Grade the PS5 Conference

[Runa216]

Actually, I rescind my comments from earlier. the more I ruminate on this and the longer I think about it, the more I absolutely love this conference. Sure, the lack of information about the price, release date, and backwards compatibility sucks, but looking back on things they did call this a 'games showcase' for the PS5, the console reveal was in there as well but the design isn't all that important.

I mean, the actual reveals were mostly great! some I don't care about, sure, but there was enough stuff in there that any one of them could have been an E3 standout announcement. Horizon and Spider-Man were both great, and on a personal level Ratchet & clank and Demon's Souls Remastered were absolute bombshells for me. That's four bombshells in one presentation, which makes it one of the best presentations ever, in my eyes. while I was watching it, I sure didn't think too highly of it (the lull in the middle without any real outstanding reveals was okay but not great) at first, but the more I reflect the greater this seems.

In addition to the four big reveals for me, the Resident Evil VIII and Gran Turismo 7 reveals were also pretty big, and now that I've had time to go back and really reflect on the indie games and the new IPs, I have to say this was a remarkably solid presentation. Literally the only thing in the entire presentation that I turned my brain off for was NBA2K21 or whatever. Literally nobody gets excited about sports games; by now it's just another case of 'another year, another iteration of the same game I bought 20 times'. At least Call of Duty games have different weapons and stories and game modes to mix things up. at least Assassin's Creed - back when it was yearly, still - explored new areas and had new mechanics and new stories. Anyway, I'm rambling.

Let's go down the list, shall we?

Grand Theft Auto V on PS5 - I mean, I guess GTAV is the new Skyrim. I'd be upset about it if it wasn't such a successful game. It had an outstanding singleplayer campaign and has a continually robust and popular and successful and well-liked online component...why in the world wouldn't they port it over? I would prefer GTA VI to be honest (I only care about the singleplayer aspects of these games), but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little excited for this. 6/10

Spider-Man: Miles Morales - As of right now I believe this to be a whole new game in the same engine as Spider-Man 2018, but I've heard it's just an expansion (which doesn't work if it's a PS5 game when the last one was a PS4 game). That said, I've been eager to play the last Spider-Man game since I got it and this is al the incentive I need to play this. Literally everyone I know who has played Spider-Man say it's the best Superhero game of all time, even the hardcore batman fans who love Arkham Asylum/city. 10/10

Gran Turismo 7 - Racing games occupy this part of my brain where I'm impressed by them, but I have no interest in playing them. This game looked good, but I will never purchase it. Personal score is 1/10, but realistically I'll give it an 8/10 for the people who actually care about Gran Turismo.

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart - Yep. Yep this happened. I don't wanna rant too much, but holy hell this looks phenomenal from beginning to end. The Rift mechanics excite me, the game has SO many moving parts, the last one was one of my favourite games of the last 10 years, and seeing the franchise continue makes me so, so happy. 10/10.

Project Athia - Looks good, but I'm kinda burnt out on Square-Enix showing shit and either not getting it for a decade or it only being a tech demo. I'll reserve judgement until I know more about it. 5/10.

Stray - DAWWWW KITTIES! Probably not my sort of game, but I love that Sony's showcasing indies a lot and I know a lot of friends eager for this. I'm mildly interested. 6/10

Returnal - time loops are cool. Open world action is cool. I need more information but I like what I Saw. 6/10

Sackboy: A big Adventure - Honestly, I know I'm in the minority here but I don't much care for LittlebigPlanet. I could never get into the level creation, I've always hated the physics, and I always found the community-made levels to be gimmicky self-indulgence moreso than clever or intelligent level design. That said, this does look like it's gonna be a fun 3D adventure and I am happy to be down for that. I think this looks like the best LBP game due to having fun-looking physics instead of the nonsense floaty bits from the first three games. 7/10.

Destruction All-Stars - Yeah, sure. this is a thing. Oh, look, another ATTITUDE-filled online arena game. don't we have enough of these? 3/10

Kena: Bridge of Spirits - This might have been the stand-out surprise of the conference for me. I love the art style, I loved what I saw of the gameplay, I loved the world building and life/death mechanic, and just like everything else in the presentation the game looked absolutely wonderful! I would love for this to be a new franchise and I Really hope it turns out good because I loved what I saw! 9/10

Goodbye Volcano High - I'm torn. On one hand, I love furry content and anthro characters and this looks quirky and unique. On the other hand, it reminds me a lot of games like Life is Strange. I don't know enough about what this game actually is and what I think it might be isn't something I think I'll like, but I'm cautiously, subtly optimistic and curious. 6/10

