Here's the Rundown of Everything at Today's PlayStation 5 Reveal [11/06/2020]

With Microsoft’s first showcase of the next generation of consoles having left many wanting, it was Sony’s turn to step up and make the real first move of the 9th console generation. Originally scheduled as an online event for the 4th due to the “unprecedented times”, it was then pushed back to the 11th in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter protests sweeping the world.

Today we got our first look at games and hardware of the PlayStation 5, along with the briefest glimpse of the UI.

It started with a very PS3-crying-baby-empty-room-logo-treatment and a quick nostalgia hit of previous games. 

GTA V

The first thing shown was a game from 2013… interesting choice but it was nice to have it confirmed. Even nicer was that GTA Online will be coming free to all PS5 players. Rockstar proving once again, there is nothing supremely deep pockets can’t buy you a pre-roll ad for.

Jim Ryan then took a bit of time to talk to us from the void before quickly going back from whence he came, which is to say probably his apartment because it had to have been filmed at home.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales

The first new game shown was a followup to the 2018 smash hit Marvel’s Spider-Man with the beloved Miles Morales starring. Hopefully he’ll be less of a cop than Peter Parker was in his iteration of this universe but with the success of that character (Into the Spiderverse and just how beloved the comics are at the moment) that game, even if it’s just an expanded version of the previous game, already seems to be a shoe-in for success.

Gran Turismo 7

A game which is guaranteed to be delayed from here to kingdom come, the new Gran Turismo has more polygons than you can shake a Knack at. Polyphony are known for taking their time and it has been a while since the last numbered game so expectations will be high.

Clank, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.

Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart

Somehow the alien duo is getting more alien, by dimension shifting. If their promise of jumping from planet to planet and speeding through areas is true then we may be in for a treat. Insomniac has a pedigree for innovative open-world movement and weapons so here’s hoping.

Project Athia

Creepy eye made out of trees? Well that seems nice.

Square Enix showed off their first next-generation game with a look at a yet unnamed game. So knowing Square and their history of showing tech demos at a console announcement, it's likely we may never see this and if we do it will not be coming out anytime soon.

STRAY

Annapurna seem to be continuing their track record of excellent looking indie games with a cat led game set in a city inhabited by robots. Charming interactions Ahoy!

I’ve only known this cat for a few hours but if anything we to happen to them I’d kill everyone in this room and then myself.

Returnal

The first new Playstation Worldwide Studio franchise game is coming from Housemarque. Once known for their arcade-y dual-joystick shooters, Housemarque are taking a leap into triple-A with Returnal… that is a bad name. Yet another game in the ever-growing time loop genre, Returnal appears to be a procedurally generated action game.

Sackboy: A Big Adventure

Sumo Digital, off the back of their ill-fated time developing Crackdown 3, are taking a crack at a less traditional Little Big Planet adventure. Gone seems to be the side-on platforming and level building, replaced by a Super Mario Land style isometric platformer. 

Destruction Allstars

Car combat seems to be making a return with a cross between Onrush, Twisted Metal and Rocket League. A fun artstyle, plenty of personality and lots of destructibility all made an otherwise standard racer look really interesting.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits

Small studio Ember Lab showed off their cinematic action-adventure. It looked very PS2 in its straight-up earnest character-based 3D platforming and, honestly, that’s no bad thing.

God damnit, I already know this game will make me cry.

Goodbye Volcano High

KO_OP, the artist-run cooperative out of Montreal, showed off the first look at their follow up to GNOG. This coming of age romance has a beautiful animated artstyle and looks like it will probably break your heart.

ODDWORLD: Soulstorm

Lorne Lanning of Oddworld fame claims he’s finally getting to make the game of his dreams (again). The Abe’s franchise has always been dark, but this trailer presented an even grimmer world than ever before full of Mudokons being torn apart, blown up and generally eviscerated as they followed a newly talkative Abe to freedom.

Shinji Mikami heard you like that anime crap. ARE YOU HAPPY YET?

Ghostwire Tokyo

Shinji Mikami, the mind behind Resident Evil 1 and 4, Vanquish and The Evil Within showed off the first footage of his new game. A neon-infused, anime-as-all-hell looking FPS where you fight ghost spirits on the streets of Tokyo? Hell yeah, bring on 2021.

