I had the chance to play Black State at the NVIDIA showcase during Gamescom, and it quickly stood out as one of the more intriguing stealth games on display. It isn’t about running in guns blazing; it’s about patience, planning, and precision. From the first moments of the demo, I found myself crouching behind cover, scanning the environment, and mapping out enemy patrols before even thinking about moving forward.
The game gives you a wide toolkit of gadgets to approach encounters in different ways. One of the first I used was a rolling bomb, a compact explosive that helped me break through a tense moment. Later, I got my hands on a device that vaporizes enemy bodies the second their body they hit the ground, removing any chance of their allies discovering them and raising alarms. It’s a clever touch that really reinforces the idea that this is a world built for stealth and control.
But Black State isn’t just a futuristic infiltration game, it throws in a mechanic that genuinely surprised me. Certain doors don’t behave like you expect. Step through one, then back again, and you’re suddenly somewhere else entirely, almost like you’ve slipped through a portal. In my demo, it pulled me into a completely different part of the map without warning, and it added this eerie, mysterious layer that I didn’t see coming. It makes the game more than just tactical, it hints at something stranger beneath the surface.
Visually, running on NVIDIA’s hardware, it looked sharp and stylish. Clean lighting, detailed environments, and that slight shimmer of futurism that fits the tone perfectly. The demo itself was clearly a slice designed to teach the core systems, but even in that limited space I got a feel for the possibilities: chaining silent takedowns, experimenting with gadgets, and leaning into the satisfaction of outsmarting AI guards.
Walking away, I felt curious more than anything else. Black State already plays smoothly, its mechanics are satisfying, and that door mechanic opens up a lot of potential for surprises. It left me wanting more, and that’s exactly what a demo should do.
