Just when Geoff Keighley had started to fade from your memory, he comes rubber-banding back with a vengeance - snap! It's Gamescom week and it kicks off with Opening Night Live this evening from 7pm UK time (other Opening Night Live timings here). A pre-show with additional announcements will begin at 6.30pm UK. We'll be watching and reporting on it live, as always, right here, so you can either keep abreast of announcements while you do something else, or you can join in with your thoughtful and amusing comments. Please keep us company. Please.

What do we expect to see today? Well, probably Geoff Keighley, but also the new Indiana Jones game, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Dune Awakening. We're also expecting Little Nightmares creator Tarsier to unveil its new project, which could be exciting. On top of that: Diablo 4 expansion Vessel of Hatred, Civilization 7, hero shooter Marvel Rivals, Lost Records (the project made by the creators of Life is Strange), Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (which was recently delayed), and Black Ops 6. Keighley's best pal Hideo Kojima has also been tweeting enigmatic silhouetted pictures of actors who are presumably playing roles in Death Stranding 2.

And before you ask, "Yes, there will be new game announcements," Keighley said on X.

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Happy Paintings, the developer behind the amazing RPG Maker titles Fear & Hunger and Fear & Hunger 2: Termina, has recently spoken about the third game in the series and its possible directions. You'll be pleased to know that they're just as radical as the changes between the first two entries.

On Twitter, Happy Paintings recently posted a few of their thoughts on what Fear & Hunger 3 might ultimately be. In an almost chilling statement, he manages to make the second game sound like it's all sunshine and rainbows compared to the destruction that's coming. "If F&H1 was about creation, F&H2 was about chaotic growing pains and change that came from that creation - then to close to the circle, next to come is inevitably destruction to wipe the slate clean. How to destroy a franchise on meta level too?"

Fear & Hunger 3 will divert from the ‘established’ set-up even further

Destruction is a big theme to throw around when you're talking about a beloved franchise, and fans wanted to know what Happy Paintings meant by this. Understandably, one player thought it could mean the third game would be set in a post-apocalyptic world, but that's not the case.

Happy Paintings clarified: "No, I don't want to do apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic stuff, it's oversaturated trope at this point. Destroyed only on meta level and maybe on character's personal level." This says to me that each character's backstory and potentially even the type of soul they have will reflect the destruction of their lives prior to players meeting them in the game.

The developer also goes on to make an incredibly bold statement about what Fear & Hunger 3 might do to the fan base. "Staying mostly solo with some additional help on some things occasionally. That's where my head's at currently. I don't have plans that far in future. F&H3 will probably reduce fan base to 10%, and I dunno if I still have interest in F&H afterwards?"

When asked why the game might reduce the fan base, he explained that "F&H3 is just something no one is asking for and probably will divert from the 'established' F&H gameplay." He adds that the game's store, structure, and aesthetics will be completely different and expects it to generate a negative response from some fans as a result.

The first Fear & Hunger is very much a dungeon crawler. It's a brutal game with deep mechanics and doesn't hold your hand. As you master it, you'll progress further and unlock the secrets of its gameplay systems, multiple routes and endings, and lore.

The second game uses a very similar combat and exploration system, but the story, world, and structure are all very different from the first. Players are thrown into a battle royale against other contestants in a dark god's festival, and it really opens up the potential for dozens of playthroughs in the far future of this deeply disturbed world.

No one can predict where the third Fear & Hunger game will go. Based on the evolution between the first two titles, you could expect a modern-day setting, but it would make just as much sense if it was set 1,000 years in the future or the past.

Given the popularity this series has gained over the last couple of years, it sounds mad to hear Happy Paintings say he may not have much of an interest in it after the third title is done and dusted. But maybe when you create a series that has the potential to go on and on, you just want to know there's an endpoint.

The post Fear & Hunger dev seems to have some radical ideas in store for third entry appeared first on Destructoid.