The last time we got a big show from PlayStation was way back in 2021, which seems like an eternity from now. So when PlayStation suddenly says they have news from their side of the gaming sphere, well, we’re all ears. As countdown to the start of the show ticked to zero, we sat through the downpour of announcements, there was barely any fluff at all, it was all news, all business, and a lot of hype.

While there isn’t much to show for console exclusives, I think that’s okay, simply because Sony dropped two of them last year and they were both Game of the Year contenders. I have no doubt that Sony’s still having other games following their winning formula in the works but may need more time in the kitchen, so I’m going to, as the colloquial goes, let them cook.

The two major takeaways I’ve found here is that we’re getting more games on PlayStation, so don’t worry about the console collecting dust with nothing to play on it. And the other is that the Live Service model is coming our way. Out of around 30 reveals, at least four of them appear to be of the Live Service variety, where they are mainly of the multiplayer shooter kind. If you check the end cards of the trailers, you’ll see how committed they are to get these games out there by even opting to release it on PC at the same time. That’s one heck of a move from a company that was mostly interested in keeping games on their ecosystem as much as possible. Sony did say that they plan to launch more than 10 live service titles by 2026. Unfortunately, not a lot of details to dig into quite yet, so we’ll have to wait for updates on that end. Most of the trailers just let us know of their existence, and not a lot more apart from that.

For now, let’s go over the bigger reveals, or at least the ones that caught my eye. Specifically the one’s we’re not really aware of yet, I know we’re all excited for Final Fantasy 16 and Street Fighter 6, but let’s have a closer look on the ones that we haven’t seen before or, at least haven’t heard from for a while now.

Helldivers 2

The once isometric space shooter now enters the realm of 3D third person perspective and I’m all for it. One thing I had an issue with when I tried out Helldivers was the fact that I had a hard time tracking where the I was in the haze of bullets and beasts to fight off. Hopefully it can carry the comical and edgy tone it went with smoothly and have it translated in well in the game.

Sword of the Sea

Being a big fan of Journey, seeing a guy doing surfing tricks on a desert with a floating sword seemed like a good time. It then proceeded to completely win me over when it showed off that there’s going to be sections with half-pipes. While it’s not my usual fix of exciting shooter games or immersive RPGs (or addicting gacha games), the unique and chill experience that the creators have provided us before has me pumped for well, a laid back enjoyable time.

The Plucky Squire

Devolver Digital is a publisher I’m quite fond of because of he unique ideas hey bring out into the world of gaming. The Plucky Squire plays out as an RPG where you can be playing as characters through some kid’s picture book, but it doesn’t end there. You can end up playing through various surfaces and different dimensions as you go through some sort of RPG meta-narrative. Very excited to see how they make a unique spin on a traditional genre, and see how far their imagination will take us. Hopefully the 2023 release is earlier than later in the year.

Metal Gear Solid Delta

Konami decided that all they really needed to do was show a face, drop a theme song and call it a day. Honestly though I was pretty hyped when I saw the familiar face in the jungles of one of the best games I’ve ever played. While we’re all wondering why it’s being called MGS TRIANGLE, my personal suspicion would be because it’s a three sided shape, meant to reference to the number three. The bigger deal here is that we’re getting an MGS3 remake first. Why not go in the order of the games that were released? Well, first is I think this is the most popular MGS game around, so Konami is poking around to see if it’s going to perform. And if it does, they may continue applying the remake treatment to the games but in a chronological order. Meaning we may see MGS1 and then 2 to follow. However, there’s still a lot of questions looming around this trailer, as we hardly hear anything about Konami’s ventures into making new games. For the most part, they’re after money-maker products like pachinko machines and mobile games, so why go after a remake now? Will they be using the fox engine or unreal? Can they really improve on a masterpiece of a game without the man responsible for it, Kojima? These thoughts and questions are something we’ll have to figure out later down the line, once they show us more information about it.

Granblue Fantasy ReLink

This title has been in the works for a good number of years now, and seems to have gone under a number of reworks. Still, an anime RPG based around one of the world’s most renowned mobile games is something I’m willing to sink my teeth into. The characters are sure to be phenomenal and the fights will be exciting. What I’m left wondering is what the end game plan will be. It’s going to make multiplayer its post-game content, and may have plans similar to Granblue Versus in an attempt to keep things interesting.

Dragon’s Dogma II

I’m so happy to hear that Dragon’s Dogma is coming back, it has excellent combat and a mix of borderline anime powers in a world full of swords, magic, and dragons to slay. The most interesting part that this title had presented to me for its first iteration was the nice middle-ground between a realistic take on fighting mythical creatures and having mystical tools to take them on with. Looking forward to what unique take on the genre they have to show us for this amazing game.

Marathon

So it continues to feel like the 1990s and 2000s are coming back to meet us as older titles continue to come back either as remakes or revived projects. Before there was Destiny, was Halo. Before there was Halo, was Marathon. Bungie’s FPS game is coming back and aside from the retro-futurism (yes that sounds weird but you get it) we have yet to figure out how Marathon will translate in the era of the PS5. We already know that this plans to be part of Sony’s live service offerings considering that this new title being worked on by a studio owned by Sony will also be on PC.

Spider-Man 2

For a hour long presentation caked with trailers, it shows how confident Sony is in Spider-Man 2 when they just decide to do the exact same thing when they revealed the previous game. Finishing off the presentation with about ten minutes of straight-up gameplay is already telling us a lot of what to expect. We see a lot of intertwining storylines here and a few new features built-into the title, and a lot of us can’t wait to get our hands on it and do the button-pressing ourselves.

Sony’s Project Q – Streaming Handheld and Earbuds

Unsure for who asked for this, but the it may be telling us that he WiiU was ahead of its time. PlayStation’s Project Q shows us that people may be able to own a dedicated streaming device in the near future, though hopefully it’ll be a bit more well thought-out than a controller with a screen stuck in the middle before it’s final release. I am however, a big fan of Sony’s take on the airpods.