The best, worst, and everything in between from the September ’24 State of Play
Rhianne Ward
Note: this post has been transferred over from my old Wordpress blog. I could go through the trouble of reformatting everything with supporting images and italicisation and whatever else, but I don't really have time to do all that unfortunately, and I'd prefer to spend my time writing new things than labouring over the old. So, if anything looks a little weird or messy, that's why. I hope you enjoy it regardless!
My expectations for this demonstration were incredibly low, and a big part of that has to do with how weak the last few have been. It’s been a constant barrage of blandness, from cookie-cutter MMOs to remasters of 5-year-old games, with the occasional genuinely interesting title sprinkled in to make sure you’re still awake. Given the relative downgrade in Sony PlayStation’s dedicated projects lately, it’s hard to stay excited about the triple AAA space.
With that being said, this one was really good! Not an awful lot new to show really, but what showed up was some really cool looking stuff! I’m gonna just go through it from start to finish and give my general thoughts on everything, so consider this a summary of the presentation with some occasional heckling from the stands (me). Let’s go!
The State of Play opened with the announcement of a free major update for Astro Bot coming later in the year. Astro Bot, of course, is Team Asobi’s platformer and huge critical success story which released earlier this month. I haven’t played the game yet, but considering how beloved it is and how fun it seems, it’s definitely on my list! I’m not sure how I feel about this normalisation of continuing to add content to single-player games post-release. It suggests that even offline games require regular player engagement, which is a very strange and unfair expectation to set when the reality is games like this which can be finished ought to be allowed to exist on their own. I’m not sure why they need to do more than that considering the initial game purchase is all that matters in most cases, but I’m also not gonna sit here and complain about free stuff. I hope fans of the game enjoy it! The update looks to be releasing in Autumn of this year.
Then they showed a reveal trailer for an incredibly cool-looking horror game called The Midnight Walk, made by the developers behind Lost in Random which I didn’t play but heard good things about. This game looks absolutely stunning! The aesthetic appears to be entirely hand-crafted claymation, which is really unique and adds an uncanniness to everything that I imagine will make the scares hit even harder. Also, the music in this trailer sounds incredible, so if the soundtrack holds up to that standard then I think we’re in for a really special experience. It’s also playable in VR if you’re into that, but since I’m way too poor to be buying a headset, I’m happy sticking with the PS5 version. Either way, it looks awesome! The trailer did not confirm a release date.
We got a trailer right after showing Hell is Us, which looks to be a sci-fi horror action game. I really enjoyed the vibe of this trailer; the atmosphere presented reminded me a lot of Returnal, and if any game is doing a job like that then that’s probably a good sign. Then again, there is an unfortunate trend of shiny-looking soulslike which end up being complete shite because they’re unable to walk such a careful tightrope. If they pull it off though, this looks like it could be extremely neat. No release date for that one either, as of yet.
Right after that was a new trailer for Metro: Awakening, a VR game set in the Metro universe. I love these games an awful lot, but like I said before, I do not have VR, so I’ll have to give this one a skip. For those who do have such equipment, the game releases on November 7th 2024. This was followed by a showcase of a new multiplayer fantasy action game called Archeage Chronicles, which sure looks like a multiplayer fantasy action game! It comes out in 2025, if you’re into that sort of thing.
Hilariously, there was an announcement trailer for Palworld, which is coming to PlayStation today. Palworld, of course, is the breakout hit game which has recently been embroiled in the beginnings of a significant legal battle with Nintendo, who allege a number of patent infringements relating to their sort of well-known property, Pokémon. This lawsuit was a long time coming for anyone paying attention to the accusations of plagiarism levelled against Palworld, who clearly took significant inspiration from the Pokémon series when designing their own creatures, aesthetics, and gameplay mechanics. Personally, I don’t really care what becomes of that situation. Palworld looks like hacky bullshit, but Nintendo going on a legal crusade is never a good thing. It feels like a lose-lose scenario in many ways, but at the very least, we can all agree that it’s quite funny for Palworld to make this announcement right at this very moment. So if you’re fancying a try of this game and you only have a PS5, now’s your chance! Best to take it before Nintendo’s lawyers wipe this game from the face of the Earth.
I’m gonna rapid fire a few of these, otherwise we’ll be here all day. The iconic (according to the trailer) Lunar games are returning with the Lunar Remastered Collection, which contains the first two games in the JRPG series. I’d never heard of these but they look cool! Then there was a DLC announcement for TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge, called Radical Reptiles, releasing today. In it, you get to play as two new characters – Mondo Gecko and Mona Lisa – who, as far as I can tell, are both reptiles AND radical, so you’re definitely getting your money’s worth! There’s gonna be some Shadow DLC for Sonic X Shadow Generations, releasing December 12th alongside the new movie. Keanu Reeves is doing the voice too, so there’s a solid chance it’ll be complete ass, but you never know; maybe he’ll bring a Johnny Silverhand energy to the role. Then we got a release date reveal for Fantasian Neo Dimension, a new game from the creator of Final Fantasy, Hironobu Sakaguchi, and longtime series composer Nobuo Uematsu. It looks to be a gorgeous blending of 3D models navigating real-life handmade dioramas, making for some unique visuals which I adore. It comes out on December 5th!
