I always have my expectations set to mild when a showcase is announced out of the blue and last minute. Announced just yesterday, this morning’s PlayStation State of Play promised a half-hour look at 14 games, including VR titles and projects from PlayStation Studios. Everything that was promised was delivered, but your personal excitement will largely depend on your taste, which feels like a fairly vapid statement. There are some highlights, and there are more than a few lowlights, but it’s not for me to tell you what to like, so let’s just walk through the showcase together and have a good time, shall we?
Here are all of the announcements made during the May 2024 PlayStation State of Play:
Concord
State of Play opened with a big, meaty look at Concord, one of PlayStation’s promised live-service games. The cinematic trailer oozes with Guardians of the Galaxy energy, with the Freegunner crew having an argument over “the job” before getting into a chase/gunfight.
The back half of this showing was filled with gameplay that looked mechanically sound but a little too familiar. I’m not saying that an arena shooter can’t be unique in 2024, but I just think we’ll need to see more from this one before we cast judgement. Thankfully, the wait won’t be long, as an August 23 release date was confirmed for PS5 and PC.
God of War Ragnarök (PC)
Wait, is Ragnarök not on PC already? I’m finding it hard to keep track of these PlayStation first-party games making the big leap. The second adventure of Kratos and Atreus is coming to PC with all of the bells and whistles you have come to expect from a port, including ultra-wide support and unlocked framerates. You can rug up and experience Fimbulwinter on September 19.
Dynasty Warriors: Origins
I bet I would be all in on the Dynasty Warriors games if I had played them in my youth. For those keen on mowing down countless waves of armoured grunts, this one’s for you. Dynasty Warriors: Origins is on its way in 2025.
Infinity Nikki
I watched the trailer for Infinity Nikki, but I still needed to defer to the PlayStation Blog to understand exactly what I was looking at. Dubbed an “open-world dress-up adventure,” this is the fifth game in the series and the first to head into the open world, where you explore Miraland and use a variety of magical abilities via cute outfits. There’s an audience for this, I’m sure of it. This one is scheduled for beta testing later this year.
Ballad of Antara
Ok, Ballad of Antara, I see you. We see a lot of Souslike games these days, but this one might have the secret sauce. Set in a world split in two, this is a free-to-play action-RPG that offers multiplayer for up to three characters, letting you crawl through dungeons with your mates. Cool premise, cool designs, cool name. I’ll keep an eye on this one while we wait for it to release on PS5 in 2025.
Behemoth
Hey, it’s the PSVR2 corner. Two games in a showcase of 14 speaks volumes about Sony’s care factor for the platform, but let’s look at the positives. Behemoth is an action game that prioritises some pretty ruthless-looking swordplay mixed in with ranged options like a bow and a hook shot. The selling point here, aside from the decapitations and brutality, is the looming threat of huge giants (with cute and tiny little heads). You can’t understand the scale on a flat screen, but I’m sure this will be pretty sweet. This one is dropping some time later this year.
Alien: Rogue Incursion
I will piss my pants playing this game, there’s absolutely no doubt. Incursion was announced recently, and we didn’t get a whole lot more here, but the tiny snippets of gameplay we do see are reminiscent of Isolation, and that makes me nervous and excited. I can rest now, but when this hits in 2024, I may need emotional support.
Marvel Rivals
Marvel Rivals has been doing its marketing spin-up, and the State of Play showcased two new names coming to the roster, in the form of the symbiotic superstar Venom and the cosmic wizard known as Adam Warlock. The superhero-shooter loves its team-up mechanic, and seeing some of the new toys coming was a wild ride – like, OF COURSE Venom will lend Spidey some symbiotic strength. The big takeaway was the announcement of a PlayStation closed beta, so more Marvel nuts can see how the game handles on their platform of choice. Keep an eye on the PlayStation store, the closed beta looks to kick off in July.
Where Winds Meet
I did not initially realise the trailer for Where Winds Meet was an announce trailer – and instead fumbled through asking my other watching friends if it was one of the other games that is nailing this slick and stylish Eastern mythos vibe at the moment. There are at least three of them out there, and it turns out that Where Winds Meet isn’t one of those, it’s another cool-looking Eastern-inspired Souls-like. While not my cup of tea, I assume that the fans of these epic showdowns are eating good – or at least, eating a lot.
