Sony E3 round-up

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Sony took to the stage in their usual late time slot on Monday night to share a cavalcade of exciting software.  

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​by Sam Sant

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@SlamShotSam

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The press conference opened with a bombastic orchestral performance that set the tone for the reveal of God of War. The impressive gameplay demo showcased the franchise reinvention that takes a more intimate, weighty and deliberate approach to combat. Gone are the blades of chaos and Gods of Olympus, replaced by a rather large axe and Norse mythology aplenty.

A sequel set years after God of War III, Kratos is a new man whom seeks to replace rage with compassion in shaping his son. There's an undeniable Last of Us vibe thanks to both the aforementioned character dynamic and the setting.

​No release date was announced, but returning God of War II game director Cory Barlog has bee a little sheepish on the subject. That likely means it's coming sooner, or later,  than we think.        ​

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​Shortly after we got another glimpse of The Last Guardian, and thankfully, a release date!

Coming 25 October, ten years of development hell will finally conclude in what looks to be another visually stunning and emotional adventure from Team ICO.  

You can catch the full trailer just below.

​Following its recent delay, Horizon: Zero Dawn got a gameplay demo in which we saw a few visual issues that seemed to justify that. We've previously had some concerns, but suffice to say the substantial showing all but quelled them.

A full quest was shown off, offering first looks at the dialogue system and the ability to hack and commandeer robotic enemies.  

The latest 'game' from David Cage and the folks at Quantic Dream, Detroit: Become Human,  followed with a trailer that drew from both Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls whilst showcasing the game's detective sleuthing.

Another story of man vs. machine morality, point your peepers at the trailer below. 

We already knew it was coming in October, but the PlayStation VR launch date was finally locked in. Available from 13 October, a number of games were highlighted with space-faring FPS Farpoint, Star Wars Battlefront: X-Wing VR Mission, and Batman Arkham VR being the pick of the bunch. 

As well as those games, Sony confirmed that fifty PSVR titles will be available by the end of the year.

Final Fantasy XV also revealed a PSVR experience, the announcement accompanied new footage of the main game that somewhat redeemed the dodgy gameplay demo that had appeared on Microsoft's stage earlier that same day. 

Another multiplatform game with exclusive PSVR support is the freshly announced and ingeniously titled Resident EVII. It's the return to survival horror we were promised that, let's be honest, owes a lot to the cancelled P.T. Played from a first-person perspective and with no weapons on show, it takes the series in a totally new and fresh direction.

Releasing 24 January 2017, in a move that further apes P.T.,  there's a demo available now on the PlayStation Store. Whilst you wait for it to download, why not watch the trailer:

​With the unenviable record of most disliked trailer on YouTube to its name, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare actually went a long way in proving it wasn't all that bad.

The stage demo featured spaceship battles, zero gravity gunfights and zippy grappling hook action. It looked nothing like a Call of Duty campaign, which is exciting. 

Whereas most didn't want to see CoD take the stage, fans had been clamouring for what followed - in part, anyway. Crash Bandicoot will return to PlayStation in remastered versions of the first, second and third games, as well as appearing as a guest character in Skylanders. 

Just as Resident EVII channelled P.T., so to does Hideo Kojima's giant middle finger to Konami. Emerging to a hero's welcome, Kojima exclaimed "I'm back!" before sharing the reveal trailer for Death Stranding. Once again starring The Walking Dead's Norman Reedus and a fetus - Norman Fedus, as some have dubbed the duo - the bizarre footage is best seen for oneself.   

It definitely has that distinctive Kojima flavour...

It had been rumoured going into E3 that Infamous developer Sucker Punch might be working on an exclusive Spider-Man game, and whilst that didn't pan out, that's only because Insomniac are bringing it to fruition instead! Likely carrying their experience with Sunset Overdrive to the table, it looks like another superhero is finally getting the video game treatment they deserve.  

Sony's conference closed with a gameplay demo of debuting Days Gone, in which you play a biker caught up in a World War Z scale zombie apocalypse. It looks very Last of Us again, which after Uncharted and God of War heading in that direction does raise the issue of diversity in the PlayStation line-up. 

Regardless of that, it does look pretty stonking.

Sony had a great showing this year, with an enthralling conference full of pleasant surprises. You can read up on EA and Bethesda's efforts now, whilst Ubisoft and Microsoft round-ups are still to come.

What did you think? Let us know in the forums or in the comments below.

Keep an eye (and an ear) out for the upcoming first PTC podcast, in which the team will go in depth on their E3 2016 opinions.