JETT: The Far Shore

Superbrothers, the team behind Sword & Sworcery, showed off their new game. Full of ancient civilizations and spacefaring this trailer was covered in Interstellar vibes and it helps that the soundtrack is going to be by SCNTFC. It also claimed to be powered by Dreams but it’s hard to tell if they mean the Media Molecule creation tool or their imagination!

I’m getting strong Destiny Iron Lords vibes from this image.

Godfall

The first look at official gameplay (following a leak of PS4 footage a few months back) from Gearbox and Counterplay’s sword and shield loot-based game as a service was shown, and it looks mighty slicy and dicy. Lots of golden armour and engraved weapons in this one.

Solar Ash

The makers of Hyper Light Drifter showed off the first gameplay of Solar Ash. Following In Hyper Light’s footsteps, this game is drenched in neon lights and even has what looks like cool rollerblades for cool traversal. 

*Stares into camera*
“This is fine”

HITMAN III

IO look to be culminating the story they’ve been setting up for the last two games with a more personal tale. And while the story is looking to be more intimate, the spectacle seems to be as large as ever with a very Furious 7 Dubai skyscraper being shown.

PlayStation 5 UI

It was shown. What else do you want from me?

Astro’s Playroom

PSVR surprise breakout star Astrobot returns in a VR-less platformer. If it has even an ounce of the personality of Rescue Mission we could be in for a treat.

Little Devil Inside

This cutesy action game looked like a bouncy-polygonal-good-time. Dripping with style and humour, Little Devil Inside seems to tell the tale of a great adventure once had by an old man as he lives out his day-to-day.

NBA 2K21

Zion Williamson (whoever that is) showed up to introduce us to the sweatiest sportsman you’ve ever seen. To no one’s surprise, even if sports aren’t happening at the moment, sports games are.

BUGSNAX

Sentient strawberries now haunt my nightmares! Young Horses, creators of the zany Octodad, don’t seem to be getting any less weird as the BUGSNAX song made abundantly clear. Insects crossed with food? Sounds disgusting! Looks surprisingly cute!

Shuhei Yoshida graced us with his infectiously bubbly presence to introduce…

We got ourselves a big boi.

Demon’s Souls Remake/Remastered

Bluepoint Games have been the subject of constant speculation since the release of the incredibly impressive Shadow of the Colossus remake. Now they’re bringing back another classic, the FromSoftware game that arguably birthed the most cribbed genre of this generation. I bet I still won’t be able to beat it...

Deathloop

Arkane, hot off the reveal of their cancelled Half-Life game, had some footage of Deathloop to show off, with their trademark emergent gameplay in tow. It seems extremely reminiscent of Dishonored with a nice injection of 1960s style making it a standout at the showcase

It will be interesting to see how Chris “Boulder Punch” Redfield will fit in the more grounded style of recent RE games.

Resident Evil Village

The rumours and leaks reporting that the first-person style of RE7 would continue in a Midsommar inspired take on the franchise proved true. Village sees the return of the unluckiest man alive, Ethan Summers, this time joined by Chris Redfield and WEREWOLVES?

PRAGMATA

Capcom filed a trademark for this game way back and I really don’t know what to tell you. There was a spaceman, New York, a girl, a hologram cat and a satellite crashing through the atmosphere being caught by a giant spiderweb… It was basically a Kojima trailer if we’re honest

Horizon: Forbidden West

Aloy makes her much-anticipated return in yet another open-world adventure. With returning stars Ashley Burch and Lance Reddick, this game looks to be yet another prestige title in Sony’s first-party line up.

It is going to take a long time for me to decide if I really like or really hate this design.

The final thing to be shown was the box… and it looks like a cross between an airfan and an internet router. That being said, I actually really dig the design, it brings me back to the days of the Dreamcast and GameCube when game consoles were undoubtedly video game machines. However, the most notable thing was that there were two SKUs, one with a disc drive and one without.

Overall this showcase was a strong statement by Sony that put games front and center to do the talking. This comes after months, if not years of mounting pressure from Microsoft. While there are still many questions to be answered about backwards compatibility, pricing, connectivity, differences in SKUs and more, this showcase firmly put the ball in Microsoft’s court for now and will have many asking the question of which console they should invest in this generation.