Playstation Showcase (May 2023)
Oops forgot I had a thing like this. Halfway through the year and ahead of Summer Game Fest Playstation has a little showcase for us. The sad news before this is that Sony will continue to delay PC releases of their exclusives by two years. Which kills my prediction of their own PC game store being a thing by the end of the year. Let’s get into what I saw and cared about.
Sony opened up with two looter shooters in Fairgame and Helldiver 2 (a game series a for sure knew existed). I am not big these squad shooter games as they tend to follow the live game service model which I dislike. The also look grossly generic. Immortals of Aveum was shown and it looked like a fantasy Ghostwire Tokyo without any of the aesthetics. Ghostrunner 2 was shown and I was very much stoked for it cause the first one ripped. If they added and refined some things it’s gonna feel real good to play.
Phantom Blade looks really interesting, though one thing about these showcases is how much of what we see is indicative of actual gameplay. But I am hooked and very much so looking forward to it. Is it more like a Sekiro/Soulsborn type game. Or will it operate like a Ghost of Tsushima? Though I was the color palate was better, but that is more of a symptom of other games like this. Sword of the Sea comes from the visionary that brought us Journey and looks as stunning and interesting as Journey did. I am a sucker for these games so yea I’m in. The Talos Principle 2 looks vaguely interesting but being unfamiliar with the first game leaves me thinking I’d have to look at the first to see if it’s something worth checking out.
When showing a game that has a very stylized look one of my biggest concerns is how the game actually plays. That’s my feeling for Neva. A game with a strong visual style but showing us nothing of what it will be like. Cat Quest looks like a game. Sqenix revealed a thrid person team shooter that looks to be their take on Splatoon. And like Splatoon before it Foamstar Party looks like something I will continually forget exists. I feel like I’ve seen something about The Plucky Squire already. I was interested then and even more so now. Quirky looking RPGs are in my wheelhouse. Even if some never really live up to that.
Haven’t I seen Jerma play Teardown already? Always cool to see fun indie games get their chance on a console release.
Oners are very unimpressive when done for just games cause it’s all prerendered and you get exactly what you want every time. That said a MGS 3 remake/remaster is interesting to see what Konami can do post MGS:Survive. I don’t really have high hopes. I wanna say it LOOKS like it’s MGS 3 but could be something new. Towers of Aghasba looks like a Zelda ass game. Sqenix then gave us a little more of FFXVI ahead of it’s launch. I am more of a high fantasy kinda FF boy so I am more into this than the boys going on a road trip.
YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ALAN WAKE 2 BABY AWOOOOO. I actually gasped when Sam Lake appeared as a dude in the game. It’s been long talked about Alex Casey being written into Alan’s story and it’s cool we get to see the connection come into the sequel. I believe the sequel or at least some other Alan Wake game was believed to follow a new character investigating Wake's disappearance way back when. Cool to see that will be explored. I won’t go too heavy on Alan Wake stuff, I’m not one for trailer breakdowns so I won’t go into everything we saw but I did just release a 2 hour review of the first game if you’re horny for that.
Oh cool a new Assassin’s Creed ga-zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Granblue Fantasy looks interesting as a JRPG, like always interesting to see how gameplay translates to what is shown. I am only interested in SF6 because of the FGC not because I will play the game myself. I’m gonna say that Ultros is a roguelike and say I will be playing it. Also it’s got loud energy and I’m all about that. But there will be a Dragon’s Dogma 2 which is very choice.
Very interested to see what Bungie does post Destiny in a new FPS, they always do well enough for me to check out their new IP and Marathon is no different (unless it is just a looter shooter or battle royal). I do laugh that Sony is making a Gran Turismo movie when Nintendo and Sega pushed out Mario and Sonic. It just feels like a missed opportunity on Sony’s part. I think Kraven the Hunter rips and having him as the main villain for Spider-Man 2 is more than okay by me. I hate when the symbiote is shown cause it begins the countdown to venom. But what they showed of the sequel looks great.
Overall the showcase was very good. Seems like they had something for everyone.