Sony set an interesting precedent for their E3 showcase about a month before their show, announcing that four games would be the main highlight of their presentation.
They delivered on the promise of four incredibly riveting game previews, and the PlayStation team even managed to throw in a few surprises like Remedy’s new title Control and crowd favourites Nioh 2 and Resident Evil 2 remake, only the latter of which got a release date this coming January.
But what of those games has Sony actually shown this year? Of the four games, three of them didn’t get a year splashed on the screen (let alone an actual release date), and the other was an extended gameplay demo of what we’ve seen before, for a game that is launching in less than three months.
The Last of Us Part II started off the show to thunderous applause. Ellie returns, older and more mature, and is a seriously bad-ass menace. The trailer depicted incredible visuals, smooth gameplay, and a story thread from start to finish. But alas, no release date or year revealed.
On to Ghost of Tsushima, a game that also echoes in The Last of Us‘ stunning visuals with some of the best environmental physics we’ve ever seen, but again, no semblance of when that game is coming out.
Death Stranding had a predictably, umm, interesting trailer. Kojima Productions has never quite made an effort to make sure that its games make immediate sense, opting for a much more visceral, unique experience that leaves a lot more to be discovered over time. Oh, and a release date? Sensing a theme here? Nope. In fact, this one was just a cinematic trailer. There were a few fleeting moments of actual gameplay, but for the most part, this was a trailer as opposed to a demo of the title.
Rounding out the big four titles was Spider-Man, a game coming to PlayStation 4 in just a few months, on September 7. This gameplay trailer was just as exciting as the previous ones we’d seen, but with a few bigger reveals and what appeared to be higher stakes for Spidey. There was a cliffhanger ending, leaving players awaiting a reveal of a new character, which was a nice touch. But even here, where we know the release date, there is not much by way of a surprise.
So what did Sony show that ended up being a massive shock? Well, nothing really. They had some interesting news and a few genuine surprises from third-party publishers, but didn’t do much to deliver on when we might be able to see any of these games. Out of the nine games shown, we saw two release dates, one of which, for Spider-Man, we already knew.
Let’s hope Sony has plans to reveal the release dates–or perhaps just a general release window–at Paris Games Week or at PSX 2018. Otherwise, we’re not going to be playing any of these games until well after 2020.