11 games and announcements that got us excited at the latest Galaxies show

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Can't you smell it in the air? Feeling the cold in your nostrils and the smell of earth as the leaves fall and the sun leaves for another year? Yes, it's fall, which means we're thrown into a cave with next to nothing as the entire gaming industry gives GTA 6 the widest berth imaginable. But that doesn't mean there aren't things to be excited about. And the latest edition of Galaxies Showcase has a few more things to say about the "Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww" Mass. Indeed, given its nearly two-hour running time, there's a lot going on. But while you can watch it in its entirety if you have the time, we've also picked out a few announcements that caught our eye especially for your perusal. Was all this really an excuse for Connor to be a Penguins fan? Maybe!

The highly anticipated musical adventure There are no Ghosts at the Grand has a preview

I've been excited about Bristol maker Friday Sundae's There are no Ghosts at the Grand ever since I saw it at a preview last year. It's one of those things that's like a checklist of my very specific game interests, part musical, part home renovation sim, and part ghost hunting mystery adventure, all unfolding in a dilapidated hotel in a British seaside town.

The idea is that you have 30 days to rebuild it (exactly why is part of the mystery that the hero has very secret motivations, he even tries to hide them from the player), but besides that there's a lot more to do: you can explore the cobbled streets, go sailing on the sea, or ride a scooter to the countryside and try to discover the strange truth about the hotel's past. At night, there are ghosts to deal with - and all the while, the actors are prone to join in the singing. And if it tickles your fancy the way it tickles me, you can play a Steam demo right now before it arrives in December.

AfterZero: The Last Drive is like a frozen Pacific drive

AfterZero: The Last Drive is probably the first Pacific Drive, in that it's a game about driving a car through a post-apocalyptic wasteland to collect, repair and upgrade your car, and build your hideout. It's the work of 3DClouds, the studio best known for Formula Legends, but The Last Drive is an entirely different beast. There is a focus on environmental challenges and navigation, similar to Snow/MudRunner or more recently Over the Hill. Its setting also caught my attention and was revealed in a post-industrial world where it is always winter. Everything is covered in snow and the reveal trailer shows that there is a secret at the heart of everything. Like Formula Legends, The Last Drive features an intricate and inky art style that upgrades its cars and plastic objects into toys, and will be released in 2027 for PC (Steam), PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.

Sand Space Work Simulator starts with its first call protocol

Call Protocol, a creepy and scary (in a good way) career sim that puts you in the shoes of a security officer working for a greedy corporation. Your decisions, while certainly dire, will keep the crew of miners alive as you set course for Jupiter's largest moon. Aside from a killer premise, Contact Protocol has a great aesthetic, offering a grimy and gruesome look - full of deliciously retro hardware - to the brutal life among the stars. A demo is available on Steam now, and the full game will be released next year.

Late Shift is a strange story about a missing cinema employee

It's hard to explain why, but Late Shift immediately reminded me of Susanna Clark Piranesi's wonderful story. I think it's about escaping the world you're trapped in. Maybe it's because there is a part with a white corridor.

On closer inspection, Late Shift from developer studio AstroCat is probably more like the work of Remedy, presenting players with a strange and disjointed world that they must find their way around. Specifically, it's a "foundational horror game," according to the Late Shift Steam page, told through the eyes of a lost movie theater employee. Did you know ex-Eurogamer Tom Phillips and Martin Robinson both worked in film? Perhaps it is their story that brings Late Shift to life. The trailer announced the release of the Late Shift demo, and the full game is coming soon.

Deperson is an eye-catching horror game set in a "nation under surveillance and fear".

Call me shallow, but once I saw Deperson's art style I was on board. Developer Error Thing describes the game as a "self-reflective psychological horror-adventure" and begins when protagonist Aron mysteriously finds himself in Indrija, "a nation under surveillance and fear". I'm not entirely sure what genre we're playing with here in terms of gameplay, but it has a point-and-click puzzle mode, and it looks like there might be some action. Error Thing says, "Sometimes you gotta run. Sometimes you gotta think hard." "Depression is not a forgiving game." Whatever it is, though, it's certainly one to look at, with an incredibly unsettling gauntlet animation style that's as surreal as it is striking. Deperson is due out next year, but there's a demo on Steam now, so I guess I know what I'm doing this weekend.

