From the moment PlayStation’s State of Play showcase kicked off, I remembered why I spend far more time on my PS5 than on my Xbox Series X.
Firewalk Studios is one of the newest additions to the PlayStation Studios portfolio, but its debut title, Concord, looks like a project from a veteran team. While Concord is a 5v5 multiplayer FPS at its core, it also features weekly cinematics for players to watch that build out the story and the universe of the game. There’s no campaign, but as you learn to play the game’s 16 Freegunners — each with their own unique skills and weapons — Concord will attempt to get you invested in a very Guardians-of-the-Galaxy-themed world of intergalactic bounty hunters.
Following Concord was a procession of interesting third-party titles, including Omega Force’s 1 v. 1,000 action game Dynasty Warriors: Origins, Tipsworks Studio’s action RPG Ballad of Antara, Everstone Studio’s open-world martial arts adventure Where Winds Meet, and, finally, the open-world dress-up game (no, that’s not a typo) Infinity Nikki.
One big advantage Microsoft would have theoretically had over Sony heading into this console generation was releasing all of its games on Xbox and PC simultaneously. But now nearly all of PlayStation’s best first-party games launch on PC as well, including the critically acclaimed God of War Ragnarok, which is coming to PC on September 19, 2024.
The same is true of Until Dawn, which was a gem at the end of the PS4’s lifecycle that is now coming to PC and PS5 this fall. Imagine playing through a horror movie in real-time, making the same wild decisions the protagonists of your favorite movies have to make. It’s best experienced with others in the room, and now a whole new audience will be able to play.
And then there’s Astro Bot, the unexpected but well-deserved follow-up to the PS5 pre-installed game Astro’s Playroom. There honestly haven’t been many great (or good) 3D platformers since Nintendo’s Super Mario Odyssey all the way back in 2017. I would have loved to see a new Sly Cooper or Jak and Daxter at State of Play, but Astro Bot looks as joyful, colorful, and kinetic as those beloved franchises. This immediately jumps to the top of my anticipation list.
All told, it was a relatively light summer showcase for PlayStation, but I can’t ask for much more than half a dozen new games I’m excited to play in the next two years. Sony also has an innate understanding that we don’t want to listen to executives talk for half an hour during these press conferences. We want to see games, and we want to see them in action.
Considering how last-minute this State of Play was (it was announced one day before it aired), I’m excited to see how Microsoft counters with its Xbox Games Showcase in June.