Back in 2012—even in a hefty chunk of 2013—Sony was the also-ran of the gaming community. The releases never came quite as fast or as often, and Sony often wound up on the bad end of the conversation. But then E3 2013 hit, and Microsoft set it all briefly on fire. Sure, Microsoft turned around, and quickly, but by the the damage was done and Sony looked to emerge top dog of the early part of the console wars. But with Microsoft making comebacks, all eyes are on Sony to see just how well it can do, and Gamescom 2014 made a great place to start looking.

Sony had an impressive amount of material to show off, and easily one of the biggest was “Wild,” a kind of open-world hunting game that featured plenty of exploration and occasional skeletons. When a game defies description, it's hard not to take an interest in a game like that. Then there was “Alienation” from Housemarque, an exciting new development, especially for those who enjoyed earlier releases like “Resogun” and “Super Stardust HD.” “Alienation” itself, meanwhile, offers up a top-down shooter with plenty of targets—including potentially some of your own allies--a sound development for action buffs.

Even horror gamers had something to see here in the form of “Until Dawn,” an impressive looking piece that features remote mountain retreats and Ouija boards, two great horror staples that only go well together for the people who aren't immediately involved therein.

There was also word about PlayStation TV, PlayStation Now, and of course, Project Morpheus, though that word only went so far, especially trying to show video of virtual reality games.

One thing that was particularly interesting about Sony's show was that it covered a whole lot of gaming waterfront. Horror, action, science fiction, fantasy, all represented, and in a pretty grand fashion. Meanwhile games ranged from the cuddly to the cannibalistic in terms of immediate accessibility, and that ensured that most everybody was going to be happy here, unless of course, once again, you were waiting for news about “Fallout 4” because that's still years away at this rate.

The key thing here is that Sony did an impressive job bringing out the games, and there were certainly plenty of these on hand. But as is commonly the case in an event like this, the question arises, who really “won” Gamescom? Who brought out the biggest and the best showing? That's a question we'll look at next time.