I'd like to post some thoughts about Thursday's (7/8/21) half-hour State of Play presentation from Sony. It was immediately clear that they learned from the earlier lackluster E3 show in that about 90% of that 30 minutes was gameplay footage, rather than prerendered cutscenes that don't communicate gameplay.
Moss: Book II
I had a great time with the first game, and a recent conversation reminded me that this game embodies the concept of 'second person platformer.' You have a protagonist that you control while you yourself are both a character AND the camera.
ArcadeGeddon
This game made me reflect on how tough it is for developers to get gamers' attention and money. The art style is distinct; colorful and flashy, with characters that look like polished clay figurines. It strikes me as expensive to have to market your game through standout art design, too. With Overwatch in its 5th year and joining a (personally hated) cross-play, this genre has me look for places to jump ship til Overwatch 2 is released.
Tribes of Midgard
Classic dungeon-crawler with some bright graphics, but Diablo 2 Resurrected is coming out. I wish Tribes of Midgard the best of luck.
F.I.S.T: Forged in Shadow
Sidescrolling fight combo furry game in the Metroidvania genre. This might be the title I was most excited about, as I can't get enough of this genre. I just hope it's on the shorter side, cause it would be nice to play a game in this genre that's as short as its namesake.
Hunter's Arena:
I spent most of this trailer looking at the character's butt and don't really know what this game is about. It's important to have good butts in a 3rd person game. I have absolutely zero problems with sex selling. What's more is that this will be a free title through Playstation Plus in August. The only thing about this MOBA (?) is that, as expected, there are a Fortnitey skins that take a gigantic dump on the art direction. I really hate this trend, but understand it's a moneymaker to charge gamers $10 so they can wear modern bright-pink sunglasses and a purple banana suit to watch the first caveperson roast meat over a fire. To hell with the aesthetics!
Sifu
Fighting game with aging mechanics. What bearing does that have on gameplay? No idea.
Jett: The Far Shore
Minimalist 3rd person flying game on alien planet. You can get out and explore and do research. Some mind horror? Looks like Flower.
Demon Slayer:
The gameplay looks like Furi in that the game is a series of meaningful boss fights. However, this day in age, it was shocking to hear super awkward anime voice acting. I thought localization was better than that.
Lost Judgment is a lot like Yakuza and looks wacky! I guess I should have known what I was in for when the developer, Ryu Ga Gotoku, flashed logo before the trailer, but the game cover is simply the guy's face. I don't like that kind of marketing.
After that slew of indies and the surprise of finding out that Lost Judgment is a title I'm actually interested in, the show was absolutely stolen by Death Stranding: Director's Cut. The $10 upgrade to PS5 doesn't just bring the usual controller-fu and graphics-kwon-do as usual, but there's new content. Like, Blizzard-expansion-style content that adds equipment to use all throughout the game as opposed to being limited to the new locations. Tracking down a $20 copy is a new priority as this looks to make that extra 40+ hour stretch from main story to platinum trophy much more bearable with some much-needed variety.
Finally, Deathloop looks awesome.
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