Sony had a few cool announcements at this summer’s State of Play. They even did a decent job of reminding us that PS VR2 still exists.
I wish that Sony did a better job of letting its audience know that the PlayStation Plus package exists and they are doing solid work on that service. I have a good internet connection so for me that service works very well. They do a very good job of adding new titles to the Classics collection; their back catalog of PS1, PS2, PS3, PSP, and PS VITA games. I am sure it comes down to some form of business related penis envy related to Game Pass but I’ll keep prosthelytizing for it.
Sony started out pretty strong with an interesting trailer(?) in-game cinematic(?) for the game Concord. Concord is a hero-shooter. I’m concerned that people may be done with hero shooters but there were so many cool ideas going on in this presentation about the game that part of me hoped that this game could do something to invigorate the genre.
They moved on to God of War: Ragnarok on the PC. They used a lot of PC buzzwords to excite those members of the PC master race. It’s not for me but I am happy for the people who it is for.
They moved on from close-ups of brutal murder to the brutal murder of armies of men in Dynasty Warriors Origins. I’ve never been a fan of Dynasty Warriors but I was interested in this demo. Much like I was interested in the game when it originally came to the PS2, it’s one of those games that seems like it should be getting the most out of each system that it is on.
Infinity Nikki looks like one of those Japanese games that does well for a very small niche audience. I’m not sure if it is for me but it looks gorgeous.
Ballad of Antara looks like it is a take on a Souls game. The visuals are gorgeous. I’d like to learn a bit more about this game.
The next two games weren’t so much showing the state of play so much as proof of live for the VR genre. Skydance’s Behemoth for VR and Alien Rogue Incursion for VR.
Sony knew they needed to bring things back up after the dip in excitement so they gave us what I think is probably the game of the show – Marvel Rivals. Marvel Rivals is a hero shooter from Netease. The second hero shooter of the show. I have a feeling that this one may put the nail in Concord’s coffin before it even debuts. I think that this game is much closer to Overwatch which will be easier for people to grasp. Also, the characters are all well-known and the designs are really interesting. I also was interested in all the different ways that the powers will work with each other.
Where Winds Meet looked gorgeous but seemed just too generic for me to be too impressed by it. There is a lot of dark Eastern games being made right now and this isn’t as interesting to me as some of the others that are coming.
Until Dawn is getting a remaster for the PS5. I enjoyed a lot of this game on the PS4 and it is good that Sony is turning another one of their popular games into a new remastered version but it isn’t going to be something that I play through again. I hope they add some reason for the people who played through it on PS4 to come back to the game again.
Path of Exile 2 was an interesting addition to this show. I don’t really think of Path of Exile as a PlayStation game but I might also be totally wrong. If they are able to optimize the controls to be even close to how Diablo plays on console, I’m sure they will do very well on the console.
Silent Hill 2 looks good. I haven’t heard very many good things coming out about this game’s development but I hope that it comes out and gives its audience something to enjoy.
Monster Hunter Wilds looks very cool. Once again, this isn’t a game that is going to get its claws into me but I am glad that it looks like something that its audience will really get into. Monster Hunter’s audience is one of the best fandoms in console gaming. I still remember that time that I watch a Japanese guy hiking through a blizzard with a brand new PS4 and a copy of Monster Hunter when that game came out on the PS4.
The final game of the State of Play was Astro Bot. This should probably be the game of show over Marvel Rivals because we know that this game is going to be good. They added a lot of fan appeal to the game. It’s good that Sony finally has a mascot character that can honestly stand next to Mario and Master Chief as an equal.
I think this summer’s State of Play was strong. I don’t think it is going to be able to stand up to Microsoft for best conference but I think they had some solid titles to be excited about in the coming years. I think they have some more work to do in making PSVR2 something that is a must buy for the majority of their audience.