Amid my many Gamescom adventures, I found myself sniffing Minecraft sheep and inhaling Mojang's emerald forests. How? Via Scentbar.
I have a confession to make; one that's maybe a little too personal. At Gamescom 2026, I sniffed a sheep in Minecraft - there, I said it. On virtual paper, this sounds particularly heinous; arrestable, one could argue. In practice, however, it's not bad at all. Trust me.
Amid the flurry of Gamescom preview invites I received, one caught my eye: Scentbar. "What's that?" I asked myself; "weird name for a new game." Upon closer inspection, it turns out that Scentbar is effectively smell-o-vision but for videogames, powered by unique AI tech that analyzes the virtual environment around you, and emits odours that match it. Sure, there was Warlock, Castlevania, even The Witcher - but this, right here, is the fastest appointment I've ever locked in.
So how does Scentbar work? Created by Zestum, a Neuss-based startup, the bar - which is vaguely reminiscent of the old Xbox Kinect - contains various different scent capsules, each with their own unique 'flavor.' During my demo I encountered everything from smoke to grass and flowers, as well as a menthol-inspired scent that represented ice. You can select up to ten of these and slot them into the Scentbar, which disperses the smells using fans.
The aim is pretty simple: "smell your games." CEO Salomo Bertram and CFO Samuel Wiebe boot up Minecraft, and drop me into a forested biome with a nearby shoreline and some lava to boot. I'm left alone to explore, and I watch in awe as Zestum's AI algorithm begins to recognize my surroundings.
As expected, the forested areas smell like a mixture of grass and trees, with some floral notes when I stare at some bright pink flowers. As I begin to chop wood, things begin to smell like a lumberyard, and as I venture towards the lava fields, my nose tingles with smoke and brimstone. The scents aren't overpowering - admittedly we were in a heavily air-conditioned booth, which likely did cause a bit of particle dispersal - but they're definitely there.
After a quick jaunt to the beach, the duo whisk me away to - you guessed it - a herd of sheep. "Let's sniff some sheep," I say, far too loudly, prompting a laugh. "I love to smell all the sheep," Bertram joins in, making me feel slightly less weird. Initially there's the smell of dirt, which quickly begins to mingle with the grossly familiar scent of manure. I'm quick to return to a nearby flower patch, but I was genuinely struck by just how authentic said small balls of wool smelled. I'm not sure how Zestum conducted its market research there, and honestly, I think I'm blissful in my ignorance.
While Wiebe informs that that Scentbar works across various games - including League of Legends, where you can smell the Jungle - it also works on your browser. He brings up an image of a pineapple and swaps out one of the capsules, and immediately everything begins to smell vaguely like piña colada. The AI tech works by looking at a photo and identifying it using a percentage recognition system. Then, it pairs it with its respective scent. It's clever, but most of all, it's just fun, and God knows we need more fun these days.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.pcgamesn.com/minecraft/scentbar-preview-gamescom
