The q1 state of play shows the potential of playstation’s 2025 slate of games - quick take #13
It’s February, which means it’s time for PlayStation to give gamers a look at the forthcoming slate of releases for the year with their State Of Play event. Compared to their annual showcase event which PlayStation will reserve its biggest announcements for, State Of Play typically focuses on new looks at already announced games with a handful of smaller tier announcements sprinkled in. As a result, many people feel that State Of Play isn’t as exciting as the big showcase – but personally, I love it! This year’s State Of Play was fantastic, almost reaching the level of hype typically associated with the showcase in my opinion. In this Quick Take, I’m going to run through some of the announcements that I’m the most excited for.
It’s interesting how different the Xbox_Developer Direct and the State Of Play presentations are. I’m not comparing them to suggest that one is better than the other because honestly, they’re both fantastic – but the differences in their presentation styles illustrate where each company is in regards to how they communicate with fans. The Developer Direct takes a more personal approach, spending ample time letting developers speak on camera about the game. State Of Play lets the trailers do the talking with only short slices of time given to the developers to speak. Again, I’m not suggesting one is better than the other, in fact, they both achieved what they set out to do in my opinion: get the players hyped for the year ahead. Anyway, this isn’t about Xbox, so let’s get on with the list.
Monster Hunter Wilds
The Monster Hunter Wilds spot didn’t do much for me here, but not because it was bad! I’ve already reached maximum levels of hype for this game, so there’s little Capcom could do at this point to hype me up further. Although, it was nice to get a glimpse at the content roadmap covering the first couple of months post launch. February 28th can’t come soon enough!
Shinobi Art Of Vengeance
This game kind of reminds me of what Nine Sols is going for: highly stylized art with a bold, saturated color palette with Sekiro-like combat. As of writing however, I have yet to play that game, so Shinobi Art Of Vengeance will have to join my 2D side scroller Sekiro-like backlog. I’m pleasantly surprised to see that backlog getting more than one game in the span of a year though! Backlog woes aside, this game looks incredible with its brutal, fast combat style and grandiose presentation. This one lands on 8/29.
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds
I’ve never played a Sonic kart racer…but that’s about to change! CrossWorlds appears to be implementing a world splitting mechanic, where the lead driver has the ability to control what new world the entire race gets transported to. This seems like a pretty novel mechanic that could add some pretty unique flavor to the game. Typically, I prefer to experience Sonic’s speed with his running, but we’ll see if it translates to a sports car when it launches later this year. For now, I’m optimistic!
Onimusha: Way Of The Sword
I’ve never played an Onimusha game and honestly, that could change even before this comes out in 2026 if I decide to hop into Onimusha 2 remastered. We’ll see, but for now, Onimusha: Way Of The Sword is looking like a really heavy hitter. The combat design appears to demand a calculated and intentional approach from the player. No button mashing, which I like! Not much else to say on this one yet since it’s still a bit far out, but so far, it looks great!
Lies Of P Overture DLC
If you haven’t noticed the pattern by now, most of the games on this list are those whose predecessors I’ve yet to play, and Lies Of P is one of them. There’s never been a question of whether or not I want to play Lies of P, it’s more a question of when I’ll get to it. In any case, the Overture DLC looks really intriguing. Having not played the base game yet, I don’t have a touchstone for the story, but with it being labeled as a Souls-Like, I always assumed it was light on narrative elements. The Overture DLC seems to feature some really interesting story beats along with what appears to be a combat system I’ll have no problem becoming utterly addicted to. The Lies of P Overture DLC lands this summer.
PlayStation Classics Catalog Additions
Armored Core 1-3: Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon was my 2023 game of the year. It was a game that I went into worried that I wouldn’t enjoy having never played the 5 games that preceded it. That turned out to be a non-issue, as it quickly became one of my favorite games of all time. Now, I’ll get to see where it all began!
Dreams Of Another
This game receives the award for “most unique looking project” from State Of Play. The basic premise is that rather than destroying things with a gun, like in literally every other shooter ever, you use your gun to create. It’s one of those concepts that seems so obvious and inconceivable at the same time. On top of that, Dreams Of Another appears to be using voxel art – one of my favorite art styles famously used by games like Minecraft, Teardown, and many more.
Saros
At the end of the trailer when the camera pans to a reflection of the MC’s eyes showing the spiral of bullet hell coming their way, I jumped out of my seat in excitement knowing that only one developer would cook something up like this. Housemarq is BACK baby! I absolutely loved Returnal, even though it’s unrelenting difficulty turned me into a miserable person to be around. Ever since experiencing that utter masterpiece, I’ve been hungry for what Housemarq was working on next. Now we know! The main premise of the game is “come back stronger”, showing that unlike the stricter roguelike design of Returnal, the player will enjoy permanent upgrades upon dying to help them overcome the game’s challenges.
All in all, I walked away from this year’s State Of Play extremely excited for what PlayStation has been cooking behind the scenes – and we didn’t even get a look at heavy hitters like Ghost Of Yotei! Are you excited for PlayStation’s upcoming slate of games? Or are you not quite as excited? Maybe you’re somewhere in between! Wherever you land with this, let me know in the comments!
Read about all of the games that were announced and highlighted:
Watch the full presentation here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQtPbTOhLEc