Gamescom 2025 – AllKeyShop captures every epic gaming moment for you
Today, on August 20, 2025, the Gamescom in Cologne officially kicked off. I was there on-site to check out the newest games and gather fresh info. Everything I saw and experienced today, you’ll find here – in detail.
Gamescom 2025 was bigger than ever before. All around were gigantic booths, endless lines, and so much gaming that a single day wasn’t enough. The exhibition halls were more packed than in previous years, so I’m bringing you the highlights all in one place, right here at AllKeyShop.
The Big Premieres: AAA Blockbusters Guaranteed to Give You Goosebumps
The Gamescom Opening Night marked the grand start of the event. There, we got plenty of new info on AAA titles like Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Resident Evil Requiem, and World of Warcraft Midnight. More details can be found here. But Gamescom is more than just Opening Night—on the show floor itself you get deeper insights into the games, starting today with Silent Hill f. Don’t be surprised, throughout the day I’ll share several shorts I filmed directly at the event.
Silent Hill f Focuses on Atmosphere Instead of Gameplay
The Konami booth was split in two. One half lined up to try Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, while the other sought more info on Silent Hill f. Sadly, Silent Hill f didn’t offer a playable demo, but instead an experience that rivaled any cinema. The room was fully themed after Silent Hill f, with a Japanese setting and special effects like fog and red lanterns. To top it off, they revealed a life-size statue of one of the enemies shown in the latest footage.
But what exactly did the video show? It lasted around 10 minutes and unveiled a variety of scenes. We got a look at the creepy Japanese setting and even more monsters. In total, the trailer revealed 4 enemies and shared new details about the main character Hinako. Attendees also walked away with Silent Hill f stickers and a matching keychain.
Capcom at Gamescom: Cinema, Gameplay, and Major Premieres
Next up, let’s move to Capcom. This year Capcom was one of the big players with new games like Pragmata, Onimusha: Way of the Sword, and of course the highlight Resident Evil Requiem. Starting at 1 PM, it was possible to try out the games, but there was also a Capcom cinema where new info on all titles was shared. The presentation kicked off with Onimusha: Way of the Sword.
We saw exclusive gameplay. The trailer showed Kyoto in the Edo period, overrun by miasma. Your mission: cleanse the city. It showcased new enemies and the franchise’s iconic sword-fighting style, looking better than ever. The protagonist searches for his reason to fight, facing inner conflicts. He wields the legendary Oni Gauntlet, allowing him to defeat Oni and absorb their souls into the glove. Those souls can be used for healing or special attacks. As one of the developers explained, balance will determine whether you live or die.
The gameplay felt action-packed and immersive. For example, laundry cloths could fall onto enemy heads, altering their behavior in combat. The game isn’t meant to be as punishing as Souls titles, but instead to provide fun, satisfying moments, like slicing through foes. To make the samurai as realistic as possible, Toshiro Mifune was used as the model for Miyamoto Musashi. He’s famous for his roles in Akira Kurosawa’s classics “Seven Samurai” and “Yojimbo.”
Then came Pragmata. More gameplay details were revealed, especially around Diana’s hacking. You control two characters, Diana and Hugh Williams, with Diana riding on his shoulders. Most enemies use shields, which Diana must hack. This involves a minigame on a 4×4 grid, moving up, down, left, and right to hit targets.
Hacking temporarily disables shields. Collecting specific points extends the hack duration. The challenge: you must do this while Hugh dodges attacks, making it a real multitasking experience. The moon station setting is fast to explore thanks to Diana’s ability to open locked doors and Hugh’s jet thrusters. As a young android, Diana is curious and learns quickly. The game was reconfirmed for a 2026 release.
Between the major reveals, there were updates on smaller titles and already-known news, like Street Fighter 6 coming to Nintendo Switch 2 with Sagat as a new character. Since these were previously announced, they won’t be covered further.
