February State of Play Wrap-Up
Let the reactions commence! Sony aired its first State of Play for 2023 on Thursday, February 23rd. Here’s a rundown of what you missed during the show:
PSVR2 Has a Roadmap of Releases
Sony’s big hardware release for this quarter dropped earlier this week. In addition to the dozens of games already available, we got looks at five more releasing throughout 2023.
The Foglands is a VR roguelike game that mixes sci-fi and cowboy atmospheres together. Green Hell VR offers survival gameplay in the deep jungle. nDreams, the developers behind Far Cry VR: Dive into Insanity, revealed their new telekinesis, gunplay driven game, Synapse. Isaac Asimov’s The Foundation receives a VR title, Journey to Foundation, this fall. Finally, next month, Before Your Eyes comes to PSVR2 and PlayStation Plus on March 10th.
Lightfall is Nigh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-7Cq7LLPr4
The famed looter-shooter dropped its next expansion’s launch trailer. We saw multiple major plot facets of Tuesday’s release: The Witness coming to Sol, his and Calus’ Shadow Legion swarming Neptune, the Strand subclass, and more. Lightfall will be the second-to-last main story expansion in the current Destiny story before The Final Shape.
State of Play Previewed Multiple Indie Games
Between the major titles throughout the day, Sony still had time for its indie game slate. We got a trailer, demo, and release window for Humanity, a multi-dimensional puzzle game. KO_OP’s upcoming animated narrative game, Goodbye Volcano High, got an in-depth trailer featuring both plot beats, gameplay, and a long-awaited release date of June 15th. Finally, Tchia, a game inspired by the Southern Pacific island group New Caledonia, got a gameplay trailer and release date of March 21st. In addition, the game will launch on PlayStation Plus services.
Fighting Games Got a State of Play Spotlight
Anime and fighting-game fans got nice gifts during the State of Play. First, we got a lengthy trailer for Naruto x Boruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections, based on the beloved anime, Naruto. Ultimate Ninja is the long-running fighting-genre Naruto game, with previous releases dating all the way back to 2003 (only released in Japan).
Additionally, Street Fighter 6 showed off a couple of new fighters joining for its June 2nd release. These include Zangrief, aka the “Red Cyclone,” Cammy, member of a British Special Forces team, Delta Red, and Lily, a nature-loving descendant of the Thunderfoot tribe.
Wayfinder Is Taking Beta-Registrations
Wayfinder showed us gameplay and announced a private beta starting February 28th. The game features a mystical world called Evenor, similar to World of Warcraft’s Azeroth, and a mix of third-person gunplay and martial combat. The beta will be exclusively on PlayStation, and will be the first of a series, per the registration page.
State of Play Closed with Major Release Dates and Deep Dives
Finally, we got trailers for the most anticipated releases for this year. Resident Evil 4 Remake, which drops on March 24th, showed its new trailer and announced a future demo. 2021’s Resident Evil: Village did something similar as well. Baldur’s Gate 3 got both a gameplay trailer and a release date of August 31st.
Finally, the highly advertised finale went to Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. We got a demo of the four villains (Harley Quinn, Boomerang, Deadshot, and King Shark) fighting Brainiac’s forces throughout Metropolis. With four supervillains, we’re also getting co-op gameplay. You can play along as one of them or with friends and control up to all four of them. After that demo, we got a breakdown of each characters’ gameplay abilities, promises for continued support for the game, and further plot details.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League drops May 26th.
