Sony Computer Interactive Entertainment was quick to downplay expectations of major announcements taking place in the build-up to PlayStation Experience 2017, but what did PlayStation Experience 2017 provide in terms of surprises and entertainment?
Firewall: Zero Hour
ROM Extraction developer First Contact Entertainment’s Firewall: Zero Hour was announced as a PlayStation VR exclusive which delivers the prospect of tactical 4 vs. 4 team focused Rainbow Six style gameplay albeit in virtual reality. As one team looks to defend an objective, while the opposing team aims to breach. Gameplay will be tense as it revolves around full tactical organisation and communication in addition to full locomotion and strategic use of walls and obstacles as cover before peaking out around corners to shoot from cover.
The Last Guardian VR Experience
The Last Guardian VR Experience was surprisingly unveiled containing 20 minutes of gameplay as a free Christmas present for anyone who supported the game throughout its troubled development and PlayStation VR. However, despite other free VR experiences being clearly titled VR Experience; The Last Guardian is officially titled as a VR Demo on the store which may hint at a fully fledged game in the not too distant future.
Wipeout Omega Collection VR
Since Wipeout Omega Collection was announced at E3 2017; gamers were asking for PlayStation VR compatibility to be included in the collection, but it seemed that PlayStation preferred to push 4K via PS4 Pro upon launch instead of creating an all-new virtual reality sensation. Shawn Layden announced Wipeout Omega Collection would receive a free patch in early 2018 that would not only implement virtual reality but also an all-new cockpit view that is unique in style and design to each ship.
MediEvil Remake
Shawn Layden wore a mostly zipped-up jacket above a t-shirt that seemed to suggest that it would be a similar tease to that of the Crash Bandicoot t-shirt at PlayStation Experience 2015. Shawn Layden revealed the t-shirt to be none other than MediEvil’s lead character Sir Daniel Fortesque before a brief reveal trailer for a remake of the original MediEvil was shown. A lot of long-term PlayStation gamers will no doubt be ecstatic to see the return of MediEvil, but it felt quite hollow to me as it is an absolutely baffling decision to start 2017 by announcing the closure of one of PlayStation’s most talented and loyal developers known as Guerrilla Cambridge (previously named Cambridge Studio) after 19 years of creating quality games such as MediEvil 1 and 2 and C-12: Final Resistance on PS1, Primal and Ghosthunter on PS2, MediEvil: Resurrection and Little Big Planet on PSP, Killzone Mercenary on Vita and RIGS on PlayStation VR; only to end the year with an announcement of one of their many exceptional original IPs returning. As if that was not bad enough, whereas remakes and collections of retro games are elsewhere usually a minimum of two games or an entire trilogy; MediEvil is a single game, while the two leading team members in the MediEvil series including creative director Chris Sorrell and lead designer Jason Wilson have discussed in interviews that they were not even informed of the remake let alone being consulted for advice on tone or artistic direction.
Third-Party Games
Following the much anticipated Soul Calibur VI reveal and Death Stranding trailer which both previously appeared at The Game Awards 2017; new Soul Calibur VI gameplay was showcased. Hideo Kojima talked about the progression of Death Stranding’s development from its inception to the latest trailer in a discussion that also featured Mark Cerny and Andrew House which was quite revealing as they chatted about how Hideo and Andrew first met. An unexpected third-party announcement that also initially took place at The Game Awards 2017 came in the form of Saber Interactive collaborating with Paramount Pictures for a promising game based on World War Z.
Positive Outlook for Vita in 2018, Despite Another Vita No Show
Given the immediate talk about PlayStation Presents being a condensed show; it was quite surprising to see a total lack of any mention of the Vita; even though PlayStation Experience usually provides a few minutes of positive Vita announcements. This is of course despite the announcement on social media that Papers Please would finally release for Vita on December 12th 2017, alongside Romancing Saga 2 and European releases of Revenant Saga and Zero Escape: The Nonary Games within the same week. 2018 is looking positive for Vita with a healthy quantity of games officially announced that is starting to turn a few talented developer’s heads towards considering Vita as a realistic proposition once more including Stardew Valley receiving a Vita port, while Assault Android Cactus also received a PEGI age rating within a day of Papers Please. Elsewhere, there are a number of quality games from EastAsiaSoft such as Rainbow Skies, Reverie, Sir Eatsalot and Unepic, while Atlus’ announcement of Catherine: Full Body could have easily been brought forward to coincide with PlayStation Presents to further reinforce the Vita’s ongoing strong line-up for 2018, alongside a further Atlus presence on Vita from Persona 5: Dancing Star Night and Persona 3: Dancing Moon Night gameplay trailers as both Persona rhythm action games have already been announced for Vita. Unfortunately, it is obvious that PlayStation did not attempt to reach out to third-party developers to promote the Vita as if they had; there would have been at least 10 minutes worth of Vita focused trailers.
