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What Was Worth A Damn About Gamescom 2025?

We’re back again to take a look at the highlights of a gaming showcase. This time, we turn our attention to Gamescom, the gaming trade show in Germany whose “ Opening Night Live ” presentation happens to be hosted by Geoff Keighley . Can’t so much as walk five paces without bumping into a show that that man is hosting. Anyway, same principle as before - just the good-looking and interesting projects, keeping the pessimism and negativity to a minimum. Bubsy 4D Developed by: Fabraz Someone made the call to stick this in the pre-show before the main presentation, and that’s baffling to me because it’s one of the most interesting nostalgia revivals I’ve seen in a while. Immediate takeaway: Fabraz seems to be leaning hard on self-aware and self-deprecating comedy here. An understandable creative choice, given both Bubsy’s wisecracking persona and the series’ charms having been overshadowed for three decades by this game’s infamous predecessor Bubsy 3D. The jokes in the trailer are amusi...
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Trailer Thoughts: The Castlevania Series on Netflix


Looks alright.

Per the trailer, it appears we're getting an anime-esque variant of the usual "Belmont goes to face Dracula and his minions" narrative. Visually, it's certainly in line with the style and direction of the games post-Symphony of the Night as defined by long-time series artist Ayami Kojima.


I'm a bit mixed on the look if I'm being honest. I appreciate how this particular take on dark fantasy iconography has come to define the Castlevania series (at least in part), and it's possible that in motion the style really works, but I'm more drawn to the classic "80s animation by way of Gothic and Universal horror" approach that was present in the earliest games' artwork. That style, after all, gave us the glorious beefcake barbarian badass that was Simon Belmont.

Still, as a tease of things to come, it works. I'm intrigued to see what they're gonna do with the material, I get a sense that they really do care about the games and their history (if the intro with the NES cartridge and the selection screen are any indication), and the implication that we're in for a particularly bloody and brutal Castlevania experience is promising.

Castlevania, the first of two planned seasons, is due to release on July 7th.

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