Okay, speed, speed! New Dragon Age: The Veilguard gameplay showcasing a dragon fight. I think they’ve shown enough of this game by now, I get the picture, now just gimme it immediately and I’ll be happy. Failing that, Happy Halloween to all those who celebrate! Then we got a trailer for Alan Wake II’s next expansion, The Lake House, which seems to revolve around the FBC officers who arrive in Bright Falls during the main story to investigate the weird goings-on in the town. That’s just my speculation but that would be cool! It comes out sometime in October. Apparently, Hitman: World of Assassination is still going strong with the announcement of full VR dual controller support, so again, good for VR enjoyers, I hope you like it when it comes out this December! The cult classic Legacy of Kain duology is getting re-released as a remaster, so as someone who had been meaning to play those at some point, that’s good news! I’ve gotta be honest though, something about the remastered version of the game looks worse to me than the original. Sure, the assets are clearer now, but in doing that it ends up looking blander visually, at least in my eyes. Regardless, that’s coming out December 10th.
Blumhouse, the horror film production company, announced at Summer Games Festival that they were moving into the gaming space as Blumhouse Games, and showcased a number of titles from indie developers coming in the next couple of years. That sizzle reel was definitely among the most exciting things I saw from that general wet fart of a conference, and one of the games shown off has been given a release date! Fear the Spotlight will be releasing on October 22nd, and it looks equal parts awesome and terrifying. The high school setting is a classic one, as is the seance gone wrong premise, but the visuals more than make up for that potential narrative roteness. I’m obviously still optimistic, however, that this game is able to deliver on all fronts, because by all accounts it’s a project made with a lot of love by a small team. I’m really looking forward to trying it out, and I’m happy that a game like this is getting such grand exposure.
The success of Stardew Valley meant that naturally all sorts of games would release, attempting to emulate its particular brand of addictive fun. We have lots of games like that now, but Towers of Aghasba certainly looks like the most expensive rendition of the concept. This game’s scale definitely looks to be grander than its inspiration, at least in terms of its visuals, but what specifically stood out to me was the climbing mechanic shown off in this trailer. We see the player traversing buildings and creatures alike, a la Shadow of the Colossus, and if you know me, you know I love a good scurry around on big stuff. So yeah, I’m really looking forward to giving this a go, and I’ll be able to soon when it releases in Early Access November 2024. Hopefully it’s not too big for its own good!
We got a new trailer for Koei Tecmo’s upcoming game, Dynasty Warriors Origins, and it looks absolutely stunning. I haven’t played a Dynasty Warriors game before, but I have watched my flatmate play a couple of them, and what stood out to me with Origins was definitely an increase in production value. It looks and sounds a lot more expensive, and the lowering of the camera position gives the fights a more grounded vibe. Whether that will work for the decidedly cartoonist levels of violence enacting on the hordes of enemies those games throw at you remains to be seen, but if nothing else, this game looks like a fun time. It releases on January 17th 2025.
Another release date trailer, and this one was incredibly important. Monster Hunter Wilds is coming out February 28th 2024!!! I’d never really understood the hype around the Monster Hunter series for the longest time, having tried Rise back in 2021 and decisively bouncing off it. Then, in light of Wilds being showcased a lot, I finally gave World a go and oh my god, I get it now, I am cashing all my chips in on this series, let’s fucking go!! I really don’t have much more to say; you’re either into Monster Hunter and you get the hype, or you’re not and you are an inferior creature unknowingly burdened by your inadequacies. I hope you too see the light someday, just as I did 🙏
Then we had the Horizon hour and yeah I really don’t care about that LEGO game. I like LEGO in general – I literally own a LEGO Tallneck set from this series which sits proudly in my living room – but this game kinda feels like slop. Probably fun slop, to be fair, but slop nonetheless. Anyway, it comes out 14th November. They also announced a PS5 remaster for Horizon: Zero Dawn, and I really, seriously do not like this trend of updating game visuals to match modern aesthetic sensibilities. It really feels like the industry is in a creative spiral, constantly regurgitating the exact same properties over and over until the heat death of the universe, and it’s really lame. I say this also as a huge fan of the original game, who knows that it definitely still holds up today both visually and mechanically. We do not need this at all, and the tech fetishism will be the death of the games industry as we know it. Just make new stuff!! If you’re feeling like a second playthrough, the remaster drops October 31st, just in time for everyone to be preoccupied with Dragon Age anyway.
Aaaaaand we are at the last, for which Sony tend to save their biggest surprises. And I’ll admit, it was definitely a nice one. Ghost of Yōtei, the much-anticipated sequel to Ghost of Tsushima, has been officially confirmed. I really liked Tsushima, so naturally I’m excited for this, but specifically I love that this new game isn’t just a continuation of its predecessor. Rather, it is set centuries after the first, with an all-new protagonist with presumably her own fresh set of issues to deal with (voiced by Erika Ishii which is incredibly sick and I’m happy for them!) To me, the main character of Tsushima was always the setting, so it’s cool to see that acknowledged in the philosophy of this series. Yōtei looks, predictably, lush, brimming with colour and life. I cannot wait to sink my blade into it. It releases sometime in 2025.
And that was the State of Play! I really enjoyed this one; it felt like there was a strong focus on single-player projects which I’m always gonna be grateful for, with quite a few really unique entries in the roster. Biggest dud was definitely that Horizon remaster, but that’s more on principle for me than anything… I’m sure it’ll be good still. My favourites from the presentation – aside from the obvious Veilguard and Wilds – were The Midnight Walk, Fear the Spotlight and Fantasian Neo Dimension, with Ghost of Yōtei taking the top spot.
I’m really excited for the rest of the year, so as always, I hope these games live up to the hype!