Summer is one of the most exciting and anticipated seasons of the entire year. Especially here in the Mediterranean. The summer heat brings the promise of days at the beach, evening barbeques, old-time feasts, football World Cups, and PlayStation’s State of Play. The highly anticipated event, which took place a few days ago on the 2nd June, has become a ritualistic summer opener for gamers, the modern equivalent of a summer solstice ritual.
This year’s State of Play has definitely given gamers a summer’s worth of expectation and discussion. September, in particular, is promising to be one of the most exciting and packed in recent gaming history. Combine this with the fact that this summer coincides with a football World Cup (held every four years), and it promises to be a good season.
State of Play is a Baroque event. It highlight’s PlayStation’s marquee products and, unlike its political namesake, is intended to dazzle and tantalise. Take away all the trappings (the event was streamed in cinemas across the US and beyond) and what you have is in essence a corporate event.
This year this dazzle has taken on greater urgency due to Sony’s recent financial shortcomings (2025’s fiscal year was, apparently, saved by Ghost of Yotei’s release). So Sony had to impress and like a wounded giant fighting for pride, it has fought for its life and fought hard. Here are some key discussion points and the most exciting announcements from this year’s State of Play. The selection criteria for the announcements is purely biased by personal preference.
God of War: Laufey
Whilst rumours of a new Faye-based God of War had been doing the rounds for quite some time, it was a tantalising surprise to see not only a trailer but extended gameplay footage. The footage covers the opening of the game and everything looks stunning.
Faye, the wife of Kratos and mother of Atreus, frost giant and magical badass, is seen ascending (or descending?) to the Everlife after her burial in God of War 2018. She finds herself in a hellish place in which gods are captured and caged like slaves. Two of the primary agents of this nightmarish trade appear to be Sekhmet, the Egyptian god of war, and Begtse, the Mongolian god of war.
Honestly, when I saw these two deities side by side I went crazy! And the appearance of these two gods from two wildly different pantheons and cultures, made me appreciate the real genius of where the series is going.
Yes, it is controversial that Kratos will not be the primary playable character. It’s even disappointing that Atreus is not the star, given the way God of War Ragnarok was going. But after digesting the announcement more and taking it all in, I actually think that Faye and the Everlife are a narrative masterclass.
God of War 2018’s primary narrative reinvention was to make the series a family-centred story. The relationship between Kratos and Atreus (as well as Thor and Odin) is the highlight and narrative heart of the franchise now. Faye was a (largely) unseen character but still hugely important; she is not only Atreus’ mother (and the one who named him Loki) but also a transformative figure on Kratos. Her presence in the series thus far has been unseen but beautifully vital.
Now, it’s her turn. Her turn to be the star of the franchise. So no, this is not Santa Monica Studios going woke. God of War has machismo in it, of course, always has, but in recent years the narrative thrust has been about Kratos renouncing that machismo to be a better father and god. So it is a natural segway to pass the torch (temporarily?) to Faye. We all miss Kratos but I’m sure the series will be in good hands, combat-wise and narratively, with Faye.
Many discussions following the release of Ragnarok, which was announced to be the final entry in the Norse saga, was where the series was going next. Will Kratos travel to Egypt or to Mexico to essentially Hulk-smash his way through another pantheon? Or will it be Atreus’ turn to take the pantheon-smashing reigns?
Santa Monica pulled off its biggest surprise with the announcement with the idea of having multiple pantheons appearing simultaneously. I am a massive fan of the Egyptian pantheon and general culture and am hugely disappointed by their lack of serious, non-cliched representation in gaming, so seeing Sekhmet appear in such terrifying form (reminding me of a demonic Romanesque column figure) I was beside myself. But then to see her along Begtse – Mongolian pantheon?? I did not see that coming.
How can a game featuring a monstrous, burly, fire-breathing Mongolian god of war be woke?
I keep saying that one day we will see video game writers winning a Nobel Prize for Literature (Bob Dylan winning the prize as a songwriter set a new standard): and with Laufey Santa Monica Studios might be putting themselves in pole position to reach that milestone.
Marvel’s Wolverine
In the history of art, scholars comment on the appropriateness of an artwork. So, for example, the long horizontal format of the Bayeaux Tapestry is appropriate for telling its military narrative. Insomniac Games seem to understand the profundity of appropriateness of art and video games as has been made abundantly clear in the new footage released for Wolverine.
Insomniac’s Spider-Man was the perfect New York game. Spider-Man is New York and Insomniac delivered a series of games that just makes you feel like Spider-Man in New York. The open-world setting, the incredible web-swinging mechanics, the relevant side activities, the storyline… they created a game world that is perfect for an authentic Spider-Man experience.
