Wow, Sony, thanks for the wall to wall games. The Last Guardian. Final Fantasy VII Remake. Assassins's Creed. Star Wars Batlefront. Uncharted 4. I will be talking about none of those games in this post, because why should I? Those marketing budgets will cram so much video, previews, screen shots and pre-order bonus items down our throats over the next 6 months, it'll be hard to forget those. There were a couple games inbetween that Sony brought to the big stage, the ones between the AAA's, THOSE are the games we should be keeping at the front of our minds. I'll break down a few of the stand outs here.

FIREWATCH

Firewatch is a mystery set in the Wyoming wilderness, where your only emotional lifeline is the person on the other end of a handheld radio. The gameplay video started with some humor and banter with some "safe" visuals, but then things got a little weird and the dialog got tense quick. The trailer ends like solid teaser for a TV series of film, and I am immediatly interested. This is a new developer, Campo Santo, and it's their first game. I will be following this for it's simple introduction and feel, but high production values. Look at their website for more: Campo Santo FIREWATCH page.

CROSSING SOULS

These next few games were packed into one sizzle reel because they are all from indie game publishing god-send, Devolver Digital. Crossing Souls has a great nostalgic feel for late 80's/early 90's kids. This description is direct from the publisher's site: "It’s 1986 in California and a group of friends will live the summer of their lives after a mysterious discovery in woods outside their quiet town.". The reason I am following this with excitment it because I am getting an adult-style, Earthbound-ish feel from it. That is an amazing feeling to have, trust me. I can remember playing outside and pretending with my brother that things like this happened to us... Follow it.

EITR

Eiter. Isometric pixel action RPG. Looks to be filled with tight combat and randomly generated looting. Games like this get me hooked, and it's got a fantasticly drawn, almost OVER-animated, pixel art look. Am I sensing a Bloodborne-esque, Titan Souls-esque gameplay. Could be a frustrating grind, but that isn't a complaint. I'll be keeping my eye on this for more info.

MOTHER RUSSIA BLEEDS

Check out this Beat-em-up. This is a line-crossing, gore filed, violent action game. Devolver also published (one of my favorite games of all-time) Hotline Miami, and this looks like Hotline Miami meets Final Fight. A hard M rating is likely to be stamped on this one. Very gritty looking. The story set up is this "Set in an alternate U.S.S.R, the story focuses on an imprisoned antihero with a crippling drug addiction as he breaks free and barrels down a journey of hate-filled vengeance.". Come on! Sold! Le Cartel Studio is the developer, and they've approached this genre as fans. I can't wait to see more.

Sony brought out a lot of expected, and plenty of unexcpected, and showed they really like to be a solid partner with developers and publishers of all sizes. I am very much looking forward to more titles like these on the show floor and online in the next few days. What did you think? Tweet at me @darrenhupke, I'd love to chat!

-Darren!
@darrenhupke

- -Darren Hupke @darrenhupke

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