PC Gaming Show recap: See all the new games
Read about the PC Gaming Show as it happens
The PC Gaming Show 2020 is officially in the books, delivering more than 2 hours of world premiere trailers and deep dives on hotly anticipated titles such as Godfall, Surgeon Simulator 2 and Mafia Definitive Edition.
But the excitement isn't over yet. Be sure to check out our Future Games Show live blog for the latest reveals out of GamesRadar's first-ever games showcase, which kicks off at 5 p.m. ET and is hosted by Nolan North and Emily Rose.
And if you're catching up on the biggest announcements from the PC Gaming Show, check out our live recap below.
- How to watch the Future Games Show
- Everything we know about PS5
PC Gaming Show 2020 recap
4:25 PM: Just kidding! There was one last post-credits tease for a first-person action/horror game called Gloomwood, published by New Blood. You can play the demo right now, and there's a screenshot below. Otherwise, that's it for the PC Gaming Show 2020. (For real this time.)
4:20 PM: The Outlast Trials is the latest game in the atmospheric horror series. This one takes place during the Cold War, and involves the usual horrific experiments and huge, hulking brutes that chase you.
4:15 PM: The Last Campfire is a thoughtful adventure game with a distinctive art style from the development team behind No Man's Sky. The game will come out in summer 2020.
Escape from Tarkov, the massively popular competitive online FPS, will also get a great deal of new content. The game will receive a new map, which will have a great deal of explorable buildings, including underground areas.
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The game's upcoming 12.7 patch will include an expansion of the game's Customs location. Future updates will overhaul the skill system and include a new boss called Senator, which will be able to heal its minions.
4:10 PM: The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet of Chaos is a satirical tactical RPG starring Felicia Day.
Red Sails is an atmospheric exploration game where you sail across seas of sand.
Surgeon Simulator 2 takes the silliness of the original Surgeon Simulator to the next level, with 12 bizarre surgeries to perform.
4:05 PM: We saw a trailer for Twin Mirror: a psychological thriller from the team behind Life Is Strange. This also seems like a thoughtful adventure game, although with a decidedly darker story centering around a detective.
Metal Hellsinger is a "rhythmic FPS," which pits a demon hunter against the forces of hell, complete with a heavy metal soundtrack.
4:00 PM: The charming farming sim Story of Seasons will be making its way to PC for the first time in Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town. You'll be able to choose your own playable character, then build up a farm, integrate yourself in a town and build up relationships with the townsfolk.
We also got a glimpse of New World, the MMO from Amazon Game Studios. The game will be out on August 25, although players can get into the beta early if they pre-order a copy of the game.
3:55 PM: Weird West is an isometric simulation game where you lead a party of adventurers through a supernatural version of the Wild West. The game can vary considerably, depending on the choices that you make. The game will be published by Devolver Digital, and a demo will be available soon.
3:50 PM: Blightbound is a cooperative dungeon crawler, where gamers can choose classes and team up to fight enemies, solve puzzles and coordinate attacks.
We then learned about eight indie games in rapid succession:
- Shadows of Doubt: A first-person murder mystery
- The Forgotten City: An adventure game in ancient Rome
- Paradise Killer: An open-world mystery game
- Haven: A sci-fi RPG about two lovers
- Cartel Tycoon: A simulation game about a cartel master
- Trash Sailors: A cooperative multiplayer game
- Cris Tales: A time traveling RPG
- Alaloth: Champions of the Four Kingdoms: A cooperative fantasy game
3:40 PM: Tripwire Interactive talked about updates to existing games, including Killing Floor 2, Chivalry 2 and Maneater. All three games will be getting new updates, and there may be a Killing Floor sequel in the works - although we heard only hints, not an outright confirmation.
There was also a sizzle reel of various games coming out for the Epic Games Store, including the highly anticipated Tony Hawk remasters and Assassin's Creed Valhalla. There were no new games announced in the reel, however.
3:35 PM: Mortal Shell is a game that looks more than a little like Dark Souls, with a tight, demanding combat system and a bleak world. You possess the remains of long-dead, powerful warriors as you try to make your way through a dark fantasy world where everything is out to destroy you. We got to see a boss fight against Hadern: the game's first major opponent.
We'll also see a PC port of Shadowman: a 1999 cult classic that was originally on the N64. I'm not sure how many people were clamoring for this, but if it was you, your wish is granted. It's called Shadowman Remastered, unsurprisingly.
