who needs them, as well as “Here to Help” staff to assist players of all abilities navigate our booth and game experiences. Please check out the Accessibility “Here to Help” desk at our booth for support.
Other Booth Elements
Gear Shop
Check out the official Gear Shop at the booth to get the latest with gear from Xbox Game Studios, Blizzard, Activision, and Bethesda!
Can´t make it? Don’t worry, find your new favorite gear online in the following stores:
This year the Xbox booth will also include the Community Hub! This more chilled out space within the Xbox Booth will be a perfect place for attendees to stop and hang out during the show, and will also feature special programming and activities from titles and teams across Xbox taking place throughout gamescom. Activities will include cosplay meetups, trivia games, meet-and-greets with game developers and voice actors, and more! Be sure to stop by and see what’s on!
Live from the Showfloor with our Broadcast Teams
If you can’t make the trip to Cologne this year, we’ll bring the show to you with a series of daily streams from the Xbox booth. Join Team Xbox and friends on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday for a deeper dive into some of the highly anticipated games at gamescom 2024, with first-look gameplay, developer chats, new trailers and more. The Bethesda team will also have daily content streaming live from the booth over on their Twitch channel: twitch.tv/bethesda_de.
Whether you join us for every stream, or just dip in for the latest on your most anticipated titles, we’re looking forward to connecting with fans across the globe and showing off some of the amazing games coming to Xbox.
Wednesday August 21
Xbox @ gamescom 2024
Start: 6am PDT / 9am EDT / 2pm BST / 3pm CEST
Featuring S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, Atomfall, Age of Mythology, plus others
Bethesda MainStream
Start: 5am PDT / 8am EST / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST
Thursday August 22
Xbox @ gamescom 2024
Start: 6am PDT / 9am EDT / 2pm BST / 3pm CEST
Featuring Star Wars Outlaws, World of Warcraft: The War Within,Towerborne plus others
Bethesda MainStream
Start: 5am PDT / 8am EST / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST
Friday August 23
Xbox @ gamescom 2024
Start: 6am PDT / 9am EDT / 2pm BST / 3pm CEST
Featuring Avowed, Ara: History Untold, plus others
Bethesda MainStream
Start: 5am PDT / 8am EST / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST
Keep an eye on Xbox Social channels for the full content schedule in the days leading up to gamescom.
The live English-language broadcast from Xbox’s gamescom booth will be available inGerman, Arabic, Traditional Chinese, Czech, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Castilian Spanish, Mexican Spanish and Turkish, along with ASL and English Audio Descriptions. You can catch the Xbox @ gamescom Livestream on regional Xbox channels on YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, and elsewhere.
On Wednesday, August 21, Xbox FanFest is returning to host a special community event to kick off gamescom week! We’ll be bringing players together to connect around their shared love of gaming. If you’re planning to attend gamescom or will be in the Cologne area, you can enter for a chance to win tickets to attend.
Login at xbox.com/fanfest and use code FANFEST to unlock the sweepstakes. No Purchase Necessary. Open only to registered Xbox FanFest members. 18+. Ends 08:59 CEST on 5 August 2024. Click here for Official Rules.
Xbox Coverage
Our social media teams will be on the ground bringing you live coverage, updates, news, new videos, and lots of fun stuff too. And make sure to keep an eye on Xbox Wire for coverage of the Opening Night Live show, and articles about many of the games on show.
For all the latest updates on Xbox at gamescom this year, stay tuned to the Xbox channels on X, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube social channels, or the @XboxDACH X, Facebook, Instagram,TikTok, and YouTube social channels for German-language coverage. We’re using #Xboxgamescom as our event hashtag.
Microsoft has fully revealed its plans for gamescom 2024, and they include three days of live broadcasts.
In a post on Xbox Wire, Microsoft said it will host a series of daily streams from its Xbox booth at the show, running from Wednesday August 21 to Friday August 23. These will offer a deeper dive into various games Xbox is set to release over the coming months, with first-look gameplay, developer chats, and new trailers. Microsoft-owned Bethesda will also host daily content streams from the booth.
Games set to appear during these streams include Stalker 2, Atomfall, Age of Mythology, Star Wars Outlaws, World of Warcraft expansion The War Within, Towerborne, Avowed, and Ara: History Untold.
