Here's a Rundown of Everything Sony's PlayStation Showcase [09/09/2021]

Everyone knows what day it was yesterday…
That’s right…
IT WAS THE DREAMCAST’S 22 ANIVERSARY!

Also, I guess Sony held its first major showcase since the announcement of the PS5 last year. It might not feel that way though considering E3, Gamescom, serval smaller State of Play-es and numerous other livestreams have all taken place since then. While many, many PS5 games have been announced since the console was first shown only a handful of PlayStation 5 only games have come out (Ratchet & Clank, Returnal and Demon’s Souls are pretty much the only games that haven’t come last-gen systems too).

A visual representation of how people currently view Jim Ryan.

This dearth of large first-party announcements has been one thing. The continued shortage of consoles (getting into consumers hands at least) has been another altogether. While a series of self-inflicted Ls followed by hasty walk-backs from Jim Ryan over the last nine months have all resulted in many feeling more than a little cold towards their new £500 box. First the PS3, PS Vita and PSP stores being shut down then they were not, Ryan finally recanted his statements about no one wanting to play old games after years of being dragged over the coals and most recently the Horizon Forbidden West PS5/PS4 price debacle and confirmation that all future cross-gen PlayStation games will cost $10/£10/€10 to upgrade from PS4 to PS5.

What we are saying Sony, PlayStation and even just Jim Ryan’s public image could all do with a win. So what did they show?

Things started promisingly with a message telling us, “Gameplay captured from a PS5 system” followed by a photorealistic opening shot of a city, then a photorealistic dude wearing a crown playing photorealistic chess, followed by a photoreal-- Oh wait. This was just one of Sony’s over the top live-action ads that hardly tie into any games and instead focus on the brand’s tagline of “Play has no limits”. This three-minute preamble is apparently called “”, except for PS3, PS2 and PS1 games which we all know moved out to the countryside to retire. 

Jim Ryan then introed the showcase itself and was notably one of only two humans that spent any time talking directly to the audience during the stream. From this point on it was all games.

We could make a joke but Revan’s character dissing is really good.

Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic Remake

A remake that has been the subject of rumours and rumblings for so long that most forgot about its existence was the first game shown. The beloved Bioware RPG is being remade from the ground up by Aspyr. The company, renowned for their PC and Mac porting and publishing, were recently acquired by The Embracer Group, via its (the also recently acquired subsidiary) Sabre Interactive in an eye-watering $450 million dollar deal. 

If you know, you know.

The trailer describes the game as being “remade” for PS5, so it will be fascinating to see what will be updated for this 18-year-old game. What will also be fascinating to see is how Lucasfilm and Disney treat this project as both of the Bioware games were removed from franchise cannon in 2012, after The House of Mouse made “a fine addition to my collection”.

No release date was given and the game is only confirmed of PS5 but looking at the franchise’s history, the developer working on the project, Sony’s recent business strategies and even some of the announcements later in this showcase… Yeah, this game is totally coming to PC too at some point.

This game kinda looks dope, right?

Project Eve

We are willing to put money on the fact that you had never heard of Shift Up Corp., we certainly hadn’t. However, as it turns out the company has been a relatively successful mobile publisher and developer in Korea for a few years now. Its first console game, Project Eve, was apparently announced to be in development back in 2019, but this is the first time that anything has been shown publicly.

This is what happens when Square Enix won’t make a Parasite Eve game!

The trailer kicked off with a cool (NOT BAYONETTA) lady, beating the crap out of a gross tentacle, eye-monster thing with a big sword before being flung out of a space station and into the void above Earth. And things only escalated from there. At first, this setting made us guess that this game was Capcom’s Pragmata, last shown at the PS5’s reveal, but this seems to be much more of a stylish action game akin to Bayonetta or Nier. The Nier comparisons only grow when you learn that the game takes place on a ruined Earth, with mysterious invaders called NA:tives (no, we’re serious) having wrecked the planet. There was even a little hovering drone following Eve around, which one could not help but compare to the Pods from Automata.

There is no release info floating around and the game has only been announced for PS5 but this game was lowkey one of the most interesting things shown at the event.

