I’m going to make this brief and straight to the point. Today’s Playstation 5 Reveal event was a very important moment for Sony. News and information regarding the successor to the titular PS4 has been scant almost since its announcement. Fans have been starved for something, anything remotely pertaining to what the system and games would look like and when we can expect them. Today, we got a glimpse into the Future of Gaming.
After opening with an awkward and confusing GTA: V montage that served no other purpose than to confirm it will be coming to PS5, we were immediately treated to the reveal of SpiderMan: Miles Morales. Coming hot off the heels of last year’s wholly successful SpiderMan, Insomniac is treating fans to the next chapter in the franchise with a fantastic looking followup. Character models were clearly reworked and look well proportioned, the visual effects have been cranked up, and there are plenty of particle effects to indulge in. Also, if the trailer’s music is any indication, the soundtrack could potentially be really good.
Fittingly enough, Insomniac fired away again by revealing Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. Fans of the R&C series should feel right at home with the quirky duo’s familiar brand of Pixar esque character animations and visual fidelity. The gameplay presentation seemed tailor made to show off the PS5’s SSD speed as the game looks to be able to load multiple large scale environments one after another as the duo regularly fell through dimensional rifts as part of the gameplay hook.
I won’t recap every single game that was revealed and announced since you can see it all for yourself in the video link below, but I’ll say this: It was a very solid showing, but felt altogether expected. Big names like SpiderMan and Horizon II made their debuts and were supplemented by some intriguing 3rd party offerings. Capcom’s Pragmata and Kena: Bridge of Spirits stood out to me the most. This was Sony’s time to really drive home the message that you need to buy a PS5 at launch. Instead, I walked away with a “I’ll wait and see.” reaction. Sony’s marketing also follows a very specific formula that is designed to incapacitate and restrain the casual audience with specific audio cues and visual transitions. This design philosophy was heavily apparent in today’s presentation and I found myself zoning out in between notable announcements.
I’m also certain I’m not alone in feeling a weight being lifted off my shoulders now that Sony has finally shown some of their hand and revealed what their console will look like. In fact, I feel like the anticipation has been completely subverted by expectations. It’s a weird feeling. I’m at once excited, but at the same time uninterested and relieved now that the presentation is over. Thankfully, there is more to come and I hope to be surprised by what Sony has in store leading up to the launch of the PS5.
I like that the focus was completely on games and that they shied away from the mixed messaging they tend to deliver during presentations. Not as much smoke n’ mirrors this time around, so good on ya’, Sony.
Here’s the list of everything that was announced today (Presentation Link at the bottom):
- Grand Theft Auto: V
- Spider Man: Miles Morales
- Gran Turismo 7
- Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
- Project Athia
- Stray
- Returnal ( What a name… )
- Sackboy: A Big Adventure
- Destruction AllStars
- Kena: Bridge of Spirits
- Goodbye Volcano High
- Oddworld: Soulstorm
- Ghostwire: Tokyo
- Jett: The Far shore
- Godfall
- Solar Ash
- Hitman 3
- Astro’s Playrom
- Little Devil Inside
- NBA 2k21
- BugSnax
- Demon’s Souls Remake
- Deathloop
- Resident Evil 8: The Village
- Pragmata
- Horizon II: The Forbidden West
The show was wrapped up nicely with the long awaited reveal the console itself which-Surprise-there are two different SKUs for. That’s right. There will be a standard, Premium PS5 as well as an All-Digital version. Pricing however, was unfortunately not detailed. The system itself looks sleek and futuristic with its curvaceous design. However, I can’t help but feel concerned about its cooling solution and whether Sony was able to implement a solid enough path for ventilation that would sustain a unit with a Boosted processor and variable clock rate. We’ll find out later this year.