Player 2 Vs Sony's May 2024 State of Play
As is tradition here at P2, whenever a big games publisher holds a reveal event, the team get together to discuss the merits of what we have seen, decide if we are hyped and generally allow our sarcasm to run wild. For the Playstation June 2024 State of Play, this honour goes to Matt Hewson and Paul James. Join them as they go over each trailer with their thoughts on whether or not Sony is onto a winner with any of these new games.
Concord
Matt Hewson: There are some serious Guardians of the Galaxy vibes going on here, that had me really excited until the words “5 v 5” came out of the mouth of the presenter. Concord is essentially an Overwatch clone and that makes me sad. I mean there is a hole in the market right now with Overwatch 2 dropping the ball in a big way, but I just can’t get excited about this sort of thing anymore. It is launching on PC the same day as Playstation which tells me that Playstation took note of Helldivers 2’s success.
Paul James: I’d heard the Guardians references coming from internal sources in the lead-up to this one, and so I was excited despite the game’s online nature, but when PvP was the focus, I quickly felt deflated. The game looks really impressive, and as you say, Matt, this could be a contender to the Overwatch throne that is certainly ripe for the picking, but the PvP nature of this one has definitely dulled my excitement. I’ll check it out, but for me, games like this struggle to retain my interest, perhaps this one can be the exception.
God of War: Ragnarok - PC
Matt Hewson: My obsession with replaying Sony titles on PC continues. They have been on a roll of late with some great ports of Forbidden West and Ghost of Tsushima so I hope Kratos gets the same care. Landing in September though is rough, hard to get excited for a game that I have already finished in that time window. Might be a “grab in the Steam sales” title for Christmas time.
Paul James: Glad a new audience can check out the real 2022 GOTY (you heard me Elden Ring nutbags!). Of course, given that I’ve already completed the game, and the fact that I’m not much of a PC gamer means that it’s unlikely that I’ll jump in, but I’m stoked for the PC community to get to explore what Santa Monica has built.
Dynasty Warriors Origins
Matt Hewson: A big old Musou game. These are the sort of games I love to pick up as a PS+ title, not a day-one thing for me. I enjoy them for a while, but they never hold me for the full length of the game. I suspect this will be no different.
Paul James: I’m a bit stunned that this is a game Sony chose to showcase, not that it presented poorly, and I don’t even mind a good Musou game from time to time, but it didn’t really fit the vibe I had for a State Of Play. These games, even the best ones, are junk food, and I didn’t pick a title like this, fitting the bill. We’ll see how it shapes up though in 2025
Infinity Nikki
Matt Hewson: Look I have no idea what this game will be and the vibe immediately put me off. I could absolutely be wrong, but I feel safe in saying no to Nikki.
Paul James: I was lost at “The path of a stylist is never easy” – sorry guys, but this was a big miss for me, and I suspect a large section of the audience too. It also felt like they were going to break into some Mario Odyssey-style musical numbers but then never hit the notes necessary. Not an engaging game, and not an overly engaging trailer either
Ballad of Antara
Matt Hewson: A cool-looking title with some great enemy design. It is looking a bit Soulsish for me, but as I have discovered, a few tweaks to the Souls formula are enough to drag me in. I’ll be watching this one.
Paul James: I’m wary of the Soulslike vibes that this one gave off, but that said, I’m also fresh from Stellar Blade which had the necessary accessibility features to make it appealing to me. Ballad of Antara presented really well, and I’m at least keen to see more of it in the future.
Skydance’s Behemoth
Matt Hewson: Another attempt to bring a brawler to VR, trailers never do this sort of thing justice so it is hard to say, but it looks to have all the elements of a good VR game.
Paul James: As you’ve said there Matt, VR trailers are hard ones to convey to the audience, but since it was first revealed, Behemoth has been on my radar. It’s a very enticing concept to me, and so I’m keen to see what the team at Skydance can do with it. I might even blow the dust off my PSVR2 to take it for a spin!
Alien: Rogue Incursion
Matt Hewson: Look, I usually don’t drop F-bombs on P2 but… Fuck that. You can keep that… Nuh uh, no way.
Paul James: Nope!
Marvel Rivals
Matt Hewson: More Overwatch-style gameplay, this time with your favourite Marvel Characters. That Marvel connection probably gives this one a better chance at success than Concord, which it may or may not deserve. There certainly isn’t really room for many of these sorts of games on the market.
