Memorial Day came and went so I guess it?s time for Summer Games Fest. Get some drinks on ice and prepare for a month-long series of showcases giving us what?s next in gaming. Sony led off the festivities with their State of Play which aired on June 2nd at 6pm EST/3pm PST. In typical fashion, speculations flew wild once it was announced, will we get a God of War Ragnarok release date? Hollow Knight Silksong details? Bloodborne on PC? Some will be elated, others will be on suicide watch, let?s see what Sony has for us in this half hour showcase which will focus on announcements and PSVR2.
It starts with a date, March 24rd 2023. Spanish folk guitar with castanets are playing as the letter R is superimposed over a forest foliage. The letters reveal the phrase Resident Evil, with the number 4 being the stinger. To the surprise of no one, the RE remake series continues with its next logical step?Resident Evil 4 Remake (our preview here). A frenetic trailer is played with an ominous voice over, after the RE logo explodes onto the screen we are treated to a sullen Leon S. Kennedy internally monologues and he looks at an image of his objective, a somewhat different looking Ashley Graham (hopefully she retains the ?ballistics? of her previous iteration). As he hopes things will be different this time, he steps foot into the Spanish village where he?ll begin his search. Resident Evil 4 Remake will be released on March 24th, 2023.
Resident Evil isn?t done yet, as Resident Evil Village will be coming to the PlayStation VR2. Weirdos on the internet will now seek out PSVR2 pre-orders in order to make sure they can get stepped on by Lady Dimitrescu on day 1. Revisit New Orleans again as The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners Chapter 2: Retribution will be coming in 2022 (I guess we have a launch window for the headset?). Hit the procedurally generated universe as Hello Game?s No Man Sky is coming to PS5 with PSVR2 compatibility. Explore a sidestory in the Horizon universe in Horizon: Call of the Mountain on, you guessed it?PSVR2. However that isn?t the only Horizon news from this showcase. Horizon Forbidden West received a new update available now which will add the following features Outfit Changes, Skill Respeccing, New Game+, Performance Mode enhancements, Ultra Hard Difficulty Mode, new gear and trophies.
That concludes the PSVR2 portion of the show, onto the next portion where Sony revealed their next previously exclusive title which will now be released on PC?that?s right your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man will be swinging onto PCs as Spider-Man Remastered will bring the base game and all it?s DLC to PC on August 12th. Meanwhile on the internet, rather than celebrate the title getting a wider audience, Gamers choose violence, digging up an old tweet made by the studio stating it?s forever exclusive status on PlayStation platforms and dunking on the developer. Classy!
We get a new trailer for Stray, which features a cat traversing a world once inhabited by humans, now occupied by robots. I?m normally not an animal person, but Stray has my interest piqued. It?s coming out July 19th and will be included as part of PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium memberships. No longer tethered to the PUBG Universe (whatever that means), The Callisto Protocol brings up scares in a place where no one can hear you scream on December 2nd 2022. Roll7, the developers of Olli Olli switches from the skateboard to roller skates in Rollerdrome, a extreme sports title where you skate and shoot. Think Aggressive Inline?with Guns. Strap on a pair and go guns akimbo when the title releases August 16th. Atlus doesn?t have a monopoly on groups of teenagers going on weird anime adventures and finding love as Studio Sai presents the dating action game Eternights.
Capcom returns as they formally unveil Street Fighter 6 (our preview here). Seemingly going for a more local feel, it?s taking place in Metro City (even though it?s looking a lot like New York City). Aping something from Mortal Kombat?s Conquest Mode, you?ll be able run around this troubled metropolitan area and perhaps get into some scuffles with the local ruffians. We get a glimpse of something old and something new as Chun Li and Ryu are confirmed as combatants with the eternally wandering warrior sporting sandals and a shawl much akin to Street Fighter 3?s Oro. Jamie drunkenly staggers onto the stage utilizing his drunken fist fighting style. The ink blotches from SF4 are back and it?s colorized (oh yeah focus attacks seem to be back too)! The trailer?s end card teases a new fighter by the name of Kimberly (although I?m sure if you?ve seen the character leaks, you?ll know what she looks like.). Other series have been making strives while Capcom have been focused on the 5th entry. It looks like they?re ready to knock back all the pretenders to the throne with their latest entry.
Tunic, the cutesy action adventure game finally crosses over from Xbox to PlayStation September 27th. Explore and document a society before it gets purged by a mysterious cataclysm, what will you document and what will you ignore, that?s what you?ll need to decide in Season: A Letter to the Future coming in Autumn 2022.
The showcase winds down with a message from Naoki Yoshida, producer of Final Fantasy XVI (our preview here). He states that things in the world aren?t so great, and he pledges that he and his team will make FFXVI the best it can be so that entertainment can help soothe the troubles of people from around the world. After his brief statement he presents a new trailer for the title. A disembodied voice asks who are the Dominants and how they are ones who can bring forth the Eikons (Think Jinchuriki from Naruto if you need an analogy). Creative Business Unit III is the internal Square Studio handling development and also one hell of a name. A brief glimpse of gameplay is shown, the combat is similar to what players of XV are used to. Scenes of human combat as we get to the main event, the Eikons (or summons) enter the battlefield. Shiva, Titan, Odin, Ifirit, Phoenix and Bahamut are but a few who appear. A quick glance you?ll notice a ui where each has a life bar, perhaps this creatures will do battle like Kaiju. The Yoshitaka Amano drawn logo is revealed. It closes with another disembodied voice beckoning the child of destiny to awake and along with them, the Eikon Ifirit. If there?s Kaiju Battles in FFXVI I?m going to be counting the days til it?s Summer 2023 release.
Sony led off Summer Games Fest with a solid presentation, even if it was primarily bolstered by third parties. We saw a lot of software coming to the PSV2 platform, but not a solid date for the hardware itself. The slow drip of their titles to PC is a smart and welcomed move. What did you enjoy about this State of Play, was there something you wish was addressed? Let?s hope the next one will be as eventful as this one and let?s hope there?s more surprises are in store as Summer Games Fest 2022 marches on!
State of Play | June 2, 2022 [ENGLISH]:
![State of Play | June 2, 2022 [ENGLISH]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Wr4PGa1sHFQ/0.jpg)
Tune in for nearly 30 minutes of announcements and updates from the world of PlayStation.
We?ll have some exciting reveals from our third party partners, plus a sneak peek at several games in development for PlayStation VR2.