Playing host to a large audience in the amphitheatre, Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) was easily one of the most eagerly anticipated press conferences of E3 (present company included). The press conference started off with melodious sitar strings being played in harmony with Indian classical music, a nod towards the first reveal of the evening – Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. What followed was the latest cinematic trailer featuring Chloe Frazer from Uncharted 2 and Nadine Ross from Uncharted 4 venturing through the vast lands of India in search for the Tusk of Ganesha. This will also be the first game in the Uncharted series to not feature the main protagonist – Nathan Drake. The game is slated for a 22nd August release this year, which is only two more months away.
Up next to bat was the latest DLC expansion pack of one of the original IP’s on the PS4 console – Horizon Zero Dawn. Featuring the snowy alps, the DLC is aptly named The Frozen Wilds and will put players back into the perspective of protagonist, Aloy. The Frozen Wilds will also feature new robotic dinosaurs, weapons and an all-new terrain, which will be made available later this year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=22&v=J5xsS1WZA54
The next game to feature during the SIE conference was from SIE Bend Studio – which is named after Bend, Oregon – and features a longer gameplay trailer of Days Gone, another post-apocalyptic zombie horde video game banking on the stealth gameplay element. This open world zombie apocalypse-survival game will also be developed with Unreal Engine 4 and features a plethora of gameplay mechanics as well as a day/night cycle and even a manipulative approach where the player can manipulate the events of the game through creative means like causing an entire horde to ambush an enemy camp.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uED22JERB8
This year’s E3 saw plenty of older but still popular game titles from many years before making a return and SIE was no stranger to that with the introduction of Monster Hunter World from the beloved Monster Hunter series that made its debut on the PS2. The game will be made available come early 2018 and can be played on both the PS4 and Xbox One consoles.
One of the first of many games soon to have its own remake is Shadow of Colossus, the PS2 action-adventure game that was released back in 2005. No, it isn’t a PS4 remastered version that we see time and time again; Shadow of Colossus will be getting a full-on remake, complete with all the modern-day graphical advancements and mechanics. I’d be lying if I were to say it didn’t bring meback to the days of the PS2 while looking exceedingly magnificent. The remake is scheduled to make an early 2018 release exclusively on the PS4, giving you one more reason to invest in one.
Taking things up a notch, up next on the SIE showcase definitely made plenty of Marvel and Street Fighter fans go crazy as Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite was shown on the big screen. Seeing Chun Li talk about the Infinity Stones alongside Mega Man and other Marvel heroes like Captain America, Iron Man, Dr. Strange and even Thanos, no less simply made my day. Coming this 17th September, Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite will be the sixth title in the crossover series while being developed and published solely by Capcom. With the help of the Unreal Engine 4 during its development stage, this popular fighting title will feature two-on-two battles instead of the usual three-on-three we’re used to seeing. Marvel’s Infinity Stones will play a big role in the game while a larger emphasis will be given towards the storytelling with its own cinematic experience.
Another Marvel title that is really heating up the scene is Marvel: Spider-Man, developed by Insomniac Games and features Peter Parker/Spider-Man as he goes about New York City, doing what a hero does best. In the gameplay trailer, we see Spidey with a new style and form of web-slinging, combat mechanics and even a more compelling storyline, which will be completely standalone from the comics and the upcoming movie. Taking a page out of the 2002 PS2 version of Spider-Man, we see the Spidey in an open world concept with combat elements eerily similar to Rocksteady Studios’ Arkham series. Marvel: Spider-Man will also feature quick-time event (QTE) gameplay, which seems to be a popular mechanic being used in many games these past few years.
The gameplay trailer focuses on Spidey web-slinging across New York, trying to stop a helicopter with a makeshift wrecking ball from, well… wrecking the city. Also, be sure to watch until the end for a nice Easter egg, which we have all come to expect from Marvel. Although earlier slated for a 2017 release, Marvel: Spider-Man has been since pushed back to be released in 2018 and with no solid date set as of yet.
Straying away from Marvel and onto Norse mythology, God of War will be the eighth instalment to the God of War series as well as being the eight chronologically while also serving as the sequel 2010’s God of War III. This time around, Kratos will be heading away from Greek mythology and moving towards Norse mythology along with his son Atreus. We also see a complete overhaul from the previous iterations in terms of gameplay as well as coming with a whole new storyline. God of War will be released in early 2018 according to Sony.
Call of Duty: World War II (CoD: WWII) also came with a new gameplay trailer, which pits you against the Nazis as well as the fascist Italians during the World War II era. You will be primarily playing the Allied forces through either the Campaign or Multiplayer mode. In all honesty, CoD: WWII reminded me of Battlefield 1 with its call to not feature health regeneration into its gameplay but rather putting the trust in your teammates for medical aid and ammunition reinforcement. CoD: WWII is set to be released worldwide on 3rd November 2017.
We also saw another Destiny 2 trailer after its ‘Rally the Troops’ worldwide reveal trailer was released. This time, we see a new monologue from the main antagonist, Dominus Ghaul who was already mentioned during the previous trailers. Although there weren’t much updates on Destiny 2, it does reveal that Bungie is focusing more towards the in-depth storytelling of Destiny 2 rather than how it went for its predecessor. The release date for Destiny 2 has also been pushed up to 4th September 2017 while the Windows release date was confirmed for 24th October 2017.
As it is SIE’s way, the showcase also featured heavily on virtual reality (VR) as we see Final Fantasy XV getting a PSVR game titled Monsters of the Deep, which is essentially a fishing game. Other PSVR games include Skyrim (big surprise), a military first-person shooter game called Bravo Team, a psychological thriller known as Inpatient and Star Child, which didn’t really have much to go on except that it was excessively colourful.
Right after the PSVR games reveal came Detroit: Become Human, a neo-noir thriller game developed by Quantic Dream and published exclusively for the PS4. Detroit focuses on three main characters, all of whom are androids and the choices you make within the game defines the overall outcome of the story. Although announced back in 2015, Detroit: Become Human still doesn’t have a confirmed release date.
Although this wasn’t shown during the livestream of SIE’s showcase, I did a bit of digging through official PlayStation YouTube channel and found this. Enjoy.
If you’re interested in checking out the full two-hour length showcase, you can watch it on the video below. If you want to skip straight to the start, the showcase starts at the 1:01:58 mark.
