The most exciting (and underwhelming) reveals from the PlayStation State of Play stream
Parts of Sony’s big gaming event were cool, and parts were less cool.
January 2024’s State of Play stream was, in the aggregate, totally fine. There were several cool-looking games, most of which are coming out in 2024. Some of them are out in the next few months, which is great. However, almost none of it was actually new. Just about everything that was shown had been previously announced.
Still, that doesn’t mean there weren’t moments of genuine excitement (and side-eyeing skepticism) to be found.
Exciting: Dave the Diver x Godzilla
Dave the Diver is a quirky little indie scuba simulator that stole hearts back in 2023, primarily on PC. As part of the State of Play stream, Sony announced that the game is coming to PS5 in April.
That’s all well and good, but the truly exciting part of the announcement was the reveal that Godzilla DLC is coming in May. It’s free and it features Godzilla. That’s all we need to know.
Exciting: Sonic X Shadow Generations
2011’s Sonic Generations is one of the startlingly few 3D Sonic games that are fun to play. It’s a charming adventure full of throwbacks to Sonic games good and bad, not to mention some kick-ass music to go along with it.
Sonic X Shadow Generations looks to mostly be a remaster of that game, but with a twist: There’s a new campaign starring Shadow the Hedgehog bundled in this new package. This is undoubtedly meant to piggyback off Shadow’s appearance in the upcoming third Sonic the Hedgehog movie, but hey, gamers of a certain age who grew up on Sonic Adventure 2 will appreciate this.
Exciting: Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
I don’t even know where to begin with this one.
2019’s Death Stranding was, in our words, a masterpiece. It’s a uniquely lonely game about helping others and being helped, with the generous helping of the kind of weirdness creator Hideo Kojima usually injects into his games. The sequel got an extended look at the State of Play, and all you need to know is that it features a man in Joker makeup shooting electricity out of a guitar at cyber samurai dudes.
Just watch the trailer.
Exciting: Mystery Kojima game
Sony capped off the stream with a “surprise” appearance by Kojima himself. However, he wasn’t just there to talk Death Stranding. Instead, he announced that he is working on an entirely original “espionage action” game for PlayStation. It didn’t get a title or a trailer. Heck, it didn’t get any other real information at all.
But that doesn’t matter. “Espionage action” is famously part of the tagline for the original Metal Gear Solid. You can read this as Kojima making a new Metal Gear in spirit, if not in name. That’s about as exciting as it gets.
Underwhelming: Silent Hill 2 remake
Last and, unfortunately, least is the upcoming remake of Silent Hill 2. The seminal 2001 horror classic is widely considered one of the best video games ever made, and publisher Konami’s mismanagement of the series in the last 15 years or so has left a lot of fans wanting.
A remake of SH2 should be thrilling to fans, but the gameplay trailer shown during State of Play may have raised more questions than answers. Put simply, the trailer markets the game like it’s an action-packed third-person shooter. If you haven’t played the original Silent Hill 2, it’s…not that. It’s a creepy, psychological exploration of mental illness and abuse.
Maybe the remake has that stuff too. But we didn’t see it in this trailer, so all we can do is judge what we’ve been shown.