Last week I took a look at five interesting games coming to the PlayStation 4. I am hopeful those were enough to get you interested in sticking with me for the next five, and perhaps more after that. The best part about writing about video games is discovering some brilliant titles, the worst part is waiting for them to finally release after learning everything you can about them.
These five are, again, a mix of the known and, perhaps, unknown titles coming to the PS4. I picked out some fan favorites as well as some hidden gems that have popped up on my radar more than once. 2014 and 2015 will definitely be the years of the PlayStation 4. These games will help to cement that reputation.
The Evil Within:
Shinji Mikami, heralded as the father of the survival horror genre, is back once again at what he does best. Scaring us to death with some creepy settings and even worse enemies within the game. The Evil Within looks to be taking the survival horror genre back to its roots, when weapons and ammunition were things of your wildest dreams and prayers. Instead running and hiding are the tools for survival here. This is a beautiful thing; we truly need more horror games that are scary, not just jump scares and pull-the-trigger-as-fast-as-possible scares. I want to be afraid to walk around my house with the lights off, I want to be scared of going to bed at night for fear of a little Japanese kid standing at the end of my bed. I want horror.
Players will take on the role of Detective Sebastian Castellanos as he heads into the scene of a gruesome murder. Unfortunately for the good Detective, there is a little more at work here than just a psycho with a knife. Monsters and a world filled with death and decay are what you awaken to; you had better learn how to survive these atrocities pretty quickly. Otherwise you may just be stuck in a meat locker with all the other bodies.
Wolfenstein: The New Order:
I recently played through Wolfenstein again; the newer one to prepare myself for the upcoming Wolfenstien: The New Order. It didn’t disappoint then and it won’t disappoint in the future when this new iteration is finally released. Many gamers are getting older and the Wolfenstein series is a staple in the first-person shooter genre for many. This makes MachineGames upcoming game all the more important for the PlayStation 4 and for the gaming world. It also creates the ability to mess up all the more powerful.
The New Order will put players back in to the shoes of OSA Agent William “B.J” Blazkowicz as he takes on the Nazi threat. This time around the threat is a little bigger... well, much bigger. Set in the 1960s in an alternate world where the Nazi forces won World War II, the occupying forces now have access to much bigger weaponry, such as super weapons and, from the looks of trailers and screenshots, mechs.
Project Phoenix:
I’ve always had a soft spot for JRPGs, but I am very picky about them. Project Phoenix looks to be right along my lines. A mixture of an RPG and a squad-based RTS with a development team spanning the western and eastern world. The game was funded using Kickstarter and, thanks to the nice amount it made, it will release on the PlayStation 4.
A focus on the single-player experience is another feature that drew me in, as much as I love playing multiplayer, I believe a single-player focus has more feeling and immersion to it.
Project Phoenix is a fantasty-themed game with squad-based real-time strategy elements combined with the traditional JRPG designs. Sounds incredible already. The developers are promising a rich fantasy world, deep storyline, Japanese character designs, a memorable cast and your own band of heroes to command. Dynamic, fluid, and streamlined combat will help to shift the focus from story into action easily. This is one I will eagerly watch and await.
H-Hour: World’s Elite:
Thanks to my older brothers and their friends, I spent more of my childhood playing the SOCOM games than I did in Grand Theft Auto or Pokemon, even. This fact has led me to the shooter genre year after year, with a soft spot for the third-person shooter done right. H-Hour: World’s Elite is the spiritual successor to the SOCOM series and one I cannot wait for, I will wait in line for this game, something I never do for any game or system.
The tactical, team-based, military shooter with a third-person focus will put players back into a realistic experience on the consoles. The game is inspired by real world events, though many games are, SOCOM devs have always had a knack for capturing such experiences into award-winning games. It helps that the majority of the developers are former soldiers and special ops themselves. These men know what they are doing when it comes to realistic warfare.
SOMA:
The survival horror genre is one of the most precarious of genres in the gaming industry. It can either be done extremely right or very wrong; lately it has been the latter more often than not. SOMA looks to be doing things right. Frictional Games are no strangers to the immersive horror experience--they created Amnesia and the Penumbra series after all. SOMA is a little more mysterious, however.
We’ve only seen a few teaser trailers, all of them featuring a high tech facility on the brink of collapse; the PATHOS-2 research facility is the setting, machinery is the enemy. These machines will take on human characteristics, and they aren’t very friendly. Frictional Games has stated you will “encounter a number of strange creatures, each an embodiment of an aspect of our themes.” 2015 cannot come soon enough for this survival horror game.
These are just another five simple games coming to our beloved Sony next-gen console. Unfortunately, now that we know about them, we have to wait for them. This will give us all plenty of time to learn everything we can about the ins and outs and form some new opinions until they are officially released.
Next week I will have another five, perhaps I will go even more obscure for this next set. If you have your own upcoming PS4 games you think I should check out, feel free to let me know in the comments. I’m always looking for some new gaming experiences.
Published: Dec 31, 2013 07:06 am