Welcome to the Round-Up! The PlayStation third-party focused State of Play was today, so there’s a recap of everything that included down below.
State of Play
Today was PlayStation’s State of Play, but the catch was that only third-party games were present. And… it wasn’t too great. There are some niche games that may excite a few folks, but Deathloop was the main attraction here from the looks of it.
So let’s cover what they showed, shall we?
The show was led off by Moss: Book II by Polyarc Games, a PSVR Adventure title that is a follow-up to the first Moss game, which released back in 2018. The first game was viewed from a first-person point of view, while controlling Quill — the tiny mouse protagonist. Quill returns in this sequel, and from the looks of it, gameplay will be largely similar.
A trailer for Arcadegeddon was shown next, an Arena Shooter from the devs at Illfonic — best known for Friday the 13th: The Game. Illfonic’s “ever-evolving” shooter can be played solo or with Co-Op with up to 4 players total. Players explore dungeons that have multiple biomes, collect hidden chests, and defeat bosses along the way. Arcadegeddon will be launching on PS5, along with PC via the Epic Games Store. Early Access to the game begins today on PS5, and costs $19.99.
Tribes of Midgard by Norsfell Games, and published by Gearbox, is a Norse-themed action-survival RPG that can be played with up to 10 players total. Collect loot, forge your chosen class with unique skill trees, and defeat powerful bosses. Their trailer here seems to show their confidence in the game, since they unveiled their plans for post-launch content, detailing what will be present in Season 1. There will be season-exclusive items, new classes, and challenging “Saga Quests”.
F.I.S.T. is a Metroidvania Action game featuring anthropomorphic characters. The combat looks very beat-em-up-like from the trailer, and has a cool dieselpunk style to it.
Hunter’s Arena: Legends is a 30-player PvP fantasy Battle Royale game by Mantisco. The game is in Early Access on Steam already, but appears to be getting a port to both PS4 and PS5 in August. While being a PvP Battle Royale, it also has PvE elements to it as well. Players can group solo or as a team.
SIFU is an action Kung-Fu game by Slocap, previously known for Absolver. The trailer made this game out to look like it was fairly difficult, with Slocap claiming “careful positioning and clever use of the environment to your advantage are key to your survival”. The trailer also showcased an interesting quirk — every time the player dies, they age a few years older. I’m not sure what that mechanic will do just yet, but it caught my interest! SIFU was delayed to early 2022. It will launch on PS4, PS5, and on PC via the Epic Games Store.
Arguably the least interesting game of the show, and more so a cinematic, relaxing, experience, Jett: The Far Shore features a scout named Mei who is sent off to explore an oceanic planet. I’ll be honest. This looks like No Man’s Sky without any of the things that makes it fun to play. I suppose if someone just wants to relax and enjoy flying around in a ship while exploring, this can be for you. Jett: The Far Shore is coming to PS4, PS5 and PC via the Epic Games Store later in 2021.
For the anime fans out there, Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles was shown off here, with an atrocious English dub. The game was dated, however, so that’s good news for fans. Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles will launch on PS4, Xbox One, PC, Xbox Series X/S and PS5 on October 15, 2021.
We saw another look at the Action-Adventure title Lost Judgement here from SEGA, which looks totally bonkers. It has an English dub that’s actually decent unlike the trailer that came before it. Although, admittedly, the trailer they showed off had some odd lip sync issues with the character animations, although it’s possible it could’ve been the stream? Lost Judgement will release worldwide on September 24, 2021 — for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Previously announced at Summer Games Fest in June, Death Stranding Director’s Cut was shown off here, detailing all of the new features coming in the remaster. Director’s Cut will feature new story missions, additions to melee combat, more transport capabilities, and even a racing mode. Launches September 24, 2021 for PS5.
Going into the show, Sony stated ahead of time that Arkane’s Deathloop would be shown off for 9 minutes total, so I was expecting a lengthy showing. I wasn’t expecting Sony to close their show with it though, since I was holding out hope for a spontaneous Final Fantasy XVI appearance.
Adding to that, we’ve seen a lot of Deathloop thus far, so I’m unsure of why exactly Sony is continuing to harp on it so much.
Still, Deathloop looks pretty awesome in the gameplay they showed. It has this super fast-paced gunplay to it that’s just really fun to watch. I’m sure in practice it’ll feel thrilling once you get the hang of it as well.
Deathloop’s core mechanic is based around loops — whenever the player dies, they restart the time loop from the beginning of that day. Each loop the player is in, they can utilize to learn more about the world. Thankfully, there is a way for players to save abilities and weapons between loop, with one method being via finding your own corpse from the previous loop.
I love the sandbox-y nature to the gameplay as well. It almost reminds me of the Hitman series to a certain extent with how there’s so many ways to approach things. They showcased this in the gameplay by having the player listen in on a conversation between two NPCs, where they mention a back entrance to the target’s mansion, which the player then circled around to utilize. You can play this game stealthy if you desire, or go in guns blazing as well.
The added quirk to Deathloop is the presence of Julianna — an assassin who will attempt to take down the player and reset their loop. The player receives an audio cue whenever Julianna reaches the player’s area, to give them time to prepare. Julianna is in fact controlled by another player, as a form of PvP — but can be switched to simply be an A.I. controlled enemy instead.
While it is a bit odd to say that Deathloop is an exclusive after Bethesda was purchased by Microsoft, it indeed will be a PS5 console exclusive, alongside Ghostwire: Tokyo — making both games likely the last Bethesda games to be released on Playstation consoles. Don’t fret, though — PC players will be able to play Deathloop via Steam or the Bethesda Launcher.
Deathloop releases September 14, 2021, in what is shaping up to be a hefty September for games.
Rapid-Fire Round-Up
- Although the translation of Bright Memory: Episode 1 wasn’t that well-received, it was still acknowledged as an impressive fast-paced FPS made by one single developer, which is impressive on its own. Well, instead of an Episode 2, the game is being remastered and expanded upon to become Bright: Memory Infinite. PC owners of the original Bright Memory will receive a free upgrade to Infinite once it launches in 2021 — for Xbox Series X and PC. Bright Memory is only $8 on Steam at the moment, so give the trailer a look if you’re interested.
- An official announcement by Xbox has made it clear that Dark Souls III is indeed getting an FPS Boost after it was posted ahead of time by the Xbox Italy Instagram account. Digital Foundry reports that Dark Souls III runs at 60 FPS on the Xbox Series X, while hitting about the same on Xbox Series S.
- Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness is an animated series that is now available on Netflix as part of the Resident Evil franchise’s 25th Anniversary celebration. The series focuses on Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield investigating a zombie outbreak together.
- Yesterday, we found out EA was making a new studio called Ripple Effect Studios. Today during a very dreadful “Future of FPS” show, it was revealed that Ripple Effect is working on a Battlefield 2042 mode that includes fan-favorite maps from past Battlefield games.
- Sonic Colors: Ultimate HD got a new trailer today going over many of the new features it will include — including a new game mode, 4K/60fps, a checkpoint system, and much more.
- Treyarch unveiled a trailer for the new Zombies map coming to Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War on July 15th. They called it a “gameplay” trailer, but there isn’t much gameplay at all, mostly cutscenes. The map is titled Mauer Der Toten, and takes place in 1985 Berlin.
Today’s Releases
- The fast-paced first-person action game Boomerang X is available today for $19.99. A short game where the player uses, go figure, a boomerang to eliminate enemies. (Switch, Steam)
- Sam & Max: This Time It’s Virtual is a VR adventure game available today on Steam. The original creator of the series, Steve Purcell, is part of the development team for this one. (VR)