Until Dawn Remake
You’ll read a similar sentiment down the page when addressing the Silent Hill 2 Remake, but I often find that if a game is being remade, I expect to be WOW’ed by what is being produced. In all honesty, I watched the first 30 seconds of the Until Dawn remake trailer expecting a transition to the modern version of the game before awkwardly realising that I was already seeing it. Not to say Until Dawn is a yucky game to behold – I was just more expecting the kind of remake fidelity that comes with modern hardware and development know-how. I have read many a word about Until Dawn being a very unique and interesting title, so I will always go on record that a remake should at least bring the experience to more people – and for a long time, so here is hoping the project sticks the landing in a way that thrills fans and excites a new audience.
Path of Exile 2
Hey. You know Path of Exile? Yeah? You know that there is a neato sequel being made for it? Yeah? Well, did you also know that it is coming to PlayStation 5? Well, this trailer has informed us all of such a thing. That’s really all I got for you. Oh! There is couch co-op via splitscreen. That is neat, right?
Silent Hill 2 Remake
It wouldn’t be a PlayStation Showcase without another look at what Bloober Team is up to, and honestly, a proper look at the Silent Hill 2 Remake was on the cards. The last bit of media for SH2R was a Combat Trailer of all things – you know, that iconic part of the Silent Hill gameplay mythos – so it is at least understandable that a more traditional trailer would be dropped. It’s standard Silent Hill fare, with goofy dude James Sunderland asking about the mysterious town and being told to maybe avoid it. Of course, he doesn’t – and the rest of the trailer showcases the awful time he has on Mr. Bones wild ride.
I am not a long term Silent Hill fan, but I still find myself disinterested – as far as remakes go, each spotlight on this trailer doesn’t seem to WOW me. I am neither overwhelmed nor underwhelmed – just whelmed? I guess?
Oh, and it has a release date now. Neat. Get all foggy and spooky on October 8.
Monster Hunter Wilds
Oh hey now, a proper gameplay spotlight for Monster Hunter Wilds? Well then. Being the next major game for the monster mash franchise, I am expecting great things. And you know what? The A-game was brought. The game looks spectacular, with that signature new-age style that Capcom is mastering for the visuals – characters look stunning without being obnoxiously detailed, and the environments are immersive and tread a gorgeous line between fantastical and grounded. This looks the goods – but the real meat is the teases of mechanics within the trailer. Our hunter utilises his blade in a few creative ways, such as blocking an enemy attack and also as a way to avoid getting eaten entirely. We also have fully voiced Palicod for a change, rather than just subtitled kitty speak. A small feature, but an awesome one.
A blink-and-you’ll-miss-it action within the trailer takes place around two minutes, when you see the hunter mount up on his chicken dog, and actually SWAP HIS GREATSWORD FOR A BOW GUN. Weapon swapping with Monster Hunter has some enormous ramifications, so I can only imagine players are positively buzzing with this revelation.
Astro Bot
Without a doubt the most delightful and charming of the showcase, the LITTLE ROBOT THAT COULD is back. Astro Bot looks every bit as friendly and fun as his Astro’s Playroom outing, just with everything being bigger, brighter and just all-round more brilliant. The real highlight of the original Astro PS5 title was how it fully realised the DualSense wireless controller’s features without feeling like a tech demo, there was a genuinely fun game driving it – so the idea of pumping that up into another supersized adventure has me keen as mustard. The YouTube trailer description even casually drops that we can expect “more than 50 exciting and diverse worlds” when the game releases September 6 this year, so we can rule out this being a quick’n dirty revisit. What a showstopper to close out on – I can barely remember the other games that were shown.
So there we have it, folks, the May 2024 State of Play. I won’t lie, I left feeling pretty happy, all thanks to Astro Bot and his adorable antics. All in all, it was a fairly missable showcase, with some bigger ticket items that will land massively for some. IF that’s you, I wish you a wonderful Friday.
Did you come out of this State of Play feeling excited or disappointed? Let us know in the comments or on our social media.