The Xbox gamescom 2024 live broadcast schedule in full:
Wednesday August 21
Xbox @ gamescom 2024
Start: 6am PDT / 9am EDT / 2pm BST / 3pm CEST
Featuring S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, Atomfall, Age of Mythology, plus others
Bethesda MainStream
Start: 5am PDT / 8am EST / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST
Thursday August 22
Xbox @ gamescom 2024
Start: 6am PDT / 9am EDT / 2pm BST / 3pm CEST
Featuring Star Wars Outlaws, World of Warcraft: The War Within,Towerborne plus others
Bethesda MainStream
Start: 5am PDT / 8am EST / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST
Friday August 23
Xbox @ gamescom 2024
Start: 6am PDT / 9am EDT / 2pm BST / 3pm CEST
Featuring Avowed, Ara: History Untold, plus others
Bethesda MainStream
Start: 5am PDT / 8am EST / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST
Microsoft is heavily rumored to be set to release an Xbox handheld, but it looks like gamescom 2024 won’t be the platform for an announcement. Instead, the focus here is on already announced games, such as Obsidian’s Avowed, Ubisoft’s Star Wars Outlaws, and GSC Game World’s Stalker 2.
Bethesda is of course running MMOs Fallout 76 and The Elder Scrolls Online, and is set to release Starfield expansion Shattered Space later this year. No games from Microsoft-owned Activision were mentioned in the Xbox post, but Blizzard is attending to show off World of Warcraft and Diablo 4 expansions.
Sony and Nintendo, meanwhile, have confirmed they are skipping gamescom 2024. Sony told Eurogamer it has no plans for the show, and Nintendo confirmed the same back in April.
While Sony’s decision was expected (it hasn’t attended gamescom in years), Nintendo’s decision came as something of a surprise given it has turned up at gamescom in recent years. But with the Nintendo Switch successor console not due out until 2025, a quieter 2024 makes sense.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
This year marks the sixth anniversary of The Elder Scrolls 6’s teaser trailer. And with Skyrim turning 13 years old this November, it’s safe to say that Elder Scrolls fans have endured – and will continue to endure – a long wait for Bethesda’s next fantasy RPG. But while the famed single-player studio has been focusing its efforts on nuclear wastelands and outer space, the beloved world of Tamriel hasn’t been neglected. The Elder Scrolls Online, once much-maligned and suffering sinking player counts, is now celebrating its tenth anniversary and the launch of its eighth major expansion. And while it may be an MMO by genre, by design it’s much closer to the classic Elder Scrolls RPG format than you might expect. If you’ve spent a decade desperately searching for more stories from Tamriel, then you need look no further than Elder Scrolls Online’s ongoing saga.
Rich Lambert, game director at ZeniMax Online Studios, explains that the Elder Scrolls Online team made a “big design call to move into a more Skyrim-adjacent lane” several years ago. When TESO first launched, it was derided by many for feeling like a traditional MMO (level grind and all) wearing Elder Scrolls pajamas. Nowadays, the developers don’t even consider the game to fit the ‘MMORPG’ label.
“We decided that this was going to be more of an Elder Scrolls game and focus on Elder Scrolls things first, and be multiplayer second,” Lambert says. “Once we did that it started informing lots of things.”
Unsurprisingly, Lambert sees the core appeal of The Elder Scrolls Online as being one and the same as Skyrim and Oblivion: “One of our core pillars is freedom of exploration and freedom to be and live in the world,” he says. “That traditional Elder Scrolls feeling where you see something in the distance, you can just run to it and explore it.”
The game as it stands now straddles the divide between single-player and online RPG design, offering all the elements you’d expect of a mainline Elder Scrolls game (including a world that permanently changes based on your story decisions, via some smart instancing), but it took a couple of years to get there.
We decided to focus on Elder Scrolls things first, and be multiplayer second. Once we did that it started informing lots of things.
Lambert notes that 2015’s Orsinium DLC saw the game’s storytelling “shift away from traditional MMO style to a more Elder Scrolls narrative style, focused more on the character, their beliefs and how they experience the world.” Later, in early 2016, some more traditional Elder Scrolls elements were introduced, such as Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood quest-lines, which encouraged stealing from or assassinating NPCs in the shared world. But it wasn’t until late 2016 that the game truly turned itself around.
The One Tamriel update was the turning point for TESO, removing traditional level-based progression in favor of scaling player’s stats to match whatever region you’re in. Outside of dungeon matchmaking being unlocked gradually as you level up to ensure total newbies don’t frustrate more experienced players, there’s nothing stopping a new player from immediately skipping out on the main story and running straight into an ‘endgame’ dungeon. With a decent party, you might even win. Finally, you could treat the game like Skyrim, albeit with a shared world and dungeons geared for co-op.
As such, the much memed wait for a new Elder Scrolls game needn’t be as long and torturous as the seemingly endless journey towards Todd Howard’s next project. The sixth Elder Scrolls is (sort of) already here. Many fans are turning to TESO over replaying Skyrim yet again, partly because of that re-tooled gameplay, but also because of how much of the world’s previously-underexplored lore is elaborated on here. Each major expansion and piece of DLC brings a set of new environments, and the game has been around long enough to fill in many of the blanks of The Elder Scrolls’ world map.
