PlayStation State of Play by: BB of OPG
State of Play
The PlayStation State of Play was broadcasted on Feb. 12th and clocked in at just over and hour long. There were over 20 new announcements for both new games and remakes of classic games. There are many announcements that have caught my eye in this broadcast and hopefully you will be looking forward to some of these games as well. The games mentions will be in no perpendicular order and will not cover all of the games mentioned in the PlayStation state of play, to see all of the games mentions and their respected trailers I recommend watching the official video released on YouTube. Everything said here is just my views and opinions of the over all broadcast of PlayStation's state of play.
007 First Light
The first game that hits a bit of nostalgia for me is the new 007 first light. granted its not my man Pierce Brosnan. This game is debuting a brand new story line that track the new James Bond to Iceland where his actions have gotten him noticed by the infamous MI6. they label him a bad influence, immature and reckless, but they end up falling for his charm. For anyone who has watched a James Bond movie or played one of the many games before hand can see those are usually the traits of a great 007. In this game they are re implementing the 00 program that gave us some of the best spy's to date, one of those spies just happens to be 009 whos' turned villain in this game and your job will be to find him and put a stop the his nefarious plans. The game play has a mix of shooting and hand to hand combat to help immerse the player into the world of 007, this game is set to release on May 27th of this year so we only have a couple of more months to wait to play this new imagining of the James Bond character.
GOD OF WAR
Another game that hits massively on the nostalgia meter for me is the new God of War trilogy remake. I played the absolute hell out of these games when they first game out. so many fond memories of playing through my first pawnshop copy of the original God of War game on the PlayStation 2, and they brought back the original voice of the Greek God Kratos the man himself TC Carson! Granted this was just a teaser trailer of TC speaking to the fans and lets us know that this game is only in the early development stages. he expresses his love for the character and the fans for keeping the franchise alive all these years and not to be able to have all of the God of War series all in one place on the PlayStation is amazing. give all fans new and old a chance to relive the Greek Gods life and what truly made him the man he is today on the journey with his son. Now the big question on my mind is not that "are they gonna stick to a remaster over remake of the trilogy?" its not "which game engine are they going to use?" my main question is are they going to bring back all the mini games that they had in each game. I'm not going to mention which mini game specifically but if you know then you know. I personally cant tell you how excited I am for this game to come out. I know there will be more then a handful of gamers that are going to play through the entire series to get a deeper look into the God they call Kratos today.
John Wick
Now for the game i know some of you have been waiting for and others that might not know its even coming out. John Wick the myth, the man, the legendary Baba Yaga, Keanu Reeves brings the character from the big screen to your local PlayStation. From the looks of the trailer the actor has not only voiced the character but also used motion capture for this game to get the character just right on screen. My only cred of evidence in this is the magazine flick out of the pistol in game, it has been known as Keanu's signature move. They released a beautiful trailer showing off John Wick's skills pointing out he has to be "versatile, capable and adaptable" along side "Grounded, stable and constant." All while showing off a beautifully one of a kind suit made just for him mixed with scenes of him doing what he does best and dispatching enemy after enemy with style and precision. Also i can't leave out the absolute gems he gets at the end of the trailer. A stunning pair of pistols that looks to me made of the dreams of a small town man but with Donald Trump's personal budget. The release date and official title have yet to be announced, if i had to guess i believe this game would be set to come out late 2026 around November/ December time around the holidays or early 2027.
Castlevania: Belmont's Curse
The next game that i feel i have to mention has to be Castlevania: Belmont's Curse. As someone who has played these games in the past, I'm happy to see another installment in the franchise. Right along with the 40th anniversary of the series this new game has a beautiful re imagining of the art style bringing new color pallets to the on screen world. So if your anything like me you'll be ready to crack the whip one more time in this classic 2d side scroller. It keeps the same game play as with the other games in the franchise, new weapons and items to help you scour the map and new castle taking on some new monster and I'm sure they'll be some familiar faces as well. They mention Trevor Belmont from the animated series which i was a huge fan of, but i didn't see him anywhere in the State of Play video. This game is set to come sometime in 2026 they have yet to reveal what month of the 2026 calendar, I personally hope we get this title release sooner rather then later. My guess would be around June or July for this title release.