Can’t help but feel that it is a missed opportunity to use returning characters , like Brick and Mordecai, be the people playing the game and have them role-play as the new playable classes, no?

Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands 

The next entity in the Borderlands franchise was announced across at least three separate E3 or E3-like livestreams this July. The game, which is mainly being developed by Gearbox’s newly opened second studio, presented itself as a new direction for the series by diving into the in-universe D&D-alike, Bunkers & Badasses. Considering this was almost the same set-up for what many would consider the best DLC and story content of Borderlands 2 (Tiny Tina’s Assualt on Dragon Keep), many were excited to see the idea freed from the restrictions of having to be built atop a shooter. However, disappointingly from the trailer shown off, it seems that this game may be more of a Borderlands 3 standalone DLC than Gearbox would like to admit.

You know what, I’ll take this over watching Randy Pitchford wander the set of the Borderlands movie as actors try to avoid eye contact.

There are new classes and presumably 18-squillion more guns but that’s just the thing. It is still all guns, the artstyle, the tone, the gameplay, it all appears desperately… Borderlands. This may just be the exasperation of a once exuberant Borderlands fan that felt burned after how lacklustre 3 was, but there was a real expectation that Gearbox would finally be bringing something new to the table for this game that just has not manifested in what has been shown so far.

We will find out if Tina has any surprises up her sleeve on March 25th 2022 on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Series X|S and PC.

Hey, er, Frey. Maybe you should stop looking at that portal and jump back through it before something bad happ— OH… You;re stranded here. Never mind.

Forspoken

Luminous Productions were once the home of tech demos and (alleged) vapourware at Square-Enix, working on hypothetical cutscenes for games that never came to be, most notoriously Final Fantasy 13 VS which would eventually become FF15. However, after all this time the mysterious Forspoken is finally starting to look like an actual, honest to goodness, real video game that could be played by humans. 

The game reportedly spun off from Luminous’ supporting work on FF15 and some of the style, the expansive open areas and the impressive graphics of that game remain but what has been changed is probably more fascinating. The game will star a woman called Frey from our world being transported to a somewhat desolate-looking fantasy land. Instead FF7R and 15’s hybrid turn-based/action combat the game looks to be focusing on fast freerunning movement, fluid combat and magic.

At least she has good running shoes.

The talent attached to this game is certainly impressive from the Senior Programmer on Luminous Engine, Takeshi Aramaki, heading up the project as Director to writing team including Star Wars: Rogue One’s Gary Whitta and Uncharted’s Amy Hennig. Famed composer Bear McCreary working on the soundtrack and a cast full of Hollywood talent, it is clear Square Enix wants this to be its next big franchise.

We will find out if the decade and a half this game and its engine have been gestating for will be worth it at some point next Spring only on PS5 (for two years at least).

Rainbow Six: Extraction 

Yep, it still looks fine. It is another co-op wave-based survival-shooter with distinct ability-based classes. We are sure that fans of Rainbow Six: Seige are excited to see their favourite franchise expand but let us not forget that Ubisoft should be dealing with some more important issues between now and January of 2022 when this game comes out on everything with a pulse that isn’t a Switch.

Alan Wake Remastered 

If this game released in 2021 Alan Wake would totally be a true crime podcaster, right?

Sam Lake and Remedy Games confirmed this game’s existence earlier in the week in a rather earnest letter posted to the Alan Wake/Remedy fansite, The Sudden Stop, but we got our first look at The Alan Wake Remastered in motion at this PlayStation’s event. It was also confirmed that Remdey’s partnership with Epic Games is only growing as the game is being put out by the Forenite-company’s publishing wing.

The remaster, clearly isn’t just an up-rez, as the team has completely updated character models and cutscenes and so far it looks great. The cult classic will release once again (with all of its DLC which is very important to the conclusion of the story) on the 5th of October on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Series X|S and PC.

GTA V 

It's Grand Theft Auto V… Again…
We got nothing.

It is out at some point in March of next year with as yet undetailed “enhanced gameplay”.

