42 games you might have missed from Gamescom 2014

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Platform: Xbox One

I've been salivating over this unique little dungeon crawler from the team behind Super Time Force ever ⛎since Microsoft teased it at its E3 2013 briefing. Looks like we'll finally get a chance to play it some day.

Volgarr the Viking

Platform: Xbox One/PC

Remember Rastan? The developers over at Crazy Viking Studio do, and have created an homage to the crazy-hard Genesis platformer with Volgarr the Viking, leaping from the PC to Xbox On♕e.

SpeedRunners

Platform: Xbox One/PC

Enjoy leaving your friends in the dust? Then you'll probably dig Speedrunners, a four-player competitive game where you t✱ry to outrun your opponents on several different courses. Think of it as a ๊2D Mario Kart, except if they fall too far behind, they're dead.

Superhot

Platform: Xbox One/PC

With a surprisingly awesome browser-based prototype, Superhot exploded onto the scene last year, and now the full version of the time-manipulation shooter is coming first to Xbox One. When enemies shoot at you, their bullets only move if you move. It looks really cool, and I can't stop sayingꦆ the n꧑ame. Super. Hot. Super. Hot.

Pix the Cat

Platform: PlayStation 4

Pix the Cat is an arcade-style game starring a loveable cartoon cat--and everything is out to destroy him. Colors and lights flicker and strobe and levels fold in on themselves and turn into new stages. Th🐠is game looks absolutely bonkers.

The Escapists

Platform: Xbox One/PC

From Team 17, the studio behind the massively popular Worms series, comes somethin🥂g a bit different--an emergent prison sim called The Escapists. Your goa🦋l is to gather your fellow inmates together and pull off the perfect prison break--or change up your plan if things go horribly wrong.

Smite

Platform: Xbox One/PC

It's hard to stand out if you're a MOBA whose name isn't League of Legends or Dota 2, but Smite aims to do just that by shovi🔯ng the camera behind your shoulder and f🍎ocusing on over-the-top action.

Hollowpoint

Platform: PlayStation 4

Ruffian Games (the team behind Crackdown 2) is bringing its latest game Hollowpoint to PS4. It's a co-ꦑop game that tasks you with leading a squad of mercenaries, building t❀heir skills, and completing tactical missions with friends.

Day Z

Platform: PlayStation 4/PC

Some games are bleak, but nothing compares to Day Z. Everyone's favorite surviv♈al shooter/griefing simulator is actually going to hit PlayStation 4. There's not much else kn🃏own about the port other than the fact that it exists and it's coming--but it's never too early to start stocking up on supplies for the end of the world.

Fruit Ninja Kinect 2

Platform: Xbox One

Hey, another reason to break out the Kin🥀ect! The first version of the game was pretty decent on Xbox 360, so expect this version to keep the same fruit slicing fun while adding some new features.

David Roberts lives in Everett, WA with his wife and two kids. He once had to sell his full copy of EarthBound (complete with box and guide) to some dude in Austria for rent money. And no, he doesn't have an amiibo 'problem', thank you very much.