“We’ve taken places that are only vaguely touched on [in the mainline RPG series], like the Sister’s Isles, and turned them into our High Isle release from a couple years ago,” explains Bill Slavicsek, TESO’s narrative director. “All we knew about that was a couple dots on the map and a mention in a book, and we turned that into a whole chapter and DLC. Any place on the map you can think of, we wanna go there. And if it’s not on the map, we want to make it”.
It feels like The Elder Scrolls Online is well on track to fill out the complete world map. There’s more filled-in regions than empty space now, plus an assortment of interesting new extraplanar locations to dimension-hop around in. While the Morrowind expansion helped bring in nostalgic fans wanting to explore its strange volcanic environment and insect-and-fungus based ecosystem, the Elder Scrolls lore buffs were best served by the Elsweyr expansion, finally taking a deep dive into the much-mentioned but never-seen lands of the feline Khajiit.
Not only did Elsweyr give us our first real look at its lush savannas and a wider range of Khajiit body types (thanks to lunar magic, they can be born as anything from nearly human to literal talking housecats), but it was an opportunity for ZeniMax Online Studios to carve out its own corner of the lore. Despite the accepted text being that dragons had been unseen for millennia and only returned with the launch of Skyrim, TESO had them make an appearance during the Elsweyr chapter (set a thousand years before Skyrim). Such an event did, admittedly, require some narrative sleight-of-hand to explain why nobody cares to mention it all during later in-universe eras.
Any place on the map you can think of, we wanna go there. And if it’s not on the map, we want to make it.
“We take reference from a lot of different sources, internal and external,” explains TESO’s loremaster, Michael Zenke. “A lot of the stuff we do though isn’t in the lore bible because it’s new. Every release we’re adding to the canon. We’ve got a great tradition of unreliable narrators in the Elder Scrolls franchise, so unless you or your player character saw something in-game, ‘that’s just someone’s opinion, man’. So we have a lot of freedom to do interesting stuff.”
While armed with a reliable trick to handwave events that might throw later lore into chaos, ZeniMax’s writing team has grown ever bolder over time. It has been so many years since Skyrim (and likely several more until The Elder Scrolls 6 surfaces), effectively making TESO the one and only Elder Scrolls game of this generation. That, plus Todd Howard confirming that everything in TESO is canon, has allowed the team to expand into wholly new territories, like Fargrave, introduced in the Deadlands DLC. Fargrave is a ‘princeless’ plane of Oblivion, unaffiliated with any of the Daedric gods. A neutral border-world floating in the void, and a wholly new location that let the team cut loose in terms of both writing and environment design.
If this sounds like something a new player might want to jump straight into, then there’s nothing stopping you. Each of the major ‘Chapter’ expansions are designed to function as a self-contained adventure, letting players tackle story arcs as and when they see fit. The structure is yet another element of classic Elder Scrolls design that sets the game apart from its online peers. While the game has long-since dropped its mandatory subscription, the optional ‘ESO Plus’ subscription gives players access to all the minor DLC and most of the expansions to date, making it an especially easy game to pick up play.
Another aspect that has lowered the barrier to entry and further aligned TESO with its single-player siblings is the Companions system. Six customizable NPC partners (with another two due to be released soon) can be recruited to join you on your adventures, albeit one at a time. They were introduced to the game with the Blackwood expansion in 2021, but have become a ubiquitous sight, as they allow solo players to enjoy the game’s wider content more easily. Parties can also be a mixture of players and Companions, allowing tiny groups (just two, in many cases) to tackle some of the bigger, tougher dungeons and open-world challenge bosses with relative ease. Plus, the companions’ constant combat barks and interjections on what they see around them makes the world feel a little less lonely for those wanting to treat TESO as a single-player game. If you’ve fond memories of scaling mountains with Teldryn Sero or Aela the Huntress in Skyrim, Companions echoes that experience.
Obviously these systems have their limits, though. Player housing is instanced, set apart from the overworld, and there’s no chance of breaking the game over your knee with mods or console commands, but the core Elder Scrolls experience is replicated surprisingly well, right down to many quests having multiple possible endings. Your final decisions may not have world-shakingly obvious impact, but they often result in the death or a change of state for an NPC that will remain in their quest location, a reminder of your decisions for that character. Play long enough and complete enough quest arcs and the world will start to feel like you’ve made a real impact in it, so long as you go back to revisit some old haunts.
