If you were a bit busy at 6pm EST on a Thursday to tune in to Sony’s State of Play yesterday, or distracted perhaps by other news going on, we’ve got a rundown of the event for you here!
With the Summer Games Show right around the corner, Sony and Konami chose to get the ball of the ghost of E3 rolling with two separate little showcases. First up, Sony’s Sate of Play was a 30-minute showcase of upcoming titles for the PS5 and PS VR2.
Concord
Developer: Firewalk
Release Date: Beta July 6th, Launch August 23
Platforms: PS5
Marcy: Starting with the usual not actual gameplay style trailer, Firewalk’s game gives off extreme “Remember Guardians of the Galaxy?” energy. Nothing in this cinematic really meant anything but it was, at least, interesting to know that this sci-fi future also features bottles of red sauce that denote said contents are spicy. What gameplay hints are possible to pick up from this is that the game will feature multiplayer shooting with class/character based guns, a 5v5 Overwatch style game. Unfortunately, the game looks to literally just BE Overwatch, which is the same problem Marvel Rivals has; the character Lennox just seems to be Cassidy, Star Child is Winston, and Valle is Widowmaker. The biggest problem is that this market is probably ripe for something in terms of change, but nothing really shown here about Concord seems like it will dethrone or carve out space against Overwatch’s establishment in the space for better or worse. There’s also a lot of push for the cinematic element to this game, implying that they seem to believe players will care about these characters, which should give you some indication of how off target this entire game seems to be.
Jonathan: Brutal. Feels like a game that’s been in development forever and has had to roll with the people upstairs changing its goals and design multiple times. Overwatch now, Apex earlier, and you can detect a little bit of that 18-month period when everyone thought 3v3 heist modes were the future in there too.
God of War Ragnarok
Developer: Sony Studios Santa Monica
Release Date: September 19th
Platforms: PC
Marcy: Promising uncapped framerates and graphical support for various high end GPUs, the second announcement was God of War Ragnarok on PC. It will include the Valhalla DLC, but no other new content. Still, if you haven’t had a chance to play God of War Ragnarok, or just want to play it with your insane gamer rig, September is right around the corner. However, it also requires a PSN account, and that went REALLY well for Helldivers 2, so we’ll see how that plays out (badly).
Dynasty Warriors: Origins
Developer:Nomad Omega Force
Release Date: 2025
Platform: PS5, Other Platforms Unknown
Marcy: Dynasty Warriors returns, with a teaser trailer setting the tone for a character based game that seems set on telling a singular narrative in ancient China. There’s been a slowdown in musou games (the name attached to Dynasty Warrior style games) in recent years, so seeing a new one could be fun.
Jonathan: The words “Dynasty Warrior Origins” are maybe the funniest thing in video games in the last ten years. Just the concept of a never-before-told prequel to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms starring someone’s OC is tremendous.
Infinity Nikki
Developer:Infold
Release Date: PS5 Beta Test Q3 2024, 2025 release.
Platforms: PS5, Other Platforms Unknown
Marcy: Shockingly the most interesting thing shown at this showcase was a game featuring a huge, doe eyed girl and her little cat companion traversing a colorful platforming world. The aesthetic is a little difficult–her eyes seem huge even by anime aesthetic standards–but it promised some new gameplay and a different vibe from almost every other game in the showcase, which was gritty and bleak, to a bright and colorful exploratory world. Described as an “open world dress-up adventure,” I’ll at least be curious to see how this game unfolds as we get more information.
Jonathan: Game of the show. Do I detect some Pokemon Snap in there? Interested to see if someone does something interesting with Photo Mode in one of these — and what “one of these” actually is.
Ballad of Antara
Developer:TipsWorks
Release Date: 2025
Platforms: PS5, Other’s Unknown
Marcy: Described as a fantasy action RPG, Ballad of Antara seems in the vein of dark fantasy games like Dark Souls and the like. While it might be cheap to immediately call it that, it has much of the same dark fantasy vibe that Dark Souls popularized, with sweeping boss fights and combat. What makes Antara stand out is that the game shows various characters as playable, not just a single blank slate character, so it will be interesting to see how character choice and selection changes up the mix.
