Playstation 5 – Truth or Hype?
So as of today, the next generation in video games has been fully unveiled. The Xbox Series X and the PlayStation 5 are leading the way in the Ninth Generation of gaming consoles, Sony unveiled their earliest lineup of games for their new system, as well as some of the features present and the console’s physical appearance. There are several games I am excited for, but underneath that excitement is a genuine feel of unease I can’t seem to shake – and that’s due in large part to the gaming industry’s history of lying. Many games, both modern and old, have had demonstrations and trailers that haven’t at all been indicative of the final product that gamers eventually have in their hands.
E3’s 2011 premier of the Aliens; Colonial Marines
The earliest blatant lie I recall from the gaming industry was 2011 from Aliens: Colonial Marines, “developed” by Gearbox Software. Developed being in quotes due to Gearbox’s now infamous outsourcing of this game’s development to TimeGate Studios. But that’s not the most egregious lie committed by this game. Right out of the gate in the 2011 E3 presentation, Colonial Marines was shown off with a polished, highly atmospheric and tense live gameplay demo. However, when the game was launched in 2014, the final product was an infamously buggy, awful mess that looked like a pale imitation of what was shown three years prior. That was my first experience with deception in advertising.
Ubisoft’s WatchDogs E3 presentation in 2012 also showcased lies in favor of “hype”. when gameplay footage showed you actively hacking into your environment and affecting the world around you to cause a car crash and pileup. In the final game, the real ways that you could interact with the game world were far less impressive and not reflected as they were in that original gameplay video.
Finally and most recently, BioWare’s open-world space shooter Anthem. In 2017, E3 gave us the first look at the game, which displayed a vibrant, living world with all sorts of creatures and storylines to discover. And yet, the sad fact is that this demo was so far from the game that was currently in development that certain staff at BioWare didn’t even realize the game on display was the one they were working on!
All this to say, I’m hesitant to get hyped for these big game presentations, even if what they are presenting is “gameplay footage” because time and time again, in the gaming world, the final game may be entirely different than what we’re promised in trailers. It’s especially nebulous with next-gen consoles because we can’t truly know what the systems are or aren’t capable of yet, so there’s no way to know if these developers are lying to our faces about the content or visual fidelity of these games. No other industry functions like this, except maybe, the movies. It would be like if you saw a trailer for a big budget blockbuster and then when you went to go see it in theaters it randomly has NERF guns in the scenes instead of the real guns you see in the trailer. It’s something dangerously close to false advertising.
Even so, there were games that caught my eye over the course of the presentation for the PlayStation 5. I can’t say any of these really gave me a desperate need to buy a PS5 over the already established PlayStation 4 but they engaged me in concept at least.
Spider-Man: Miles Morales - Sony PS5
Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a game I’m thoroughly excited for, as I’ve loved the character of Miles Morales ever since Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (which I reviewed here), Insomniac Games has proven themselves to be spectacular with the web-slinger thanks to the PlayStation 4 title, Spider-Man. As such, I can feel confident in my excitement for this title, despite the lack of gameplay. The same can also be said for Hitman III. Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart looks to be a fun and unique turn for the PlayStation series, one I haven’t picked up since the PlayStation 2’s Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal. I’m looking forward to this with confidence as the gameplay showcased doesn’t seem to be amped up in any way that’s too outlandish or demanding, even for modern consoles.
As for the other games:
Games like Project Athia and Stray are unknown titles from studios I’ve not heard of, and both simply showcase cutscenes. While their concepts may be interesting, I’m not sold in any way on them.
Oddworld: Soulstorm stands out due to its beautiful cutscenes, but I’ve never been a big fan of the series’ gameplay so I’ll probably pass on it.
Goodbye Volcano High has a really charming 2D art style, and seems to be in the vein of Night in the Woods, but with no gameplay it feels more like a trailer for an animated film or series than a video game.
Little Devil Inside showcased a funny, engaging premise, but it’s framed in such a way I have no idea what’s a cutscene and what’s gameplay, so it’s hard to know how excited I can get about it.
Returnal is a fascinating concept, a dark space adventure that looks very much inspired by the film Event Horizon. Yet with no gameplay to speak of, I have no way of knowing what kind of game it is, how it will play and whether or not I’ll enjoy it.
Resident Evil: VIIIage is the best of the “conceptual” trailers, evoking a strong atmosphere very similar to the iconic Resident Evil 4. Very little gameplay was shown, but it seems to be in the style of Resident Evil VII, and is considered to be one of the best in the series gameplay-wise. As such, I have faith that the game will be good.
Sackboy: A Big Adventure is a game not aimed at my demographic and while it could be fun to play with friends, I have no desire to seek the game out for myself.
Bugsnax is clearly a game aimed at a younger audience, but the concept alone was funny and interesting.
Destruction Allstars is a game that looks fun, even if it is a softer-edged version of Twisted Metal. However, the game could easily be ruined by microtransactions and loot-boxes, as many sports and racing games have been in the past decade.
A lot of the games simply fell into the “okay” category, like Gearbox’s Godfall, which looks to be a hack and slash game with little staying power. Pragmata is one of those “it’s weird, therefore interesting” kind of trailers that I’ve grown to hate ever since the rise of Death Stranding, so until I see gameplay I could care less about the game. Horizon: Forbidden West looks great, but I was never really interested in the game or concept so I’ll probably leave it alone. Good for people who wanted it, but I just don’t care.
Ghostwire Tokyo is another game that was teased at last year’s E3, but the trailer left me feeling conflicted. The initial trailer seemed to be marketing something dark and foreboding like Silent Hill, yet the gameplay shown here is fast and frenetic, more akin to something like Shadow Warrior. The gameplay looked cool, but the trailer failed to establish a consistent tone, something even the less interesting games like Jett: The Far Shore did.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is easily my favorite game announcement of the event, having a truly appealing Dreamworks-esque art style, gameplay reminiscent of a fusion of Pikmin and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The game looks beautiful, and the gameplay demo looked believable thanks to the more cartoonish art style that doesn’t appear to outwardly push what we know video games can look like. It’s a game I’ll definitely be on the look out for, so long as I can remember it’s unfortunately a generic sounding name.
Another game of note was Deathloop, a game that was teased last year at Bethesda’s E3 presentation, but this time we have gameplay and a story narration. The game looks to be a fun blend of Bioshock, Dishonored and Edge of Tomorrow. It’s one I’ve definitely got my eyes on.
Solar Ash is another standout shown at the conference, with a bright and unique art style and gameplay elements seemingly lifted from the highly underrated Gravity Rush series, which made a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance at the beginning of the livestream. I will say that if Gravity Rush 3 is announced for PS5 along with 1 and 2 being backwards compatible I will have no choice but to purchase the console. Just in case anyone at Sony is reading this.
My point in all this is that you should take every game announcement with a grain of salt. There’s no telling how much the games could change between now and the time of release, so temper your expectations. Also, worth noting, many of the games shown off aren’t set to release until 2021 or even 2022, so your launch library won’t include many of these titles.
Just be aware and don’t believe the hype.
