Somehow, it’s that time of the year again already! THQ Nordic’s annual gaming showcase has returned to offer a look at its upcoming slate of releases, both previously known and newly announced. This time around, the long-awaited Gothic 1 Remake and Titan Quest 2 both got gameplay reveals, and Epic Mickey: Rebrushed popped up to remind us all it’s coming out relatively soon. As for the new stuff, Wreckfest is getting a sequel, Little Nightmares studio Tarsier’s creepy new game has been teased (as has a new Darksiders), while strikingly animated platforming adventure The Eternal Life of Goldman looks like a real gem.
So if you didn’t catch the showcase and are curious to see what you missed, you’ll find a full round-up – augmented by a few additional details from an earlier press briefing – below.
Wreckfest 2
We were big fans of 2018 demolition derby racer Wreckfest (“Wreckfest offers primal pleasures,” wrote Martin Robinson, “with little by way of pretension), and developer Bugbear Entertainment is ready to do it all over again in the newly announced Wreckfest 2. Details are relatively scant at this early juncture, but it promises “unmatched deformati on and physical damage models” as its high-octane single-player and multiplayer racing unfolds.
Other confirmed features include a career mode, challenge and tournament modes, plus modding support – and there’s promise of regular content updates after launch. Its flagship addition, though, is a new vehicle customisation tool kit, enabling players to apply colour and wear to individual body parts, as well as different decals – with Bugbear promising lots of “freedom and sharing possibilities”. All the racing bits in Wreckfest 2’s announcement trailer above are said to be in-game footage if you’re curious, and it’ll be coming to “PC and consoles” at some undisclosed future point.
The Eternal Life of Goldman
It might have a bit of a silly name, but The Eternal Life of Goldman is an absolute jaw -dropper, its meticulously hand-drawn and hand-animated art-style pretty much stealing today’s showcase. Developed by Weappy (the studio behind This is the Police), it’s an “existential” 2D platformer blending elements of Greek, Jewish, and Mesopotamian folktales to create a world where life, death, nightmares, and wonder collide.
Players take on the role of an old man journeying to kill a god, and the adventure is being sold as a pure platformer with no backtracking or corpse runs. Instead, its focus is on “discovery and atmosphere” (plus jumping), and its bearded protagonist can unlock new abilities for his cane – a hook to grip onto floating balloons or moveable carts, a bouncing shaft to jump higher, and so on – as he navigates the world and battles bosses. The Eternal Life of Goldman is a strictly single-player affair and it’s launching for Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, and PC later this year.
Titan Quest 2
It’s been almost exactly a year since THQ Nordic announced a sequel to 2006’s fondly remembered action-RPG Titan Quest, and now, after a bit of a wait, we’ve finally got a first look at some gameplay, courtesy of developer Grimlore Games. Set in a “handcrafted and immersive” world inspired by classic mythology, Titan Quest 2 sees players attempting to thwart an out-of control Nemesis, the goddess of retribution.
It promises the likes of “true” action-RPG adventure in the style of its predecessor (and the Diablo series, if you’re more familiar with that), alongside character progression based on combining masteries, “hand-composed” enemy encounters, plus bosses with unique abilities requiring different tactics to beat. At least some of that gets an airing in Titan Quest 2’s first gameplay trailer above, and while there’s still no word on a release date, we do know it’s coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed
The original Disney Epic Mickey, developed by legendary designer Warren Spector’s Junction Point Studios and released back in 2010, was a flawed but lovable platform adventure with some wonderful ideas. Its world was inventive and surprisingly dark, built from corrupted theme park attractions and long-forgotten Disney ephemera. And it was paired with a nifty paintbrush mechanic – enabling players to create and erase parts of the environment – alongside surprisingly involved questing and a lightweight morality system. Unfortunately, some clumsy platforming meant the game’s good bits never quite had the room to properly shine.
So it’s both encouraging and intriguing to hear THQ’s upcoming remake, Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed, will do more than slap the original with a fresh coat of paint. Yes, Epic Mickey’s twisted world has been given visual spruce-up, but developer Purple Lamp is also promising some massaging on the gameplay front. Mickey’s got three new core abilities, for instance – a dash, ground pound, and sprint – with all gameplay mechanics having been remade from the ground up. Rebrushed will also introduce new secrets and collectibles across all levels, new trophies and achievements, new concept art, and a new photo mode when it launches for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PS4, Switch, and PC on 24th September.
Gothic 1 Remake
And finally for this year’s THQ Nordic showcase, a first proper look at gameplay from the publisher’s Gothic 1 Remake. We’ve known this was in development since all the way back in February 2020, so solid information has been a long time coming – but that’s now arrived in the form of a surprisingly detailed features trailer.
Developer Alkimia Interactive is calling its Gothic 1 Remake a “faithful recreation” of the original open-world fantasy action-RPG – which, if you’re unfamiliar, told the story of a convicted prisoner who finds himself on a quest across a dangerous medieval realm. The remake places a special focus on its living world simulation (in which NPCs and creatures have daily routines), while some mechanics have been overhauled, and other are completely new. Combat, for instance, has been modernised in terms of controls but will retain the original’s tactical, slower-paced feel, while climbing is entirely new. Additionally, the world has been enhanced with new places and “tonnes of secrets to discover”.
There’s still no release date for the Gothic 1 Remake yet, but it’ll be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC when it eventually arrives.
Other business
So that’s your lot (unless you count trailers for Space for Sale and Way of the Hunter’s Lintukoto Reserve DLC, both of which are already out), but THQ Nordic did manage to slip in a couple of teasers. One of them, offering a few slow pans through an infernal hellscape before settling on three fire-belching stone heads and revealing the words, “Be prepared to ride again”, initially left me baffled until it was confirmed to be a new Darksiders title.
Then there was the second teaser, this time for Little Nightmares developer Tarsier’s new game. Whatever it is, we’re clearly in horror territory (the teaser featured a pig waddling across the screen before its belly split open, its guts fell out, and it belched the words, “They’re coming”), with more to be revealed at this month’s Gamescom.