Now months into the game’s year-long anniversary celebrations, the future’s looking bright for The Elder Scrolls Online. The team seems confident that if TESO keeps it up for another decade, it might well encompass the entire Elder Scrolls world (and yet more locations beyond) by the time the 20th anniversary begins. In the meantime, Lambert mentions that there are plans to improve the experience for new or returning players. “As a new player, or someone coming back after a year, it can be overwhelming,” he admits. “So we’re working on some systems to make that kind of experience better. Not necessarily hand-holdy, but more informational”. Beyond that, some big changes (details of which he refuses to divulge) are coming to player housing, and further refinements to the game’s balance to keep the meta in check.
I once wrote off The Elder Scrolls Online as a half-hearted cash-in. Now, it’s a game I’ve been playing on and off for around five years now, dipping back into and thoroughly enjoying when that Elder Scrolls itch needs scratching. While the incredible community keeps Skyrim alive through mods, that’s a very different experience to exploring brand new, official stories and regions of Tamriel. TESO may not be The Elder Scrolls 6, but it’s a continuing Elder Scrolls game that’s successfully shifted and changed to reflect the wants of a fanbase that grew up on acclaimed single-player RPGs. And that’s a fine place to be for a ten-year-old online game.
The product of a wasted youth, wasted prime and getting into wasted middle age, Dominic Tarason is a freelance writer, occasional indie PR guy and professional techno-hermit seen in many strange corners of the internet and seldom in reality. If you’re looking for something new and potentially very weird to play, feel free to poke him on Twitter.
Lazlow Jones, the host of the Chatterbox FM radio station in 2001’s seminal Grand Theft Auto 3, has many stories to tell about his 19-year stretch at Rockstar. But this one is right up there with the very best.
Speaking to IGN as part of an interview discussing new development studio Absurd Ventures, which he co-founded with fellow Rockstar legend Dan Houser in 2020, Jones recalled the “weird moment” when one GTA fan took the blockbuster video game a little too seriously.
GTA fans will know the Epsilon Program well. It’s a religious cult whose followers are known as Epsilonists. In trademark Rockstar fashion, Houser and Jones designed the Epsilon Program to satirize the likes of Scientology, complete with a modern day messiah fronting a behind-the-scenes pyramid scheme.
Rockstar created a fake Epsilon Program website to market San Andreas back in 2004, and it was in that game that the virtual religion made its debut as a cult founded by a con-man called Cris Formage. Lazlow Jones even interviews him on his in-game radio show.
Rockstar went on to add more and more to the Epsilon Program over the years, fleshing it out with the release of each GTA game. The Epsilon Program always was an on the nose satire, and, for most people, a clear parody. But not for everyone.
We’re dying to know more.
During the development of GTA 5, Jones received a disturbing phone call from a ‘fan.’ They had left a message on his work phone. Taking the call, Jones heard a woman introduce herself as representing the followers of the Epsilon Program. These were GTA players who had gone through all the games in the series looking for morsels of new information on the religion, and had formed a real-life group.
“We’re dying to know more,” she said.
Was this person just an over-enthusiastic fan who wanted to know more about the Epsilon Program as part of a cool community Easter egg hunt? Apparently not.
“She was essentially saying that they were worshipers of this fake religion that we had come up with,” Lazlow Jones told IGN.
Jones headed straight into Dan Houser’s office in Rockstar’s New York headquarters to tell him about “this crazy voicemail I got.”
“My second thought was, we should actually just come up with a fake religion and get really, really rich on the backs of people searching for meaning in life!” he joked.
Jones and Houser weren’t put off by the mystery caller, though. They doubled down on the Epsilon Program for GTA 5, creating various missions and cutscenes that revolved around the fake religion. They even wrote a bible called the Epsilon Tract and split it up into pieces that were scattered across the game world for players to find.
It’s hard to believe that GTA’s Epsilon Program actually fooled someone in real-life into thinking it was a real religion. Perhaps Jones got the wrong end of the stick from the phone call? Not so, he insisted.
It excited me and scared me to death simultaneously.
“She genuinely sounded like she was a follower of the Epsilon Program,” he said. “It’s crazy when you make a satire of something… because we were very straightforward about it. We created a website for the Epsilon Program back in 2004, and all the copy on that, it’s in my mind very clear that it’s a money-grab, modern day fictional religion. But they sounded like proper followers of it. It excited me and scared me to death simultaneously.”
In disbelief at what Lazlow Jones had told me, I had a hunt around online to see if this was an isolated incident, or whether there was evidence that others believed GTA’s fake religion to be real. There are a few joke posts here and there from people pretending to be an Epsilonist, but there is little to suggest a widespread movement, at least in 2024.
Still, according to Lazlow Jones, real-life believers did once exist, and somehow managed to find his work phone number.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
