PlayStation just hosted its latest State of Play, with extended looks at Death Stranding 2, Rise of the Ronin, Stellar Blade, Sonic x Shadow Generations 2, and far more. While we didn't get a word on Elden Ring: Shadows of the Erdtree, it was still an exciting show nonetheless. Here's everything you missed!
We're a little under two hours away from PlayStation's January State of Play. Be sure to tune in on YouTube, Twitch or TikTok to catch the show. If you can't make it for whatever reason, keep up with this article as we provide live updates!
PlayStation's State of Play 2024 is live now! Be sure to tune in on YouTube, Twitch or TikTok to catch the show. If you can't make it for whatever reason, we'll update you on everything happening at the show!
PlayStation started the show with a look at at Helldivers 2, which is launching pretty soon. We see four pals obliterating squads and squads of alien insects across tons of planets. It's what you expected from the first Helldivers, but now thrust into third-person rather than top-down.
We also saw a huge mech which is set to come after launch. Helldivers launches February 8th.
The next game to be shown off was Stellar Blade, which was delayed from 2023 to 2024. It opens with melancholic music playing over various scenes of the protagonist before we get introduced to its post-apocalyptic view of Earth. The human race has fled to an off-world colony, and Eve, the main character, must save the planet by defeating the invading species.
However, Eve is not alone, as she meets Adam and Lily, two additional characters she meets throughout the world. Lily provides technical support and upgrades the character.
The player will also interact with Xion, who frequently refer to Eve as "Angel," and her objective to help rebuild the city. Players can engage in side-quests in this hub area, and these quests will take the player all around the wasteland where they must battle against ruthless beings. Camps are placed around the world where you can take a rest to regain health, upgrade equipment, and purchase items.
But not all survivors are friendly, as hostile humans will ambush Eve during key moments, alongside bizarre monstrosities that look like mutated animals. Afterwards, the trailer showcased plenty of clips against bosses, NPCs chatting, and each scene features Eve in many different outfits.
Stellar Blade launches April 26.
The next game shown off was a new Sonic game, seemingly taking the player through tons of classic Sonic Adventure areas before Shadow suddenly jumps into the scene with his heavier rock music. Of course, he is associated with darker, more apocalyptic arenas and gigantic tentacle monsters.
Sonic x Shadows Generations launches Autumn 2024.
Hoyoverse's latest game was shown off, featuring tons of intense scenes of gigantic bosses fighting against anime characters. Zenless Zone Zero is in development for PlayStation 5.
Starting February 6th, players can get their hands on Foamstars through PlayStation Plus, and the company showed off a sneak peak at what season one will look like.
We then saw a new look at Dave the Diver, which is seemingly coming to PlayStation this April. And it also is doing a crossover with Godzilla, revealing the monstrous kaiju appearing from the depths of the ocean. That DLC will launch May 2024.
V Rising, a top-down action game where the player cuts down trees, builds vampiric fortresses, and explores tons of different biomes was shown off. It seems to features plenty of boss fights and action gameplay. It's coming to PS5 2024.
A new Silent Hill game was shown off during the showcase. It's a first-person game where the player is exploring a series of terrifying interior locations as plenty of trippy stuff happens before a monster suddenly starts chasing the player. The monster designs seem terrifying. The game is called Silent Hill The Short Message and it's free to play.
It's available today as a PlayStation 5 free-to-play title.
We then saw a new look at Silent Hill 2's remake, featuring the protagonist walking throughout a fog-filled city, battling bizarre monstrosities, shooting enemies, and trying to pull them off by spamming X. Tons of action-packed gameplay footage of third-person shooter gameplay was revealed before a pretty epic rock soundtrack is thrown into the mix.
Ghost Story games showed off Judas, the upcoming game from Ken Levine, the legendary director of Bioshock. We saw plenty of stills showcasing cinematic moments in the story's history before we see a snippet of the main character's actions. We then see snippets of gameplay, with the player traversing this space station and battling against a series of robotic creatures. Unique powers are used to defeat enemies, but no release date is given.
We see snippets of a PlayStation VR2 horror game produced by Deep Silver, which seems to be in the Metro series, with the player traversing tons of sectors of underground locations. It's called Metro Awakening VR and launches 2024.
Another PS VR2 game was shown off, featuring first-person combat in a fantasy world against skeletons, breaking chairs and punching them in the face, blacksmithing, deflecting fireballs with a shield, and destroying several parts of the environment with these weapons. There's also spellcasting and multiplayer capabilities.
The game is titled Legendary Tales and launches February 8.
Capcom showed off more footage of Dragon's Dogma 2, revealing a massive dragon appearing from the sky against a stunning strings soundtrack. We saw consistent gameplay footage against a dragon, with the player using different builds against diverse enemies with their parties by their side. Ice magic, great swords, bows, light magic, and explosives are a few of the things we saw.
It launches March 22.
Rise of the Ronin was the next game shown off during the showcase, given a full gameplay demonstration. We witnessed a third-person demo where the player is running throughout a part of Japan which has undergone a fascinating mix of Japanese and western influences. We see the player fly into the air with their glider before jumping on a horse, alongside an intense combat system utilizing different stances. The combat is unsurprisingly reminiscent of Nioh.
There's also a good bit of stealth action, with the player sneaking behind a tower and grapple-hooking an enemy to their death. Players can also acquire a flamethrower, rifle, and pistol.
After the explanation of gameplay, we see plenty diverse scenes revealing the world at large, cutscenes, gameplay snippets, boss fights, and plenty of moments where players are getting help from other players. There's also certain structures which are destructible. It launches March 22.
PlayStation then showed off a first look at a game by Ballistic Moon. It reveals a set of dark locations with terrified individuals screaming about things being "just a prank." Torture devices are a big part of the presentation, as it reveals that Until Dawn is being remastered for PS5.
We then see a new look at Death Stranding 2, with the expected degrees of unbelievable, bonkers aesthetic philosophies Kojima is known for. The smallest snippets of a monstrous cat made of black ooze walking around, and two characters breaking a character out of their fleshy shell. And having to pull these needles out from under its skin.
We then see a scene of the classic baby that seems to spit out a ship as we see a blue Norman Reedus on said ship. The ship is called Drawbridge, and the player can outfit themselves and use weapons.
Like always, the player needs to bring the world together, alongside the existence of a talking puppet man accompanying the player throughout the world. In this game, it seems we're exploring a whole new region of the world across Mexico. We see deserts and more unique terrains than originally seen in the first game, alongside new weather conditions, showcasing a flood destroying a bridge.
It looks absolutely bonkers and my jaw has dropped at least three times during this trailer. It's also no surprise that this trailer is full of spoilers and gives us a first look at the return of a classic villain.
Death Stranding 2 launches 2025.
We're also seeing a new IP, which will begin after Death Stranding 2, in the action espionage genre. We didn't hear much about it, but Kojima said it will be a culmination of his work. It's both a movie and action game at the same time, and he hopes to "transcend the barrier" between the two mediums.
State of Play will return on February 6 with an extensive look at Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.