They seem to be repeating the trick with Wolverine. The game will clearly be a more linear adventure and this may disappoint some but that structure just works better for a rampaging character like Wolverine. The gore and brutality of the fighting is toned up to Mortal Kombat level, unlike in Spider-Man which felt (appropriately) more cartoonish and PG. The action’s pace (Uncharted is clearly an influence here) is frantic and intense. This game just screams Wolverine and it looks wild.
The new characters revealed also contribute to the game’s more mature tone: Jean Grey and Sabretooth, in particular. The gameplay reveal centres around a gang of mechanised Reavers kidnapping mutants – I can’t believe they included Leech from the Morlocks! Wolverine and Jean Grey have teamed up, in an apparently X-Men-less world, to stop these operations. Other than that, the details of the narrative remain largely unclear.
The fact that the Reavers are featured prominently kidnapping mutants gives the game a distinctly Logan-esque feel to everything – and that is nothing but a good thing. It would certainly keep the story and world grounded and dark and thank the gods that the old-amnesiac-Logan trope is being thrown out the window!
I am a big X-Men fan and Wolverine is an obviously standout character (I prefer his portrayal in Fox’s cartoon series than Hugh Jackman’s, is that weird?) and I feel he has been criminally under-represented in video games (X-Men Origins Wolverine was appropriately fun, but it was 2009!). This game finally looks to right that wrong. And, to quote Wolverine’s buddy, Beast, I hope this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls
The announcement of new team members in the Knights of Doom for MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls may have gone under the radar, but personally, I am extremely excited for this game, and the reveal of some of my all-time favourite Marvel villains just ramped up my excitement to a new level.
Magneto, Carnage and the Green Goblin are well-established villains in the Marvel canon, and yet, historically, very little quality video games have given us the opportunity to let loose with them. Previous Marvel vs. Capcom titles have featured them sporadically, but even then, the quality of that franchise’s most recent instalments have dropped the bar.
What was particularly exciting in the trailer is the way these villains interacted with their antagonists in-fight. Magneto’s dialogue with Storm, Spider-Man calling Green Goblin Gobbie, and Carnage, well, just being Carnage. Those dialogue moments gave some narrative weight to the game’s frantic action and the balance looks tantalising.
I am not a big co-op player; growing up my love for fighting games like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter was based around two-player bouts with my brother and friends. Big online co-op play feels to me cold and brutal. Maybe it’s a generational thing. And although Tōkon is clearly aimed (and will definitely thrive in) for the co-op market, I still feel I could have an intimate, creative time playing the game single player or two-player. The key to that is how Marvel everything feels.
When the game was announced I was through the roof with excitement: Arc System works are the creators of arguably the best fighting game of the modern generation, Dragon Ball FighterZ. The way they captured the high-octane, ridiculously over-powered spirit of the anime and translated it into an addictive, perfectly-balanced fighting game was stupendous. The prospect of them repeating the trick with Marvel felt just too good to be true. And now, adding Magneto, Carnage and Green Goblin into the mix – I really, really can’t wait for August!
Onimusha: Way of the Sword and Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis
I’m grouping these two games together because of one very important N-word (not that one, don’t worry): Nostalgia.
These are two franchises that made big waves in the 90s and 2000s. Two franchises that have had mixed fortunes as time went on. Tomb Raider has been, historically (pun intended), an inconsistent series. But 2013’s reboot steadied the ship and subsequent releases have helped re-establish the franchise in mainstream gaming.
This latest reboot, practically a remake of the original, seems to be continuing that trend; the trailer shows off impressive set-pieces, visually stunning locations, from snow-laced temples to haunting Egyptian temples, all look absolutely tantalising.
Tomb Raider is the gaming equivalent of the old-time travel novels like Arthur Conan Doyle’s Lost World or Jules Verne’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth. And these kinds of tall travel tales should never, and have never, gone out of favour. Lara Croft’s continued modernisation is only a good thing.
Onimusha, on the other hand, has had a far more chequered history. The franchise has been practically silent since 2006’s Onimusha Dawn of Dreams. That’s over 20 years of silence from this series which had some incredible highs in the 2000s. Capcom’s take on the oft-visited samurai/yokai trope had some high quality narratives and visuals and gameplay that anticipated genre greats like Nioh and Sekiro.
Way of the Sword sees the franchise being revived into a crowded like-for-like market. The trailer was strong but will it be relying on nostalgia alone to carry it through? For gamers not as connected to the series’ history, will the trailer tantalise them and make them want to play a samurai-yokai-killing game when they’ve got Nioh 3, Ghost of Yotei, and Sekiro available? Time will tell.
Editor’s note: I am very late publishing this. Justin provided it in good time! – Girdy
