Gamescom 2026 live hub: The latest news and previews from the biggest gaming event of the year
Overview & Key Takeaways
Your one stop hub for everything happening at Gamescom.
2026-08-26T21:28:44.456Z
A 'gacha' question
(Image credit: HoYoverse)
Tyler Wilde
The just-announced Nodusfall from Hoyoverse looks cool, but prospective players who aren't into the gacha scene the company is known for—games that are monetized primarily through loot box-like random rewards—may be put off by the assumption it'll be more of the same.
This game will be different, though, according to the developers, though the only specific commitment made is that characters won't be unlocked by random draws.
"Nodusfall will be a free-to-play, long-term game," the devs tell us. "What we can share at this time is that characters are not obtained through random draws. We hope to allow players to unlock this core gameplay experience through continued play. Cosmetic monetization is an important avenue we will be considering."
2026-08-26T20:05:26.722Z
"Is it AI?"
HUMANKIND™ 2 - Announcement Trailer - YouTube
Tyler Wilde
Whether or not you care about the giant argument playing out over generative AI, the discourse is pretty inescapable during big videogame reveal events like Gamescom. Alongside "when's it out" and "can you pet the dog," the internet now also wants to know: Is it AI?
Sometimes, it is AI. But false positives happen, too. One trailer accused of being AI-generated on social media—and I admit that it also triggered my mental AI detector—was the live action announcement trailer for Humankind 2.
But the studio says that, actually, the trailer was filmed with "real actors, practical sets, and custom-made props."
2026-08-26T19:56:08.911Z
The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past interview
The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past | Exclusive preview and dev interviews - YouTube
Tyler Wilde
PC Gamer's Josh Wolens is presently at Gamescom in Cologne, but before the convention, he travelled to Warsaw, Poland to talk to CD Projekt all about The Witcher 3's new expansion. Check out that interview above.
