Sony and PlayStation didn’t mess around with their State of Play show held a couple of days ago. It was 20 minutes of back to back announcements and I’m not sure if I’ve still recovered. This month’s episode of State of Play sported a brand new look but more importantly brought us some much-needed updates to Sony’s lineup. If you missed out on the livestream itself, don’t fret because we’ve got a roundup of all the biggest announcements and trailers from PlayStation’s September State of Play right here.
The Last Of Us: Part II by Naughty Dog
Probably the biggest announcement from this month’s state of play is the reveal date of The Last of Us: Part II. If you’ve never played The Last of Us, well you really should. It’s a rollercoaster of deep storytelling, atmospheric locations and emotions. And it looks like The Last of Us: Part II will be continuing that legacy. In our first full-length cinematic trailer of the game, we find ourselves time jumping a couple of years. Ellie is older and more battle-hardened. But what’s most important is that we get to see Joel.
The Last of Us: Part II will be releasing on February 21 2020. Get emotionally ready.
Humanity by Tetsuya Mizuguchi
Sony announced Humanity, a hard-to-describe game coming from Enhance, the studio led by Tetsuya Mizuguchi. Depicting streams of people moving together and against one another, the trailer looked like drone footage of the final days of the Christmas shopping period. The meditative gameplay from his previous works, like Rez and Tetris Effect, seems to have made its way into this new title. But as for what’s actually happening, it looks like a mix between Lemmings and Totally Accurate Battle Simulator, but with some elegant visuals and interesting sound design. It will also have an optional PlayStation VR mode.
Humanity has been described as a “crowd action game” and while we’re not entirely sure what that means we are still interested to see what it will involve when it launches on PS4 and PSVR in 2020.
MediEvil Remake by Other Ocean Interactive
The original MediEvil was released back on the PS1 in 1998 as a hack-and-slash 3D combat adventure game. Set in the medieval Kingdom of Gallowmere, you play Sir Daniel Fortesque as he attempts to stop the Zarok’s invasion. MediEvil is funny and whimsical, think Tim Burton Corpse Bride vibes. Which is extremely fitting for its October 25th launch date, right in time for Halloween.
If you can’t wait to play the game there’s a demo that’s up on the PlayStation Store until October 6th. The demo will give you a small taste of the game’s new combat mechanics.
Afterparty by Night School Studio
It comes as no surprise that the best drinks are going to be served in hell. Described as a “boozy buddy adventure”, Afterparty will have players taking on the roles of Lola and Milo, two friends who have recently died. To avoid an eternity in hell, all they need to do is out-drink Satan, and they can return to Earth. It’s a bit more of a dark comedic route for Night School Studio. In comparison to their previous supernatural thriller Oxenfree (one of our best games from 2016).
The game will launch on the PS4, Xbox One and the Epic Games Store on October 29th, just in time for Halloween. A launch on the Nintendo Switch is also expected at a later date.
Wattam by Keita Takahashi
From the creator of Katamari Damacy and Noby Noby Boy, comes a colourful and whimsical adventure called Wattam. In Wattam, players will control a variety of objects. Some of those living objects will ask you do them favours, but sometimes they just want you to dance. Players can make friends and reconnect objects in the world, resulting in big, confetti-spraying explosions of joy. Wattam looks set to be another wacky and joyful adventure filled with unusual and likeable characters. As well as fantastic music and surprising gameplay.
The game was first announced all the way back in 2015. But now we know that it will launch sometime in December 2019 on the PS4 and PC.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare by Infinity Ward
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is a reboot of the Call of Duty series. Much like how James Bond regularly gets replaced with a new actor. Studio narrative director Taylor Kurosaki explains “by the end of Modern Warfare, 3 nukes had gone off, the Russians had invaded the US and, frankly for us as storytellers, there were no relatable stakes left for us to craft a story around.” In this Call of Duty: Modern Warfare you’re going against an al-Qaeda cell, lead by someone called the Wold to follow a massive van bomb in Piccadilly Circus.
What returns in this Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is a Spec Ops Survival mode, exclusive only to PS4 players (until October 2020). It’s basically a co-op survival mode that looks to be a horde mode-adjacent spin on that concept. We’ll know more when Call of Duty: Modern Warfare launches next month on October 25th.
Arise by Piccolo Studio
You wake up in limbo, where a mysterious light beckons you from atop of a snowy mountain. Your trek towards it turns into a bittersweet journey through your life, where you relive the moments of happiness but also have to face devastating tragedies all over again. Arise is a beautiful story set in a gorgeous atmospheric world. Gameplay-wise it looks to be a 2.5D puzzle-platformer, where players can climb walls, break down trees to make bridges, and jump across giant flowers.
The State of Play presentation didn’t offer a date for Arise, although it will come to PlayStation 4 when Techland and Piccolo Studio release it.
