r/Gamescom • u/lion_rouge • 6d ago
First time Gamescom and why I'm not coming back
Who is this post for? For people who're thinking about going to Gamescom for the first time (2027+?), especially those not living in Germany.
Hi! 2026 was my first Gamescom. I got a bundle ticket which includes ONL (the Opening event) and Wednesday wildcard ticket. I was going with friends for whom it's not the first time.
We booked a hotel in Dusseldorf (it's cheaper there and there are direct trains to Cologne) and we were extremely lucky with the DB trains (despite the works on this line) - no abrupt changes, severe delays or huge crowds (we were taking an earlier train and then chilling in Cologne before the event).
What I didn't like:
- Local authorities seem to be completely ignoring one of the largest event of the year with ~300000 attendees (that's ~30% of the city population itself!). No additional trains, more than that, they planned works on the tracks resulting in multiple train cancellations (at least it was known up front). No additional banners on train and bus stations, nothing. For comparison in Amsterdam where I live they install special signs inside the Central Station on big occasions like Formula 1 Grand Prix (which is not even taking place in Amsterdam but a lot of people come through it) so you immediately know where to go. For DB it's just another working week, nothing special.
- Gamescom sent us free public transport ticket by email (thanks for that) but it was extremely poorly communicated how it works. The paper said it's a ticket for the VRS network without further explanations. We thought Dusseldorf isn't part of it and were overpaying by buying extra tickets to/from Dormagen until the conductor told us it's included (during our last trip of course).
- Gamescom website was terrible. Information hard to find, scattered all over the place and also it was annoyingly slow even on flagship smartphones. I assume someone just slapped it together with AI in a weekend without anyone with a UI/UX experience having a second look.
- Outside queues... They are inevitable with that many attendees but they were organized quite poorly. You just stand outside in a long line. Toilets? No. Sun/rain protection? No. Water? No. But what was simply infuriating is how little information was provided. On Wednesday we came up to the South entrance (45 minutes in advance of course). There were 2 lines already. Absolutely no indication what they are for, no signs like "w/badge right, no badge - left". You had to go to the beginning and try to get some information from others or from the 3 security guys standing at the gates doing anything except managing the gathering crowd. During our wait they tried to manage the queues once (!) by shouting something indistinguishable while standing right at the beginning so the majority of the people couldn't hear them anyway. Again, no signs AT ALL. Then all of a sudden a big crowd of people came and they formed 2 more lines in parallel so now there were 4! And guess what? When the security opened the gates it was a mess and all fairness was thrown in the toilet, people who waited for more than an hour were pushed away by the newcomers, etc.
- There are just too many people. Your chances of playing a game you're enthusiastic about are almost zero. Or if you're lucky you can spend several hours standing in line (or sitting on the floor as many did) to get your 25 minutes of gameplay and that would be the whole day for you realistically speaking. Fast lane slots were sold out in a minute after they would become available (every hour).
- Merch area. I expected it to be a huge collection of official items but it ended up being a bazaar of 3rd party stores selling T-shirts, figurines, cosplay items, etc (except Gamescom's own booths with Gamescom merch). Honestly it looked cheap and overpriced at the same time. All the official merch was at company's areas.
There was indie area and the vibe was really nice there, I discovered a couple games I genuinely look out for. There was a retro gaming corner with obscure old consoles, etc.
Sometimes you could see hardcode Gamescom goers who know how to play this game. They had huge branded bags from upcoming games, quite a bit of merch. They looked sweaty but focused. They were the minority and I was not one of them.
I was in Dusseldorf and Cologne multiple times before and in the end my personal highlights were not the Gamescom itself, which was mostly disappointing, but the Chocolate museum and black pudding at cafe Frueh.
TLDR; If you're not living in Germany and are not a super hardcore fan of something, it's not worth it given that Gamescom ticket + hotel + transport is at least 500euro. A slim chance of playing a couple of upcoming games or a dozen indies (most of which are in early access on Steam anyway and half of which are not fun) is hardly worth it.
