The annual Gamescom is here again. As everyone knows, at such global large-scale gaming exhibitions, besides the overflowing expectations from players, various game companies also go all out, putting tremendous effort into booth arrangements to highlight the uniqueness of their games.
Just like martial arts novels distinguish between the "Qi Sect" and the "Sword Sect," there are two completely different approaches to booth arrangement among manufacturers: some choose to go further down the path of refinement, using various ingenious booth contents to reflect their taste; while others choose the philosophy that "bigger is better," showcasing their strength through vast exhibition areas, huge IP statues, and abundant trial equipment.
Of course, besides this, there is also a rather crazy option... that is—"Only kids make choices; I want it all." It aims to be both grand in scale and filled with exquisite content throughout the entire exhibition area. Considering this requires absolute confidence in the quality of one's own products, very few people generally choose this unconventional approach.
However, at this year's Gamescom, "City of Silver" did exactly that.
If you visit Hall 6 and look towards the C021 area where the "City of Silver" booth is located, the first thing that catches your eye is a huge statue of the "Pumpkin Carriage." It originates from the first phase of the BOSS "Cinderella." Players who have already participated in trials must have a deep impression of its design, which combines multiple mechanics such as parrying, hit points, AOE, and fire damage. Newcomers to "City of Silver" will inevitably be intrigued by its appearance, which blends fairy tale elements with hardcore, intricate mechanical components, prompting them to explore the game's unique worldview setting.
Starting with this 1:1 replica statue of the "Pumpkin Carriage," upon entering the 360-square-meter "City of Silver" exhibition area, you will discover that whether it's the intricate relief wall decorations or the important story item "Clue Board," many elements from the game scenes have been faithfully recreated within the venue. These setups not only echo the unique artistic style and worldview of "City of Silver" but also provide an immersive feeling of being "inside the game world," becoming natural spots for visitors to take photos and share online.
Worth mentioning are the carefully还原ed Cosplayers of game characters and stage performances including music and dance in the main stage area. Particularly in the music and dance segments, the Western faces among the performers give the main stage performance of "City of Silver" a sense of "authenticity," which is relatively rare in overseas exhibitions for domestic games in the past.
Additionally, KingChris, a well-known German blogger in the gaming and anime field with over 33 million followers across the internet, appeared as a special guest at the "City of Silver" booth during the exhibition. He experienced various gameplay features on-site and shared his gaming impressions with the audience.
Through this combination of efforts, besides the comprehensive audio-visual feast brought by the "I want it all" approach, the performance of "City of Silver" at the Cologne booth this time reflects a deeper significance—in Europe, which has a closer cultural relationship with the "Victorian Fantasy" referenced by the game IP, "City of Silver" has also gained comprehensive recognition through its own hard strength. Not only did the stage attract a large audience, but it also received a nomination for Best Mobile Game.
In fact, this atmosphere isn't something you can only experience on-site at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany. Also reflecting the "Liquid Silverpunk" theme of "City of Silver" is the brand-new PV released during the "Opening Night Live" at Gamescom, along with the newly revealed gameplay mode "HOUSE of GREED."
With the steady rollout of activities such as the first reveal of actual gameplay and online/offline trials, players' understanding of "City of Silver" continues to deepen. However, until now, players' impressions of "City of Silver" have mostly focused on the Victorian-style cityscape presented in the game's open-world section.
The intricate alleys, elegant architecture,精巧ly constructed machinery, and the myriad activities of citizens... These details within the open-world map are utopian spectacles shaped by "City of Silver" through its utmost imagination in the "Liquid Silverpunk" fantasy genre, and they are also key factors that allow it to stand out and leave a deep impression among the vast sea of "anime-style games."
But for the word "punk," if it only includes these bright aspects, it obviously lacks some flavor.
Therefore, in this newly released PV, as Doctor Faso brings down his knife, "City of Silver" finally reveals the dark side of its "Liquid Silverpunk" theme that has long been untouched—the "liquid silver" that provides clean energy to the city is actually far less harmless and natural than it appears. In unknown dark corners, it seems to be breeding certain non-human monsters, threatening the seemingly harmonious utopian city.
For players who got into the game due to its detective gameplay and storyline, the display of these darker aspects of the worldview will undoubtedly arouse even greater interest.
Moreover, these newly revealed settings in the PV not only bring breakthroughs to the game's worldview but also demonstrate the greater potential of "City of Silver" from various angles. For instance, in terms of visual presentation, as game characters investigate the "liquid silver," they will enter more and more scenes in the "HOUSE of GREED" gameplay that differ significantly in style from the open-world map.
Looking at the new content snippets shown in the PV, from the Tyndall effect created by floating dust in the ruins of houses and the hazy lighting rendered by candlelight sources in dim, cobweb-filled rooms, to the physical effects of collapsing stairs and gushing "liquid silver," you can see that under the powerful capabilities of Unreal Engine 5, "City of Silver" is further exploring the maximum boundaries of blending realistic and anime-style aesthetics.
In terms of gameplay, this new PV showcases more content filling beyond the open-world exploration in "City of Silver." It is clearly visible from the PV that during the investigation of mercury monsters, the related scenes become cramped and narrow—due to the inconvenience of performing actions, several featured game characters have switched to a combat interaction mode primarily focused on "ranged weapons."
Additionally, scenes in the PV such as Aph using a double-barreled shotgun to forcibly open a locked door and Red Rose using an axe to keep liquid silver monsters at bay further highlight the differences between the new gameplay mode "HOUSE of GREED" and the action-combat focus of the open-world section.
In comparison, "HOUSE of GREED" overall feels more akin to survival horror games like "Resident Evil" and "Silent Hill." Although this is just the first reveal, players familiar with this type of gameplay know that survival horror games offer many possibilities. It not only tests the level design skills of the production team but also places significant demands on enemy placement and flow arrangement. Conversely, under this development paradigm, as long as the team's proficiency is sufficient, they can create a large amount of excellent content that keeps players coming back for more.
As the protagonist "Detective" is knocked down by a "liquid silver monster" resembling a "Tyrant," the entire new PV comes to an abrupt end. However, the various fresh contents showcased by "City of Silver" this time have aroused even greater curiosity in me.
At Gamescom, the open-world graphical quality and solid gameplay capabilities demonstrated by "City of Silver" have already gained recognition from the attending audience and organizers. However, at the same time, the development team of "City of Silver" chose not to stop there and turn the game into just another next-generation open-world anime-style game, but instead used a PV to showcase their new development direction.
Although we cannot draw final conclusions yet, if this survival horror linear gameplay in "HOUSE of GREED" is officially added to the main gameplay content of "City of Silver" in the future, then combined with the open-world exploration gameplay shown in previous tests, "City of Silver" will balance both breadth and depth. At a time when open-world anime-style games are being comprehensively followed by various companies and gradually becoming a mainstream genre, it will lead the way in achieving further quality breakthroughs.
Under these premises, it's hard for me not to look forward to the official launch day of "City of Silver."