Sony E3 Conference Summary 2015: Last Guardian!
Jun. 16, 2015Sony’sE3 conference started off strong with – HOLY CRAP YOU GUYS IT’STHE LAST GUARDIAN! We thought you were dead, Trico! A captured gameplay sequence shows our unnamed child protagonist beckoning his giant companion across unstable terrain suspended over a great chasm. The boy must clear a path for Trico, and then Trico helps him across to a broken bridge. He hops onto a collapsed minecart rail and tips the cart over, whereupon the structure completely falls apart. The boy narrowly escapes with Trico, but must then rescue his feathered companion from a lethal fall. Speaking of, Trico’s feathers look way cooler now.
Sony then unveiled a new IP by the name ofHorizon: Zero Dawn. Set after the end of our modern world, in a time when nature has evolved using what we left behind, the game follows a female protagonist keen on internal monologue mid-combat. She sneaks through a wilderness stalking dinosaur-like creatures, some of which are more machine than beast. Characters, including our protagonist, are shown using weapons that combine simple woodworking with advanced technology. She has an inherited reverence for nature, as shown when she is discovered in the underbrush by a young dino-raptor and mournfully kills the beast before it can alert others nearby. The art style is very colorful and flashy, evoking games like Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. I don’t even know why I’m still talking, you had me at “robot dinosaurs”, Sony.
Did you miss Agent 47? You did? That’s a shame, because he won’t miss you… Sony showed off a prerendered trailer for the new Hitman, simply titled…Hitman. The digital version will be released in advance of the disc-based version. Phrasing suggests this game almost makes it sound like an online game that will receive ongoing content updates. Preorders for the PS4 version will come with exclusive content, including access to the PS4 beta which will precede betas on other platforms.
Street Fighter Vwas finally announced. Not “Street Fighter IV”, not “Street Fighter IV: The Other OTHER Street Fighter IV” – just Street Fighter V. New challengers include Birdie and Cammy, and a beta will be available to people who preorder.
Next we saw a live demonstration ofNo Man’s Sky! Sean Murray from Hello Games showed us a small star cluster, then zoomed way out… and out… and out… and out to give us an idea of the scale of this game’s universe. Good lord. Every point of light is a star with orbiting planets, moons, asteroids and space stations. In his words, many of these worlds will never be explored. It’s staggering; literally millions of worlds. He chose one at random near the heart of the galaxy, and hyperdrive’d into orbit, then took us in for a landing. Unfortunately, and by sheer coincidence, the world he landed in happens to look very similar to the world shown in last E3’s gameplay trailer for the game. But hey, that’s fine – this game is about discovery, right? Let’s find the real wonders ourselves.
Media Molecule finally unveils the game it hinted at with its Move controller concept demo two years ago:Dreams. Only instead of the Move controller, this “game” uses the Dualshock 4’s lightbar. This is a really strange one, guys, I’m not sure what we’re looking at. Snippets of gameplay, some of which was games, some of which was artful scenery or comedic video. These are examples of things players can make in Dreams. I’m all for out-there experiments with the medium, so I’m curious where this will go. But I can’t describe it. Best to just check out the footage yourself.
Then Sony revealed thatFirewatch, formerly a PC exclusive, is coming to PS4. We’ve seen this one at past E3’s. It’s unclear from the phrasing whether Firewatch will come to other consoles in the future.
Then we were shown a new expansion forDestiny, calledThe Taken King. The expansion brings new subclasses and weapons, and a story arc in which Crota’s royally PO’d dad Orix brings his army to exact revenge on you for ending his bloodline.
Next up, Sony gave us another look atAssassin’s Creed: Syndicate. Evie Frye was revealed to be a playable character. She has a pimpin’ cane and lots of knives. The PS4 version of Syndicate will have exclusive content.
World of Final Fantasywas revealed for Vita. This is a chibi-style game featuring characters from various Final Fantasy games, and follows two original protagonists. The trailer hinted at both real-time and turn-based combat. Dang, was hoping for Crystal Chronicles.
Don’t say Square-Enix never gave you nothin’. Here is the long overdueFinal Fantasy VII remake. This is bound to make a lot of people happy.
Next, we see four retro games from Devolver Studios.Roninis a 2D stealth-action game starring a dude with lots of knives. Eitr is a sword-and-board (and magic) brawler pitting a female protagonist against big monsters. Mother Russia Bleeds is a classic arcade beat-’em-up with a lot of gore. Crossing Souls is… baffling. Don’t gloss these titles over – check them out, they actually look really cool.
Shenmue IIIis now being ported to consoles. Yu Suzuki is accomplishing this endeavor through kickstarter, however wanted to give honorable mention and drive up pledges on his behalf. It’s working – as of my writing this, funding has already exceeded $2,000,000.
A prerendered trailer forArkham Knightshowed the Joker frozen, and being cremated. Some time after, we are introduced to an unnamed cop lamenting that Gotham’s crime levels are so low that law enforcement is no longer needed. Then a guy grabs him in a diner, and he starts hallucinating and firing his sidearm into a crowd of zombies. Grim…
Sony then discussed their VR headset,Morpheus, and assured us that Playstation Vue is being released in additional locations, and will have more content in the near future.
Next, Sony revealed their timed-exclusive,Call of Duty: Black Ops 3. It seems to be an amalgam of Titanfall, Resistance, Killzone and Call of Duty. It features all the multiplayer modes expected of BLOPS… except zombie mode. For shame, Activision.
Disney Infinitywas also shown, and is receiving a content update.
A gameplay trailer forBattlefront 3was shown. It gave a clearer impression of the gunplay than the EA conference earlier today, which focused on the game’s sheer scale.
That’s it for this day in E3. But it’s not over yet –Fextralife has backstage passes with the devs our community is most eager to hear from. Not to mention Squeenix’s conference is tomorrow. Stay tuned in the days to come!
BlitzKeir
A Prinny who plays SRPGs unironically.
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