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After a week battling the hordes present on the Gamescom show floor, here’s a look at some of the best games we got to check out.

Ah, Gamescom… the biggest video game event in the world you may be, but hastily rushing from one preview appointment to another is always worth for all the potential surprises and hidden gems available to uncover. 2025’s rendition definitely had a good mix of both, with VR experiences, indies, and AAA titles all giving me confidence that there’s still plenty to be excited for towards the end of this year and the beginning of the next.

It’d be impossible to sum up absolutely everything on display at this year’s show, of course, but it’s still a great excuse for me to share some personal highlights from what I played. From atmospheric 2D platformers with a dark edge to indies that evoke old-school genres with great success, here’s nine of the most exciting titles we played at Gamescom 2025 – that are well worth looking forward to.

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Marvel’s Deadpool

Superheroes and VR tend to be a winning formula. Just ask Batman and Iron Man. This year it’s the turn of Marvel’s merc with the mouth to have fun playing with the format, firmly setting you on an appropriately gory and madcap adventure that feels mostly intuitive to play. My demo had me reigning in ninja enemies from afar using Deadpool’s grapple gun, juggling them in the air using dual pistols, before beheading them with one slash of my katana. Such actions make for an incredibly satisfying combat setup, which, when paired with Neil Patrick Harris’ fourth wall-breaking quips and tricky combat challenges, could make this VR’s tentpole game of the year.

Recur

Easily one of the most intriguing indie titles to feature in this year’s Day of the Devs presentation, Recur is the kind of puzzle-platformer that is easy to explain yet tough to master. You play as a mailman imbued with the power to move time forward as you move across the screen in the same direction. It’s a setup that feels like the equivalent of rubbing your head and patting your belly, as you try to work out how to influence events so that your destined future path will be unblocked by the time you get there. I can safely say I’ve never quite played a 2.5D side-scroller like Recur – and that alone makes it one to watch.

Duskfade

Being a sucker for old-school 3D platformers that aren’t shy about their influences, Duskfade is like video game catnip to me. And yet, most indie attempts in this field tend to unfortunately fall down due to lack of polish. That said, hardly any of that exists here, at least judging by my 20 or so minutes smashing and bashing my way through a luscious, clockpunk – yes, you read that correctly – world. From an oversized weapon, cutesy companion, and so many collectibles, all the genre’s usual hallmarks are here, successfully reignited my passion for the PS2 era of character action games.

Reanimal

Tarsier Studios isn’t trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes. I say this because, in all but name, Reanimal is very much a continuation of the studio’s love for scantily lit puzzle-platformers. But, with Bandai Namco recruiting another team to make Little Nightmares 3, players can rest easy knowing that Reanimal presents a world just as intriguing, oppressive, and scary to explore. The main difference this time is the inclusion of online co-op, forcing players to work together as purposely vague boy and girl characters. Venturing through an eerie train yard trying to escape oversized baddies felt strangely familiar yet equally enthralling.

MIO: Memories in Orbit

It’s hard to stand out as an indie Metroidvania these days. And with Hollow Knight: Silksong now confirmed to release on September 4, 2025, this year makes that task even trickier. Luckily, MIO: Memories in Orbit exudes a unique and attractive enough watercolour visual palette that I don’t think it’ll have much trouble. Even better is the fact that the wispy character at the centre of this technological world handles snappier than most, backed up by cool abilities such as a grapple and overhead wall climb. It’s optional boss firmly kicked my arse, too, ensuring it’ll put up a challenge for genre fans who want it.

I Hate this Place

The most effective survival horror, at least in my experience, happens on a small scale. Sometimes that means locking it down to one location. Others it means making the core survival mechanics simple. In the case of I Hate This Place, however, this effect is achieved by having you explore, pillage, and fight from an isometric view. This Diablo-esque perspective works surprisingly well to help you keep an eye on the action, which in my case often boiled down to tazing nightmarish creatures in an underground lab and trying to not get grabbed. Nothing I Hate This Place does is particularly new but it does all of it well, offering me a bite-sized taste of cel-shaded scares – an immensely good combo.

Dark Swarm

I miss the top-down, isometric era of Housemarque. Titles like Dead Nation, Nex Machina, and Matterfall might not have been as huge a success as Returnal, but they made for great co-op action with friends. This identity very much lives on in Dark Swarm, an upcoming co-operative twin-stick shooter that sees you and a squad touch down on different planets, complete objectives, and try to make it out alive while fending off alien forces. It scratches an itch that is unabashedly old-school in that lizard brain sort of way, made even more chaotic thanks to the inclusion of friendly fire.

Keeper

Never bet against Double Fine. However outlandish or ‘out there’ its games seem to be, they always come together with plenty of charm and creativity. The same is very much true of the 10 mins of hands-off gameplay footage I got to see of Keeper, the studio’s upcoming adventure game about a Lighthouse searching for purpose. Luckily, its aided by a bird named twig who can reach out and assist its journey to reach the top of the mountain. Tying it all together is a glorious, almost claymation inspired visual style that draws the eye and makes this an experience only made possible by Double Fine. One of Xbox’s most exciting games this year.

Pokemon Legends Z-A

I know, I know. How can anything Pokemonthese days genuinely surprise? As someone increasingly disillusioned by the series’ Nintendo Switch era, though, my short time playing Pokemon Legends Z-A genuinely gave me hope that the creature battler has been given new life. The kicker is the real-time battles, which now force you to swap in and swap out your party members in quick succession, perform moves while managing each’s cooldown, and dodge rival Pokemon attacks as a human trainer. It makes for a refreshing change of momentum that is faster paced than turn-based battles, but still with plenty of strategy. Game-changing? Maybe not, but I’m certainly intrigued by Game Freak's next experiment.

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