When Sirens Fall Silent is a psychological horror film that resembles a true crime documentary

I had no idea about When Sirens Fall Silent until last night, but it stood out like a fart in church during the Galaxy Show. This psychological serial killer horror is LKA Studio's new Martha is Dead and Town of Light, and I love the feel and style of it. It's a strange thing given the subject matter, but the story seems to be told through a mixture of news reports, taped interviews, and various media, all designed with a barely-there mid-'90s aesthetic. The result is something not unlike a true crime documentary, and I like them a lot.

What I worry about after seeing a beautiful young woman in a plunging neckline with her neck on a chair in the opening is that there is a suspicious undertone in the trailer. But reading more about When Sirens Fall Silent reveals that it's a story that deals directly with misogyny and trafficking and trauma and—much more hopefully—redemption. This has me intrigued and is due to be done next year.

Stuntman: Hollywood is getting a new trailer which seems like a good time to mention that I played it at Gamescom and loved it.

Now, by itself, a Knight Rider crossover trailer for Stuntman: Hollywood — a game already littered with global IP crossovers, from Jurassic World and Miami Vice to Back to the Future — isn't particularly exciting. But it reminded me of my very tired and confused time at Gamescom this year. The gist of it is that you, a stuntman, race around circuits while an optimistic director gives you instructions to get the perfect shot.

It might be a daring hairpin turn on the highway, or a speedboat race, or—in the case of the Jurassic World stage I played—an absolutely wild motorcycle chase with an erupting volcano and dinosaurs chasing you. It's a game that demands very fast interactions, which is exactly what I didn't have as the show was winding down and my Gamescom flu was taking hold - and I was terrible. But I enjoyed watching its ridiculousness, and its showcase Galaxies trailer reminded me to watch out.

Wild n Chill does for survival games what the Kingdom series did for fantasy city-building games

Kingdom is the game series that comes to my mind when I see Wild n Chill. Because just as Kingdom did fantasy city building in pixel art, Wild n Chill does survival games in the same way. As no one says, the setting is flawless: a man and his dog go into the wilderness to cut down trees and build a shelter, then build a solitary life there. It's cozy, it's warm, it's quiet.

I just wish you didn't have to be so violent as to cut down trees. This is a personal bug of mine, but you don't think you're going to go out into the desert and start chopping down trees in real life, do you? You're overthinking it, Bertie. You're overthinking it Wild n Chill is "coming soon" to PC (Steam) and now all consoles, it seems. The brilliantly named Wombat Brawler is being developed by a team that has already made a few other similar games.

Master Records doesn't have a release date yet, but it does have a level editor

Mr. Records immediately caught my attention when he appeared at Day of the Devs earlier this year. This latest game from Glee Cheese, the studio that made the delightful A Musical Story in 2022, tells the story of a man named George who can travel in music. As he does, players are transported through vibrant worlds that they must interact with rhythmically. There also seems to be a bit of a management focus, given that each level, once completed, turns into a vinyl LP that you have to match with customers in your record store, and it all sounds fun. Additionally, we now know that it will have a level editor in the second quarter of next year when it comes to PC. Oh, and there's a Steam demo too.

One of the most surprising revelations at Galaxies was that Squad is coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2027. Squad, if you don't know, is basically a more accessible version of Arma, as it's a true multiplayer shooter where class affiliation and logistical planning are core gameplay elements. Tournaments in Squad feature mixed armed combat and take place on massive maps - up to 4x4 km and support 100 players.

Squad on console, which does not yet have a release date, will include select maps from the PC version and will also support console cross-play. But if you've ever seen Squad gameplay, you'll know that translating this depth — especially in the UI and command options — to controllers seems nearly impossible, but the developers at Offworld Industries believe they've figured it out. They're so confident, in fact, that the PS5 Alpha Preview is available now through October 25th, so anyone can play.

My Penguin Friend steals hearts, minds and possibly the show

Listen, I don't need to sell you on the amazing nature of penguins. Penguins are evil. Everybody Loves Penguins The trailer, which shows the penguin circling and honking around town, made for a great sight last night. A penguin on a skateboard, pushing around a beach ball, and swimming through storms and shipwrecks. Hell yeah, I'm down. According to developer Good Gate Media, My Penguin Friend - a "puzzled penguin" set on an unfamiliar tropical island - is coming to Steam next year, and you can wishlist it now.

The studio behind Martha is Dead, the over-the-top game for PlayStation, presents the first gameplay from its psychological serial killer horror film When Sirens Fall Silent.

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Matt Wells is an editor at Eurogamer and a founding member of the Birdo for President of Everything community.