Gamescom brings new reveals, updates and delays | Play Life, Live Games

Gamescom, one of Europe's biggest gaming events of the year, took place last week and the digital showcase featured several major announcements that will shake up the video game landscape in the months ahead.

The biggest shakeups to come from the show relate to PlayStation's and Xbox's big holiday releases this year. 

During the conference, PlayStation announced that what was expected to be its big exclusive game for this holiday season, "Horizon Forbidden West," has been delayed and will now launch Feb. 18 of next year. 

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Xbox, on the other hand, showed off a brand new trailer for "Halo Infinite," the sixth game in the mainline Halo series, and announced it would be coming out Dec. 8. Xbox also announced a limited edition Halo-themed version of the Xbox Series X would be released alongside the game.

While limited edition consoles themed around a specific game were fairly common during the Xbox One/PlayStation 4 generation (I have a "Star Wars Battlefront" themed PS4 that came with an awesome Darth Vader DualShock 4 controller), this will be the first limited edition version of either of the new PlayStation or Xbox systems.

This year's Gamescom also had some big game reveals. The two biggest were "Marvel's Midnight Suns" and a reboot of the Saints Row franchise.

"Marvel's Midnight Suns" is a new strategy game from the makers of the XCOM series. The game will feature Iron Man, Wolverine, Captain Marvel and more of Marvel's biggest characters telling what looks to be a darker story set in a unique take of the Marvel Universe.

The original "Saints Row" was essentially a Grand Theft Auto knockoff, but the series got sillier and sillier with each sequel. Although it's a reboot set in an open world, the developers have said the new "Saints Row" will have the same over-the-top ridiculousness for which the series has become known. 

Both games are coming out fairly soon. "Saints Row" is scheduled to release Feb. 25 of next year and "Marvel's Midnight Suns" sometime in March. I like my action in games to be a little more frenetic, so a strategy game, even a Marvel one, is probably not going to be for me, but the new "Saints Row" is something I'm going to keep an eye on.

Before Gamescom, the last time we heard anything about "LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga," the game had been delayed into this year. It seems like a good sign that the developers had been radio silent about the game for so long, and sure enough, it too received a delay. The game received a very cute new trailer and a spring 2022 release window.

Dusty Ricketts can be reached at dricketts@nwfdailynews.com. He is currently playing "Aliens: Fireteam Elite." You can find him through his PlayStation Network ID: DustRAG316.