This week’s PlayStation Showcase may not have broken records compared to previous years, but it still had an impressive set of highlights and reveals. We received a number of announcements of exciting and innovative new titles, as well as some long-awaited confirmations of often-rumoured sequels and follow-ups.
We’ve done some digging into some of the talent underpinning some of these new projects, as well as having made some unsuccessful attempts to curb our enthusiasm for the games we’ve been dreaming of for years, and came up with this list of the announcements and skins. highlights that we think you should follow.
10 Aghasba Towers
Towers of Aghasba combines elements of open world action games and building/crafting sandboxes. The game has a unique and inspired look that subtly mirrors the aesthetics of games like Shadow of the Colossus with a little Avatar thrown in and even The Neverending Story thrown in for good measure.
Towers of Aghasba will be the first game from Dreamlit studio, but looking at the development team shows an impressive wealth of experience, with co-founders Khang Le and Dave Nguyen having titles like Sky: Children of Light and Call of Duty under their belt, respectively. Towers of Aghasba will be released on PS5 and PC sometime in 2024.
9 the brave squire
The Plucky Squire is a charming-looking action-adventure game that seems to take place via multiple delivery methods and realistic, storybook-like narrative motifs, which suggests there will be plenty of variety. The trailer also showed off what appeared to be a heavy emphasis on switching between 2D and 3D environments.
The development team, All Possible Futures, currently consists of James Turner, who has been on the Pokémon creative team for years, and Jonathan Biddle, who has games like Thomas Was Alone and The Swapper to his credit. Plucky Squire will be released on almost all platforms later this year.
8 ghost sword 0
One of the biggest and longest reveals during the event was Phantom Blade 0, a dark and sinister character action game with an interesting trick: you only have 66 days to live. How this limitation influences gameplay from a gameplay and narrative perspective has yet to be seen, but it sounds like there will be potential for rogue-like elements or a heavy emphasis on replay value.
Phantom Blade 0 developer Cruel Man Studio is run by Michael Chang, who spent some time working with FromSoftware in the PS3/360 era. The trailer definitely showed off some elements that seem to be similar to Souls, so we’ll see if Cruel Man will bring any of that experience to Phantom Blade 0, which is set to release in late 2023 or early 2024 on PS5.
7 ultras
No, Ultros is sadly not a Final Fantasy spin-off starring a certain villainous octopus, but it is a very unique looking 2D action game that is vaguely reminiscent of Valfaris in terms of its neon and blood color palette and Giger-like creatures. Billed as a “psychedelic metroidvania”, Ultros has a lot of potential to fill the void left by the increasingly elusive Hollow Knight: Silksong.
Although Ultros will be Hadoque’s first title, the studio’s founders have impressive credentials, with most of the team having worked on indie sensation Hotline Miami. Ultros will arrive sometime in 2024 for PlayStation and Steam.
6 The beginning of Talos II
The Talos Principle was a deeply psychological puzzle game that took many narrative and indie categories by storm in its first year of release. Less than a year later, Croteam announced The Talos Principle II…and then things calmed down. The first game was re-released and improved on various platforms, but all hints of an impending sequel seemed to disappear. Until this week, that is.
Launching later this year, The Talos Principle II doesn’t seem to be taking too many chances with the celebrated formula of the first game, and fans can be sure that the same kind of mind-blowing puzzle philosophy will return in grander form.
5 alan wake II
When Alan Wake was released, it was a somewhat divisive game, with many praising its compelling story of psychological suspense and haunting aesthetics and soundtrack, while others criticized the contrast between its mechanical simplicity and narrative convolution. Nonetheless, the game became a cult hit, and whispers of a sequel have floated around for years as Remedy moved on to projects like Quantum Break and Control.
With Alan Wake being a staple on the Xbox 360, no one expected the sequel’s big reveal in a Sony showcase, but here we are. Alan Wake II will be released in October for Xbox Series, PC, and PS5.
4 Dragon’s Dogma 2
It’s been over a decade since Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen originally released for seventh-generation consoles. Meanwhile, the then-ignored Dragon’s Dogma slowly built up a following who insisted that the game stands alongside Skyrim and Dragon Age as a seminal work of its kind.
Last year Hideaki Atsuno finally announced what seemed inevitable: a sequel to Dragon’s Dogma, nearly ten years since he initially expressed a desire to make one, and at this week’s PlayStation showcase we finally got to see the game in action, and it certainly was one of the highlights of the event. Dragon’s Dogma 2 will be released on PS5, Xbox Series, and PC sometime in 2024.
3 snow
Nomada Studio’s 2018 debut title, Gris, was one of the most celebrated indie games of the last generation. The visually stunning and incredibly moody platform-adventure game won the hearts of gamers and critics alike, garnering many of the indie-focused awards that year.
It’s understandable, then, that there’s a lot of anticipation surrounding the studio’s next project, Neva. While no gameplay was shown off during the reveal trailer at Sony’s event this week, the utterly gorgeous, clearly Princess Mononoke-inspired world and characters shown here in an utterly enchanting, abstract art style show great promise. Neva will launch next year on almost all platforms that still have an active store.
2 sword of the sea
Even though 2012 was packed with AAA blockbusters, it was a heartfelt, gentle, and nuanced indie adventure game called Journey that completely upset the balance of power and proved that small, artistic games with limited scope but extremely focused can and they will succeed at a time when monopolies and creative homogeneity dominate the market.
Not long after the success of Journey, a large part of developer Thatgamecompany spun off and formed Giant Squid, which then released an aquatic-themed spiritual successor to Thatgamecompany’s first hit Flower called ABZÛ. Now, Giant Squid seems to be taking up Journey’s powerful legacy by once again taking us into a haunting, wordless world of undulating sand dunes and perpetual twilight in Sword of the Sea, and we couldn’t be more excited, even though The game does not have a release window yet.
Konami has been flirting with a new version of Metal Gear Solid 3 for a while now. The game was a landmark and cultural touchstone when it launched nearly 20 years ago on the PlayStation 2, and while it’s a certified masterpiece and considered one of the greatest games ever made, one can’t help but imagine what could have accomplished. your imagination hasn’t been hampered by the limitations of the PS2’s older hardware.
Well, next year, we won’t have to imagine anymore. Not only will we get a fully realized and modern remake of MGS3, but we will also get “Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1”, which will give contemporary platforms access to MGS1-3. On top of that, the fact that call “Volume 1” implies that more of the series will be released in later volumes, and playing games like Peace Walker and MGS4 on platforms that don’t require you to dig through your attic or garage would be a nice benefit to a remake of one of the best games of all time
