Gamescom 2026 adventure game round-up – Part 2

• Previews by Victoria Sykes and Laura Cress
• Published:

Introduction

by Vicky

With last year’s gamescom under my belt, I walked into the Koelnmesse confidently for year two… and immediately got lost. Luckily for me, I was there with Laura and spent most of my time in the Indie Arena Booth (which had a booth map!) and as I whizzed round meeting everyone and trying to see as much as I could, I began to get a feel for it again. It’s always nice to see old friends (big shout-out to the Greek gaming delegation) but also to meet the many new (to me) faces.

All the developers and teams I met were so friendly and generous with their time, and it was a real joy to see the excitement and passion not only around their own titles but the others on display. There’s a real sense of community at gamescom, and within an hour of scribbling notes on that first Wednesday morning, I was enveloped and invigorated by the positivity I felt.

Laura mentioned we had our work cut out for us, though, and she was right. We were completely spoiled for choice with the number and quality of the titles at our fingertips, and it was extremely difficult to narrow it down to the games we chose to cover here. We’re really looking forward to seeing these games released, and can’t wait to see what’s in the cards for the adventure game world in 2027 and beyond.

Trainwatch

Developer: Harvester Games
Platform: PC
Release date: 2027
by Vicky

Harvester Games’ upcoming release Trainwatch is a slight departure (!) from solo developer Rem Michalski’s previous titles (The Cat Lady, Burnhouse Lane and more) but packed full of the same melancholic psychological horror vibes. Here players take on the role of Troy, a man who must do just three things for a month: maintain the rail crossing at a foggy isolated lookout station, stay sober, and call his wife every night. 

Trainwatch introduces a life simulator/time management system alongside his assigned daily tasks, so you’ll need to monitor Troy’s hunger, comfort, sanity and tiredness (and the train timetables) to effectively prove to his wife – and himself – that he can ‘become a better man.’ Of course, it wouldn’t be Harvester Games if there wasn’t more to this world simmering just below the surface, and Troy will have to explore the foggy surroundings in the time he has available, where players should expect to find the uncomfortably unexpected. 

Rem let me know that the game will be fully voiced, and at fifteen-plus hours in length, this is his biggest project yet. It helps that 11 bit studios (The Alters) has just been announced as publisher for Trainwatch, so prepare to grab your ticket and be first to board when the game comes to Steam in 2027.

Grandma(88)

Developer: ROTxBLAU
Platform: PC
Release date: Coming soon
by Vicky

Meeting with company co-founder and creative director Alexander Zenker in the sunny Cologne weather felt distinctly at odds with discussing the subject matter of ROTxBLAU’s point-and-click psychological thriller Grandma(88). 

Taking place in 2022, the game puts players in the role of a granddaughter with a very important question to ask: What secrets is Grandma hiding? It’s a story of intergenerational trauma, family history, repressed memories and confrontation, specifically centred around the Nazi era in Germany. 

You must navigate a labyrinth of memories as Grandma lies in her hospital bed. When she begins to tell her tale, items and even entire hand-drawn atmospheric environments change as the story unfolds. If you notice a contradiction in the narration compared to what you observe in the surroundings, you can choose whether or not to challenge Grandma on it. Succeed and more clues are revealed (with trust earned as hearts) but fail and she may shut you out completely. But even then, all is not lost, as retrying different approaches is part of the core gameplay mechanic, ensuring Grandma’s secrets won’t stay buried for long.

Importantly, the developers have sought professional advice and knowledge not just regarding the historical accuracy of tragic events from WWII but also from mental health experts to explore challenging topics with sensitivity. 

Bad Magpie

Developer: Milktooth
Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X|S
Release date: 2027
by Laura

Giving me just a hint of Untitled Goose Game, this delightful adventure sees you hop about as a magpie with one wing, desperate to please a fallen meteorite with all manner of shiny things you’ve picked up on the way. Milktooth co-founder Daisy Fernandez, who has worked as a writer and narrative designer on games such as The Crush House and Card Shark, told me the game will play as a light immersive sim with plenty of ‘pecksploration.’ (We were all losing our minds due to tiredness at this point in the expo.)

In the demo, I had to please a creepy sewer monster who had the big shiny thing I wanted by finding him smaller gems. There were up to thirty to locate and lots of different ways to go about getting them, such as pecking flint stones to start a fire which could open up new areas. There’s no dialogue or text in this non-linear open world, where you’re encouraged to try anything. As you do, you’ll gain new abilities to use on previous places you’ve opened up - a metroidbirdbrainia, if you will. (That was Daisy again; remember we were all very tired at this point!)

Bad Magpie won the coveted 'Best Game' award at gamescom’s Indie Arena Booth, which is no surprise given its charm, and Daisy told me that amongst the cheekiness there will also be a touching story at the game’s heart. The world could do with more clever, warm adventures, so I’ll be looking out for this one winging its way to Steam and Xbox some time in 2027.

Falling Apart

Developer: HiKing Mind Studio
Platform: PC
Release date: 2027
by Vicky 

From the developers of Follow the meaning comes Falling Apart, a psychological puzzle adventure about a man who turns to hypnosis to desperately help his mental state. I spoke to HiKing Mind Studio co-founder and programmer Marcin Malinowksi, who – alongside his co-founder brother Jakub, the artist on this project – realised their penchant for creating unusual puzzle experiences whilst working in escape-room design.

