Gamescom 2018: 10 things you need to know from Europe's largest gaming show

Gamescom might not be E3 2018 in terms major announcements and reveals, but it's a fantastic show for actually playing everything that was announced a year prior. This year the European gaming convention has plenty to offer, with an extended look at Battlefield V, exciting (and disappointing) release date updates, and even new graphics cards.

Read on for the biggest announcements and reveals from the show. Plus we're still on the show floor playing games, so stay tuned for our latest impressions of the newest games and hardware.

• Looking for the best games to be playing right now, we've sorted the list you need

We’ve been waiting a long time for wireless virtual reality headsets and HTC announced it’ll be here in a month. At Gamescom, the electronics firm announced that the HTC Vive's wireless adapter will be available starting on September 24, finally giving users the ability to play VR titles without being tethered to a PC. For $299 (£299, AU$459), the Vive Wireless Adapter includes a wireless adapter, link box, one HTC QC 3.0 battery pack, which is expected to last for up to 2.5 hours of continuous use.

While the Summer Games are in full swing in Overwatch, Blizzard is already moving forward with it next major map. Busan is a new control map, featuring three prominent sights which serve as control points (areas that teams capture/defend): Sanctuary, Downtown, and MEKA Base. To celebrate the momentous occasion, Blizzard also released a new animated short called Shooting Star featuring D.Va (aka Hana Song) and a bit more of her backstory – sadly Gremlin D.Va doesn’t make an appearance.

When DICE first revealed Battlefield V at E3 2018 it promised the game would include a royale mode, and now we might have gotten our first glimpse of it in action. Although the newly released Devastation of Rotterdam trailer doesn’t explicitly reveal a royale mode, a massive a ring of fire closing in on players seems to be an unmistakable hint. During Gamescom, DICE also announced an open beta for Battlefield V will begin on September 4 for early access and September 6 for players on Origin, PlayStation 4 and Steam.

We all but expected Nvidia to announced new graphics cards featuring ray tracing, but we were still blown away by the announcement of the GeForce RTX family. Based on our hands-on impressions of the Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti and what Nvidia tells us about the RTX 2080, the two top GPUs from this Nvidia Turing generation will be able to play games at 4K and 60fps.

We finally know what Life is Strange 2 is all about thanks to a new trailer released at Gamescom. The video reveals the game will focus on two new protagonists, brothers Sean (16) and Daniel (9) Diaz. The five-part episodic tale will follow the brothers as they set off on a road trip to their family’s hometown of Puerto Lobos following a tragic accident that turns their life in Seattle, Washington upside down.

Shenmue III is officially releasing next year on August 27, 2019 for the PlayStation 4 and PC. The release date comes a little later than we would have wanted – especially since the game’s original Kickstarter in June 2015, but at least Koch Media and YS Net Inc. delivered the news alongside a new trailer for the game. If you want to catch up with the past two Shenmue games, they're now available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.

Metro: Exodus is just the reinvention the Metro series needed. At Gamescom, we got some hands on playtime and found it refreshing to get finally get out of the Moscow underground and explore the irradiated ruins of Russia. But just because we're not in dark and dank tunnels anymore, doesn't make this game is any less scary as the open world is full of dangers and a major shortage of ammunition. Click through and read on for our Metro: Exodus hands on.

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is officially leaving Early Access and going gold on the Xbox One on September 4. Users who have been playing the prototype version of Battlegrounds thus far will get an 1.0 update download that will bring introduce a fast-paced Sanhok map (read: smaller map) and A War Mode deathmatch. The update also brings new features like dynamic weather, additional weapons and microtransactions. These microtransactions will be limited to cosmetics and the new Event Pass - which unlocks sensitive challenges within the game.

Prepare to get Devil Triggered as Capcom has confirmed Devil May Cry 5 will release on March 8, 2019. We would have preferred a release date within the end of the year, but at least we have a new gameplay trailer to keep up satiated until then. In the video we can see some returning baddies such as the scissor welding phantom from the first Devil May Cry game as well as a load of new bosses that this fifth installment will feature – not to mention first footage of Dante in action with his weaponized motorcycle.

On March 22, 2019, you’ll be able to play Seriko: Shadows Die Twice’s refreshing take on Souls game formula. The release date was announced at Gamescom alongside the first ever playable demo - which we’re hoping go get our mitts on later this week. 

Sekiro already looks to be a much more story-focused experience in the ‘Soulsborne’ genre, in which you'll follow a warrior on a journey to rescue their master and defeat their arch nemesis. There are also some big gameplay changes as you'll be able to resurrect yourself after defeat and the main character’s prosthetic arm includes a variety of tools like a grappling hook.