Master Collection 2
Master collection Vol. 2 from the metal gear solid franchise has many people waiting for 3 years after the release of Vol. 1. I myself have been waiting and wondering if or when metal gear solid 4 was ever going to be released from its ps3 coffin. For many people the only way they could play this gem was if they still had a working Ps3 with a physical copy or with a digital already downloaded. Many members of the gaming community had made progress to bring the game back to life with the use of emulation on PC, for some people that seemed to be enough but for others they wanted to play it on an actual PlayStation like it was intended to be played. Along with this game they are also releasing the peace walker game that had been released on the original PlayStation portable a little handheld console that came out early 2005. I personally had one of these devices and i can say it was clearly ahead of its time. Peace walker originally came out for the PSP back in early 2010 and sold well over 50,000 copies sold just inside the U.S. They only have the 2 full games releasing with the Vol. 2 they threw in metal gear ghost babel that happened to be a game released on the Gameboy color back in the year 2000, along with the digital soundtrack. Me personally not as much in this Master Collection as there was in the first one but there isn't that much left they can squeeze out of the metal gear series now that Hideo Kojima had left Konami and made success with his new company creating new and stunning games. This collection is set to be released on August 27th of this year so we only have about 6 months to wait until we can get our hands on this. Running off of that the announcement for Death Stranding 2 Hideo Kojima's new passion project is set to hit PC gamers March 19th of this year. Giving players a hands on feel for one of Kojima's masterpieces come to life with the help of Norman Reedus who plays the games protagonist. I will say the game is criticized by some calling a walking simulator, but are blown away with amazing graphical design and captivating story. If you haven't gotten the chance i would highly recommend at least one playthrough of the series Death Stranding.
Resident Evil Requiem
Resident Evil Requiem is the next installment into the Resident Evil series and so far has seemed to be one of the more hyped entries into the franchise with the return of one of our favorite protagonists Leon Kennedy. Some people are huge fans of this style of games following the horror astatic, others not so much. I can recall a time right after i had gotten the PS VR2 when it first came out, i started playing through RE: Village which had just came out at the time. I had convinced my roommate to try it out and he didn't play but 12 minuets of the game, the first jump scare came on the screen and he couldn't get that VR headset off fast enough. I on the other hand am I huge fan of the franchise and hope they bring Requiem to the new VR headset as well. thankfully we are only a few weeks away from the release date of February 27th. Will you be one of the many who have already pre-ordered this game or the many that want a physical copy to add to your collection. In this game you take control of Leon Kennedy one more time to head back into Racoon City where this nightmare started so many years ago. They released a new trailer video during the broadcast the highlights some new story cinematic and new gameplay footage. The amount of detail, time and dedication that has gone into this game has left high praise for the development team for creating this horrific masterpiece.
Silent Hill: Townfall
Staying right here in this horror wheelhouse is Silent Hill: Townfall. This game has yet to receive a definitive release date, but is set to come this calendar year. This games setting is in a new town to explore and uncover secrets left to be discovered. Silent Hill games have always been full of mystery, tragedy and loss. This time around the perspective shift to a first person point of view with new useful tools to help navigate this new town and unveil more of the story. There will also be new horrific enemies you are going to have to either fight or evade, and plenty of story driven puzzles to keep the gameplay interesting and immersive. I haven't dipped my toe into the world of Silent Hill since i was a kid. I think back then my gaming abilities were not quite as developed as they are today so I'm going to throw myself back into this one of the kind horror franchise.
The last couple of things I'm going to cover are going to be the additions to the PlayStation Game Catalog and the huge lack of anything PS VR2. They have added a couple of new games to the PS Game Catalog, personally the only one of interest would have been the Spider-Man 2 game. The second installment of the Peter Parker Spider-Man games, this game however you get to control both Peter Parker and Miles Moralas as they fight along side one another cleaning up the streets of New York. This time around you will get access to a plentiful amount of new and old Spider-Man suits including the one and only Black Suit and its abilities from the symbiote. If you haven't had the chance to plat this game and have access to the PlayStation Game Catalog i would highly recommend going and giving this game a try especially if your a Spider-Man fan. The game offers a high amount of activities to do that makes you switch back and forth between Peter and Miles as they have different abilities to complete each activity or tasked assigned. As for the lack of anything to do with the PlayStation VR2 has been highly concerning. What plans do they have for the future of this console accessory. I'm hoping they bring the new Resident Evil game to the VR2 like they had done with the previous entry of Village. I bought the VR2 during its pre-order sale and had one since launch and the lackluster amount of games that have been release for it have been abysmal at best. I hope they plan to add more dedicated games for the VR2 and other games being able to be patched to working on the VR2.