Gamescom Opening Night Live 2025: Every Announcement from The Witcher 3 Remaster to Gears of War E-Day
Gamescom's Opening Night Live returned on Tuesday with a packed two-hour showcase of reveals, release dates, and new trailers — the traditional curtain-raiser for the world's largest video game trade fair, held each August in Cologne, Germany.
CD Projekt led the evening's headlines with a remaster of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, its 2015 fantasy role-playing game. The remaster brings improvements to visuals, gameplay, and more, and arrives on September 29 as a free upgrade for existing owners, according to the publisher's showcase trailer. CD Projekt also confirmed that The Witcher 4, the next main entry in the series, is targeting a 2028 release window — a date the studio verified ahead of Gamescom. On the show floor, CD Projekt RED is presenting The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Songs of the Past, a new expansion, from August 26 to 28 (VGC).
Xbox gave players their first proper look at the campaign for Gears of War: E-Day, a new entry in the long-running third-person shooter series. The publisher confirmed an October 6 release date. Square Enix, meanwhile, premiered fresh footage of Final Fantasy 7 Revelations — the latest chapter in its ongoing remake of the 1997 classic — with the game's director appearing on stage (VGC).
Ubisoft unveiled Rainbow Six Tactics, a turn-based strategy spin-off from its tactical shooter franchise — a genre shift that trades real-time firefights for planned, move-by-move combat. Hoyoverse, the studio behind Genshin Impact, announced Nodus Fall, an original co-op action game, expanding its catalogue beyond the live-service titles it is best known for.
Capcom showed new gameplay for Mega Man: Dual Override and revealed Mega Man crossover skins for Pragmata, its long-in-development sci-fi adventure. 4A Games brought an extended on-stage look at Metro 2039, the latest instalment in its post-apocalyptic shooter series set in the ruins of Moscow's underground. Saber offered a fresh glimpse of Turok Origins, and Konami showed a new look at Silent Hill Townfall, part of its revival of the horror franchise.
Archetype announced an April 2017 release date for Exodus, its sci-fi role-playing game — no, that is not a typo in the headline; the date is what the studio stated on stage. Sega revealed the first look at multiplayer in Crazy Taxi: World Tour, its open-world reboot of the arcade driving series, which is scheduled for release next year.
Looking ahead, Gamescom 2026 itself runs from August 26 to 30 at the Koelnmesse convention centre in Cologne, with trade fair hours beginning at 10:00 a.m. on the opening Wednesday. Next year's Opening Night Live is set for August 25, 2026, at 8:00 p.m. local time in Koelnmesse Hall 1 (Gamescom).
For fans, the evening delivered something across nearly every major genre — strategy, horror, shooters, role-playing, and racing — with enough release dates to start filling a 2025 and 2026 calendar.
