Gamescom 2026 broke records again, as Stuff TV put it, and after a week in Cologne walking until my feet filed a formal complaint, I get the appeal anyway. The floor was huge, the lines were long, and underneath all of it the games were actually good. Stuff TV rounded up their 10 favorites from the show, and reading their list next to my own notes, we overlapped more than I expected.

The co-op and multiplayer stuff is what caught my eye across both lists, and if you know me at all that's zero surprise. Games built around playing together had a real presence in the good-vibes corner of the show. There's even a co-op horror entry or two in there, and physics comedy keeps getting weirder. I love it. This is why I do this job.

Surprises too. A few games that had quiet showings online turned into the things people would not stop talking about on the floor, which is the oldest Gamescom trick in the book and it still works every single year. Hands-on beats a trailer, always. I've watched a cinematic reveal leave a crowd flat, then a ten-minute demo of some small game steal the room.

Records and budgets don't make a good show though. Games do. Money buys you a bigger map, more mocap, more rays traced, but it doesn't buy you taste, and the Gamescom floor is still the place where a small team with a sharp idea can stand shoulder to shoulder with a billion-dollar production and win the crowd. Some of my favorite moments of the week came from booths I almost walked past.

Check out the full list over at Stuff TV for the specific picks, they played more than I did and their notes are worth your time. Then tell me: what was the last demo or show floor moment that completely changed your opinion on a game? Mine was a co-op demo where my random partner and I failed the same objective four times and somehow had more fun each attempt. That's the whole reason we do this.