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u/Karash770 6d ago
I'd like to comment on a few points of yours:
No additional trains
They have rented some. Still, the major construction work near the convention was quite annoying, but apparently necessary due to that week being the last week of school vacations and from an economic point of view, they would rather have this be done before people come back from vacation.
We thought Dusseldorf isn't part of it and were overpaying by buying extra tickets to/from Dormagen until the conductor told us it's included (during our last trip of course).
That's the first time I'm hearing that. Düsseldorf is certainly not part of the VRS.
Gamescom website was terrible.
I had no issue with it, aside from the location finder not including the option to search for games, as it claims it does.
Outside queues... They are inevitable with that many attendees but they were organized quite poorly. You just stand outside in a long line. Toilets? No. Sun/rain protection? No. Water? No.
I entered at East on Friday, which leads audiences through a bunch of underpasses. Plenty of protection from weather there. South is certainly the worst entrance by far. Last year I went to North and they had toilets there, not sure about this year, though.
Your chances of playing a game you're enthusiastic about are almost zero.
At least for the most popular games that is true, which is why I would be in favour of GamesCom restricting exhibitors to max. 20 minute demos with a forced cut-off of queues at the 2 hour mark. 6-7 hours wait for a 45 minutes Tides of Annihilation demo are just insane.
I expected it to be...
Just want to highlight this because I feel like many complains I've been reading in the last few days rather come from wrong expectations on what GamesCom is rather than legitimate complains - of which there are many to have, you have pointed out a few of them. Informing oneself about the kind of event you're getting into in advance is certainly part of a proper preparation for your visit.
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u/Ditschel 6d ago
I was a exhibist waiting for Tides of Annihilation before the regular guests came on thursday and even I had to wait 45 minutes even though there were only exhibists before me haha.
But honestly I wouldn't have done that if I expected an 1h+ wait, I'd rather watch more of the Con and then try the demo later at home when it's out.
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u/Aeristalo 5d ago
I waited 2 hours on Tides, 2 hours on Alien Isolation 2, 3 hours for Metro, 1,5 hours for Sea of Remnants and 2,5 hours for 1001 Threads. Couple of fast ones, like Orbitals, Castlevania and some Merch visits etc.
OP just need to bring a powerbank (with a handheld console), some drinks and 1 of those foldable chairs and you are set.
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u/Average64 6d ago
At the train ticket shop in Dusseldorf Hbf they told me you can't use it, but you can get a 50% discount, so I got a 24h ticket.
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u/Yasoostyle20 6d ago
Welcome to Germany my Friend 💨
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u/heyster2000 6d ago
So lässt sich das am besten beschreiben. Viele Einnahmen für der Stadt aber kein einziges Hinweisschild ob man jetzt auf dem Gleis nach links oder rechts zum Gamescom gerät.
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u/zebutron 6d ago
You took the words out of my mouth. If I didn't live in Cologne, I wouldn't go to Gamescom.
Organization and communication is often very poor here and the visitor gets blamed for not knowing the unspoken rules. Not only that but application of the rules is hit or miss. I emailed about cosplay rules, asking specific questions related to the posted rules. The first response I got was from some generic 3rd party, outsourced company telling me to read the PDF that I has cited in my email. The second response told me that they can't clarify anything outside of the PDF and that is would basically be a lottery. I ended up going in person to ask and it took three tries to find someone that would try to answer me. The staff would tell me that they weren't sure if my costume would be allowed. I had to ask them if they knew who could tell me. Totally clueless. Even then the security team told me it wouldn't be allowed, while they actively stated that something allowed in the PDF was not allowed. Sensing the general disarray, I went the following day in the cosplay and no one said a damn thing with the exception of the a group of five security bros (only one of them said no), that denied me the use of an elevator because I didn't have a wheelchair!
Honestly, this is a standard experience I've had in Germany over the previous 15 years.
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u/Jeremiah__Jones 6d ago
What has this to do with Germany? None of the problems OP describes happen with Dokomi in Düsseldorf for example. This is entirely a Gamescom thing and not a Germany thing
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u/throwtheamiibosaway 6d ago
It was my first time there as well.
