PlayStation's Past and Future
There is a lot to look forward to in 2020, two new consoles are on the horizon, which means new titles for them, but as we get to the tail end of the two they are replacing, games are getting bigger and bolder, as developers have learnt how to leverage all the power and technical know-how from them, to craft worlds the demand to be enjoyed. So, let’s take a look at what we have to look forward to for 2020 from PlayStation.
It is easy to mark PlayStation down for 2019, as a quiet year, given that their major titles were Days Gone, Death Stranding and Medievil, but the company that was perhaps the quietest of all the console makers, was there, releasing content on a pretty consistent basis.
They started off their year with the latest entry in MLB The Show, a series which, despite its current platform exclusivity, has always done exceptionally well, and while 19 might have been a revolution of a game, it was still an excellent one. Sadly, after the good times, usually come the bad time and for Sony last year that was Days Gone, the open world zombie filled game, wait, sorry Freakers. That simple fact alone hurt the game in many ways, people were slowly starting to accept that we had to many zombie titles and for another one to show up, it had to have something amazing going for it.
Days Gone had an awesome concept, hordes of zombies and if you stirred the horde, things could go very bad for you, the problem was that from the outset, they tried to push the name Freakers, which would not have been as bad if it was a natural thing, but it was not. Couple that with the delays the game had, it was an uphill battle from the outset and not even the power of Deacon St John’s ride could help them.
Of course, PlayStation VR kept chugging along as well, with the amazing Blood and Truth released for it and while it was the only real title from Sony, there was Concrete Genie, which did support it and that too garnered some positive attention. Later in October, we got the remake of Medievil and while I was never a fan of the original, there was no denying that the developers put a lot of love and attention into this new version.
Finally, you can’t talk about 2019 without discussing both Death Stranding and the PlayStation 5, now with Death Stranding, there was a lot of expectation coming with it, the first title from a Konami free Kojima, complete with the backing of PlayStation, seemed like a recipe for success. The game released and it has some mixed reviews out there, some people love it, or at least what it is trying to do, others hate it and claim it over complicates everything, regardless of where you fall, there is no denying it was an important game for the year and the industry. The other factor was the PlayStation 5, from an early story the hype started to build and then E3 2019 came and went, with Sony not even showing up for the show, later in the year we got another update on what the console could do, but that was it, after Death Stranding, Sony just sort of called it a year.
2020 is going to be different, much like the same reasons for Xbox, not only do they have a wave of new titles, but they have a new console in the PlayStation 5, which just had its logo announced at CES 2020, spoiler alert it looks like all the others.
Things get busy for the company in February when Dreams is finally released, the game having been confirmed to go gold just the other day. Dreams is a game where you can make any game you want in it, as long as you have some skills, what was initially teased as digital playdoh, has evolved into something powerful and given some of the content created by the early access players, when the full game releases to everyone, expect to see some amazing work.
Later in February, players will strap on their VR headset and become Iron Man, when Iron Man VR is released, complete with an entirely new story to enjoy. I got the play the game at PAX Australia 2019 and while it is interesting the show space was not the best venue for it, so I am keen to see how it goes in a more conductive play space. This is the next big title for PlayStation VR and the one that easily has the most mass-market appeal, so it will be interesting to see how it goes.
April did have two games, before one was delayed, so now we are left with Predator Hunting Grounds, the 4v1 multiplayer game and while the concept might sound a little meh, given that the Predator is one of the movie industry’s more deadly creatures, if done right, it could be an amazing game. With new types of Predator’s to play as, each with their own pros and cons, it will be interesting to see how many people reach out to this one.
The Last of Us Part II was initially dated for April, but Naughty Dog pushed the game back to May, to allow for some more development time and given their now famous history of quality, I don’t think many people will complain on that. The game has jumped some years from where the first one ended and now focuses on Ellie as she gets pulled into a world where she is driven by revenge, it is a different tone than the original game, but one I am sure they can pull off, we just now have to wait for it.
The only other game we know about from Sony in 2020 is Ghosts of Tsushima, from Sucker Punch the studio that created Infamous, the game is visually impressive and one I can’t wait to play. Players will be given an open world to explore as they are one of the last samurai on the island of Tsushima, as they protect their homes from the invasion of the Mongol empire, which happened in real life back in 1270, give or take a few years. I am quite excited for this one, and while we only have Winter 2020 as our release window, it is still better than nothing.
Of course, the other thing to come in 2020 is the PlayStation 5, the problem is we don’t know much about it, we have two confirmed games, thanks to Edge magazine, as The Lord of the Rings Gollum will also come to it, but again, we have what they were looking at, but we don’t know for sure. Given how much success Sony have had with the PlayStation 4, you can see them hoping to keep that momentum going with the PlayStation 5, we just have to wait and see how it all plays out.
