Sony wanted to throw their game announcement hat in the ring this fine Tuesday with a roughly 25-minute long State of Play broadcast. While most of the announcement focused on upcoming games from Japanese developers, the broadcast ended with an explosive trailer for God of War Ragnarök.
The 3-minute long ‘Story Trailer’ is filled to the brim with scenes of intense combat, massive foes, delightfully cryptic dialogue, and a surprising amount of new environments. The trailer shows a lot in those 3 minutes, but it never feels like it’s giving away too much. Naturally, if you are anticipating the game’s release a great deal, perhaps it would be best to avert your eyes to go in as spoiler free as possible. The game looks to be going bigger than 2018’s God of War in more ways than one. There’s even a limited edition PS5 Dual sense controller that will be released on November 9th, alongside the game.
Outside of God of War Ragnarök, fans of Japanese games are going to be eating well. The State of Play opened up with an official unveiling of Tekken 8 with a visually impressive trailer that according to Game Director Katsuhiro Harada was “real-time rendered footage, running at 60 frames per second”. Initially teased during EVO a while back, this new look at the game should make Tekken fans very happy.
A few PlayStation VR 2 titles were showcased, Star Wars Tales From The Galaxy’s Edge Definitive Edition looks to be an upgraded version of the Oculus experience released in 2020, and Demeo places the fantastical elements of tabletop RPG’s into virtual reality. Both titles were stated to be in development for PSVR 2, with Star Wars having a 2023 window attached.
Next up, Yakuza fans rejoice! Like a Dragon: Ishin is launching worldwide in February 2023. A samurai-themed spin-off of the Yakuza games, the original Ryū ga Gotoku Ishin was only released in Japan on the PS3 and PS4. After years of fan requests, this game is finally released worldwide, being remade in Unreal Engine 4. More information will be shared during the first-ever RGG Summit on September 14th.
Hogwarts Legacy got a new trailer showing off a spooky, mind-bending PlayStation exclusive quest titled “The Haunted Hogsmeade Shop”. The game releases on February 10th, 2023.
Pacific Drive seems to be all about driving a souped-up station wagon through these crazy rainstorms, dodging all manner of weird creatures and phenomena. The game will be launching on PS5 in 2023.
There was a brief look at PlayStation Stars, a free PlayStation loyalty program where players can unlock digital PlayStation-themed collectibles. The program will be rolled out in Asian territories in late September, followed by The Americas and Europe a few weeks after.
Synduality is a third-person action-mech game that blends realistic visuals with anime characters. It appears that players will be mining resources, and fighting alien creatures and other mechs, while exploring a hostile world in this sci-fi game. This game is also targeting a 2023 release.
Stellar Blade was originally revealed last year as Project Eve. This is a character action game (think Bayonetta or Devil May Cry) that focuses on fast, stylish, over-the-top action and character designs. The game’s sci-fi visuals are highly detailed and colorful. The game is releasing in 2023 as a PlayStation exclusive.
Also launching as a PlayStation exclusive is Rise of the Ronin, a historical Japanese action RPG from Team Ninja (Nioh, Ninja Gaiden, Wo Long). From the brief snippets of gameplay we see, it seems Team Ninja is combining a bunch of aspects of their previous games into Rise of the Ronin, action-packed swordplay and exploration taking center stage. Unfortunately, we will have to wait a while for this one, the trailer lists an expected 2024 release window.
And that was the September 2022 PlayStation State of Play. Which games are you looking forward to the most?