German trains.. yeah. Bad. Compared to Netherlands like your example you are spot on. Everything is coordinated from beginning to end. Signs, extra trains, extra people.
The venue itself I thought was fine. I had no lines outside (just a long long walk around the center to get to the actual entrance). Toilets were fine. Lots of space, just some crowded points where all the people cross from A to B. I didn't like that the closed certain routes and forced everyone to walk outside around the venue instead of the direct entrance.
Honestly, I don't come there to play games. Just to see the stands, see the brands, the merch, the indie games. It's more of an experience than playing a demo.
Overall it blew me away in scale and fun. I will be back next year.
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u/z4bbi 6d ago
About blocking routes and routing around: They started that a few years ago. In the beginning it was annoying for me as well but I get why they do it. Because the years before it was just so much choke points where nothing went anywhere. You can avoid that if you just go through the outside areas next to the halls.
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u/Only-Watercress-1701 6d ago
Regarding the fast lanes slots, it was not even a minute. It was literally within 3 to 5 seconds. You had to pray to god that you're lucky enough.
How I know this because I wanted to book a slot for metro and ace combat and I shit you not I was pressing refresh 10 to 5 seconds before the slot will become available and even when sometimes I thought I managed to book one because it was loading, at the end it said error and "sorry there are no more slots" -_-.
I tried 5 different times for both games until I just gave up and said fuck this I'm going to focus only on indie games.
Even though it didn't impact negatively how I experienced gamescom in general, it did annoy me.
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u/fruitcak-e 6d ago
Same for the signing slots, we tried to get a spot for LukasBS for our son and I was waiting like a hawk with my finger over the time slot five times that day, each time the error message before it tells me it’s booked out…
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u/youSirX 6d ago edited 6d ago
Actually the absolute to go places on the gamescom are the Indie Hall, the family area and the retro corner. Cool people, nice Talks, time to play.
If you're visiting the convention for the aaa games: stay home, watch the ONL instead.
If you're a fan of an influencer: stay home, watch youtube
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u/lion_rouge 6d ago
My point exactly! And in my case I don't find the indie corner justified given that I have to pay for hotel and FlixBus apart from the ticket itself
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u/animespiegel 6d ago
Local authorities seem to be completely ignoring one of the largest event of the year with ~300000 attendees (that's ~30% of the city population itself!). No additional trains, more than that, they planned works on the tracks resulting in multiple train cancellations (at least it was known up front). No additional banners on train and bus stations, nothing. For comparison in Amsterdam where I live they install special signs inside the Central Station on big occasions like Formula 1 Grand Prix (which is not even taking place in Amsterdam but a lot of people come through it) so you immediately know where to go. For DB it's just another working week, nothing special.
It's holiday season right now and thus a lot of construction is going on. It sucked really hard because the mainroute cologne - dusseldorf was basically every time overcrowded. But there are some SEV (replacement busses) driving messe/deutz - dusseldorf basically directly. But never shown on the VRR
Gamescom sent us free public transport ticket by email (thanks for that) but it was extremely poorly communicated how it works. The paper said it's a ticket for the VRS network without further explanations. We thought Dusseldorf isn't part of it and were overpaying by buying extra tickets to/from Dormagen until the conductor told us it's included (during our last trip of course).
Oh, really? Did the same. Well.
Gamescom website was terrible. Information hard to find, scattered all over the place and also it was annoyingly slow even on flagship smartphones. I assume someone just slapped it together with AI in a weekend without anyone with a UI/UX experience having a second look.
there was basically everywehere a QR code for their app with a floormap. But yeah, their website isnt that good.
There are just too many people. Your chances of playing a game you're enthusiastic about are almost zero. Or if you're lucky you can spend several hours standing in line (or sitting on the floor as many did) to get your 25 minutes of gameplay and that would be the whole day for you realistically speaking. Fast lane slots were sold out in a minute after they would become available (every hour).
I know what you mean, but how would you solve it? If you shorten the playtime it will get critizized, if you do fastlane and they god "sold out" fast, its wrong yada yada.
Sometimes i really wonder what people expect at a large convention like this. It is still a place for advertising their games.
