The latest PlayStation Experience has just wrapped up, and with it came an astonishing array of announcements and advertisements… by which I mean trailers. Showcasing a wide variety of games to be released in the future (or, in the case of Let It Die, right now) for the PS4 and Vita, there’s a lot of information to go through.
A full rundown of all the announcements can be found on the official PlayStation Blog which is still being compiled, but I’ve cherry picked a few of the bigger trailers to go over now.
The Last of Us: Part II
This is obviously the big one everyone is talking about — a direct sequel to 2013’s much acclaimed The Last of Us. We’ve already covered this one, so I don’t have much more to add except that Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann had the following to say about sequel concerns in a panel about the game:
“I played with so many ideas that had different characters and it never felt right. The Last of Us is about these two characters specifically. So yes, the Part II is saying this is a complementary story to the first game, but the two together are going to tell this larger tale.
“All I ask is that fans of the first one put faith in us and trust us. We’re going to do right by you.”
Part II won’t be surfacing until 2018, however, so you’ve got plenty of time to enjoy some of the other games in this article first.
The Last Guardian
It’s been a really long time coming, but The Last Guardian is finally releasing around the world in a matter of days. Following in the wake of the longer featurette trailer last week, this short snippet attempts to wrench your heart and showcase the gorgeous design of the game.
We’ll soon know if the game is able to deliver on the hopes that were set about in its first presentation nearly a decade ago. To ease the final stretch of the wait, here’s a brief history lesson on the game’s checkered development.
Nioh
Team Ninja’s latest action/RPG Nioh is clearly drawing inspiration from the Dark Souls series in how it handles combat. That said, the very Ninja Gaiden-esque flare is unmistakable, and calling Nioh a simple imitator doesn’t do it justice. Quite frankly, this is looking pretty slick.
Set in a very stylised and supernatural-touched Sengoku period, Nioh will see the main character Geralt — sorry, William — battle his way across a Japan in the grasp of civil war. In addition, yokai and other mystical threats are running rampant, and it’ll be up to you to stop them.
The developers have been doing their best to take feedback from the demos into account, hence why the game has been delayed to 2017. Hopefully it will be quite the experience when it finally releases in early February 2017.
Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite
Right off the heels of their Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite teaser trailer, Capcom followed up with a short gameplay trailer after the conclusion of the Capcom Cup. Almost immediately, they released an extended version of that gameplay trailer, which reveals Captain America and Morrigan of Darkstalkers fame as seen above.
It appears that the game will have a gem system similar to Street Fighter x Tekken that utilises the Infinity Stones, but we have little insight into how this will work just yet. Also like SFxT, the game has dropped down from 3v3 for 2v2. No doubt more details and explanations will surface before long. For now, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite is scheduled to be released sometime in late 2017 for PS4, Xbox One and PC.
On the subject of fighting games, PSX also revealed the impending arrival of Akuma for Street Fighter V, in addition to five unrevealed characters throughout 2017.
Horizon: Zero Dawn
Looking to be the Zoids game we never got, Horizon: Zero Dawn continues to impress visually. With a big open world to hunt robot dinosaurs in, this upcoming action/RPG seems to have a lot of potential.
While nothing particularly new was revealed in this trailer, it’s still a good indicator of what to expect from the game when it arrives in late February/early March for North America and Europe respectively.
Worth mentioning is that developer Guerrilla Games has partnered with Kojima Productions, and the Decima Engine used for Horizon will also be used for the upcoming Death Stranding. A new Death Stranding trailer was previewed a few days ago at the Video Game Awards, and Kojima attended a panel at PSX to talk about it.
Pyre
Supergiant Games has been relatively quiet since their initial reveal of Pyre, but they have surfaced again to reveal an interesting tidbit: the upcoming RPG with an interestingly sports-like feel will feature a multiplayer versus mode.
