[GAMESCOM 2026] MegaGum Preview – Combat Hits Hard in This Sticky Platforming Adventure

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The colourful world of MegaGum immediately brings games such as Ratchet & Clank to mind, but its strongest quality during my Gamescom session was not its familiar action-platformer foundation. It was the combat. Between satisfying close-range attacks, several specialised weapons and Gum-powered movement abilities, fighting my way through its strange factory remained entertaining throughout the hour-long demo.

My session introduced the first main level and allowed me to experience what felt like the complete Gamescom demo, including its concluding boss encounter. It was a generous demonstration that covered combat, platforming, exploration and some simple environmental puzzles rather than limiting itself to a short mechanical tutorial.

Not every element left the same impression. The enemies already became somewhat repetitive during that first hour, while the puzzles rarely demanded much thought. However, the variety of weapons and the enjoyable combat were enough to leave me strongly impressed by what N-Zone is creating.

Entering Mister Gum’s colourful corporate nightmare

MegaGum takes place inside the enormous Gum Tower, a living chewing-gum factory controlled by the MegaGum Corporation. Gum is not merely something people chew in this world. It has become an energy source, construction material and symbol of hope for a society that previously found itself in a difficult position.

The protagonist Uja is a teenage orphan searching for answers about the disappearance of her parents. After discovering that they might still be alive somewhere within Mister Gum’s industrial complex, she enters the factory and begins making her way through its heavily protected departments.

It is a relatively serious premise hidden underneath an extremely colourful presentation. The factory is filled with bright Gum, exaggerated machinery, cartoon-like enemies and visual jokes, but the wider story deals with corporate power, institutional control and personal loss.

The Gamescom level primarily concentrated on introducing the factory and its dangers. Pipes, conveyor belts, machinery and large pools of Gum turned the environment into an industrial playground. Even when I was simply moving towards the next encounter, there was usually something happening around me.

Plenty of ways to deal with Gummies

Uja has access to close-range attacks alongside several specialised weapons, allowing encounters to move between melee combinations, ranged attacks and more destructive abilities.

The available equipment included weapons designed around different Gum properties. The Pistogum provides a more precise ranged attack, while the PyroBoomBoom is centred around explosions. The Cryolaser can freeze enemies and certain environmental hazards. Uja can also use heavier melee attacks, giving her a reasonably broad collection of options for what is primarily being presented as a 3D platformer.

These weapons helped prevent individual encounters from feeling too passive. Instead of entering a room and repeating the same basic attack until everything disappeared, I could move between enemies and experiment with the equipment the demo introduced.

Weapons are also expected to become stronger through active use. The complete progression system was difficult to judge from a single level, but the idea could encourage players to become comfortable with particular tools instead of constantly saving their most interesting abilities for later.

The Gum concept is at its best when it connects combat with movement and environmental interaction. Freezing, inflating or otherwise manipulating Gum is not limited to damaging enemies. The same general toolbox can help Uja cross dangerous spaces and interact with the factory.

Familiar enemies appeared too frequently

While the combat itself was enjoyable, enemy repetition was the clearest weakness of the demo. There were plenty of Gummies to fight, but their numbers did not always translate into meaningful variety.

The build introduced small creatures that rush or leap towards Uja alongside larger, more defensive enemies and explosive Gummies. However, familiar opponents began appearing regularly before I had even reached the end of the first level.

This did not ruin the combat because switching between weapons remained satisfying, but it made me wonder how often the complete game will introduce new threats. An eight-hour action-platformer will need more than increasingly crowded rooms containing the same few Gummies.

The final boss at least demonstrated that the level was building towards something larger than its regular encounters. The developers are promising eccentric lieutenants guarding the different departments of the Gum Tower, and distinctive bosses could provide the variety that the standard enemies currently lack.

What remains unclear is whether every department will contain its own proper selection of enemies or primarily rearrange familiar creatures around different hazards. That could determine whether combat continues feeling energetic or gradually becomes routine.

Movement keeps the factory entertaining

Uja is equipped with several traversal abilities, including wall-running, gliding and a Gum-powered method of grappling or swinging across gaps. Certain Gummies can also be inflated and used to cross pools of Gum.

Movement plays a big role in combat, exploration and puzzle-solving rather than existing as a separate platforming mode. The factory’s vertical construction provides opportunities to look above or around the intended route for additional platforms and hidden objects.

The first level’s puzzles were simple and mostly acted as introductions to these abilities. I never spent long searching for a solution, but they helped divide the combat encounters and gave the different tools another purpose.

MegaGum clearly wants to remain accessible, and immediately turning every room into a complicated puzzle would work against its fast pace. The more important question is whether later factory departments will combine these mechanics in more creative ways.

Each department is supposed to introduce its own machinery, environmental dangers and puzzle concepts. If the game continues layering new interactions over Uja’s existing abilities, the uncomplicated opening could become a solid foundation. If it keeps asking players to solve slightly altered versions of the same puzzles, its mechanical potential may not be fully realised.

A promising first visit to the Gum Tower

My hour with MegaGum covered enough material to establish what kind of action-platformer N-Zone is making. Combat and weapon variety were the highlights, while Gum-powered traversal kept the journey through the factory moving at an enjoyable pace. The repetitive enemies and overly simple early puzzles are areas that will need additional variety, particularly if the reported eight-hour duration proves accurate. Nevertheless, these concerns did little to diminish my enthusiasm during the demo itself.

Visually, MegaGum understands the appeal of an exaggerated cartoon world. Gum stretches, machines move and objects react as Uja tears through the factory. The vibrant colours make interactive objects and enemies easy to recognise, even when an area becomes busy.

Minigum, a self-aware Gummy created to maintain machinery, will eventually assist Uja with security systems and other technology. The current Steam description also advertises asymmetrical local cooperative play, although that feature was not part of what I experienced during the Gamescom session.

MegaGum already feels like more than an attractive tribute to the colourful action-platformers of the PS2 era. Its combat is satisfying, its central material is used across several interconnected systems, and its bright world appears to be hiding a genuinely darker story. I now want to see whether the remaining floors of the Gum Tower can continue introducing enough enemies, puzzles and mechanical surprises to support the entire adventure.