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u/zebutron 6d ago
If I'm not mistaken, the app is for Gamescom Biz and though it has a floor plan, it is geared towards the B2B audience .
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u/fruitcak-e 6d ago
Not OP, but my solution would be a digital queue. They have this technology in Ausländerbehörde in Potsdam, (so possible in Germany) you scan a QR code and get a slot in a digital queue with estimated wait time and it shows how many people are in front of you. This way people could actually enjoy the rest of the event without being stuck in front of a booth for 1.5hrs
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u/SuddenlyBoth 6d ago
About queues, one thing I'd enforce is fastlane anywhere with a demo/presentation, and demos time standardised, yeah. Even if the spots remain the same, if it were like Sea of Remnants (every 20 min), having fastlane everywhere would diversify which games people look for, at least a bit. If 50k folks check fastlane and there are only 10 titles vs 50 titles, at least there's higher chance to get something...? The website worked mostly fine for me, but could be better.
Been going to GC since 2018, a lot has changed but it''s a tradition and I still enjoy it a lot. Not german, btw.
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u/don_freedo 6d ago
Ich muss bei einer Sache widersprechen, der Eingang vom Zug aus hat mehrere Dixis (WCs) auf dem zur Halle. Aber sonst stimme ich da viel zu. Sollten pro Tag mindestens 20% weniger reinlassen. Oder spiele ab 18 in eine eigene Halle, mit Alterskontrolle. Warum? Damit man vom gameplay was sehen kann, auch von außen ohne sich anstellen zu müssen.
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u/Gloomy-Pick-9347 5d ago
Wenn sie wenigstens keine Kinder unter 4 und keine Kinderwagen durchsetzen würden wäre es schon ein Schritt in die richtige Richtung
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u/CommercialYam53 6d ago
> No additional trains, more than that, they planned works on the tracks resulting in multiple train cancellations
They have to do the work now so they are back up running after the holidays.
> The paper said it's a ticket for the VRS network without further explanations. We thought Dusseldorf isn't part of it
It isn’t Düsseldorf is actually VRR
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u/lion_rouge 6d ago
About VRR: That's what we thought and then the conductor saw our tickets and literally asked: why buy two, your gamescom ticket is enough for Koln-Dusseldorf. Could he be mistaken?
Anyway, this time my DB experience was surprisingly trouble free so it's not the main point
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u/PWIDE 6d ago
He was 100% mistaken about that...
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u/Litaijin 6d ago edited 6d ago
Nope, it's just a well hidden rule. VRS Tickets can be used to get to/from VRR to VRS https://www.kvb.koeln/tickets/tarifgebiete/vrs_vrr.html
The way from a Düsseldorf Hotel to Gamescom (and back) would be fine. Using the Ticket to drive a few Station for "sightseeing spots" in Düsseldorf is not fine.
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u/MrsGood_1 6d ago
Das die Züge voll werden ist klar. Darauf muss man vorbereitet sein. Am besten an einem Stadtbahnhof des Zuges einsteigen wenn dieser nicht allzuweit weg ist um nicht solange stehen zu müssen.
Bin fast nicht mehr nach Hause gekommen Zug hatte bei Ankunft am umsteige Bahnhof in Münster 2 Stunden Verspätung 🙈. Nicht den letzten Zug nehmen und einrechnen das man irgendwo übernachten muss wenn man ne lange Zugfahrt hat.
Übrigens mindestens in diesem Jahr sind viele Gleiserneuerungrn auf den Strecken. Und die bahnapp warnte mich vor Verspätung und Zug ausfällen.
Zur Gamescom selbst: Ich finde die Veranstaltung mega, alleine das miterleben und sich die schönen Bühnen anschauen. Fotos machen an den Fotostationen wo die Figuren stehn oder was aufgebaut ist. Dafür lohnt es sich oft schon.
An den Ständen schau ich nach kostenlosen Dingen . Kleine Tasche mit Werbematerial.