Paul James: I know Marvel Rivals has been a bit of a hit elsewhere already, but it was nice to see that PlayStation owners won’t be missing out on their chance to dive into the fun. That said, this one isn’t for me. There are too many heroes that they can try to sell me on, and I’m feeling some degree of Marvel fatigue as well, something that will absolutely be another barrier to overcome for me.
Where Winds Meet
Matt Hewson: More Souls action and I feel tired. Looks pretty, but really, we are drowning in these games at the moment.
Paul James: Like you Matt, I’m a bit over the number of Soulslikes, not because they’re necessarily of a poor quality, but because it takes an enormous mental lift for me to get into them. Why can’t I just have more character action games? Why not more RPGs that aren’t trying to overwhelm me at every turn? I just want to enjoy a game and not have it try to bury me.
Until Dawn Remastered
Matt Hewson: I missed this one the first time around so I am keen to check it out. This sort of game is great in a group so that might be how I dive in. Rope my wife and 18-year-old into a scare-fest night.
Paul James: I really enjoyed Until Dawn and I’m keen for others across both PS5 and PC to jump in and check it out as well. I just don’t know if I’ll return to the well again myself. I enjoyed my first playthrough, and have my story now etched in my head, I think I’d rather preserve that, and commit my time to other new/missed games.
Path of Exile 2
Matt Hewson: Interesting this is showing up here. It shows that Sony really is forging closer ties to PC. Path of Exile 2 will be a good game, I have no doubt, but if the original is anything to go by, it is going to be a tough one to translate to a controller. The UI will need some serious work. I hope they nail it though, Diablo needs more competition.
Paul James: I’d never really investigated what the original Path of Exile was, but now that I’m looking at this sequel, I’m riddled with regrets for what I missed. This looks great and I’m keen to check out more of it, I love Diablo, and this will scratch that itch as well. Keen to see more of it, but, just like Diablo, and just as you say Matt, it’s gonna need some work to stick the landing on console. That said, Diablo has nailed it, so if they want to rip off Blizzard in that regard, it wouldn’t hurt.
Silent Hill 2 Remaster
Matt Hewson: I am one of the many Monster Hunter players that joined the fray thanks to Monster Hunter World and since that point, I have devoured Monster Hunter Rise and Wild Hearts so I am very keen for this to arrive. It looks fantastic.
Paul James: Mate, I don’t know what a developer/publisher is going to be able to pull out of their hat in 2025 to topple Monster Hunter Wilds for me. I’m not one to commit hundreds of hours to just one title, but Wilds will certainly be that game. This trailer teased the potential of some new environmental hurdles to overcome in combat, while the new mount looked great – for a brief period, my heart rate escalated as I allowed the thought of a coming demo to enter my mind. Not to be, but nothing can dampen this hype. Now… back to Monster Hunter Now while I wait!
Astrobot
Matt Hewson: Well that sure did conjure some Super Mario Bros 3D world vibes didn’t it? Honestly, I don’t think there are enough of these sorts of games in the world. I have two concerns though, it seems like a lot of this game is going to just be Playstation PR with product placement everywhere, which is insane since the only people who will see it are already on a Playstation. The second concern is that music… gah!
Paul James: Astro Bot has the kind of goodwill behind it that not even Sackboy managed to attain, and I genuinely feel like this new title has the potential to blow some minds. An amazing trailer, vibrant tones, and as well as looking to be a great game in its own right, it’s also going to be a wonderful love letter to PlayStation and its other IP. Hook. Line. Sinker.
Overall Thoughts
Matt Hewson: Look, I think it was smart for Sony to get their presentation out of the way first because what they had to show is undoubtedly going to be swallowed but what’s coming in the weeks ahead. It was a weak showcase and things feel pretty barren on the PS front for the remainder of the year. Monster Hunter is perhaps the only “must-have” game from the show and frankly, I’ll be grabbing that on PC. I often wonder in these sorts of situations, where a publisher really doesn’t have much to show, is saying nothing a better option? I feel like people are going to be pretty down after that.
Paul James: My problem with this is its proximity to Summer Game Fest. It’s blatantly obvious that PlayStation has held some aces up its sleeve for Geoff’s show mere days from now, and they sacrificed the quality of their own showcase/State Of Play, to appease the Dorito King. Ghost 2 is almost a given at this point, and the Horizon rumours (LEGO and otherwise) are in overdrive, let alone all that unfortunately got out from the Insomniac hack, regarding IP from Insomniac, but also Bluepoint. They could have shown a little more and still had a surprise for Geoff. This showcase was fine, and the likes of Monster Hunter and Astro Bot more than made it a passing grade, but it could have been much more.