Ghostwire: Tokyo

If you thought Forespoken had some cool magic cast through stylish hand waving wait until you get a look at Ghostwire: Tokyo’s new trailer. Despite showing a lot more actual gameplay of the game we still don’t really know a whole lot about Shinji Mikami’s new IP. A mysterious fog descends on the titular Japanese city and, Badda-bing Badda-boom, almost everyone has disappeared, the city is overrun with evil oni creatures, a threatening fellow called Hannya and his mask-wearing friends are trying to kill you and the player has some very cool magic powers.

*finger guns* (literally)

The game’s style is still inarguably downright awesome and all the neon lights and wet streets are definitely letting the PS5 show some of its potential. 

The second game in Bethesda’s Sony exclusivity deal pre-Microsoft acquisition will release in 2022.

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy 

We hope you like Marvel because the second half of this showcase could have just been a Disney showcase, to be honest. The first comic book game shown was Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy developed by Edios Montreal. This game was last seen at E3 and has a lot riding on it considering how poorly Square Enix’s Avengers game performed.

HE. JUST. LOOKS. SO. DAMN. PUNCHABLE.

So far the game is looking somewhat more promising leaning into the studio’s storytelling chops rather than chasing the live-service model but, boy, the team really should have gotten a less Chris Pratt looking face model for Peter Quill because it is still very distracting.

We can all look forward to having the music industry demonetise our videos on this game when it releases on everything on the 26th of October this year.

Bloodhunt

The game formerly known as Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt has entered Early Access and had its name shortened. The tabletop series’ video games have been rather publicly on the rocks recently as of late, and while the idea of a Battle Royale within the Vampire universe sound unique… Well, this reaction to the alpha has been “mixed” on PC so far.

“Hey boss, is this enough neon lights?”

”NO, I SAID ALL THE NEON”

There was no mention of a full release or even a PS5 alpha or beta but the developer, Sharkmob, have said they will be talking more about the game “sometime this year”.

Deathloop 

Arkane’s latest is out next week and at this point, we don’t want to see any more. WE’RE SOLD. The high-concept time looping premise, the arresting 1960’s Saul Bass artstyle, the typically intricate Arkane immersive-sim gameplay. ALL OF IT!

GIVE_IT_TO_ME.gif

The trailer featured one of the games original songs, Down The Rabit Hole, along with a nicely simplified explanation of the Colt/Juliana multiplayer assassinating/hunting premise and a tease of Colt’s past. 

Say no more Arkane just let me play it on PS5 (or PC) on the 14th of September.

Kid A Mnesia 

Very little to say about this, to be honest, Sony didn’t even mention it in the PlayStation Blog post about the showcase. Radiohead is reissuing two of their albums together and with the help of Epic Games, they are doing a virtual exhibition, which will be on PlayStations at some point.

Sail away with me!

Tchia

By far the biggest surprise of the show was Tchia. At first what appeared to be a hybrid between Wind Waker and Breath of the Wild, quickly revealed itself to be one of the most soulful games of the show despite only being on screen for a few minutes. 

Look up there! Is it a bird? Is it the hero of time?
No! Its Tchia!

The game stars a young girl, called Tchia, exploring her home island based inspired by New Caledonia. She will be able to climb any surface and even employs a small glider (very similar in design to Link’s) to get around. However, the trailer really ingrained itself in our memory when it showed off Tchia’s “Soul Jumping” ability that will allow her to take control of the beautiful creatures on her island and will help her “travel, solve puzzles, [and] uncover secrets…”

There was no release window mentioned but the developer, Awaceb, have said they will be showing off more soon including the story, customization and combat.

PlayStation Worldwide Studios 

As we reached the end of the show, PlayStation started pulling out the big in-house studio guns and also allowed Hermen Hulst to talk to the audience for a brief few moments about just how great and unique and special and other PR buzzwords PlayStation are.

Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection

The previously leaked (by Sony itself) remaster of Uncharted 4 was confirmed to be coming soon as part of a bundle with the (dare we say even better) The Lost Legacy. Notably, the game is being updated for the PS5 and PC by Iron Galaxy and not the recently acquired PC port house Nixxies. These games looked nice as hell on PS4 so it will be interesting to see what, if any, changes will be made for the next-gen versions and if the fan favourite (but pretty niche) multiplayer will be included in the package when the game releases in 2022.

