At barely 28 minutes long, Sony’s June State of Play was our kind of online showcase – cutting out the guff and getting straight to the point: what players can expect of upcoming games, and when. You can watch the State of Play in its digestible entirety below.
Alternatively, if you don’t have 30 minutes to spare, here’s a written breakdown (with trailers) of everything announced. Of course, loads of sites have already tackled that task, so here at Pfangirl.com, we’re cherry picking the announcements that excite us most.
Stray
What haven’t we said about Stray by now? Initially announced back in June 2020, and later pegged for an early 2022 release, people have been waiting for “the backpack cat game” for some time now. From French studio BlueTwelve Studio, which was founded to make the game, and publisher Annapurna Interactive, Stray centres on a cat who ends up lost in a forgotten cybercity populated by forlorn robots, and must find a way home.
Featuring distinctly feline animations, platforming and interactions, third-person adventure Stray is coming to PS5, PS4 and PC on 19 July. PlayStation Plus suscribers on higher tiers will have access to the game from day one.
The Callisto Protocol
In addition to the announcement of a Resident Evil 4 remake (coming 24 March 2023), third-person survival horror took centre stage in the form of a gameplay trailer for The Callisto Protocol (the cinematic reveal trailer dropped back in December 2020). From new development house Striking Distance Studios, and led by Dead Space co-creator Glen Schofield, The Callisto Protocol is heavy on body horror, scares, and moody space-set action.
Josh Duhamel provides the performance capture for game protagonist Jacob Lee, who must survive an alien invasion on Jupiter’s moon Callisto in the year 2320. It all starts at the prison colony Black Iron, and the warden seems to be involved. The new trailer came with a release date too: 2 December 2022. This one will be terrorising players on PS4/5, Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles, and PC.
Horizon Call of the Mountain
With expectations that PlayStation VR2 is going to hit the market in early 2023, especially since the headset and controller design was revealed in February this year, it made sense that the showcase included some upcoming PSVR 2 exclusives. With horror and space exploration common to virtual reality games already, we’re skipping the Resident Evil Village, Walking Dead and No Man’s Sky VR titles to instead spotlight Horizon Call of the Mountain. Set in the striking post-technology Horizon universe, Call of the Mountain centres on new franchise protagonist Ryas, a former Shadow Carja, and its VR gameplay involves combat, traversal and encounters with dangerous machine creatures.
No release date yet for Call of the Mountain, but it’s a good bet it will be a launch title with PSVR 2.
Season: A Letter to the Future
When it came to indie picks other than Stray and The Callisto Protocol, it was a tough choice between stylish action sports game Rollerdome (out in 2 months’ time), and Season: A Letter To The Future. Eventually we went with enigmatic adventure game Season, which received a gameplay trailer during the most recent State of Play. In Season: A Letter to the Future, you play as an androgynous young woman who bicycles across a world frozen in time, collecting memories before a mysterious cataclysm claims them all.
Season: A Letter To The Future comes from Scavengers Studio, the makers of Darwin Project, and hasn’t had the smoothest development due to toxic workplace accusations (it happens at indie studios too). However, the game is now due out Autumn 2022 for PS4/5, and PC.