3:30 PM: Among Trees looks like a chill, atmospheric survival game that takes place in an idyllic woodland. It comes from a three-person Swedish development team.
Potionomics is a sim that casts you as an alchemist who needs to sell her potions in a high-fantasy world in order to stay afloat. You'll meet all sorts of fantasy archetypes, in a game that looks like it will turn a number of well-worn tropes on their heads.
3:25 PM: We saw another roguelike, this one called Unexplored 2: The Wayfarer's Legacy. Each time you die, the game world will change in reaction to your demise.
Dauntless will also get a new expansion named Call of the Void. In it, you'll face off against fierce, weird, interdimensional monsters. You can play Call of the Void right now.
3:20 PM: In Rogue Lords, you play as the devil himself, recruiting semihistorical villains like Dracula, Baron Samedi and Bloody Mary. You take your team through roguelike "runs" in which you face off against heroes using a limited pool of action points. The game will be out in October.
3:15 PM: Remnant: From the Ashes: Subject 2923 will continue the story of the ongoing fight against the Root.
The Mafia trilogy is also getting a PC re-release, with the original Mafia game getting a ground-up remake. If you like stylized gangster games, this is one of the classics. Mafia: Definitive Edition will be out in the future, but you can buy the Mafia Trilogy now.
3:10 PM: We saw two strategy games. The first was Inkulinati: a Kickstarter project that envisions a strategy game based on medieval manuscripts and animal warriors.
We also saw a big reveal three potential scenarios in A Total War Saga: Troy, each one of which seeks to explain what the Trojan Horse really was. It's a combination of history and myth, and sure to intrigue armchair commanders.
Total War: Troy also showed off a cool build of a Bronze Age-inspired PC. It's not available for sale, but it's the kind of thing you don't see in the console space. You can watch a four-part video series on how it was built.
3:05 PM: Blanco's Block Party is a simulation game that lets you collect digital vinyl toys and bring them to life. Blanco's wants to be a shared simulation space, not unlike Fortnite: Party Royale, and it looks like this digital toy chest could provide a fun place to simply hang out. The game will be out by the end of 2020, but if you register at the game's website, you may be able to join the beta.
Everspace 2 is a space combat game where you'll be able to fight both in spaceships and on the ground. The game comes from Rockfish Games, and will have a closed alpha on Steam, beginning on une 15.
3:00 PM: Humble Games showed off three titles. The first was an isometric strategy game called Fae Tactics: The Girl Who Destroyed the World. The second was a puzzle game called Carto, and the third was an aerial combat game called Project Wingman.
We also got a short look at Command & Conquer Remastered, which just came out on PC recently. If you haven't already checked it out, you can find it on Steam and Origin.
2:55 PM: One of the biggest reveals of the show was Godfall: a PS5 semi-exclusive that will also be available on PC. The game is an action/RPG that lets you find unique loot and customize your own play style as you go. The game will be out in holiday 2020, and it looks like a deep, colorful experience.
We also got a glimpse at Prodeus: an old-school sci-fi FPS that seems to share a lot of its DNA with the original Doom.
2:50 PM: Rebellion is working on Evil Genius 2: World Domination, a simulation game in which you get to play as an evil mastermind, complete with your own fortress, superweapons and henchmen. You'll also have to dispatch all sorts of crafty secret agents as you go. The game will be out later this year, although you can get the soundtrack now.
2:40 PM: Humankind is a game from Amplitude Studios about rewriting the entire history of humanity, and it's asking for players' help doing so. Players can apply to develop and share their own scenarios in this strategic game with a huge scope. The full game will be out in 2021.
We also learned about a game from RocketWerkz called Icarus, where you play as an astronaut on a distant and hostile world who must survive and escape through collecting resources and crafting. It comes from Dean Hall, who helped pioneer both survival and battle royale games.
2:35 PM: Dwarfheim is a cooperative RTS, in which three players can cooperate to take on different strategic roles, such as collecting resources, building structures, and waging war.
Indie publisher New Blood showed off updates to Dusk, Medieval, Maximum Action, Unfortunate Spaceman, Faith, Ultrakill and Gloomwood. You can play all of the games right now at a variety of strange URLs - or just on New Blood's website.
2:30 PM: A horror game called In Sound Mind features a soundtrack from The Living Tombstone, and a free demo that's currently available on Steam.