Both Bastion and Transistor before it were purely single player adventures, so this is an interesting departure for Supergiant. However, they insist that the single player adventure is absolutely their focus, and they were unwilling to add this mode if it would compromise that in any way. Since they are now comfortable that it won’t, the feature is being added.
Currently only local multiplayer has been confirmed, with online play currently uncertain. The feature was playable at PSX, and though the test only had a mirror match between the two teams in the above trailer, the final mode will feature more variety and customisation. It will also be possible to play the mode in single player against bots.
Pyre will be coming to PS4 and PC sometime in 2017.
Absolver
Described as an online multiplayer combat RPG, Devolver Digital’s new game sure looks like one to watch. The combat seems incredibly fluid, and the developers are promising that players will have a huge amount of customisation with their combat style.
As well as PvP between players, it will be possible to team up and cooperate with one another in a variety of PvE dungeons. In addition, there will be a world to explore and encounter one another in, which may force conflict or tentative friendship between players. How exactly this will manifest is unclear, but I’m curious.
Absolver, being developed by Sloclap who was formed by former Ubisoft Paris developers, will arrive in 2017 for both PC and PS4, but the PS4 version is slated to be released first with exclusive content. We’ll let you know more closer to the launch date.
Gran Turismo Sport
If I’m honest, I don’t believe the latest Gran Turismo will look even nearly as pretty as this trailer does in practice. That said, I’ll be quite impressed if it does, because this is really nice to look at.
In addition to the prettier graphical effects, the trailer mentions that some specific tracks and cars will utilise PlayStation VR. Nothing specific has been announced about this, however, but it’s something to keep an eye on.
You can find out more about our early Gran Turismo Sport impressions here. The game will be released sometime during 2017 as a PS4 exclusive.
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
More than a few people were pretty convinced that this was a teaser for a new Tomb Raider game, right up until it wasn’t. Surprise!
Following the well received Uncharted 4, Lost Legacy is to be a standalone adventure that focuses on Chloe Frazer, who first debuted in Uncharted 2. She’ll also be joined by Nadine from the most recent game. We don’t know much about the game just yet, but with Nathan Drake’s story nicely wrapped up, it’s nice to know that there are more stories to be told in the setting.
And while we’re talking about Naughty Dog, it’s worth noting that a new remastered package of the first three Crash Bandicoot games is also on the way. Now if only we could get a new Jak and Daxter game…
Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
Studio Ghibli’s gorgeous animated art style is renowned the world over, and the first Ni no Kuni displayed that in spades. Now, the sequel is making good use of latest console generation to look even more spectacular.
Revenant Kingdom should prove to be a magical adventure full of heart and whimsy if all goes well. Level 5 has quite the pedigree of solid JRPG titles, so we can certainly be hopeful about this one. Here’s to hoping they’re able to improve on the awful party AI from the original, though.
NieR: Automata
You wouldn’t be alone in thinking that NieR: Automata looks quite a bit like Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, which is probably a good sign that Platinum Games is putting their iconic action style to the task.
Will it be better than their somewhat lackluster recent titles? Will it live up to the flawed but fun original by Square Enix? These questions should be answered when the game is released on March 2017 in the west.
The length of this article and the sheer amount of games and trailers on offer really should convey the magnitude of this PlayStation Experience. Despite that, there’s still plenty more I chose not to touch on for this article. Whether it’s Yakuza, Ace Combat, Gravity Rush, or a slew of other titles both indie and AAA, there was a veritable flood of new gaming information on offer.
This event was definitely one of the premier game industry events of 2016, and it’s certainly got me excited for what’s to come from Sony in the next year.
If you’d like to find out more, be sure to check the official PlayStation YouTube channel or the official PlayStation blog for an updated list of announcements. In addition, we here at GameSkinny will be sure to keep you updated on any further developments and news for these titles and more.
What was your favourite announcement or trailer from this event? Did I miss something you really wanted to talk about? Share with me in the comments!
Published: Dec 5, 2016 01:47 am