Oddworld: Soulstorm - This is another thing that I keep hearing is great but I never experienced myself. Never got into the Oddworld series, but this does look kinda fun (And I like 2D platformers/sidescrollers), so I'mma give it a 6/10

Ghostwire: Tokyo - When I Saw the first trailer, I was underwhelmed and confused. The powers shown in this trailer and the gameplay revealed suddenly has me very interested in what this game has to offer. I like the look and feel, I like the gameplay, I like the supernatural elements, and I am really excited for this. 8/10

Jett: The Far Shore - Uh, I don't know what the hell this is or what's going on or what the gameplay is like. I remain neutral. 5/10

Godfall - Man, I want to like this. I get a 'borderlands with swords and magic' feel and Borderlands is a lot of fun, but the trailer was soaked in a douchey dudebro vibe and I am not so sure I trust Gearbox anymore. In my attempt to avoid my biases against dudebro culture and the developers, I'll say the game looks good and give it a 7/10

Solar Ash - all of my yes please. Open-world fantasy sci-fi platformer? Made by the people who did Hyper-Light Drifter? yep. all of my yep. Take my money. 9/10

Hitman III - eeeh. Never got into the series. for me, a 2/10. For fans of the series, I'm willing to bet it's a solid 8/10

Astro's Playroom - I heard Astro-boy was great but never played it. I like cute platformers and the reputation precedes it, so 8/10

Little Devil Inside - Iunno. I have no idea what I'm seeing, but I like the art style! 5/10

NBA2K21 - Nope. 0/10

BugSnax - Awww, this looks cute and quirky. Same devs as Octodad, so you know it's gonna be wacky and out there. 7/10

Demon's Souls Remastered - *Has an anyeurism* YESYESYES! I have fallen deep into the souls bandwagon and have gotten platinum on Dark Souls Remastered, Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin, Dark Souls III, Bloodborne, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. 4 of those 5 games (not Dark Souls 2) are among my all-time favourites, and the first game I played in this 'genre' was Demon's Souls back in 2011. However, at that time, I had just started writing for GamrReview and had to shift my focus from playing the games I wanted to play towards games I played for the site and I ended up putting the game down. I am so, so, SO excited to get a chance to play this again now that it's coming out for new consoles. Maybe my reveal of the presentation. 10/10, but I'd give this and Ratchet 12/10 if I could.

Deathloop - Another time looping game. sure, this looks fun, and I think it's the same developers of Dishonoured. I liked that game and I don't hate Bethesda like many others do, so I'm pretty positive on this game even though I don't have much to say on it. 8/10

Resident Evil VIII: Village - I'm impressed! I didn't care much for VII's tone and mood, but this looks more akin to Resident Evil 4 to me. I'm very excited and will definitely be picking it up. 9/10

Pragmata - Iunno. No idea what's going on but the visuals were unique and interesting. 6/10

Horizon: Forbidden West - wow! Holy crap this was outstanding! Great end to the show, fantastic reveal, and I'm so happy a new IP (Horizon: Zero Dawn) has gained so much traction and done so well. This will be an early flagship title for the PS5 and all the incentive I need to go back and play Horizon: Zero Dawn again to get the platinum trophy. Absolute stunner of a reveal, everyone I know is super stoked about this, and this is exactly the kind of colourful, impressive-looking game that I live for! 10/10!

So yeah, a decent amount of middling games I need more information about or just don't care about, but nothing that looks bad! Only the sports game really bored me and the destruction derby game looked like it was trying to ape some of Rocket League's fanbase.

I didn't like the lack of information about the console itself, but I must remind myself and you all that they never promised that information, they always called this a games showcase and this weren't going to be focusing on that sort of stuff. still, overall great conference with 4 bonafide bombshells. Overall...yeah, I give this a 10/10. The bombshells alone got it there; it could have been a 2-hour-long conference with nothing but sports games and those 4 reveals and I still would have went away satisfied. In addition to those four, we also got Resident Evil VIII and Kena: Bridge of Spirits, two games I'm really, really excited for!

Not in the mood to compare to the Xbox Event fully, but holy shit this was a whole other league, and Microsoft's PR going 'hey, some of those games can also be played on Xbox, too!' was just pretty sad and pathetic. I Think this will be the first generation since the 90's where I Don't get every major player in the game. Microsoft just doesn't have anything that appeals to me, whereas Nintendo and Sony absolutely, definitely do. There's nothing I want on the Xbox that I can't get ton PS or PC. Xbox's came first, but man it was a bad presentation. this was outstanding.

I can't wait to see more of what Nintendo shows. They always have at least a couple of bombshells around this time of year!