Gamescom 2025 First Impressions

Back From Cologne, Head Full of Games

This is my Gamescom 2025 first impression after five packed days of an intense press tour in Cologne, Germany. After eight hours of travel and finally a proper night’s sleep back home, I’m ready to share the knowledge I gathered.

Whole week I was kinda keeping radio silence, mainly because I decided to dedicate 100% of my time to meeting the creators of video games, to capture their raw emotions and passion about things they are doing. Gamescom is the world’s biggest event in the video games industry and people have traveled from all over the world to meet in one place. Despite all the tech, 4K cams and crisp audio, talking face to face is just uncomparable, and I hope my prioritizing on content volume and quality over the speed will pay off.

But we’re not done yet. The whole trip was just a small but important step in a bigger production chain. Now, based on collected data I will perform research, fact-checking and finally craft proper content for my dear readers.

Gamescom Bingo – The Fun Side of Chaos

While the event overall went smooth, there definitely were a few quirks, fails and funny things, which tend to happen every year or to almost anyone. So I made a funny game called Gamescom Bingo. I filled it with my own results, but I’m also uploading a blank version here, so you can mark your own experience and share it over socials!

When Games Outrun Your Hardware

One of my strongest first impressions? I need a new PC! I saw many upcoming games with absolutely stunning graphics, so I have a strong feeling that my current RTX 3070 laptop and GTX 1080 Ti desktop are not sufficient to fully enjoy them the way they are designed.

Which means: bad news for me – it will probably be costly, good news for you – I’ll turn it into a content project and cover all the steps, starting with picking the right components and then assembling them. As a tech reviewer I used to assemble a LOT of gaming rigs, since probably my early teens, at some point I was even assembling them to sell, so there’s a lot of things to share. I drafted myself a challenge to build a ~$1200 gaming rig capable of running 4K@60FPS in all modern games. Will see how it goes.

A Record-Breaking Show Floor

But on a serious note, all halls were fully filled with booths of the exhibitors, which hit a new record – 1,500 exhibitors (last year there were 1,400). Visitors wise, I’m still waiting for confirmation on the official numbers, but I have a strong feeling that the 2024 number of 335k was surpassed, which brings us closer to the pre-covid record of 370k in 2018.

While the consumer halls were packed, I didn’t notice the same kind of jaw-dropping decorations as last year. Sure, there was the One Piece pirate ship, Farming Simulator rolled in a massive John Deere 9RX 830, and a few other big builds, but most stands went practical this time. The focus was clearly on adding more play stations to cut down on queues rather than building flashy props. I’ll cover the show floors in detail in a separate gallery post.

There was a very strong presence of triple-A titles from Asia such as Arknights: Endfield, Crimson Desert, and Infinity Nikki, Duet Night Abyss, plus the debut of Swords of Legends, Black Myth: Zhong Kui, and Peaks and Tides. All games and their physical stands on the show floor were quite impressive.

Massive, and I mean massive, presence of Indie games too. Some publishers and PR agencies, for example Galaktus alone, were showcasing 49 titles at Indie Arena. I really liked many and wishlisted dozens, shared business cards with an intent to help and support my way. Even more I found during my tour on Devcom 2025 (that’s for a separate post).

While many studios reject AI tools for their pipelines, for some these modern tools became a salvation, making it possible for really small teams, often solo devs, to ship their products in an adequate time. What that means for us players? Finding truly hidden gems will be harder, but at the same time we might see some of the wildest and dearest ideas being tested, which will introduce new game mechanics and enrich the industry overall.

I also met a lot of familiar faces, both from developers and press, some even from EVE Fanfest.

A small yet meaningful change from Koelnmesse this year – they started to let the press in 20 minutes earlier, at 8:40. Doesn’t sound like much, but if you have a 9:00 meeting slot, this time buffer means actually quite a lot. It allows you to safely arrive at the booth and prepare yourself instead of literally running through the halls and still being late no matter how hard you try.

What I Took Home (Besides Loot)

Waking up at 6 AM and coming back after 11 PM for several days straight was a real challenge, but overall I’m very satisfied with this trip. Managed to get new contacts, especially with hardware companies, which means I can finally get back into tech reviews that I greatly enjoy. I also re-approached some partners with my new Kekbur brand and refreshed existing connections.

Captured over 15 hours of exclusive interviews, 1,700 photos, and countless video clips, which I hope to stitch into a trailer to deliver the vibes of Gamescom 2025 the way I experienced it. And of course, emotions from hands-on demos and closed presentations.

Next Up in My Gamescom 2025 Journey

This post is just scratching the surface of my five-day trip. Expect full coverage of both Gamescom 2025 and Devcom 2025 with photos, opinions, news, and more.

I’ve got a lot of interviews lined up, including the creators of the new Star Trek game from Daedalic, The Blood of Dawnwalker, Cronos: The New Dawn, plus several more exciting titles. There will also be side events I managed to visit, along with expert insights into what 2025–2026 might bring in video games, AI, payments, compliance, Web3, and other trends shaping the industry. I’ll share my deep dives with experts, where together we discussed predictions for the upcoming year.

And yes, there are some events I can’t talk about yet – NDAs and embargoes are in place. I’ve got an itching feeling to share, but I’ll stay professional and keep the secrets until the official date, so everyone can enjoy the great news at the same time.

So yea, this is just the opening note of my Gamescom 2025 coverage. Over the next weeks I’ll be rolling out:

• A deep dive into Devcom 2025
• A full Gamescom 2025 report with a large photo gallery
• A behind-the-scenes look at the true cost of the trip with tips for first-time press visitors
• What I Hauled Back: Swag Edition
• And more than twenty interviews with developers I met on the show floor

All of it will be linked here once live, so you can follow the whole journey in one place. Or just follow my socials for instant updates when new posts drop.

Behind the Scenes Support

Big kudos to my wife, who supported and assisted during this trip — from logistics to keeping me sane through the endless days. Without her help, half of this wouldn’t even be possible. And that support doesn’t stop here; now that I’m back at the desk, it gives me the space to dive into the mountain of interviews, photos, and notes, and turn them into stories for you.

Some projects we saw were quite interesting for her as well, and I may have strategically picked a few to drag her into blogging too. She’s an expert in horror and role-play RPGs — areas my munchkin nature tends to overlook while rushing straight to the action. So don’t be surprised if you see her perspective show up on the blog alongside mine.

Chasing Feelings, Not Features

What really stood out this year: passionate people talking about things they do and love. They weren’t trying to sell me anything or convince me how great their game is – it was all weaved into their emotions. They told stories of struggles and how they overcame difficulties, and that’s golden.

That’s the whole goal of my interviews. The unique features and mechanics – you’ll find them in press releases, polished by PR and marketing teams. What I’m after is the feeling of the makers. That’s what you can expect on KekBur.net in the coming weeks.

Hope I teased you enough! If you don’t want to miss the interviews, follow my socials. Meanwhile, I’m diving into content crafting – ta-ta!