Behemoth
Developer:Skydance
Release Date: Coming soon (Demo available)
Platforms: VR2
Marcy: A medieval VR action game; there isn’t really much to go off of here except that it looks like a pretty generic first-person game that will have VR elements in order to justify the existence on the platform. If you liked Skydance’s work on the Walking Dead game, this seems to be more of that.
Jonathan: Looks like a Skyrim mod someone built out into cobbled-together full product. That sort of gutsy origin story would be a lot more compelling than “you’ll play it because what else are you using your VR2 for?”
Alien Rogue Incursion
Developer: 20th Century Games
Release Date: Holiday 2024
Platforms: VR2
Marcy: An Alien universe game in VR. There’s not really much else shown except that it is a first-person horror game in the Alien setting. This was actually announced last month, but the trailer for that was actually even less informative than this one is. Personally, I think that just means that there isn’t actually much to care about here except VR Walking Horror.
Jonathan: Essentially nothing here to tell you what this game is about, other than it having the Alien IP license. “Alien: Incursion” would be a much better title; hopefully “rogue” is just bad-naming, instead of a genre indicator of some kind.
Marvel Rivals
Developer: NetEase Games
Release: Closed Beta July 2025 for PS5
Platforms: PS5, PC, Xbox Series X.
Marcy: Kind of wild that we get two Overwatch clones in the same showcase, but that seems to be where we are. Marvel Rivals made some waves when the Alpha was available a few weeks ago, most of those waves being the somewhat unfortunate influence contract to say nothing negative about the game in order to cover it. From having watched various streamers play the game, it seemed exactly like you’d expect: Overwatch with Marvel characters. This trailer also showed off Venom and Adam Warlock, as well as the unique team up ultimates that the game is touting as what separates it from Overwatch more than just the Marvel license.
Oh yeah, and for every person who keeps asking: That’s not Female Galactus, her name is Galacta, Daughter of Galactus. You’re welcome.
Jonathan: My only contribution here is to sadly shake my head at how bad the modern “Scarlet Spider” cosmetic that PlayStation gets exclusively is.
Where Winds Meet
Developer: Everstone
Release Date: 2025
Platforms: PS5 and PC
Marcy: Where Winds Meet looks aesthetically interesting, and it will remain to be seen if the gameplay can live up to the Wuxia aesthetics. There is a PC version that had a closed beta back in April, which had fairly positive reactions, so there’s some hope for this to stand out.
Until Dawn
Developer: Supermassive Games
Release Date: 2025
Platforms: PS5 and PC
Marcy: Feels odd to describe Until Dawn as a “horror classic”, but here we are. Returning to the PS5 and PC, Until Dawn is a unique “CYOA” style horror game where the player watches the story unfold with fairly minimal interactions. That isn’t to say you don’t play the game, but it makes playing the game in groups or on a stream far more interesting and engaging.
Jonathan: Add “Save Tonight” by Eagle Eye Cherry to the funny-bad minor key cinematic trailer cover list.
Path of Exile 2
Developer: Grinding Gear Games
Release Date: Early Access 2024
Platforms: Out now PC, coming to PS5 2024
Marcy: Path of Exile 2 was one of the final announcements, closing out the show with the reveal that not only is the Diablo-like (and in some circles, Diablo replacer) coming to PS5, but that the game will arrive with cross-platform and cross-progression, probably the two biggest things they could announce to make this a huge deal.
Jonathan: Couch co-op is interesting.
Monster Hunter Wilds
Developer: Capcom
Release Date: 2025
Platforms: PS5, PC, Xbox X/S
Marcy: Monster Hunter has parries again. If that wasn’t enough for you, Monster Hunter Wilds looks to build on the success of World, introducing and reintroducing new features and giving you a new setting to explore. Lots of returning monsters and weapons are shown in the trailer, so if you’re a long time MH fan, then you’ll likely find a lot to love here, and if you’ve never tried one before, Wilds seems like a great place to jump on to the series and start hunting with your friends, or just your friendly Palico.
