Larian Studios has announced that Divinity: Original Sin 2, the highly anticipated RPG launching on Steam on September 14, will feature a full roster of voice acting content and talent, with more than 1 million words and over 74,000 lines of voiced dialogue. In addition to the main cast of characters being voiced, 1200 NPCs will be voiced by over 80 voice actors, which is a massive undertaking. The voices of Harry Hadden-Paton and Alix Wilton Reagan may sound familiar to Divinity fans, as they were in Divinity: Dragon Commander in other voicing roles.

DAMN YOU SPIKEY TIGER.

SECRET OF MANA IS COMING BACK! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

What is possibly one of the greatest RPGs of all time, and the most famous of the “Mana” series, Secret of Mana comes back on Feb. 15th, 2018 for PS4, PS Vita and Steam. It’s a 3D remake with a remastered soundtrack and visuals. Randi, Primm and Popoi (Boy, Girl, Sprite) return with local three player co-op through the vibrant world controlled by Mana. A simple rusty sword begins a timeless tale … Pre-ordering on PSN will give players two sets of adorable costumes, one themed around Moogles and one themed around Tigers (Tiger Two-Piece and Tiger Costume), as well as three avatars. Steam users who purchase the “Day One Version” or Pre-Order will receive three costumes and a downloadable wallpaper. The 1993 classic comes back in 2018. Don’t miss it!

So, Gamescom 2017 happened. There were some definite winners for me and definite losers. Not everything that was announced was something I found exciting, or even cared about a little. Like Xbox One X pre-orders are now live. Until I have a fancy 4k TV, that can buzz off. But every company I think, dropped at least one interesting/winning game that I can be excited for. However, I do have one honorable mention, because I don’t think it was announced during, but after Gamescom:

DAMN YOU SPIKEY TIGER.

Secret. Of. Mana. Secret of Mana is getting a 3D remake and it looks gorgeous from the teasers I’ve seen. It keeps the colorful bright art style of the original but is on the PS4/Vita. Now a lot of folks say “You don’t need to remake 16bit classics” or that you shouldn’t. Those cartridges are very expensive nowadays, and there are tons of gamers who don’t have that kind of money or didn’t grow up with the best games of all time (like we did). If they can manage to stay true to the original design, and not come out like FF5/6 did on mobile, I won’t have any complaints. However, they’ve only announced local co-op. Not so hot for me when I live a half hour from pretty much all of my friends. We live in a time where high-speed internet is everywhere; I genuinely hope we receive online co-op for Secret of Mana in 2018. It doesn’t look like it was a mobile game, it’s fully voiced, and has a beautiful soundtrack. It already had one, but I’m all for remasters. Even if you weren’t there, you won Gamescom to me.

Microsoft:

Come on, look at it. It’s not even subtle.

Sure, I think Xbox One X is still very silly (for personal reasons, honestly though if you have a 4k and want it? Go for it. Judgment free zone here) but Microsoft did have a few titles to look forward to. The biggest one? Age of Empires IV. I like that there will be definitive remasters of II and III, but the real victor is a brand new Age of Empires game. The news that Sea of Thieves will have crossplay between Xbox and PC is awesome because I don’t own an Xbox right now (but probably will in the near future) but I foresee me playing on PC. Cuphead was demoed, and it’s probably the most exciting game I’ve seen since I was a much younger man. The 1930s art-style turned into a side-scrolling beat ’em up? It’s one myself and Colton have had on our radar since last year. Not really into Assassin’s Creed: Origins, but I love the idea of the game. The Assassin’s Creed X Final Fantasy crossover worries me too, but I don’t know a whole lot about that one just yet. Jury’s out on that title. Oh and Shadow of Mordor was there, but I already gave my feelings on that  … that thing that’s happening.

Nintendo: 

I’m a little disappointed, Nintendo. A “packaged edition” of Pokemon Gold and Silver for 3DS? You mean the game that’s already on the digital market? So what they’re saying is we’ll buy a box? Will it have a cart in it? Nope, it just has a slip of paper in it with a code.  I don’t … I don’t get that, and I don’t like it. It’s pretty blatant cash grabbing, but that’s Nintendo’s deal these days, no matter how much I love them. However, they did announce that Fire Emblem Musou is coming this Fall, for 3DS and Nintendo Switch and it looks glorious. A new stage for Super Mario Odyssey was revealed, “Luncheon Kingdom”, which is surely something special. Oh and Pokemon Ultra Sun/Moon can be preordered, I guess. My favorite thing to be discussed though has to be Metroid: Samus Returns because I played Metroid II: Return of Samus as a kid, and never could beat it. It was so incredibly challenging as a child, even on the Super Game Boy. Maybe it will be more manageable with a clear screen and visual update.

Nintendo has gone further with their “Nintendo Select” program, which re-releases some of the more popular 3DS games at a more reasonable price, so that everyone can play them. The latest offerings are “Super Mario 3D Land” (HYPE), Luigi’s Mansion 2 (Ehh.. Hype?) and Kirby Triple Deluxe (YUP, HYPE). Though the SNES themed 3DS XL is kind of neat, but not neat enough to get me to buy one. The next Nintendo things I want are the Switch and the 2DS XL.

Sony/Others: 

Out of the big 3, Sony really didn’t do much with Gamescom this year. They didn’t have a livestream/stage show that I could find, but they did reveal that Shenmue 3 is in the works! It even has a trailer now! But those faces are dead, lifeless. They look like the faces in Shenmue 1 and 2. More or less, anyway. They did push more Destiny 2, as it’s well on the way, and there’s going to be a limited edition PS4, with the “GT Sport” Logo on it and the controller. You can get the controller separately too, which is kind of nice. However, Bethesda has gotten closer to any other company to get me to want to play a Virtual Reality game. They cause me incredible amounts of physical discomfort and nausea/dizziness. However … Fallout VR wasn’t able to do it (but it’s closer), which comes out December 12 (very close to my birthday!) but … DOOM VFR. It’s coming on December 1st, and if there’s any franchise I’d want to feel really in, it’s Doom. Or Wolfenstein. I’m willing to buy plenty of dramamine and such, just to murder demons in VR. If I can get my hands on the right equipment, that is.

But these are my personal favorites from this past week! What about you guys? Anything you’re excited for? Let me know!