We finally have two consoles to be excited about for the next generation that arrives later this year. While Microsoft officially showed the Xbox: Series X as recently as last December, and had a showcase event in early May, Sony had remained oddly quiet. All details of the PlayStation 5 were released via statements, leaks, and articles in Wired. The most information anyone had about the console came from a very dry event for the Game Developers Conference that explained how the PS5 was going to function on a hardware level.
Finally, on June 11, Sony gave video game fans what they have been asking for in the form of a gameplay trailer event that showed some of the games that will be available in the near future on the PlayStation 5. In typical Sony fashion, the games ranged from exciting and cinematic to artistic and playful. It was a wide range of games and there was reason to be excited about all of them, but with any event like this, there are going to be those games that stick out from the crowd. Here are some of the trailers that left all of us anticipating Holiday 2020 and early 2021.
The Heavy Hitters
These games are console sellers. You buy the console because you want to play these games the most.
Spiderman Miles Morales
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHzuHo80U2M
Marvel’s Spider-Man was one of the best games on the PS4 when it launched in 2018 and it didn’t take Sony and Insomniac long to get working on a sequel. This time they’re going with fellow Spider-Man Miles Morales. The star of Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse, Morales will now be starring in his own game. The trailer begins with Peter Parker from the previous games telling Morales what it is that makes him a hero. Donning his black and red spidey suit we see him in a winter setting swinging through the city doing his job as Spider-Man.
I’m really excited to see what direction the franchise goes with Morales as the main protagonist of the game. To explain why this would be exciting would get into spoiler territory for the end of the last game, but let’s just say that Spider-Man fans everywhere will be picking up a PS5 to play this.
Horizon Forbidden West
Horizon: Zero Dawn was an incredible new IP on the PlayStation 4 that was unfortunately overshadowed by other exciting games at the time. Despite this it carved out a very strong and vocal fanbase that can spend hours explaining to you what makes Horizon such an incredible game. Taking that IP and giving it a sequel was a no brainer and there is heavy anticipation about what they are going to do with the franchise now that they have experience with it under their belts.
One thing we know for certain is that the world is going to be beautiful. The last game looked great, but if the trailer is anything to go by, then the follow up in Forbidden West is going to blow it out of the water. There is color everywhere and what appears to be a vibrant and growing world. While the trailer should obviously be taken with a grain of salt, because it’s a trailer, you cannot help but be excited when watching it.
Resident Evil Village
Resident Evil Village might as well be called Resident Evil 8, because that’s what it is. The Resident Evil series underwent a mini reboot with seven and went back to their horror routes in creating a scary, but still very Resident Evil, kind of game. Village is going to continue the format RE7 and stick with the first person view focused on horror.
You might be wondering why it’s so surprising to see a horror franchise actually have horror elements in the trailer and that’s because Resident Evil is also known for being extremely campy. For example, Chris Redfield almost gets crushed by a boulder in Resident Evil 5 and starts punching it to escape. Speaking of Chris, he shows up at the very end of the Village trailer leaving a lot of us long time Resident Evil fans wondering what role the former member of STARS is going to play in all this.
The Welcome Returns
These games might not be console sellers, but it’s great to see them make an appearance on the console.
Hitman III
It’s hard to say too much about Hitman III with the trailer itself being so vague, but it’s exciting to see that they’re making another Hitman game. There was concern that the franchise didn’t have much life left in it five years ago and now we have them as one of the major parts of a console event. The video game industry changes fast!
Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart
Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is a welcome sight for long time PlayStation fans. The franchise was a major part of the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 eras but surprisingly did not have a major role in the lifespan of the PlayStation 4. The Ratchet and Clank series has always been a lot of silly games with a great variety of weapons to choose from as you mow down enemies and platform through the colorful worlds.
This iteration sees Ratchet and Clank traveling through dimensions and if the developers can deliver on their promise of being able to do so at will, this could be one of the most creative games in the franchise and on the PlayStation 5 itself.
Sackboy: A Big Adventure
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUwI6e-em3o
If you never played Little Big Planet on the PlayStation 3 then you did yourself a disservice. They were some of the best platformers of that generation and the player creation aspect led to some really unique level design. However, as the game grew it moved farther away from its traditional platforming roots and leaned heavily on the player creation aspect. This of course eventually led to developer Media Molecule making an entire game around that in “Dreams.”
Sackboy A Big Adventure sees the protagonist of Little Big Planet, Sackboy, returning to his roots and starring in his own 3D platformer. The trailer is absolutely charming and features some really unique levels that will be fun to traverse. As a fan of platformers, this is going to be in my cart on day one.
Demon’s Souls
We don’t need to spend too much time on this one. Demon’s Souls is a remake of the 2009 cult classic of the same name. Fans of this game and the Souls franchise have been waiting for a remake ever since the PS4 came out. They will be pleased.
Some Exciting Newcomers
Not everything needs to be a sequel or remake. Here are some exciting and fresh IP’s that stuck out.
Pragmata
Pragmata left me fascinated. Why is this world empty? Why is this person in a space suit? Why is there a little girl there? What in the world is happening to the world around them? Why are they now on the moon? I need to know the answer to these questions and it’s painful I will not know until 2022.
DEATHLOOP
DEATHLOOP is a game that, as a concept, is not entirely original but in execution is completely original. You play as a character who is put on an island where everyone is trying to kill him. When he dies he quite literally “respawns” and has to try and do it all over again. His eventual goal? Kill everyone on the island so he can escape. Simple enough right? Well, considering how often he’s been through this scenario based on the trailer, apparently not.
I’m a sucker for games like this. They’re extremely meta and the concept of a never ending loop that you have to solve is an interesting one. DEATHLOOP even throws in the extra caveat of an opposition character. A woman whose sole job in life is to kill the man stuck in the DEATHLOOP. They also potentially teased a multiplayer aspect at the end when they showed what appeared to be a player perspective taking control of her. Perhaps this is a 1v1 multiplayer game of some kind? I’m fascinated to know more.
The PS5 Itself
No one actually came into this event expecting to see the PS5 itself. Sony pushed hard that this was an event meant to show the games and nothing else. So to suddenly drop the look of the PlayStation 5 immediately caught everyone off guard.
Today was a major win for Sony and PlayStation. It’s now Microsoft’s turn to see if it has an answer with the Series X.