In case you haven’t seen it yet, Playstation has live-streamed their next console, and all the titles that are going to drop along with it. I watched it and found it both exciting and disappointing, given that there were few Independent Titles revealed. Here’s the breakdown of what’s being released as revealed by the PS5 Showcase.

Final Fantasy XVI (PS5 Exclusive)

First, we’ve got Final Fantasy XVI. It looks like this time around they’re sticking with a single-player role-playing game, a much higher fantasy adventure than we saw with Final Fantasy XV, which married modernism and fantasy elements together for a nice blend.

My only gripe with this game is the plot feels eerily familiar with their successful Final Fantasy X, with the monster at the end of the trailer looking similar to the Aeon Bahamut, featured in the game. The main character gives me a Sir Auren vibe, the kid reminds me of Yuna, and we’ve even got a Tsundere witch lady who reminds me of this weird combination of Lulu and Lunafreya.

It is refreshing at the very least we have a new addition to the Final Fantasy IP because as of recently we’ve seen DLC and content for Final Fantasy XV, and the famous Final Fantasy VII remake. I’m excited to see where Square Enix is going to go with a brand new story, though my hopes are not held high. Final Fantasy XV had a really strong beginning but in my opinion, the narrative began collapsing in on itself due to how much significance they put on the romance of the story.

Spider Man: Miles Moreles

This one is a sequel to 2018’s marvel’s Spiderman, but we follow Miles Morales instead of Peter Parker. I don’t know much about the game itself nor the franchise because I (gasp gasp) am not the biggest fan of superhero movies/content.

The gameplay is fluid, and most importantly, the camera work from this reveal is solid. The appeal of spider man is exploring the city, and bad camera angles can ruin that experience.

Hogwarts: Legacy

So this one is interesting. J.K. Rowling as of late has sort of dug herself into a hole, publicly shaming an article that made attempts at gender inclusivity and writing a novel about a man who dresses as a woman to commit a crime (which is not inherently a bad narrative if done well, but this was done amid all the transphobia controversy, and admittedly did not help her in any way).

According to Wikipedia though, she has no direct involvement in this game, so if you’re someone who’s not taking a liking to J.K Rowling in the past year, but still adore her Intellectual Property, this game doesn’t involve her. And if you don’t care about the controversies or love J.K Rowling, then this game still fits the mold, yeah?

In this game, you are Nameless Protagonist and you get to explore Hogwarts and the world around it in this single-player, action role-playing game. It genuinely looks a lot of fun. I’m not much of a Harry Potter fan, so it’s not on my wishlist but if that’s your jazz this game looks like it’s going to exceed expectations.

Black Ops: Cold War

This is another game I don’t have much of an opinion about. It’s a First Person Shooter, an addition to the Black Ops / Call of Duty series.

It faired much better than Call of Duty Infinite Warfare, which currently has 3.9 million dislikes at their trailer release (Black Ops Cold War has a good 16K likes and about 500 dislikes). Though, there’s a lot of talk about CoD: IW being a good game at the wrong time.

That being said, here’s hoping that their newest installment is one for the memory books!

Resident Evil: Village

This one I am SO excited about. I wasn’t brought into the series until Resident Evil 7 (I’m a little late to the party, I’ll admit) but that’s because zombie games just aren’t my style. I liked that Resident Evil 7 did something a little more than it’s previous games with a first-person horror/survival.

This game seems to follow in the steps of its predecessor. There’s a more of a witch/cult vibe, which seems to be a trend in video games recently with titles like 2018’s Far Cry 5 and 2017’s Outlast 2, and further back 2013’s Bioshock Infinite (which let’s be fair, does not call itself a cult, but totally is)

Horror Games as a genre (in my opinion) have fallen into repetitive traps that have made them easy to make, and difficult to make them unique (I say confidently as someone who’s played a LOT of horror games). While Resident Evil 7 wasn’t mold-breaking, it was rather a reimagination of the series using the popularized methods of horror storytelling. First-person perspective, jump scares, etc. That being said, this is the title I’m most excited about because I love horror games, and I’m hoping for something new.

This is also refreshing because like Square Enix, the Capcom has been publishing Resident Evil Remakes, with RE2 and RE3 re-releasing with huge success. It’s nice to see a new game added to the IP, and a step away from the Remake Frenzy .

Deathloops

Bethesda and Arkane Lyon have teamed up and are making this new, weird game called Deathloop. I watched this trailer, I didn’t know what to think because at first, I thought it was going to be the new battle royale, but from the trailer alone there’s too much narrative for it to be just that.

Turns out, it’s an action RPG, with single-player and multiplayer functions. I do predict there’s going to be a battle royale mode, given the popularity of games like Fortnite and PUBG.

What interests me most about this game is the main character, who sounds like he’s a dude that’s been having the worst day of his life. Let’s be honest, that’s how we all feel right now amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bethesda was recently bought my Microsoft, so I’m dumbfounded that this game was on a PlayStation reveal, and is not slated to come out for Xbox. My guess is that it’s got to do with Akrane Lyons being on the project as well.

Devil May Cry: Special Edition

There isn’t much to say about this one. Devil May Cry 5 came out in 2019, and this is the special edition release of it.

Fans seem happy about playable Virgil–and I have no idea what that means but man, it’s got people excited.

Oddworld: Soulstorm

Alright, alright, alright. Here’s our first Indie title in the compilation. Oddworld Soulstorm is developed and published by Oddworld Inhabitants, which seems to be a developer solely focused on Oddworld. They’ve been making games for a hot minute, and at the beginning of their careers went through publishers, but this one here is published by their own team.

It looks like a fun role-playing alien game that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The art is cute, it’s weird, and I’m so happy we got some indie titles being revealed in the showcase.

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach

Right after the first indie drop, we’ve got our second. Five Night’s at Freddy’s is an indie game series that has– in a way — made indie games more noticeable, especially with the help of YouTube Superpowers like Markiplier and The Game Theorists playing and making content about the game series.

This time around I’m reminded of Portal because there’s a female electronic voice that is trying to help the main character but is probably very evil. My fear is that it will be to close to Portal for my liking, but besides that, the graphics look great and hopefully will be a good addition to the series.

Demon Souls

So, don’t get me wrong. Love Dark Souls, love Bloodborne. Story? Great, neat method of storytelling. World? Beautiful. I could tell this was a soulseborne game seconds into the trailer because of its distinct style. Gameplay? hard, but that’s what it’s known for.

I just am not the biggest fan of remakes. While I understand the economic security of producing something people already know about, I’m more interested in bringing new stuff to the table than the old stuff. Here’s hoping that this remake is a mix of old and new, to satisfy long time players and bring in new players to the fanbase.

Fortnite

Firstly, I love that the trailer is less than a minute long. They know we know what’s up, and they don’t waste our time. Good on them.

Smart move on Playsation’s part because with Fortnite, there’s going to be a lot of kids wanting the new PlayStation.

So What Do We Think About All This?

Firstly, exciting that two indie titles made the showcase. I’m in love with the representation. For the most part, they’re all new games to established intellectual properties, and a couple of new gems to spice things up a little.

I have high hopes for all of these games. I think they’re all going to do well, but I could be wrong. These are, after all, only trailers.