The game’s protagonist, Steve, harbours a painful memory. Seeking relief, he allows himself to fall into the depths of his mind via hypnotherapy, where his surroundings become more and more unsettling and he tries to navigate to the uncomfortable truth. Fans of dark, grotesque puzzles like those in a Rusty Lake game will be in for a treat – one such problem had us trying to find the matching worm to one wiggling around in a bar patron’s nose! (This should be no big surprise, given that publisher Second Maze also published White Door from the Rusty Lake universe, though this game is otherwise unrelated.)

With a haunting hand-drawn greyscale graphical style and a suitably melancholic and immersive musical score, Falling Apart looks to be light on text but heavier on puzzles and interacting with surreal objects and mechanics, so it won’t be easy to help Steve finally let go when his tale comes to Steam in 2027.

The Last Exam

Developer: Neslihan Aydinoğlu
Platforms: Steam
Release date: 2027
by Vicky

Dylan is having dreams – reoccurring ones, that is. And they all seem to be centered around a particularly stressful day in his life: his final exam day. 

The Last Exam is a beautiful hand-drawn watercolour adventure that sees Dylan navigate the blurred line between a dream world and his reality. But this isn’t one of those wacky point-and-clicks all about overcoming absurd obstacles to make it to the test on time. Solo developer Neslihan Aydinoğlu told me that hidden in the layers of this narrative is a poignant story of memory, regret, letting go and helping Dylan process the events of that fateful day. 

The demo felt gentle and thoughtful, with a calming musical score accompanying gameplay that combined traditional inventory and item-use puzzles with some fun mini-games (like a Guitar Hero-inspired musical practice) to help tell Dylan’s story. With a cast of oddball characters to meet and unusual scenarios to discover in the full game, there should be lots to enjoy in the 2–3 hour runtime. With any luck, sometime next year players can help Dylan to sleep peacefully once more.

Adventure-Adjacents

Even with so many great adventure games on display, we couldn’t resist checking out a few that fell a little outside of traditional genre lines. They may not be your standard point-and-clicks, but they’ll surely appeal to those who enjoy a bit of variety in between.

RollerGirl

Developer: Pushing Vertices
Platform: PC
Release date: 2027
by Vicky

Feeling like I should have slid up to RollerGirl’s stand with my rollerblades on, I was nevertheless transported to a nostalgic, slice-of-life musical adventure created by Indigo Doyle.

Based on Indigo’s own experiences of skating around her hometown with her music player, RollerGirl follows the journey of Naomi, a 16-year-old girl needing to come up with some cash for a car repair. Luckily, the inhabitants of the small open-world town have a few odd jobs she can do, all while discovering a mystery and maybe even feeling those first pangs of teenage love.

The music Naomi chooses to listen to changes the mood and vibe of the town and who she interacts with, and Indigo told me that the soundtrack features original songs from Canadian indie artists to really sell the 2000s feel the experience is aiming to emulate. With its fixed-angle third-person camera perspective and bright cartoon stylised 3D graphics, it certainly looks enticing to vicariously strap on those rollerblades and join Naomi when RollerGirl zooms into existence next year.

Barbie Horse Ride & Rescue

Developer: PikPok
Platforms: PC, Mobile
Release date: 2027
by Vicky

After seeing quite a few horror-focused games, I was relieved to escape to Barbie Horse Ride & Rescue, a cosy open-world action-adventure horse care and rehabilitation game. Barbie and I were joined by Georgia, a member of team PikPok, who was eager to walk (trot?) us through the mechanics and tease us with a hint of the mysteries of the Roaming Hearts Rescue Ranch in Moonrise Valley. 

Barbie is there as a volunteer to help scout for and care for the horses, but in her downtime she can enjoy the various challenge modes in mini-games such as barrel racing, time trials and horse-styling events. Players need to complete some of these events to unlock more of the story, but that’s a good thing as the barrel racing in particular is incredibly fun. And don’t worry if you’re no good at action sequences, as it’s easy, high-energy, has a brilliant western-inspired soundtrack, and is sure to inspire you to keep careering round those obstacles.  

Already available for mobile devices, this game clearly shows the great care taken with this beloved IP. It’s great to see it coming to PC as well, with cute updates and customisation options aplenty, so get ready to saddle up when Barbie Horse Ride & Rescue comes to Steam next year.

Agni: Village of Calamity

Developer: Separuh Interactive
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
Release date: Q4 2027
by Vicky

Stepping into an eerie remote Indonesian village with limited resources to defend myself wasn’t on my bingo card this year, but luckily my guides Ardhan (Separuh Interactive co-founder and producer) and Har (lead narrative designer) were on hand to help.

Agni: Village of Calamity places you firmly in the shoes of the titular supernatural investigator, who has entered Desa Purba – a forbidden village – looking for her colleague. Exploration is the name of the game here, collecting clues and solving puzzles along the way, but with a healthy dollop of QTEs (to keep the heartrate up!) and light combat, this cinematic survival horror game balances a variety of gameplay elements.

The images are often surreal, but the graphics are polished and realistic, combining fixed third-person and free cam perspectives. All of the actors are being motion-captured (including the ‘Father of Indonesian horror’ Joko Anwar making an appearance!).

Fans of games like Alan Wake will likely enjoy Agni a lot when it arrives late next year, but tread lightly and move quickly, lest you descend too far into the darkness of how far the human mind can be pushed.

And so ends our coverage of another hectic year at gamescom. There were many games we wanted to play but just didn't have the time, so incredible was the selection on offer this year. Perhaps next year, for those that don't launch in the meantime, as we can't wait to return to Cologne for more fun and exhaustion in 2027! 

Photo header courtesy of gamescom's Koelnmasse image database.

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