Finally, the grand finale: Resident Evil Requiem. At Gamescom we saw exclusive gameplay. The game is more immersive than ever. You can switch freely between first- and third-person. In first-person the horror is intensified, while in third-person it feels more action-oriented. This flexibility tailors the experience to different players. The protagonist Grace faces her deepest fears and is haunted by her past.
The studio considered bringing back Leon as the main character, but he’s not the type to be easily spooked by falling objects or corpses. So instead they created a new protagonist. Grace is an FBI analyst, trained with weapons, with incredible deductive skills. The story also sheds light on what has happened in Raccoon City over the last 30 years.
The presentation lasted about 30 minutes, though it didn’t feel that long thanks to the flood of new info and visuals. Definitely worth a visit. The cinema is located behind the large Capcom booths, where the games were playable as well – and that’s what we’ll cover next.
Resident Evil Requiem – My Gamescom Demo Highlight
One of my biggest highlights today was definitely Resident Evil Requiem. There were some organizational issues at the booth—queues weren’t allowed before 1 PM as appointment-holders had priority. Of course, everyone still wanted to line up early. I was there an hour before and managed to be among the first ten in line. Behind me, roughly 300 people soon filled the queue. Inside, there were about 30 demo stations.
I chose to play in first-person for maximum horror immersion—and there was plenty of it. The demo begins in an old house with Grace hanging upside-down, strapped to a gurney. Blood is being drawn from her, but she manages to free herself using a glass bottle.
The game makes heavy use of darkness. Early on, the lights flicker, leaving you completely blind without illumination. At one point I couldn’t tell the floor from the rest of the room and totally lost my bearings. Later, I found a lighter that provided at least a small light source.
With the lighter in hand, I returned to the dark area—only to be hit with my first jumpscare when opening a door. A corpse infected with the virus fell out, followed by a monster that devoured it before coming after Grace. This triggered the first escape sequence, forcing me into the only lit room, as light weakens the enemy.
The goal was to escape via elevator, but of course a part was missing. It had to be salvaged from another device, which required a wrench. And yes, the wrench was located where I first saw the monster. Armed only with my lighter, I returned to search. The toolbox was on a high shelf, and to reach it I had to stack a cart.
But if you push the cart into obstacles twice, loud items fall, attracting the monster—a mistake I learned the hard way. Grace lost her head, literally. So staying quiet is key. I had to reload from a checkpoint and only managed to reach the room again before the 20-minute demo time expired. Still, it was an incredible experience with huge potential and definitely a must-play at Gamescom, if you can handle the queue. Otherwise, it’s sure to be worth it at launch. Looking back, I realized I’d also picked up a bottle I could’ve thrown to distract the monster. After the demo, we even received a goodie bag with a flashlight, map, and poster.
John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando – Co-op chaos with countless zombies
After that, I tested a game that I first saw at the Opening Night Live: John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando. It’s a 4-player co-op zombie shooter. I played this game on-site with 4 other players. You could also play with bots, but according to the staff on site, they are so weak that you would stand no chance in the mission. At the start, you could choose between different weapons and class presets, but unfortunately I didn’t notice this option and started with an SMG and a revolver. Other options included a sniper, assault rifle, or shotgun.
♂️ John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando rises again
— Allkeyshop.com (@allkeyshop) August 20, 2025
After 2 years, it returns with a bloody new gameplay trailer + release window: early 2026.
Cross-play co-op, on-foot & vehicle zombie mayhem await! pic.twitter.com/tGeqG84Khp
You had a fairly small open map where you were sent to different locations. There, you always had to destroy something and fight off various zombies. There were also vehicles like a pickup truck with a flamethrower or a military jeep with an MG. With these, you could drive around the world and eliminate zombies more effectively. The game ended with a building that you had to defend against thousands of zombies. And I’m not exaggerating — there really were that many, all at once. I went down twice in the game and in the final wave, just seconds before our victory, I even died completely. There was a ton of splatter and explosions, which made it chaotic at times. Still, it was a very fun experience that would be even more enjoyable with friends.
