Gamescom Opening Night in full

The night opened with the Xbox Exclusive Gears 5, which won the Gamescom Award for best Xbox game, with the main game set for a 10th September release. Gears POP!, a mobile game in collaboration with Funko Pop, is already available in app stores.

Comanche, a game series with its previous latest release back in 2001, is being rebooted by THQ Nordic, with some similarities to War Thunder and it affectionately being dubbed by viewers 'World of Helicopters'.

Need for Speed: Heat showed off the 'heat' system, similar to GTA's Wanted Level, where police will get more and more determined to take down the player depending on how notorious a racer you become. Building reputation will allow you to unlock new items and use the rep to make purchases but if a player is arrested, they will lose 'everything they've worked for', presumably cars or customisations added to them, giving high stakes to big races.

A mobile app 'NFS Heat Studio' is already out, which allows car customisation via mobile will be able to upload custom cars into the main game on release.

Two sequels, Kerbal Space Program 2 and Little Nightmares 2, both had impressive trailers with KSP going for an epic cinematic of the Kerbals and their rockets, while Little Nightmares 2 had in-game footage of the now-expanded world. Other trailers included Darksiders: Genesis, Stadia-exclusive GYLT, Deep Silver's Iron Harvest 1920 and a rum-soaked Port Royale 4.

Predator: Hunting Grounds showed some pre-alpha gameplay, Monster Hunter World showed off a fearsome dragon from the upcoming Iceborne expansion, details were given about Shadowkeep, a Destiny 2 expansion and Life is Strange 2: Episode 4 had an engaging trailer, without revealing too much about protagonist Sean, other than that he has woken from a coma previously and wants to find his brother.

SEGA's widely-anticipated new IP announcement was a joint project with Amplitude Studios. A dramatic trailer of a Neanderthal playing an electric piano before the camera pans out to reveal he is on a spaceship is the first introduction to Humankind, with the tagline 'How far will you push Humandkind?'

Epic Gamer moment

Epic Games made a statement at this year's Gamescom, with a segment featuring all the games coming to their storefront exclusively. Their announcement showed Oddworld: Soulstorm, Borderlands 3, Magic: the Gathering Arena, Shenmue III, The Outer Worlds, Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, Ancestors: the Humankind Odyssey, MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, Control and a promise of 'a free game every week in 2019'.

YAGER showed off a new multiplayer FPS called The Cycle, a 'PvPvE' game that was made with the help and support of Epic Games so will be coming to the Epic Games Store in the future.

Borderlands 3, also releasing on the Epic Games Store, will see the return of the Cycle of Slaughter along with six Proving Grounds, where helping an alien species and uncovering artifacts will lead to missions with better loot based on completing optional objectives.

Space exploration and combat game EVERSPACE 2 from Rockfish Studios, first person shooter mixed with real-time tactics Disintegration from V1 Interactive and a sequel to Remothered: Tormented Fathers called Going Porcelain by Stormind Games were also all on the main stage during the night.

CD PROJEKT RED's The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's Nintendo Switch port, dubbed 'The Switcher', with downgraded graphics but the ability to experience Geralt's adventures in the Northern Territories on the go from 15th October. The Complete Edition was previously shown at E3 this year.

ANNO 1800 saw four DLCs announced by Ubisoft - Sunken Treasures, Botanica, The Passage and Day and Night cycle, with the latter being a free game update to allow you view your city at night.

During the show, news broke that Sony had bought Insomniac Games, developer of the PS4 exclusive Spider-Man game last year. The studio will now be operating as an exclusive Sony studio. At Gamescom, Sony presented Flavourworks' interactive thriller Erica. Similar to Black Mirror: Bandersnatch released on Netflix last year, the player will be able to interact with Erica's world to influence her actions and decisions.

For sports fans, FIFA 20's VOLTA Mode with a street football campaign and cup to win was explored in more detail. Players can be customised aesthetically as well as in terms of their playstyle. You will be able to recruit other players for your team and experience street football in 17 global locations.

There will be cross play for Call of Duty Modern Warfare and the 2v2 gunfight mode, playable on the floor, will have an open 2v2 Alpha on 23rd August worldwide, exclusively on PS4.

Death Stranding gameplay

The biggest moment of the night, naturally left until last, was Hideo Kojima presenting Death Stranding gameplay footage as well as introducing the audience to two new characters they will meet in the game.

'Mama' is the first of these characters. Her ghost-like daughter was born on the ‘other side’ but connected by the umbilical cord, she remains connected to her baby. She can’t move because while her baby is on the other side, she is in the ‘real world’. The trailer does little to explain this further, leaving it for players to work out on their own.

'Deadman', voiced by Guillero del Toro only adds to the confusion. While speaking to Sam, the main character, he 'explains' still-mothers and neuro-networks being needed to ‘update’ the pod with Bridge Baby in it. They are ‘in service’ for a year but are somehow connected to the world of the dead so can see the BTs.

The final reveal was gameplay footage from one of Sam's delivery runs. In an idyllic setting with lush grass and impressive cliffs, Sam is napping until he wakes up and promptly empties his bladder onto the ground below him.

Sam completes a delivery to a suspiciously keen recipient by using a ladder to climb up a nearby cliff, before falling directly off said cliff on his departure. The full gameplay trailer is available below.

The full stream from the Opening Night in Cologne is on YouTube, featuring more conversations with developers and details about the announced titles as well as what will be available to play at Gamescom itself this week.