I wasn’t expecting much from showcase, considering it was announced just one day before it streamed and was only 35 minutes long, but I was somehow stiꦏll left aghast at the slate of games showed players. I knew PlayStation’s 2024 slate was dry, but my god, things are looking dire.
Like many other people, I was frustrated at how boring these games looked. It felt like not only had I seen some variation on all of these games before, but that even within the same showcase, they felt similar to each other. My eyes glazed over as it went on, and everything started to bleed together – I’d already seen it all before, so why bother picking i🤪t all apart?
Oh, A Live-Service 5v5 Game? Revolutionary.
There were two of these in the showcase. The fi💫rst was , which admittedly looked very cool and entirely up my alley. That is, I thought it did until the cinematic trailer ended, the gameplay trailer began, and I realised it was just a first-person shooter that looked suspiciously like .
A ಞcouple of trailers later, we got a brief gameplay trailer that announced a closed beta on PS5 for , another live-servic✅e game that plays like Overwatch, but with a Marvel licence and in third-person.
We already knew that PlayStation was working on a bunch of new first-party live-service games in an attempt to profit off an already over-saturated genre, so it’s no surprise that we’re seeing them in showcases now. I had hoped the games would try to differentiate themselves from Overwatch more, but I’m not sur🧸prised that they don’t.
I’ve Seen These VR Games Before
No, seriously, haven’t I seen these before? as a genre seems to barely have evolved over the years, especially if you’re looking at PlayStation&r꧟squo;s VR games in particular. There’s really only s♐o much you can realistically do in VR right now, and none of it allows for a ton of creativity.
is practically indistinguishable from in VR (making it just Blade & Sorcery again), and is just yet another horror game where you’re in the dark and things attack you, but it’s got an Alien licence. Also, only two VR games? Yikes, PS VR 2 really is cooked.
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Soulslikes Too? Sure, Why Not
Two of the very few new IPs in the showcase were and , both of which were made by Chinese developers. Just days ago I bemoaned the lack of culturally Asian games th♈at weren’t Japanese, and today the monkey’s paw curled into a fist and s🌳tarted b𒁏ashing me over the head.
Ballad of Antara is a very obviously Souls-inspired game, with dark and moody colours, strong dark fantasy vibeꦐs, and multiple playable characters. It has a single-player story, but also has multiplayer support for up to three players. It’s also, inexplicably,𓂃 free to play, which sets my teeth on edge.
Where Winds Meet is more interesting. The game 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:focuses on Chinese history and cultur♎e, which is pretty cool. Also heavily inspired by Souls games, th🎀e game mixes Wuxia martial arts into the combat to freshen things up a little. But it’s still a variation on the same theme, with dark environments, unsettling creatures, and speedy comba﷽t.
Picture🗹 a Soulslike, and you already know what both games look and play like. Neither are revolutionary, unfortunately, and not only do they look similar to each other, but they look like almost every other Soulslike.
Sequels, Ports, And Remakes? How Creative
In keeping with a trend that hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down, the showcase was sorely lacking in new IPs. Apart from the Soulslikes, a VR game and a live-service game, everything we saw was either a port, a sequel, or a remake. is 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:coming to PC. an🐈d are remakes. , , , , and Infinity Nikki are all entries in already existing franchises, while Alien Rogue Incursion andꦯ Marvel Rivals use existing IPs.
Path of Exile 2 is also a Diablo-like, so… nothing really new there, eit♒her.
Some are new takes on old series, sure, but this State of Play is retreading the same ground year after year. I was hoping to see something, anything unique, but apart from Infinity Nikki’s intriguing mix of open-world and dress-up gameplay, there’s rea💎lly nothing here we haven🀅’t seen before.
Maybe some of these games will prove themselves and redefine their genres, but if you’re looking for something new and exciting, there’s very little to see here. I suggest turning to the indie space for innovative games and takes on genres, because PlayStation has firmly position💎ed itself as bei𝄹ng For The Most Boring Gamers.
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