The first month of 2024 has come to a close, but our friends at Sony didn’t want it to end without checking in so they prepared a 40+ minute State of Play presentation that will primarily showcase 15+ titles. So will it just be titles already announced or will there get some new reveals today. A new year calls for optimism…right? Let’s start this recap.
Helldivers 2 is the first title of the showcase, the sequel to the isometric shooter that invokes Starship Troopers will be deploying on PC and the PlayStation 5 on February 8th. The switch to 3rd person is still a tad bit jarring, but if the gameplay and community driven plot is still present, then sign me up for the defense of Super Earth!
Hermen Hulst, Head of PlayStation Studios is the first person to greet us to discuss the changes and additions to the PlayStation 5 landscape since its launch nearly 3 years ago. Hulst reiterates that while the changes are impressive, none of it matters without software…therefore this presentation will be covering titles that will be coming out in the near future as well as some further out.
Shift Up’s Stellar Blade is shown next and we’ve provided with a bevy of details in this extended look of a title which has visually dazzled gaming audiences and will surely inspire plenty of male gaze in gaming thinkpieces. You’re introduced to Eve, a member of the 7th airborne squad tasked with reclaiming the Earth’s surface from the mysterious Naytibas. During the course of her journey she will ally herself with Adam, an earthborne human seeking a mysterious power source and Lily, a member of the 5th airborne squad who will act as Eve’s technical support.
Besides the desolate surface, Eve will also traverse and interact with the denizens of the underground city known as Xion. While many will be wary of this “angel”, however people will open up as Eve provides aid to the region with her actions and deeds. So take some time to heed the call of the locals less you enter the wastelands of the surface ill-equipped and underprepared.
The end of this extended sequence shows what gruesome enemies you face in your journey, but also Eve’s complete competence in handling everything that comes in her way. Will your performance mirror what’s shown in this trailer? We’ll find out when Stellar Blade finally make it’s debut on April 26th, 2024.
Modern Sonic and the portly, but adorable Classic Sonic are back once again in a brand new adventure and this time they’ll be joined by…Shadow!?! Sonic X Shadow Generations (our preview here) is I guess for intents and purposes a sequel to 2011’s Sonic Generations and it’s set for a Autumn 2024 release. In the meantime I hope SEGA will answer my questions such as…will Shadow be packing heat and is there a Classic Shadow that packs a potbelly like Classic Sonic?
Next up HoYoverse announces something that seems like a no brainer. Their upcoming urban action-RPG Zenless Zone Zero (our preview here) is in development for the PlayStation 5. That’s pretty much it…I don’t think I was able to gleam anything else from this sub-minute clip, so moving along…
The game that the team at Pressed for Time has been for better words “frothing at the mouth” to get their hands on…it’s Square Enix’s area control shooter Foamstars! In a smart move that will get both the curious and the naysayers to possibly try the title, it will debut for free as part of the PlayStation Plus service for the month of February. Today we learned that the game’s first unofficial season will be dubbed “Starry Pop” and these seasons will provide new maps, characters and skins who will engage with the action. While this game has been head scratching for most, who knows perhaps it will be the next big hit and we’ll all be washed.
Critically acclaimed “indie game” Dave the Diver will be coming to PlayStation and it seems will be bringing a different type of denizen of deeps to the surface…GODZILLA? In a collaboration that no one could see coming, it seems Big G will be surfacing in game sometime in May. I guess it makes me ponder what culinary delights can be crafted from its irritated flesh…we’ll find out next quarter.
This ¾ view title had me thinking…did someone bring back Legacy of Kain? Alas my hopes were dashed when it was revealed to be V Rising. This title from Stunlock studio does have you play the role of vampire and is described as “an immersive Vampire Action RPG Survival Game with Castle Building”. So my initial assessment wasn’t too off. Needless to say I’m certainly intrigued and looking forward to any updates on this title hopefully in the near future.
Shawne Benson, Director of Portfolio, Global Third Party Relations preambles the next clip and declares it’s existence is due to the close relations PlayStation has with Konami. We open with a despondent young woman who attempts to take her life by leaping off a building…only to awaken in an unfamiliar place. Armed with a phone, she will need to solve the mystery to escape alive in Silent Hill: The Short Message which is available now and completely free to play. So better add it to your account before it goes the way of PT!