Another title, Airborne Kingdom, will let you create your own flying fortress and explore the world. It will come out on the Epic Games Store in Fall 2020, and you can pre-order it now.
2:25 PM: A new host, Greg Miller, briefly hijacked the livestream to announce that the beloved JRPG, Persona 4: Golden, is now available on Steam. This is a cult classic, and represents the first time that the Persona series has shown up on PC.
2:20 PM: The next game on display is Elite Dangerous: Odyssey, a major expansion for the fan-favorite space sim, which is set in an ambitious recreation of our own Milky Way galaxy. It will be out in 2021.
The big new feature in this expansion is that players will be able to set foot on a planet's surface for the first time in Elite Dangerous history. This will open up a number of new gameplay options that have never been available in the title before.
2:15 PM: We saw a brief trailer for Ooblets, which looks like an odd, colorful, agreeable sim.
The bigger announcement, though, was of Torchlight 3, which debuted some new gameplay footage. There was also an interview with a game's developer, in which we learned about some passive multiplayer features, as well as how the Torchlight devs create their unusual classes. In this game, one possible class is a steampunk robot.
The game is available right now on Steam in early access for $30.
2:10 PM: Day9 kicked things off with a sincere discussion of the Black Lives Matter movement. It was a good reminder to consider world events, even while we celebrate the announcement of new games and technologies.
The first game on display is Valheim from Coffee Stain Studios. It's a Viking combat game with procedurally generated levels and a lot of crafting/survival elements. There's no release date information yet, but players can sign up for a beta.
2:05 PM: Here we go! the PC Gaming Show is underway, and we've kicked things off with a trailer for a documentary called Totally Game. It highlights extraordinary individuals in the PC gaming community, with stories that run the gamut from entertaining to inspiring. After a brief trailer with a traveling robot, they've introduced the hosts: Day9 and Frankie Ward.
1:40 PM: Welcome to the Tom's Guide live blog covering the PC Gaming Show! We'll be watching the PC Gaming Show live, and reporting all the latest news, games and hardware announcements as soon as we hear about them. The PC Gaming Show is one of the events taking place instead of a live E3 this year, so many developers are using the show as an opportunity to show off titles they would have otherwise demonstrated in person.
Our sister site PC Gamer has gathered more than two dozen gaming companies, including 2K, Atlus, Perfect World and Sega, all of which will have something new and hopefully exciting to show off. While some companies have dropped hints about what they're going to be demoing, others are a complete surprise. If past PC Gaming Shows are anything to go by, we'll get a handful of big announcements and a lot of deep dives into niche titles.
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First things first: If you'd like to watch along with the PC Gaming Show, we've embedded a link to PC Gamer's YouTube stream below. We also have an article on how to watch the PC Gaming Show if you prefer to use a different platform.
If this is your first PC Gaming show, then a little background might help. The PC Gaming Show was introduced at E3 2015 as a way to help highlight PC gaming. For many years, E3 had been skewing more and more console-centric, with PC exclusives and ports receiving only minimal attention at major press conferences. (Remember: This is also when a handful of shooters and action games completely dominated the E3 conversation, which didn't help. The show has opened up considerably since then.)
In response, PC Gamer decided to host its own event called the PC Gaming Show. This would help bring attention to dedicated PC hardware, such as GPUs, in addition to genres that thrive on PC, such as RTS and MOBA. The first PC Gaming Show was not one of E3's proudest moments, however. The show was incredibly slow paced, dragged on for hours, and didn't tell us much that we didn't already know.
However, the next year, the PC Gaming Show was a little more streamlined and a lot more informative, and things have generally been improving since then. As E3 presentations go, it's still a little niche, but it's niche in an entertaining way that provides a lot of new information.
While we don't know exactly what will make an appearance at the show, one potentially major leak is the appearance of Persona 4: Golden on Steam. The extremely popular Persona series of Japanese RPGs has never been on PC before, confining itself to Sony consoles instead. But Steam has been a popular receptacle for JRPG ports in recent years, from Final Fantasy to Tales, and Persona may be next on the list. We do know that Atlus will present something, at least, and it's supposed to be something big.
Refresh this page often, as we'll be putting updates right at the top as the show progresses.
Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom's Guide, overseeing the site's coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a science writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of science and technology. After hours, you can find him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on classic sci-fi.