Gaming Influence: Thoughts - PlayStation State of Play | September 14, 2023

Hello everyone, 

Welcome to Gaming Influence, a reboot of the same name I created in WrestleCorp. However, not only will I be giving my thoughts on certain video games and video game series, but also video game movies, video game anime, video game digital presentations, etc.

For this edition of Gaming Influence, I'll be giving my thoughts on the PlayStation State of Play which happened on September 14, 2023.

Before I start, not every game that was shown in this presentation will be talked about as I will mainly talk about games that I care about and am interested in. If the games you care about and are interested in don't show up here, don't take it personally, have nothing against the games, but they're not just for me or it's just that I don't have much to say about them except cool. However, if you are happy with the games that you care about and are interested in I'm not or have nothing to say about it, good for you and I'm happy for you.

Anyway, let's get started!

This PlayStation State of Play will cover indie, PSVR2, and third-party games coming in the future so let's get to it!

Baby Steps is a walking simulation game developed by Maxi Boch, Bennett Foddy, and Gabe Cuzzillo. The game is published by Devolver Digital and it will be released on PS5 in Summer 2024.

Okay, this looks to be a fun walking simulator where you have to be very careful about how you walk to the next destination to survive. This should be a fun game to play and it'll definitely going to have some funny moments to experience so we'll see how it turns out when the game comes out next summer.

Resident Evil 4 Separate Ways is DLC for the survival horror game developed and published by Capcom, Resident Evil 4. The DLC is set to be released on PS5 and PS4 on September 21, 2023.

Oh dang, didn't expect Separate Ways to make a return to this game, but it looks like they're bringing it back here which is great to see. Separate Ways was also in the original game on GameCube as it's basically Ada's point of view in the story in Resident Evil 4 which should be a lot of fun. In addition to this, we also get Ada and Wesker added to The Mercenaries in the game as well so that's a great bonus. Looking forward to seeing how Separate Ways turns out in this remake of Resident Evil 4 when it comes out next week.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is an open-world action-adventure game developed by Massive Entertainment and published by Ubisoft. The game is set to be released on PS5 on December 7, 2023.

This game is looking pretty good so far as the gameplay looks to be a lot of fun with action combat and the fact that this game is open world is quite nice as Pandora in the Avatar movies is quite big. Looking forward to seeing how this game will turn out overall as it'll be released in three months.

Ghostrunner II is the sequel to the lightning-fast slasher developed by One More Level and published by 505 Games, Ghostrunner. The game is set to be released on PS5 on October 26, 2023. A demo of the game is available now on PS5.

We saw this game back in the PlayStation Showcase, but this time, we actually got to see the gameplay of it and it looks great. The first game was pretty good from what I remembered so if this game is anything like that, but with more improvements, this should be a very fun experience. The fact that this game gets a demo as well shows that the developers have confidence in this game and that's a good sign as I can't wait to try it out. We'll see how this game will turn out when it's released next month.

Helldivers II is a third-person squad-based shooter developed by Arrowhead Game Studios and published by PlayStation Studios. The game is set to be released on PS5 and PC on February 8, 2024.

We saw this game back at the PlayStation Showcase four months ago as they got to show more gameplay of the game which continues to look great. The co-play seems to be a lot of fun and this does look like a fun co-op game to play with friends or people online so we'll see how the overall game will turn out when it's released in five months.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is an action-adventure game developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The game is set to be released on PS5 on October 20, 2023. 

The more I see this game, the more I am impressed by it as it continues to look amazing. It looks like this game will be bigger as it will be twice the size of Marvel's Spider-Man due to having two cities to explore Queens and Brooklyn, New York. The Webwing mechanic is an awesome addition to travel through the cities in fashion which is nice to see. They're also adding quality-of-life improvements such as seeing where side quests are located when you're traveling and you can switch between both Spider-Mans instantly as I like that a lot. Plus, there are so many costumes that Spider-Man can wear as well which should be fun in terms of customization and the fact that if you get the digital deluxe edition of the game, you get ten additional costumers, five each, for Peter and Miles, and that's awesome. I can't wait to play this game as it's going to be awesome when it comes out next month.

Tales of Arise - Beyond the Dawn is DLC for the action role-playing game developed and published by Bandai Namco, Tales of Arise. This expansion will be released on PS5 and PS4 on November 9, 2023.

Oh wow, I didn't expect Tales of Arise to actually get DLC since it sounds like from the director and producers of the game that they had no interest in making DLC for the game, but the fact that they did is quite surprising. Granted, they could've done a sequel to this game and I'll be fine with that, but it looks like we're just getting an expansion in DLC form instead which I'm fine with. I did enjoy Tales of Arise and even though it's not my favorite Tales game ever, it was still pretty good and the fact that this DLC has a new character and new areas to explore is awesome. This looks to be a meaty expansion for this game and I can't wait to experience it when it comes out in two months.

Honkai: Star Rail is a role-playing gacha game developed and published by miYoHo where the game is set to be released on PS5 on October 11, 2023.

Finally! We got a release date for the PS5 version of Honkai: Star Rail and it's a lot sooner than expected which is great. If you enjoy Genshin Impact, you'll enjoy Honkai: Star Rail, but instead of action combat, it'll be more turn-based if you're into that type of play style. Other than that, from what I've played it, it's a lot of fun so if you want to try it on a console, do so on PS5 which comes out next month so we'll see how that version of the game is.

Foamstars is a 4v4 online party shooter developed and published by Square Enix where it's set to be released on PS5 and PS4 in early 2024. There will be an open beta test for the game from September 29 to October 1, 2023.

Despite this game looking a lot like Splatoon, it has its own charm and flavor which is quite cool. The battle modes with Smash the Star and Happy Bath Survival look like a lot of fun. I also really love the character designs of the characters as well as they all seem unique in terms of personality and style which is quite cool. Will probably try out the open beta for this game just to see how it is and we'll see how the overall game will turn out once it's released early next year as this open beta test will test the waters on how people will feel about the game to make improvements until its release.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix. The game is set to be released on PS5 on February 29, 2024.

God dang it! This game can't come soon enough! Every time I see new footage of this game, I continue to get impressed and want this game so badly, god dang it! In all seriousness, this game has the potential to be Game of the Year next year and I'm not even joking as I really love Final Fantasy VII Remake as they're looking to improve upon it with this game. Love the expansion world that they showcased as its reminiscent of the original, but also adding its own flavor to it which I love. Cait Sith and Vincent look and sound great so far, but hope to see more of them down the line. I want to play as Sephiroth so freaking bad and we're getting that in this game which I'm hyped about. I'm very intrigued about where this story will be going especially since the story in the Final Fantasy VII Remake is different from the original game so I'm very curious about where it will end up. Either way, I can't wait to play this game as February 29, 2024, can't come sooner enough!

Overall, this was a good presentation for PlayStation. Granted, there weren't any brand new game announcements necessarily in this presentation, and from that standpoint, I can understand why people would be disappointed about it. In terms of seeing more gameplay and information on games we already know about, this was a win here as I'm excited about the games that they showcased here and there were a few PSVR2 games that look cool too. Not only that, but those Deep Earth Color covers for the PS5 look sick. Very interested to see what PlayStation will do heading into the new year as it's looking pretty good so far and I can't wait to see what else they have in store.

You can catch the whole presentation of the PlayStation State of Play yourself with the link below:

What are your thoughts on the PlayStation State of Play?

What were your highlights and what games do you really want?

Let me know in the comments below and thank you for reading.