Gamescom Day 1: This new handheld has it all
Guten Abend, and welcome to day one of Gamescom.
The event officially started today for press and trade visitors. Although the public are not yet allowed in, it was already pretty crowded. This is my (Kevin’s) sixth Gamescom, and I always thought that the organisers are very (too?) flexible with who is allowed to attend Gamescom as a trade visitor (If you have a school teacher who can find any reason why your class should go to Gamescom, you’ll get a trade visitor pass).
Regardless, we were able to look at many games and much hardware, so let’s get right to it:
Kevin Wammer: We announced it in yesterday’s newsletter, but Zotac’s new handheld, the Zotac Zone, is officially up for pre-order, and we had the chance to go hands-on with the device.
https://overkill.wtf/gamescom-hands-on-zotac-zone/
I’ve spent some time testing the handheld and talking to the Senior Industrial Designer, and I think Zotac has a winner on their hands. I’ve written my thoughts in this piece, but in summary, this might just be the most complete Windows handheld PC we’ve seen to date.
Chris Brandrick: The Zone handheld PC was a rather nice surprise. As Kevin said, based on an initial look, it seems to be a pretty feature-complete offering — you can see the full specs here. One thing I’ve noticed with the slew of handheld gaming PCs that have popped up over the past few years is that they always seem to be lacking one or two small things that would make them a perfect package — be that something small like a kickstand, or something more substantial like trackpads. This Zone handheld seems to have everything you could feasibly ask for in the form factor today, and it even chucks in a neat dial around the analog sticks, which is unique — but I can’t decide if it’s a gimmick, (along with being another moving part prone to possible failure).
For all this talk about the merit of the Zone, I come away with one overwhelming feeling, though — for all it gets right, it's entering what is now a highly competitive space. Valve, ASUS, Lenovo, and others are all fighting for your portable gaming bucks. Kevin said in a recent newsletter that we’re likely going to end up with every major hardware maker having one of these handhelds in their lineup — it looks like that’s happening fast. Choice is a good thing though!
Ever busy, GuliKit has not just one, but several new products they’ve brought to Gamescom. For one, they are releasing their custom hall-sensing replacement sticks for the ROG Ally X — they told us that they have worked closely with ASUS on these, making these perfect-fitting upgrades.
For those who take their controllers seriously, they’re also releasing new TMR joysticks — these electromagnetic sticks promise to be an even more responsive option over hall-sensing sticks.
They are also releasing two new controllers: the Libra Max, basically like their very good KK3 Max, but with more of a PlayStation-like layout (symmetrical analog sticks). The other new controller is the Elves 2, a Sega-inspired controller that, GuliKit told us, is especially great for fighting games. (Kevin: The last Sega console I owned was the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. And I was 5, way too young to remember that.)
Accessory manufacturer JSAUX is also present at this year’s Gamescom, and they’ve brought their full plethora of accessories with them. At their booth, you can find a couple of their docks, Steam Deck accessories like their back- and front plates, the DualUp screen, and more.
But JSAUX has some new products to announce. On the show floor, they are introducing their Apple Vision Pro series with a bunch of new accessories:
- A carrying hard shell case to protect your Apple Vision Pro
- A clip attachment for the Apple Vision Pro’s battery
- A protective cover for the front part
Chris Brandrick: The original DMG Game Boy holds a special place in my heart — so, when you get the chance to go hands on with a modern take on such a device, you tend to go for it. Today offered up just that, by way of the Chromatic from ModRetro — a fresh entrant in the new-device-to-play-old-games category.
The Chromatic is faithful to the original DMG vertical form factor, but adds in much needed light to the screen, and a touch colour thanks to several fun colourway options. It leans into its retro roots, looks the part, is well built, and is generally the more affordable FPGA option when compared to the likes of the Analogue Pocket.
I came away generally impressed from our hands-on with this device, not only because it can play all Game Boy and Game Boy Color titles (I even bought along my original copy of Tetris to try), but also because it can play ModRetro’s own range of cartridges.
The device will launch (for around $200 later this year) alongside a range of new, modern Game Boy-esque physical ModRetro cartridges, with more software launching throughout 2025.
One of these games is Chantey by solo-dev K.C. Apostolakis. A sizeable 8-bit open-world rhythm game for both the Game Boy and the aforementioned Chromatic — it has you slip into the role of an up-and-coming pirate, collecting sea chanteys like Pokémon (chiptune versions of famous pirate chanteys from the 17th century, like "Drunken Sailor") and fighting other pirates and captains using rhythm-game mechanics.
The game has 11 different towns you can explore (they reminded us of the towns present in the first-gen Pokémon titles) and travel to with your own pirate ship.
Chantey will be released on a physical cartridge for Game Boy and Chromatic in the first quarter of 2025. You can preorder the physical game on ModRetro’s website for $40.
Fifteen years after the last game, Ukrainian developer GSC Game World is now wrapping up work on a much anticipated new title in the STALKER franchise.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl has been in development since 2018, with the release planned for PC and Xbox this November.
At the expo, we were able to play the game for around 30 minutes, which covered the complete tutorial mission. And… it's a STALKER game, with all the positive connotations that I can offer: it’s a first-person shooter with heavy survival horror elements. During the whole playthrough, I (Kevin) was just waiting for one of the mutant monsters of this franchise to jump on me.
It didn’t happen, but GSC Game World was still able to pull off an oppressive atmosphere, with the constant threat of running out of ammo, barely holding on to any health, and every sound snippet stressing me out.
The fact that they’ve managed to do all this despite the very challenging work environment GSC Game World is facing (from COVID, cyberattacks, and of course the war in Ukraine) is more than admirable. I look forward to seeing the final result.
Kevin Wammer: One of my personal highlights today was a game called Karma: The Dark World. A cinematic psychological thriller currently in development and aiming for a 2025 release, the demo I played reminded me of franchises like Papers, Please, We Happy Few, a little bit of the first BioShock, and of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. You gotta look at this trailer:
Set in 1984 in East Germany, the game takes place in one of the offices of Leviathan Corporation, this world’s Big Brother. The demo I played has you step into the boots of one of the workers, diligently going about your job, until a monster starts to chase you. After escaping, you’ll find yourself in a room in front of a big TV, and your sole job is putting a stamp on a never-ending pile of documents.
It’s here that this short demo started to show why it’s a psychological thriller. The more you kept stamping documents (at one point, I was wondering if I was missing something, but this was by design), the more you started losing your mind, with the only way to calm yourself down being by drinking some liquid (think Soma from Brave New World) until a voice tells you to stop doing so.
While my time with the demo was short, and the game is very obviously still in development, I’m very much looking forward to learning more and immersing myself deeper into this universe. And maybe, I finally need to read 1984.
Ok, that’s all folks. Tomorrow, we’ll be back with another newsletter and more impressions on TikTok, YouTube, or Instagram.