PlayStation State of Play (Thursday 8th July 2021 @ 22:00 BST)

[Julius]

Quote

We’ve seen Cole’s head-spinning powers in action before, but this Thursday we’ll get a nine-minute look at Deathloop’s time-twisted world as part of a new State of Play. The show kicks off at 2pm Pacific / 5pm Eastern / 11pm CEST, viewable on Twitch or YouTube.

In this extended gameplay sequence, we’ll see Cole use his abilities to stealthily skulk across rooftops… or go in guns blazing to create a whole lot of mayhem. Lots of options available on Blackreef Island.

In addition to this long look at Bethesda’s violent adventure, we’ll have updates on some exciting indie and third-party titles. The full show clocks in around 30 minutes.

This showcase will not include updates on the next God of War, Horizon Forbidden West or the next generation of PlayStation VR. Stay tuned throughout the summer though, as we’ll have more updates soon.

XVI or we riot. 

Edited December 12, 2021 by Julius

[Hero-of-Time]

Again with Deathloop?  

[Julius]

5 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Again with Deathloop?  

I opened the link and this was my reaction too  

I just don't know how much of a game like that you can communicate in (hopefully less than) 10-15 minutes, it's not like that's enough time to dive deep with the systems, and while you could show some ridiculously insane run like I've seen people do in some of the Dishonored games, it's not going to be a great representation of what people should be expecting as moment-to-moment gameplay for your average player. 

For indies, I'm kind of expecting an update on Kena here, and maybe some of the other indie titles we saw at their presentations last year (I really want to see more of Little Devil Inside), and I feel like Solar Ash needs a good showing here, as it's been shown off so poorly elsewhere. 

Final Fantasy XVI is the only big AAA game that I really want to see here, though. It's been nearly a year since the first (and last) trailer, I know they're saving it for next year for the anniversary, but it's time. Especially with how poorly Square Enix disemboweled the IP at their own E3 event, with the remasters that shall not be named and the absolutely terrible trailer for Stranger of Paradise, I think they need to just appease fans a bit. Though, they might be holding onto it until Tokyo Game Show? But hopefully not! 

[Ganepark32]

I'm already sold on Deathloop as I love what Arkane makes so I don't need to see any more. Little disappointed that its the focus of a new State of Play for that reason even with how excited I am for the game myself.

A strong indie and third party showing is good though. We've seen a slice of Horizon Forbidden West and I'm not thinking that Sony have any other first party titles coming at the end of the year beyond the PS5 upgrade to Ghost of Tsushima. So shining light on what will be the tent pole titles for your console from third parties and indies is a great idea, even in light of the long standing issues that indie devs seem to have been having with Sony.

Think we'll finally get dates for Solar Ash (this I don't think is very far off), Jett: The Far Shore and Little Devil Inside with a very brief showing of Hades (a kind of "Hey its coming to PlayStation as well just like all of Supergiant's previous games did before"). Not expecting the likes of Stray to be there, Last Stop perhaps but Annapurna have their own showcase at the end of July for their games and may choose to keep it for that as they've built up a strong following and a lot of cachet in the industry with a strong lineup of games they've been published in recent years.

Third party wise, wonder if we'll see CoD being shown off briefly but can't think of other games they'll show as Microsoft seem to have snagged a lot of the big third party games for the end of the year as having exclusivity for advertisement.

Still, interested to see what they show. As disappointed as I am at it being Deathloop being showcased when I'm already sold, Arkane have nailed the aesthetic and there should be plenty of indie games so it'll be a good show for me.

[Happenstance]

Looking forward to this. I've been hearing good things about Sony and Indies lately so it'll be interesting to see what's coming out.

[Julius]

Anyone tuning in for this? 

Coming out with first with some PSVR in a Moss sequel...interesting!

[Ganepark32]

Sequel announcement for Moss is a nice one. Waiting for PSVR 2 before I jump in on the original though as I don't see any point to picking up the original unit.

That animation to announce the delay for Sifu to 2022 was unnecessary. Just show it as being 2022. There's a pandemic going on so we're all aware that things can get delayed. Making it the end point of your trailer during a State of Play is maybe not the best thing.

Jett: The Far Shore looks fantastic and right up my street but not release date beyond a vague 2021 sucks.

FIST looks great though. September 7th release. One to watch, hopefully it'll turn out well.

Beyond those, its been a bit lacklustre and even with the games I've mentioned, its still below the lower expectations I already had.

[Julius]

2 minutes ago, Ganepark32 said:

Beyond those, its been a bit lacklustre and even with the games I've mentioned, its still below the lower expectations I already had.

Agreed. I'll post thoughts on the rest of it after it ends, but if it's ending on Deathloop...this has been pretty poor. It'll take us up to the 30 minute mark at least. 