Developer Segments
There were a variety of unannounced and unadvertised developer segments that took place in-between the panels in which some further announcements were made.
Killing Floor Incursion
Tripwire Interactive’s Killing Floor Incursion was revealed for PlayStation VR. Incursion is a full story based game built for the ground-up for PlayStation VR that ups the gore even more so in comparison to Killing Floor 2 such as being able to take a weapon from an enemy after having defeated it, then utilising that weapon to take on the incoming hordes of enemies.
Blood and Truth PlayStation VR Gameplay
Blood and Truth was announced at E3 2017 courtesy of PlayStation VR Worlds developer London Studios, but we got to see a more in-depth look at gameplay for one of PlayStation VR’s most promising games of 2018.
Golem
Golem had previously been announced prior to the release of PlayStation VR, but impressive adventurous PlayStation VR gameplay combined with a confirmed release date of March 13th 2018 certainly made for a great showing. The PlayStation VR exclusive features an innovative control scheme engineered by Jaime Griesemer (Game Designer on Infamous: Second Son and Destiny) and original music by award-winning composer Marty O’Donnell having previously composed music for Destiny.
Media Molecule’s panel was one of the best as it really shined a light on the gameplay that Dreams offers instead of re-treading what we had already seen. Expectant Little Big Planet and Tearaway fans got a preview of not only platforming gameplay, but how the creation tools appear far less daunting than Little Big Planet, while simultaneously allowing players to be more elaborative with the scale of their creations such as creators being able to try their hand at being a voice-over artist by recording dialogue or narrative for inclusion in their levels.
Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima Panel
Sucker Punch’s panel was interesting as it gave some insight into the creative process and direction of Sucker Punch’s surprising new IP and even how the announcement very nearly leaked extremely prematurely, but it was disappointing to not see a gameplay trailer, especially after over three years since the release of Sucker Punch’s previous game Infamous: First Light.
Uncharted 10th Anniversary Celebration Panel
The Uncharted 10th Anniversary celebration panel was very entertaining yet also emotional. I teared up when Emily Rose passionately stated what playing Elena Fisher meant to her, everything that had happened in her life and her emotions on Uncharted 4 being her final appearance as Elena Fisher. It was a sudden direct correlation between a long-term performer in Uncharted and a long-term fan of the Uncharted series as Emily mentioned that Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune was her first job immediately after finishing University with the first Uncharted releasing in the same year that I had just started attending University, so in that moment we were in one way or another chasing our dreams. It was this level of dialogue that felt very personal, close-up and intimate for not just me but every Uncharted fan watching in person at the Anaheim Convention Center and around the globe via PlayStation Livecast.
The Last of Us: Part II’s Meet the Cast panel began in an unexpectedly amazing way as Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker who perform the roles of Ellie and Joel respectively; provided a stunning acoustic rendition of the song The Wayfaring Stranger. Neil Druckmann rather interestingly confirmed that The Last of Us: Part II is actually 50% to 60% complete at the time of appearing at PlayStation Experience 2017 with the next trailer for The Last of Us: Part II scheduled to be revealed at E3 2018.
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Jason
Jason plays all genres of games and enjoys all different kinds of experiences that the games industry has to offer. Jason's favourite PlayStation exclusive franchises throughout various eras include: Crash Bandicoot, God of War, Gran Turismo, inFamous, Killzone, Little Big Planet, MotorStorm, Resistance, Spyro the Dragon, Uncharted, Wipeout and various games that never became big name franchises. A special mention goes to Black Rock's superb Split Second: Velocity as it is rather unbelievable that it will never receive a sequel.
Jason now mainly plays modern PlayStation games on home console and portably, but occasionally returns to the old retro classics on the 3DO, PS1 and PS2 such as discovering Cool Spot Goes to Hollywood 20 years after its original release on PS1. Jason is happy to see gaming coming full circle with updates for retro classics such as Alien Breed, Superfrog and Crash Bandicoot.
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