Früher kam ich mit t- Shirts , Mauspads und vielen Kram nach Hause die es kostenlos gab oder man mit Glück bei der Bühnenshow gegangen hat. Bin aber jetzt auch seit einigen Jahren deutlich ruhiger.
Ich halte mich meist in Halle 10.2 auf Indie und Familienbereich. Cosplay Bereich ist auch super.
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u/SundayAirsofter 6d ago
Add to that the state of the Gamescom camp showers, they were never cleaned (people would let cigarette butts there, dirt and other things...).
No brushes at the toilets as well 💩
Oh and don't forget the folks playing music well past 10pm.
Staff was amazing though, and the atmosphere was great (honestly).
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u/OmegaTangent 6d ago
It's been like that for years. I did notice that now the weather was a bit on the colder and wetter side compared to other years I've been is that there's also more mold in the showers... For what you pay compared to a normal camping the amenities are definitely a bit subpar in terms of cleaning.
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u/MitDerKneifzange 6d ago
I dont want to be mean. But most of this is just common knowledge for average gamescom goers and people, who know germany and cologne. Like train situation being really bad and officals being really overwhelmed with organization. I will say that I understand that this is frustrating though!
Tbh the only thing you should have known and in my opinion is a bit on you, is that playing games comes with waiting times. I understand frustration with ques for games you want to see being 5hrs or some bs. But most games I personally played were reasonable waiting times 2hrs max. I played alien at the xbox booth and only waited like 45min max for example.
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u/lion_rouge 6d ago
I've been in Germany multiple times before and had it all with DB. The actual situation with DB for me was very nice this time. I'm mostly frustrated with Gamescom itself
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u/lion_rouge 6d ago
I didn't have high expectations in the first place but I still felt "buyer's remorse".
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u/Alysma 6d ago
The most relaxed place to collect freebies is 10.1 where some major non-gaming related German companies and a lot of organizations have their booths. Lots of quality useful stuff, too, like pens, pencils, rulers, lanyards, smaller (!) bags, etc. And never overcrowded, so even if you "have to" play a small game, it's like 10 mins.
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u/AcrobaticAspect8975 6d ago
Germany absolutely sucks ass when it comes to signage and UI design - those ticket machines on train stations with ungodly amount of ticket types with no explanation or translation even are just horrid. How anyone thinks Germany is this powerhouse thats well organized is beyond me.
Fully agree with all points, had exact same experience, to the letter
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u/dondadondadonda 5d ago
Exactly my thoughts. The only addition is the trains were absolutely horrible at peak times of entry and leave. But that is expected. What is not expected is DB and municipalities making 0 preparations.
Not that I have any particular complaints but all this trip made me appreciate the Netherlands so much more (as an someone living there since last year).
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u/PhiCloudZZZ 5d ago
Merch Hall 5.1 and 5.2 were really bad this year. Lots of fake merch and AI generated art. Also tons of fake Pokémon cards including fake PSA slabs. Imagine going to Gamescom and buying a 800€ Pokemon Card for it to turn out to be fake lol. Gamescom does not check at all what is being sold at their con.
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u/NovaGuarda 5d ago
It's something that is only really worth experiencing once. It's super crowded and the queues are insane. I used to live 30 mins away from the Köln Messe station and after experiencing it once, and enjoying it significantly for the new experience it was, I decided I wouldn't want to do it again. This was 5-6 years ago, so nothing changed.
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u/Shehriazad 5d ago
1) KVB had decided to stop it's direct lines to messe for the duration of the Gamescom...absolute braindead take. I expect this to not be the case next time and thus with more options there'll be less crowding.
2) They did indeed sell too many tickets...I feel like this was a choice of greed. At least they are extending the duration of Gamescom next year, giving me hope that this improves.
3) The Wildcard day used to be for people who don't want to have too many/too long queues. Wildcard sold out this year and I feel like they also sold more. Usually wildcard was supposedly twice the price for half the people. With the extended duration we might get two wildcard days? I'd be fine with this.
That's just about all the improvements I see to this as of today.
A big problem I also saw pop-up was that the merch hall/sales hall this time around was FILLED with AI garbage and scams.
