State of Play — January 2024
A strong way to open the year. Death Stranding 2 got its first proper look, Stellar Blade and Rise of the Ronin set their sights on spring, and Helldivers 2 marched in just ahead of launch. Dragon's Dogma II and Judas filled out a meaty show. Here's everything worth flagging.
Lineup
Helldivers 2
PlayStation's January State of Play kicked off with a pretty good look at Helldivers 2, the multiplayer action shooter launching February 8th. Looks fun!
Stellar Blade
An in-depth look at Stellar Blade, an upcoming title by Shift Up and Sony, reveals its release date as April 26, 2024. Set in a post-apocalypse, humanity retreats to a colony following an invasion. Our protagonist, Eve, alongside allies Adam and Lily, combat mechanical adversaries and aggressive remnants of civilisation using both firearms and swordplay. Keen!
Zenless Zone Zero
We got another look at ZZZ, but not sure we saw anything new other than confirming it's coming to PlayStation 5. Cool, but just give it to me already.
Judas
Judas, the much anticipated new one from BioShock's Ken Levine, clearly echoes his earlier work. Today's closer look highlights a vibrant dystopian world featuring first-person combat, BioShocky abilities, and seemingly a big focus on narrative. I think a lot of people have moved on from this type of game, but I'm a Levine fan and totally up for it.
Dragon's Dogma II
Capcom shared a new look at Dragon's Dogma II gameplay, which releases March 22.
Rise of the Ronin
Rise of the Ronin launches March 22 (the same day as Dragon's Dogma II - uh oh!), and Team Ninja have given us our best look yet. Highlights include the Yokohama hub world, intricate swordplay and parrying, and much more. Love their work, and this looks to be their most ambitious yet - can't wait.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
State of Play was capped off with a much anticipated deeper look into DS2, which we now know is officially titled Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. As we've come to expect, it looks absolutely bonkers. I want it now.
PHYSINT (working title)
Following the DS2 deep-dive, Kojima stuck around to briefly tease his studio's next project. He summed it up in a tweet:
It is a completely new 'Action Espionage' for the next-generation. It will be created using cutting-edge technology and the best talents from around the world, both from film and video games. Of course this is an interactive 'game', but the look, story, theme, cast, acting, fashion, sound, etc... are all at the next level of 'Digital Entertainment' that could be called a 'movie'.
OK!