Astro Bot
Developer: Team Asobi
Release Date: September 6 2024
Platforms: PS5
Marcy: Do you remember that period in which the PS4 Playroom robot went viral for a little bit? Well, if you really like that little robot, it’s getting it’s own game that feels like a platformer from 20 years ago, filled with Sony cameos and references like Parappa and Journey. The gameplay does look fun and colorful, and there’s a lack of decent platformers that are available to all ages, so while the theming might sound a little odd, Astro Bot actually looks like it could be a sleeper hit.
Jonathan: Hahahaha what the hell. Sure. Love this little guy.
Silent Hill Transmission
Following the State of Play, Konami ran their own show, which you can watch a VOD of here:
The Transmission show started with an extended look at Silent Hill 2 remake itself, followed by a listing of various editions and pre-order features that you can get or expect depending on where you buy or how much you wish to spend on the game when it comes out. After some behind the scenes, Konami also revealed a new film, Return to Silent Hill, which featured odd statements like “Silent Hill 4 is a masterpiece,” and while I will give them credit for showing off a fairly decent amount of practical effects and filmmaking in these BTS shots, I think we all know the movie will probably be, at best, watchable.
Otherwise, the most notable parts of this presentation were a slew of new Silent Hill goods, ranging from a Red Pyramid Thing (Pyramid Head) Nendoroid from Goodsmile Company, a SH 2 Dog Ending coin bank, and Sakura Head statue from Gecco, and various collectibles and knick-knacks.
Probably the coolest item shown was a replica of James’ Jacket available on the Konami official store, although very likely in Japanese sizes, so be careful to measure if you try to order it!
Silent Hill 2 Remake
Developer: Bloober Team
Release Date: October 8th 2024
Platforms: PS5 and Steam
Marcy: Bro what the hell did Bloober Team do to Angela? Why does she look like that? I hate you so much. Anyway, the extended set of trailers show off a far more complete picture of Silent Hill 2 remake, and while some of it does seem weird (Faces, voice acting), the gameplay looks quite a bit better than the initial and weird combat focused on from a few months ago. Small details like James writing on his map when you obtain an item that asks you to go somewhere was something that stood out to me and I liked. I’m a little nervous about Bloober Team as a writer, as many of their past games have somewhat questionable handlings of mental health and abuse.
That said, Silent Hill 2 is certainly a lot more interesting than it was looking initially, and could indeed be the best one could hope for in terms of a remake and update to a 20+ year old game. The news that it will also arrive on Steam means that you don’t need a PS5 if you don’t have one. I’m sure we’ll start hearing more about the game as the release gets closer and closer, but my impression went from fairly negative to hopefully positive.
Except Angela’s face. Fix that. Fix my pookiebear.
Jonathan: Well, here’s this pile. My thoughts on Bloober Team are well-documented. I do not trust them, and I especially do not trust their instincts on what makes good horror gameplay. My hope is that the original Silent Hill 2 blueprint is so compelling that they have no choice but to at least make a workman-like reproduction of greatness…but then, is that blueprint so compelling? Isn’t that game entirely down to the specific vibes of how the team made it, rather than the core gameplay loop of Dangerously Walkin’ Around? And why didn’t I hear any of Theme of Laura in that trailer?
Wrap Up
While Sony’s showcase was fairly underwhelming, there are some interesting potential gems there. Nikki looks like a neat game, and Astro Bot was surprisingly colorful and looks fun. Silent Hill’s separate stream was mostly a wash for anything other than Silent Hill 2 news, but what was shown did a lot of good work in establishing that this game is not likely to be as much of a trainwreck as the initial combat focused teaser trailer made it seem to be.
Game season is ramping up, so we’ll be covering the Summer Games Fest as well in the upcoming days, so until then, stay cool out there!