Next Motoi Okamoto, Silent Hill Series producer had a couple of words for the viewer before presenting a special preview of Bloober Team’s remake of Silent Hill 2. The clip shows what appears to be James Sunderland traversing darkened halls and alleyways before he is accosted by strange creatures as he is forced to defend himself. I’m sure Silent Hill fans will have absolutely zero complaints to air about the changes made by the team to their beloved franchise! Nope, absolutely none!
Ken Levine’s Ghost Story Games finally provides us a fresh new look at their debut title Judas (our preview here). The title certainly evokes Levine’s past works as we see humanity exploring the stars, altering their bodies, specifically their hands to grant them superhuman powers in a place where things have definitely gone very wrong. I’m certainly willing to “Fix What You Broke” when this game eventually debuts on the PlayStation 5 as well as PC and the Xbox Series X|S.
The beloved Metro series takes things into virtual reality as Metro Awakening VR (our preview here) will let you explore decrepit railway stations and stave off radiation poisoning on the PS VR2.
Another title heading to Sony’s premiere headset is Urbanwolf Games’ Legendary Tales, which I totally thought was Skyrim VR simply because I missed the studio logo at the beginning of the clip. Metro is set to release sometime in 2024 and Legendary Tales will be coming sooner than later as it will launch on February 8th.
I don’t really have much to say about Dragon’s Dogma 2, but I know staffers Dustin and Tyler are anticipating this follow up to 2012 action role-playing hack and slash title from the house of Street Fighter and Resident Evil. Their long wait will end as the title will be debuting on March 22nd 2024.
From a Western style game from a Japanese developer, the next title is a Japanese style game from a Japanese developer (Look I know that transition wasn’t great…but I’m at 3 pages of writing here…), Fumihiko Yasuda of Team Ninja shows off Rise of the Ronin. A tale that takes place during the Bakumatsu period where the nation of Japan is slowing but unwillingly being forced out of its isolationist shell. The game takes place in Yokohama, one of the few regions which had a port opened to trade with foreigners. The game features “historically accurate” traversal methods such as grappling and gliding, sword combat which utilizes multiple stances, guns and event some weapons that might not be native to the time period as the extended clip shows the player using a flamethrower dubbed the “Fire Pipe”.The game promises multiple paths based on your choices and deeds. Get ready to forge your fate when the title arrives on these shores March 22nd.
Until Dawn, Supermassive’s seminal interactive drama horror video game is getting rebuilt from the ground up and coming to the PlayStation 5 and PC sometime in 2024. So that’s my obligatory statement on this announcement.
In what appears to be the final and longest segment of this State of Play, we get an extended look at Kojima Productions’ Death Stranding 2 (our preview here) I’d make an attempt to describe the action but frankly I don’t have the intelligence to cohesively transcribe it, so I’ll just hit you with some high level points. Sam’s (Norman Reedus) back and his hair is all gray. A new organization dubbed Drawbridge which employs Fragile (modeled after and portrayed by Léa Seydoux) is looking to bring the Chiral Network beyond what was the United States. Higgs (Troy Baker) is seemingly back from the dead, looking like Kefka from Final Fantasy 6 and apparently Troy Baker’s clout in the industry is so strong that he somehow incorporates yet another guitar in his performance. We also get the title’s full name as in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach and a rough estimation of the title’s arrival in 2025.
Hermen Hulst returns and brings Hideo Kojima to announce that PlayStation Studios have teamed up with Kojima Productions on a brand new Action Espionage IP. Don’t get too excited just yet as Kojima states production on this new IP will begin once production on Death Stranding 2’s is complete so we could be waiting for a while. However the wait will probably be worth it as Kojima states it will be his most ambitious project to date, so he beckons us to “stay tuned” as we see a drone shot gradually pulling out showing the Columbia Pictures Studio lot with the word “Physint” below the studio sign. Could this be our first clue regarding this new IP’s name?
Shawne Benson returns once more to announce the next State of Play will arrive sooner than you think and will focus on perhaps the biggest release of this February…Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth. The showcase will air on February 6th and promises brand new details from the Square Enix team.
So there you have it, did Sony lead off the new year on a good foot? Or perhaps you were hoping for more? In my personal opinion while not everything in the showcase was in my wheelhouse there were plenty of things that will have me picking up my DualShock4/Dual Sense. As usual it’s always a good time to be a gamer and a horrible time for my bank account!
State of Play | January 31, 2024:
