Today was the big kickoff date for Sony’s PlayStation 5 showcase event, the company’s latest push to try to convince consumers that it’s worth shelling out $500 (or $400, if you’re going for a discless version) in the middle of a pandemic-fueled economic slowdown in order to get access to its brand new, very shiny, slightly-sharp-looking new console. We’ve already reported on the new pricing and release date information (it’s out November 12, just two days after Microsoft’s Series X and Series S), but let’s be honest: Release dates don’t sell consoles, games do. And this was Sony’s biggest chance yet to try to convince people that the games it’s got lined up—most of them console exclusives—were worth paying premium prices for.
The upshot of all this is that we have a bunch of new trailers to look over—even if every single one of them is linked to a sequel, remake, or otherwise expansion of an old IP. The messaging with today’s event was clear: You liked your old PlayStation 4 games, right? Well here’s some more of those (sometimes literally), with a little more shine on the apple.
Take Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, the standalone expansion to Insomniac’s beloved 2018 Spider-Man. The game definitely looks gorgeous, as Miles wanders through a Harlem street fair before taking out some baddies. It also look a whole hell of a lot like 2018's Spider-Man.
Going back even further, there’s the updated remake of From Software’s Demon’s Souls, the game that laid down the template that the company’s massively popular Dark Souls games ended up following. Looking at the trailer, it’s easy to see that, yup, that’s Demon’s Souls, albeit a much prettier implementation. (You’ll just have to take our word on that one, because Sony appears to have pulled the trailer at present.)
Meanwhile, for anyone who still feels comfortable apparating more money into J.K. Rowling’s pockets, there’s Hogwarts Legacy, which looks to be the most authentic recreation of the wizarding school since the last one. The most interesting thing about this one, honestly, is that it apparently takes place in the late 1800s, meaning that it might still be in the era before Hogwarts had plumbing, and wizards just shit on the floor, like dogs.
Next up, we’ve got a legitimate blast from the past, in the form of the first new Oddworld game since 2014: Soulstorm. At long last, a “more brutal” take on the classic goofball platforming action!
For the kids (at least, the ones who like being murdered by robots), there’s also a new Five Nights At Freddy’s game, the console-exclusive Security Breach. From the teaser, it kind of looks like you’ll be teaming up with a “good” Freddy robot to outwit the new A.I., making this (obviously) the T2: Judgment Day of the FNaF franchise.
As far as genuinely new stuff shown off today, the most revolutionary thing might be coming from the game with a 16 in its name, as Square showed off the first footage from Final Fantasy XVI. Someone at the RPG company has definitely been watching their Game Of Thrones DVDs, because the new trailer is all about oaths of vengeance, realistic wars, and kids with blood splattered all over their faces.
To round things out, we’ve also got trailers for Resident Evil VIII and Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, both of which look a whole lot like the most recent installments in their respective series. (RE: Village does have some neat animation in its story-within-a-story, though.)
Finally, we’ve got glimpses of the Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition, as well as what Fortnite will look like running on a PlayStation 5. (It will look like Fortnite.) All told, some interesting games—but nothing that necessarily screams “this is the life-changing upgrade you’ve been waiting for with your old and tired PS4.”