*UPDATE*
SONY announced a massive PlayStation Plus update the day after their disappointing State of Play showing. Final Fantasy VII Remake, Remnant: From the Ashes, Maquette (PS5 only), Far point (PSVR title) will be getting the PlayStation Plus treatment. Members will get these new games added to their libraries, however, FFVII Remake will not be eligible for the PS5 digital upgrade. If you get the game through Plus, you'll still have to buy the game outright for the upgrade to happen in June.
Sony had their 30+ minute “State of Play” show, the live stream that copied the “Nintendo Direct” style and made it boring, dull and all around lackluster. Even with expectations low…Sony failed to deliver much excitement for PlayStation gamers. While there was a good number of games (lots of indie titles), there was not much that was new. Except for the new FFVII Remake Intergrade announcement, which brings FFVII Remake to the PS5 and features a side story for Yuffie. Anywho, if you were hoping for a show that would help get (or keep) you excited for the new PlayStation 5…you probably are not happy with this show either. Let us dive into what we thought of the highlights for Sony’s first State of Play of 2021.
Oh, on a side note, since I suck at providing written
content frequently enough… Sony announced about 3 hours after the State of Play
showing that Japan Studio (PlayStation’s longest running game development
studio) is going through re-organization. Team Asobi (Astro Bot games and
Astro’s Playroom) will become the central focus for Sony’s Japanese efforts
moving forward. Most staff have been let go and it’s been said that the IP that
was housed at Japan Studios will fold into the global offices.
After Crash Bandicoot had its mandatory showing of coming to
the PS5, Returnal got to show off more gameplay. Housemarque has a long history
of working with Sony on more arcade styled shooters with Super Stardust,
Resogun, Alienation and more. Returnal marks the studio’s biggest leap in
development production and it was one of the few gems of the show. If you have
played an arcade shooter, it gets frantic later on. Returnal appears to take
that setting, keep it chaotic and puts the camera behind the character. I am
not entirely sure what is happening in this recent showing, but it appears the
game is digging into Selene’s past and revealing a house that weirdly gave me
vibes of the haunted house from the P.T. demo that graced the PS4.
Lorne Lanning is bringing the Oddworld universe back to
life. Soulstorm acts as a sequel to Oddworld: New ‘N’ Tasty and is a
reimagining of Abe’s Exoddus. The game looks great in it’s 2.5D glory. Possibly
an even bigger announcement (than the new gameplay shown) was the fact that PS5
owners will be getting the game free with PlayStation Plus starting on April 6th
and lasting until May 3rd.
Now this is magic! The more I see of Kena: Bridge of Spirits;
the better it seems to get. Truly a marvel to look at with its lush
environments and I simply cannot wait to go hands on. In the new trailer we get
to see more of the “Pikmin” like gameplay, but also much more combat. Kena must
be a well-versed magic user fairly early on. Summoning magical arrows out of
thin air, switching to shooting energy out of the top of her staff and even using
it to beat on foes up close.
The biggest news of the show came from the obviously going
to happen announcement of Final Fantasy VII Remake coming to the PS5.
Absolutely no one is surprised by this and frankly, the fact that this was the
biggest announcement…that FFVII Remake was being ported to the PS5…really
showed how weak this event was. However, staying on the positive said. FFVII
Remake Intergrade (because of course it is called that) will be a free upgrade
for anyone that already owns Final Fantasy VII Remake on the PS4. The difference
being the additional DLC content that stars Yuffie! That will still have to be
purchased separately. Now it should be noted, this is only a port with the
release of basically an episode where you run around as Yuffie before she meets
up with Cloud and the gang. Um, it's going to have a Photo Mode, a Performance Mode and a Graphical Mode...because of course.
There was also a showing for games we already knew about and
did not feature any new content reveals such as: Knockout City, SiFu, Solar Ash,
Deathloop, Fight Nights at Freddy’s Security Breach. All in all, the show was a
disappointment. There is so much information on major releases that the entire
spectrum of gamer was eagerly anticipating something to be shown for. At least
one new showing from the PlayStation camp would have been great to see.
However, what we got was rehashed news from games that was expected.
Where is God of War Ragnarok? Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart? MLB The Show 2021? Gran Turismo 7 was delayed and likely will not be out till 2024 at the earliest…show something. The last new thing for GT7 was almost a year ago. They could have used time in the show for March’s PlayStation Plus games…but nope…nothing. Countless eyes were on Sony to make a splash, but I personally think they do better when they do not put together a State of Play. Just go back to using conferences to announce new things, because you are terrible at your knockoff Nintendo Directs.
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