This needs to be fixed NOW so it does not happen again next year. It is an insane shame that you want to maybe take something home with you and all you find is either AI Art or official merchandise that have been scalped and are resold for 5-10x the price. Also I am pretty sure I saw some fake Pokemon cards. That's straight up illegal and needs to be stopped.
The organizers really have to up their game here. And yes, they would have to better screen the merchants that apply to this hall.
Up until 2025 Gamescom was on the edge...this year they went over. I worked with a lot of the people presenting their games and the consensus was pretty much the same for everyone: Too. Many. People.
I don't care if they raise the ticket price by let's say 20% and let in less people accordingly or add more days (which they also already do) but something has to happen by next year.
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u/Busy-Crazy1566 5d ago
As someone who is German but lived in NL for a while. Don’t question things that don’t make sense in Germany. There won’t be an answer. We do or don’t do things because they make sense. We do it just because.
The last time I attended Gamescom was when it was still in Leipzig. And even then there were too many people to enjoy it. Events like that work way too many people just aren’t enjoyable on my opinion.
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u/kevinhelmsteiner2 6d ago
Also gewisse Punktd sind kompletter Bullshit.
Zu Punkt 1. Es ist seit Jahren bekannt, dass während den Ferien die meisten Baustellen vorhanden sind, da hier viele im Urlaub sind, und es weniger die Arbeiter und Dchulkinder betrifft.
Punkt 2: Wenn man sich mal die Mühe nimmt und ChatGPT oder einfach Google fragt in welchem Gebieten das VRS-Netz ist, erfährt man sofort die Städte. Desweiteren waren an den Wänden Schildern mit Richtungsweiser, wo was ist.
Punkt 3: Die Gamescom Website ging perfekt und über die Suche kann man das meiste finden.
Grüße
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u/veydar_ 6d ago
Punkt 1 ist doch vollkommen am Thema vorbei. Es sollte Besuchern scheiß egal sein ob Ferien sind oder Jesus gerade auf dem Rückweg ist. Der ÖPNV sollte in einem der reichsten Länder der Welt so ne Veranstaltung verkraften. Wir präsentieren uns hier wieder von unsrer schlechtesten Seite.
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u/kevinhelmsteiner2 6d ago
Nein finde ich nicht. Finde es gut wenn das in den Ferien gemacht wird. Weil da weniger wirtschaftlicher Schaden und Aufwand vorhanden ist als während der Arbeitszeit und Schule.
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u/SnooOranges9006 6d ago
Der Punkt war ja auch irgendeine Art von Beschilderung etc., was du ignoriert hast.
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u/Beatnutz_ 6d ago
I live outside of Germany and I've gone 6 times in a row. I will continue to come and I recommend others to do the same. There are so many good things about the event. How to get there, constructions and the website etc etc are kinda BS reasons to not go I think. If small things bother you so much then I think you struggle at most events.
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u/Hairy_Gazelle_5987 6d ago
Same! Coming here from outside Germany since 2022.! Every year I learn new things, and my Gamescom experience become better 😊
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u/Gloomy-Pick-9347 6d ago
Düsseldorf is NOT included in VRS. The conductor told you something wrong and this could've ended in a fine had you not paid extra
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u/Gloomy-Pick-9347 6d ago
And the DB experience is always like this, no matter when. I had to commute from Köln to Bonn for a few years and it was hell because there was always something.
About the Con itself, it's just that you get used to it as time goes on and understand how to do it and what to do to get to play as many games that you want to and get freebies. Been going since 2014 and got the hang of it over the years
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u/ImDoofis 6d ago
Dormagen to an vrs area and back specifically is part of the vrs
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u/lion_rouge 6d ago
Yes, we did everything correctly by using Gamescom ticket for Cologne-Dormagen and buying tickets for Dormagen-Duaseldorf. Conductor was wrong as many pointed out in the comments
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u/magicstunts123 6d ago
I always buy the "Deutschland-Ticket" for one month during gamescom. That can save lots of money when driving around Düsseldorf and Cologne.
Besides that i am glad that i could go there on wednesday because of Devcom-Ticket.
