THQ Nordic ran its digital showcase on 7 August, and it did the thing these events almost never do: it mostly talked about games that already exist and are already playable. No sizzle reel of 2029 vapourware. A pile of Early Access builds, one hard date, and a console port people have wanted for years.
The headline reveals
Titan Quest 2 and Wreckfest 2 both got fresh gameplay, and both are already in Early Access, which makes the footage checkable rather than aspirational. Way of the Hunter 2 opened pre-orders with a stated date of 29 September, with a discount for owners of the first game. REANIMAL's The Prisoner DLC went out the same day at 9.99 US dollars.
The Eternal Life of Goldman also showed gameplay, and it remains the best looking thing in the publisher's lineup by a distance. There was a first look at an unannounced game from DigixArt, the studio behind Road 96, with no details attached beyond its existence.
Gothic keeps quietly growing
Gothic II Complete Classic got new gameplay and a console debut, which matters more than the showcase framing suggested. Gothic is a series with a devoted and specifically PC-shaped audience, and moving the definitive version of the second game onto consoles is the sort of thing that either builds a new audience or annoys the existing one. Usually both.
Our take
A showcase built mostly on playable Early Access builds is a lower ceiling and a much higher floor than the alternative. Nothing here will lead a Game Awards montage. Equally, almost nothing here can be delayed into 2029, because most of it is already out in some form.
The one to watch is Titan Quest 2. The original is a twenty year old action RPG that people still install, and its sequel is arriving into a genre that has moved on considerably since 2006. Early Access will tell us fairly quickly whether it has moved with it.
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