Fingers crossed for a "one more thing"...

[Kav]

That was… dull.

[Julius]

Yeah, I'm just going to come out and say it:

That was bad. 

Starting with Moss Book II was cool, but knowing that there wasn't any news on PSVR2 coming today, it was hard to be excited as someone who doesn't already own a PSVR headset. Imagine it fell flat for most others watching too. 

Arcadegeddon...I couldn't care much less about to be honest. And I was surprised by just how long the overview trailer for post-launch content was for Tribes of Midgard. F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch looked neat enough, but it's not something for me, and Hunter's Arena Legends (wow that's a generic title) looks like it could like a unique enough battle royale concept which could carve out it's own corner...but again, not for me. 

Sifu still looks cool, and I'm really into the aging mechanic. It's a shame about the delay to Early 2022, but like @Ganepark32 said, such a silly move to make an animation for a delay like it's some grand reveal that the audience would want. Now my most recent impression of that game will be how silly a move that was. Real smooth. 

Jett: The Far Shore might have been one of the few shining lights in this thing, thought it had a really good showing here. It looks very unique in its look and gameplay loop, shame they're not even committing to a particular month yet though, it's hard to be bullish on that arriving this year if the developers aren't either. 

Demon Slayer: The Hinomaki Chronicles -- I'm sure it'll have it's fans, but this series deserves more than a generic (and pretty poor looking) arena fighter which follows the anime. So just go watch the anime instead, it's on Netflix and is well worth your time, much more than this game will be, I'm sure. 

Lost Judgment had a decent trailer, I haven't played the first game so I'm in no rush to get this, but it continues to look fantastic, and just based on the trailers I'd seen for the first game, you definitely get the sense that they're taking it to the next level with this one, adding loads of new content (as RGG always do). Did find it funny that the closing shot had plenty of yakuza in the background 

The Death Stranding Director's Cut is pretty wild with just how much new content it's adding - the racing circuit?! - and considering that it didn't seem like a short game by any stretch of the imagination before, I'm a bit surprised by how much they're adding now, and some of it even seems to potentially be addressing some of the criticisms I heard around launch (specifically combat and bosses). No word on upgrading from the PS4 version was a bit disappointing (and concerning), and the lack of mentions on any adaptive trigger or haptic feedback additions was surprising. Probably another trailer at Gamescom's Opening Night Live I guess. 

And then Deathloop. Music was cool, that's pretty much all I gained from that showing, we've seen it plenty up to this point and there's not much new to say about it. 

My Totally Official Score: 4.0/10. Save yourself the time and just go read an article summarising the State of Play instead. 

Had my fingers crossed for Little Devil Inside or XVI, but that was a hope more than anything. Still, the lack of news for games like Kena (out next month - I know we had a bit of a look at E3, but it was at a smaller event, so I was surprised at it not being here; maybe Gamescom?) and Solar Ash (sometime this year still I think?) meant I came away completely unsatisfied. 

[Ronnie]

Ooof.

You'd think they could manage a banger of a State of Play by now, a couple of years into the format. Let alone a decent one a month after their no show at E3.

Sad there was nothing Kena Bridge of Spirits, isn't that out next month?

[Julius]

Never mind what I said before, I guess PlayStation sensed that people wouldn't want to check out the VOD once they heard how dull this event was, so here's their own recap 53 second recap:

 

3 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

You'd think they could manage a banger of a State of Play by now, a couple of years into the format. Let alone a decent one a month after their no show at E3.

Sad there was nothing Kena Bridge of Spirits, isn't that out next month?

It definitely felt like a step down from previous State of Plays, where it felt like they were starting to finally find their rhythm. I think it was smart to say that there would be no PSVR2, Horizon Forbidden West or God of War sequel news here, because it meant I went it with very low expectations anyways...which emphasises just how poor a showing it was that I was still disappointed. 

And yeah, Kena is still scheduled for next month. It was part of a smaller show at E3 and had some previews, but you feel like it could've been pushed here. 

[Happenstance]

Despite not being initially happy that we were getting yet more Deathloop footage I actually found myself more interested in the game after last night. I also liked the look of Fist, Sifu and maybe Jett.

[Cube]

After playing Outer Wilds, I'm much more curious about this. The rival thing sounds awful, but if they can get the sense of discovery they Outer Wilds had, it could be great fun.

[Sheikah]

After playing Outer Wilds, I'm much more curious about this. The rival thing sounds awful, but if they can get the sense of discovery they Outer Wilds had, it could be great fun.

Which game?

[Cube]

18 hours ago, Sheikah said:

Which game?

Deathloop, there's a rival that randomly attacks you, either controlled by another player or AI.

 

 

 

[Cookyman]

Well that was pretty shite eh?  Hopefully there will be another one soon along with an update on adding another SSD.