Marvel’s Wolverine

This teaser showed almost nothing. We know next to nothing about the game itself. And yet! We are extremely excited about this game. 

A Wolverine game being created by the team at Insomniac that developed Spider-Man: Miles Morales? Yes, please. 

We haven’t even seen Logan’s face and yet I can already hear him saying “bub”.

Don’t expect to see much of this game for a long time as it has been confirmed it is still in “early production”.

Gran Turismo 7

This will be one of the final games to be put out by Sony across both PS4 and PS5 (we’ll get to what will likely be the last one soon). The long, long, LONG awaited Gran Turismo sequel is scheduled to be coming out on the 4th of March next year and to celebrate the franchise’s first mainline game since 2013 Polyphony recreated the trailer for the very first game with modern cars, dramatic operatic organ music and all!

That’s what I love about Gran Turismo.

These graphics keep getting better and the menus stay the same.

While the game obviously looks ludicrously pretty, the trailer showed some of the franchise’s notoriously clunky menu system looking even more complicated than before. We will see if Gran Turismo 7 lives up to the long wait soon, but with this developer’s track record we also can’t help but feel like it will be delayed again.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

We sort of all knew this was coming and it was just a matter of “when”, not “if”. But despite, this being something of a known quantity, it was hard not to get excited seeing the two Spider-Men together taking out thugs while (who we suspect is) Kraven The Hunter monologued overtop. The trailer ended with a stinger revealing Venom, who has now been confirmed to be voiced by the original Candyman himself, Tony FREAKING Todd!

If anyone could make you crap yourself with their voice alone it is Tony Todd.

No word as to if both web slingers will be playable but with how positive the reception to Miles Morales was you have to imagine that we will be hopping between the two. What we know for certain is that the game won’t be released until at least 2023, which honestly feels like a lifetime away.

God of War: Ragnarok 

The worst kept secret in the industry is finally out and Corey Barlog can finally tweet again without a wave of people demanding he confirms the name of the next God of War game. A lot was shown and much was talked about so we are just going to highlight some cool things we wanted to bring attention to.

When it comes to gameplay the Blades of Chaos and Leviathan axe make a return but already in this teaser, we see some new moves and attacks including Kratos now being able to use the chains of his blades to zip to further away enemies and even to certain grapple points. The boat returns but there will also be a much faster sledge to cover those frozen bodies of water… Wait Gears 5 also had a sledge. What is up with “of War” franchises fifth instalments having sledges?

I really like how Atreus is in the background just like, “Yeah, you can take this one dad…”

Storywise, we got a bunch of details, all of which have been broken down much more comprehensively than we ever could. However, there are a few things that seem really important. First, Atreus is a few years older and during that time he, Kratos and Mimir have been in hiding after the events of the first game (we won’t spoil why). Atreus is also doing as teens tend to do and is questioning who he is and his place in the world. It also appears that Freyja is still pissed with the two boys (for obvious reasons, which we again won’t spoil). It was clear that whatever marketing team made this trailer has been very careful in what was shown of the new game, and yet, it was confirmed that the trio will be both looking for and find the allegedly dead Norse God of War, Tyr. 

Oooooooooooh, Kratos messed upppppppp!

The second half of the trailer confirmed that Ragnarok is indeed coming and in order to stop it, we will be working with some old allies like Brok and Sindri and new characters like a merchant with a squid. This paired with shots of a small town might finally mean that this game will remedy one of the oddities of the previous game which was, “where are all the humans?” Another potential ally teased and then confirmed, was the last of the living giants and good friend of Loki, Angrboda… Which, yet again, we will not be spoiling why that is so important.

Lady Dimitrescu who?

Finally, the trailer teased both Thor and his big bad dad, Odin. Press images released showed off Thor’s, frankly incredible, design and announced he will be voiced by Ryan Hurst, while despite us not know what Odin will look like we now know he will be voiced by The West Wing’s Richard Schiff (which is both very good and very surprising casting).

It has also been confirmed that directing duties for this game have been taken over by Sony Santa Monica and God of War veteran Eric Williams. While we know the game will be launching next year on both PS4 and PS5 we still have no firm release date, sadly.