Paris Games Week 2017

3 November 2017

Sony showed off a ton of new trailers for their upcoming PlayStation games to kick off Paris Games Week this year. I’ve never really followed the event in the past but always knew Sony liked a big presence there. This year, more than any, it almost felt like another E3 conference with some fantastic trailers on display that PS4 gamers have to watch.

The most significant being a new, near 5 minute trailer for The Last of Us Part II. And if you watch it going in blind you have no clue that this is the follow up to Naughty Dog’s masterpiece from 2013.

Firstly this trailer reminds you just how tense and brutal The Last of Us is. Which feels on another level to the original game already. The setup for the hanging, the knife to the stomach, and the hammer smashing the girl's arm... It's a brilliant, gripping trailer. And this is without an appearance from Joel or Ellie! The only resemblance to the first game here is final shot of the Clickers charging towards to the cast.

This trailer features all new characters, and Naughty Dog confirmed shortly after, that the girl being hung is voiced by the excellent Laura Bailey. Who plays Fetch in the Infamous series and Nadine Ross in Uncharted to name only a few. As is now a tradition with Sony's big triple-A titles, there was no release date or even year stamped in the trailer, therefore expect this game in 2019 at the very earliest.

The next most significant trailer was for Marvel's Spider-Man. This is much more story-focused and gives us a first look at the new Peter Parker.

It was previously reported that this game begins with Parker already as an established Spider-Man, and this trailer fully confirms that. Mary-Jane is also revealed and it appears that she might be a playable character at 1:20, which would be very interesting. But this is still a cinematic trailer, the bigger gameplay reveal was at E3 this year.

This trailer still says nothing more than 2018 for release, which I also think is quite ambitious given that Sony don't tend to release their first-party big games in Autumn anymore. They tend to leave that period for the triple-A third-party giants, therefore I could easily see this game slipping to early 2019.

There was another trailer for God of War. A short gameplay trailer showing what I imagine is a typical battle sequence. The combos with the axe look awesome, and there are environmental objects to interact with to defeat enemies. God of War is coming early 2018, which I would guess as a late March release.

Detroit: Become Human was shown off in more detail by another cinematic trailer but in a completely different setting - a typical rundown American house. It shows Kara, an Android, doing all the housework for a father and daughter until things get violent and out of hand.

I love the ending to the trailer. It shows exactly the kind of tense, unexpected moments we'll experience in this game. The very broad release window of 2018 is shown at the end. I'd expect to see this game in September, with hopefully a release date announced at E3.

The new remake of Shadow of the Colossus was shown off with it's first lengthy trailer. The artwork has been completely re-done from the ground up making the graphics look incredible. The music has become iconic with the game as well. But I'm still surprised this 2005 game from the PS2 is getting another remake/remaster after the PS3 version in 2011. This was one of the very few games to have a release date announced - 6th February next year, which seems like a smart move.

There were some new IPs unveiled at Paris Games Week too. The first that caught my eye was ONRUSH, developed by one of the racing genre's finest, Codemasters. This immediately gives off Motorstorm vibes, which I loved back on the PS3. With the Motorstorm developer Evolution Studios sadly out of business, there is a gap in the market for a fast, frantic, strictly off-road racer, so I was very pleased to see Sony backing a game like this.

I do have some questions of ONRUSH though from this trailer. One, it only features cars, buggys and bikes. Motorstorm featured all of these plus jeeps, trucks, monster trucks, even a school bus. All racing at the same time. So I hope the vehicle variety is there. Two, are takedowns going to be an official thing? There are opponents getting wrecked in this trailer, is that a key aim of the game? Do you get points, or further boost from doing this à la Burnout? I always feel the best arcade racing games involve some form of combat.

The last annoucement from this Sony conference to highlight is the new IP from Sucker Punch. The big action platformer developer behind the Sly Cooper series and Infamous series. Their new title is called Ghost of Tsushima, and is a an open world Samurai game set in 1274 feudal Japan. Count me interested!

There isn't much to tell from this beautiful 2 minute cinematic trailer. But it certainly reminds me of Nioh from earlier this year. Another Samurai sword fighting game set in Japan, inspired by the Dark Souls series, but this was a much more linear game and involved some magical powers. Which is the biggest question on Ghost of Tsushima... Does it feature any magical or mythical abilities? If it doesn't (and I hope it doesn't), this could be a very striking (sorry!), unique game. Hopefully we can look forward to a gameplay trailer at next year's E3.

That in a nutshell was Sony's press conference at Paris Games Week. They did also show off a bunch of PSVR titles which the platform absolutely needed. Sadly none of them grabbed my attention enough to feature them here. Sony is clearing still 100% behind the peripheral, but it's a convenience factor that seems so prominent in gaming right now. Look at the success of the Switch. Not many people right now want to plug in 10 wires to their gaming setup to play with PSVR. The cost of the headset is also factor on why it hasn't taken off as Sony had hoped.

A lot of people were also confused by this showing from Sony. It was mainly more trailers from games we already knew were coming, and yet no release dates were given for any of them (apart from Shadow of the Colossus). I think Ryan McCaffrey of IGN got it spot on with the reasons why. This is the first week after Super Mario Odyssey released to massive critical acclaim. This puts Sony headlines back in the spotlight. And the Xbox One X is launching in just over a week's time, these trailers remind console gamers of the only place they can play those big blockbuster titles. I don't think many gamers know what Xbox exclusive titles are in development.

So overall, I'd say another great show from Sony, with a surprising amount of content shown off. Especially given the fact that Sony's other big conference PSX is in early December. Last year they revealed The Last of Us Part II there, so I'd expect more big announcements very soon.