Crimson Desert Gamescom Demo – Gameplay between freedom and overwhelm
And now we come to the last part of my experience today, which was definitely my second highlight of the first day of Gamescom 2025. Thanks to you, I got the chance to book an appointment for the Crimson Desert demo in the press/VIP area. That was only possible because of your support and interest in gaming news, so thank you very much. I was able to test a 45-minute demo version of the game — the same one we saw in the 13-minute gameplay trailer released a few days ago. You can also play the game as a regular visitor at Gamescom, but I don’t know how long the playtime is there. It will probably be shorter than 45 minutes.
But let’s first talk about my in-game experience. I was massively overwhelmed — there was a tutorial that introduced the many functions and combos. It was too much to memorize in such a short time. You had special attacks, combos, a focus bar for special abilities, and another skill bar that I didn’t fully understand even by the end of the demo. So it was mostly button smashing and defeating enemies. And that was a lot of fun.
Before we get to the combat, I want to highlight the immersive world. I tested how NPCs reacted to player actions. For example, I knocked over a child multiple times, and then all the refugees in the camp got angry with me, gave me angry looks, and wanted me to leave. The world reacts to what you do. The game world is also huge — at the beginning you could see its scale, with many thematic biomes such as a desert. To move faster, you had wings for gliding and a grappling hook, which I failed to use properly. I always pressed the button at the wrong time and had trouble disengaging it. In my defense, the tutorial didn’t explain it either.
Now let’s talk about the combat, which for me was based a lot on luck but not entirely. There were several combos like R1 + R2, which triggered a fire special attack with no problem. With L3 + R3 I entered focus mode, where I attacked enemies with incredible speed and defeated them. In focus mode, I could also, as shown in the trailer, raise banners, which seemed to be an important mechanic for later.
You also had a bow with two different arrow types. Besides normal arrows, there were also whistling arrows. When fired, these caused allies to launch an artillery strike at the marked position. This mechanic was used to blow up a gate and was definitely one of my favorites. But since I explored too much, I didn’t make it to the boss in time. Fortunately, about 15 minutes before the end of the demo, I was asked if I wanted to fight the boss — and of course, I said yes.
The boss fight was… special. I’m used to bosses from games like Dark Souls, and this one was something completely different. You couldn’t damage him directly. Instead, you had to stagger him with heavy or special attacks, as seen in the trailer. Then you could hit him once, and the cycle repeated. Regular or special attacks did almost no damage, so you had to repeat this at least 20 times. I found it a bit disappointing that there was only one effective way to fight this boss, and I hope other bosses will have more variety.
I also tried to replicate the gameplay trailer trick of smashing the boss with a pillar, but I failed miserably. First, I accidentally placed the pillar in the air with vines, and then I was too slow twice. It got so bad that a staff member came over to remind me what I needed to do. He watched me, and I still couldn’t do it. Eventually, I managed it, and thanks to my earlier damage, the boss was almost dead. After one more combo, he was finally defeated. It was a long fight with many deaths on my part, but it was definitely fun and refreshing.
At the end, I should have lit the bonfire, but since the boss fight took me about 14 minutes, there was no time left. Still, it was a very impressive demo that showed what Crimson Desert has to offer. Crimson Desert is one of the highlights of Gamescom 2025 and a great game, even if it massively overwhelmed me. You’ll need time to master it, but you don’t need to be a master to have fun — and I had plenty of fun. At the end, I even received a backpack in the shape of the shield as a goodie.
Hey, I’m Kilian, but online you’ll probably know me as “Tux1243.” I've been part of the team for almost two years now, always trying to keep you in the loop with the latest and coolest gaming news. I also have a huge passion for doing deep dives and detailed analyses of entire game series and franchises. I love getting to the bottom of things and exploring the little details and backstories that make game worlds so fascinating.
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