The 7 must-see trailers from Gamescom 2019
Grab a fresh look at Death Stranding, Avengers, and more
Gamescom in Germany is the world’s largest gaming expo, and while it can’t match E3 for sheer hype, it always has some essential announcements and must-see trailers in the mix.
This time around, studios spotlighted deeper-dive looks into anticipated upcoming games like Death Stranding and Marvel’s Avengers and announced intriguing originals like Disintegration and The Touryst.
Didn’t follow the flow of gaming news this week? Here’s a quick look at all of the trailers you need to see from Gamescom 2019.
Death Stranding
Don’t worry: You’re definitely not alone if your reaction to this trailer is, "What… what the hell did I just watch?" That’s Death Stranding for you! Metal Gear maestro Hideo Kojima’s latest original adventure seems intent on elevating weirdness to a previously-unseen level, and this is just the first of three trailers released at Gamescom. This one features urination and games journalist Geoff Keighley (separately). It’s bonkers, and yet the game looks so potentially visionary that we can’t help but want to see more.
Need for Speed Heat
Need for Speed hasn’t had the most brilliant run this console generation, as EA keeps trying to figure out what this long-running franchise should be in this day and age. But maybe Heat will add just the right amount of spice, delivering an open-road city to explore with daytime roaming and illegal street races at night. It has the kind of flash we expect from this series, so here’s hoping EA nails the full experience.
Marvel’s Avengers
Square Enix didn’t show any real gameplay when Marvel’s Avengers was announced at E3 in June, but now we have a good look at what to expect from this non-movie-based adventure. This lengthy trailer offers a glance at all of the key members and their various gameplay styles, showing a fair amount of variety in their missions and how they dispatch baddies. And here’s hoping that tease of Kamala Khan (at 11:30) leads to a playable Ms. Marvel…
Read More › The 30 most anticipated games of 2019
Gears 5
Microsoft’s big autumn shooter revealed another key piece of the equation at Gamescom, with this first look at Gears 5‘s beefed-up Horde mode. Now each character is treated like a unique hero with varying loadouts and special abilities, meaning team composition matters – and you’ll be able to pick from Terminator: Dark Fate‘s Sarah Connor and a pair of Halo Reach soldiers, as well. Horde is always a blast, and this looks like a raucous evolution of that formula. It’s out just in a couple weeks, on 6 September.
Disintegration
While many of the notable Gamescom announcements concerned already-known games and franchises, there were a few eye-catching original debuts in the mix. Disintegration is one of the them. Hailing from Halo co-creator Marcus Lehto and his V1 Interactive studio, this first-person shooter finds you commanding hovering Gravcycles in battle in a story featuring robots implanted with human minds on an increasingly ruined planet. The future! Disintegration releases in 2020.
Kerbal Space Program 2
Watch as this beautiful, stirring trailer quickly devolves into madness as we find out that the space explorers are once more the little green Kerbals. Kerbal Space Program became a huge cult hit with addictive simulation approach and charming creatures, and the sequel looks to explore new ground with the addition of space colonies and other types of vehicles. It’s also said to be much easier to learn, which will surely be a relief to many. Look out for Kerbal Space Program 2 in 2020.
The Touryst
Here’s something a bit different. The Touryst was one of our favourite debuts from Nintendo’s indie showcase stream, spotlighting a Legend of Zelda-esque adventure on a mysterious island. It’s filled with fun distractions, sure – but also dungeons, traps, and a even fun throwback to developer Shin’en’s last Switch game, Fast RMX. Expect this one in November.
Andrew Hayward
Freelance Writer 
