Meet the Flemish gaming specialists in the spotlight at Gamescom

Roadside Research - Cybernetic Walrus

The hype on the Belgian gaming market right now is Roadside Research by Cybernetic Walrus. The game is not yet on the market, but expectations are high.

“More than 200,000 people have already added the game to their wish list on the video game platform Steam,” says Mike Coeck, founder of the Belgian studio. “That’s an incredible number. Normally, a Belgian developer would be happy with around 1,000.”

He puts the appeal down to “the crazy story”, in which players run an American petrol station as aliens in disguise. Coeck: “Our games always have a crazy twist: in this case the fact that the aliens are actually preparing an invasion. However, they’ve disguised themselves really badly. They just have a piece of paper covering their faces.”

Coeck returned to school at the age of 38 with the aim of developing a video game. He studied digital arts and entertainment at Howest in Kortrijk and then founded Cybernetic Walrus.

The game is not yet on the market, but is being extensively tested by members of Coeck’s Discord group. The next step is a closed beta test, by around 200 players, with a demo expected to be released on 15 September.

Cybernetic Walrus only started developing the game in March. “We never try to reinvent the wheel,” Coeck says of the rapid development. “For example, we don’t program everything ourselves but use existing game engines and buy existing packages that we then customise ourselves.”

This reduces the costs of a project and means developers can bring games to market faster.

Last 4 Days – Anaxanthia

Hall 10 of the Cologne Exhibition Centre has been largely transformed this week into a place where independent, often start-up or smaller game studios can present their games to the general public. The Indie Arena Booth is where we found Flemish indie studios that have been given a place at the trade fair thanks to the Flemish Audiovisual Fund (VAF).

One of these is Anaxanthia, run by Arne Vandamme and Kayla Chaubeau. At Gamescom, the duo will present Last 4 Days, a strategy game in which players must eradicate an AI virus by throwing a bomb at it.

The duo created a “vertical slice” of the game for the event. This means only part of the game has been completed at this stage. They hope to launch the final game in early 2027.

Swan Song - Business Goose Studios

Swan Song is the third game from Business Goose Studios. The studio consists of Jonathan Wolfs, Beau Vankemenade and Sander Ambroos, who met at the Luca School of Arts in Genk.

In Swan Song, players place musical notes in a music box to solve puzzles. Throughout the game, you also hear the story of the creator of the box.

Business Goose Studios has also taken a vertical slice to Gamescom, where they hope to secure a publisher. Wolfs: “We could release it ourselves, but it would be nice to work with a partner who has connections to help make the game more widely known.”

The Spell Brigade - Bolt Blaster Games

The men and women wearing wizard hats wandering around the Flemish stand are part of Bolt Blaster Games. Last year, they won the Belgian Game Award for best XR (extended reality) game with their VR (virtual reality) game Gazzlers.

The eight-person team is presenting its latest project: The Spell Brigade, a cooperative game in which players have to survive as long as possible as a team during an invasion of hordes of dark creatures.

“Although the game is not yet complete, you can already buy and play it,” says Gianluca Sorrentino, one of the founders of Bolt Blaster Games. “We’ve tried to bring a stable version of the game to market as quickly as possible and are now continuing to improve it based on player feedback.”