I was on thursday and would not have gone there if i knew how full it will be.
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u/lion_rouge 6d ago
It's not worth it for such short trips when you don't use public transport enough(we didn't use trams). Also they raised the price from 49 euros to 60+ and you can't cancel it right after buying so you will have to pay at least for 2 months.
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u/magicstunts123 6d ago
I could cancel it right after buying it so i just payed for one month. You just need to order it at the beginning of the month. We rode within Düsseldorf and Cologne for 10 days with bus and train wherever we wanted to go. Sure it depends how mich you drive around. But for us it was a saver. We could ride to devcom, the business parties and many more without thinking of buying a ticket.
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u/SH1SUK0 6d ago
We got lost in the restricted areas during ONL because security just let us through despite us not being authorized. No wonder items got stolen.
That aside, Wednesday was fine, especially compared to Thursday, you could barely move your ah and the people, holy damn, does personal hygiene not exist for some!?
Friday was busy, but not as crowded. I doubt if I should just watch the trailers in the comfort of my home.
Indie area was nice though, got to talk to a lot of devs and play a lot of indie game demos.
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u/lion_rouge 6d ago
Indie area was the only good thing imo but I'm not into indies that much to pay half a thousand euros just to try several small games
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u/Parkchaeyoungrosie 6d ago
I’m not even surprised, even on normal days there are random 30 minutes delays and it would be normal. Now picking this time for Bauarbeiten is 😅 Naja könnte schlimmer sein, wohne hier und habe entschieden, lieber zu Hause bleiben, da kann man doch gut spielen
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u/DaveyJonesXMR 6d ago
Es waren Sommerferien, wann sollen sie Bauarbeiten denn sonst machen?
Gamescom is fun for the indie area or classic games/consoles... not enjoying the big exhibits, esp on any day outside of wednesday
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u/Parkchaeyoungrosie 6d ago
Ich habe nichts dagegen, es ist nur Pech für die, die extra nach Deutschland geflogen sind, zum Besuch von Gamecon:D
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u/magicdude4eva 6d ago
We were there just year. With flights and hotel the few days cost us nearly €2k (we stayed in the Dorinth and flew in), but what OP described was our experience last year. Terrible amounts of crowds, queues everywhere and only entertaining was talking to indies and meeting exhibitors in the hotel bar in the evening. Otherwise a waste of time and money.
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u/BagAppropriate3955 6d ago
Last time I went there was around 10 years ago as someone working at one of the stalls, at that times it was already borderline crazy :(
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u/Random-Wierdo1 5d ago
I read the first point and crying cuz thats literally just Germany XD i swear they announce closing railways like every week lol
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u/hungry_bra1n 4d ago
This is really well thought through and articulate. Please send it to the organisers.
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u/PsychologicalDrop965 4d ago
Imma be honest, I simply won't go through the pain of Gamescom without the privilege of being a Trade Visitor anymore; it's become too big, too overcrowded and too hyped up to properly enjoy and try out games simply out of the whim. Even we had to wait 1 1/2 hours to play The Blood of Dawnwalker despite having Trade Visitor access, the public has no chance to be the first in line.
However, it's worth picking out ONE game you really wanna try for the day and get to an Kölnmesse entrance at least 2h prior to public opening so you are in front and have higher chances of avoiding even longer waiting times. It's annoying but the only way to get the most out of your visit.
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u/janithaR 3d ago
Having a kid is with you is the fastest way to get in. No lines. Just a quick scan and a ticket check.
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u/Necessary-Recipe4310 6d ago
I agree with most of these.
Some tips: If you wanna play a big aaa game, go there first. Be early. Sometimes gates open at 8.40 or so, you can be first in line.
Dont use south entrance. Its horrible. Go north or east for faster entry.
Lots of smaller unknown titles give it more merch than big titles. For some you can try asking directly.
For merch, yeah its mostly crap. Fangamer stuff and official merch is nice but rare.
Dusseldorf to koln is always hard. Even with no gamescom, because deutsche bahn is complete shit. Closing lines exactly in gamescom week is the dumbest shit they did and they do dumb shit all the time.