Category: Sony

Liam got tired of waiting.

When it comes to episodic content, Hitman and Life Is Strange 2 are at complete polar opposites of one another. The 2016 reboot of Agent 47’s stealthy escapades was lauded for its approach to content rollout — giving players a new map, set of scenarios, and tons of challenges every two or so months to experiment with. It was just enough time to allow budding agents to master what was on offer before an all-new level took its place. An exciting model indeed, which despite being confusingly dumped for last year’s sequel, proved that an episodic approach to gaming can work. And then Life Is Strange 2 came along to demonstrate how it can go south all too quickly.

Developer DONTNOD Entertainment clearly set its sights high with the follow-up to Max and Chloe’s time-bending adventure, but in doing so, it also dramatically increased the game’s development time. Life Is Strange 2 – Episode 1: Roads released on 27th September 2018. Just under 15 months later, on 3rd December 2019, the series finale finally arrived on PlayStation 4. No matter how its offerings are, that’s an unacceptable length of time in my opinion. Especially so for a title which places all the emphasis on its narrative.

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Lost in time.

The fact that Shenmue III feels like a direct continuation of the cult SEGA Dreamcast classics is testament to veteran director Yu Suzuki’s unflinching ambition. There may have been almost two decades between this long-anticipated PlayStation 4 instalment and its predecessor, but developer Ys Net isn’t afraid to pick up the plot immediately where it left off. With stern-faced star Ryo Hazuki and his mysterious accomplice Shenhua Ling dumbstruck in a Bailu Village cave, the sequel re-treads the closing moments of Shenmue II before immediately picking up the narrative thread.

This is true time capsule stuff, with the game design left unaffected by the 18 years of advancement that have occurred since the series’ last outing. Running on contemporary Unreal Engine 4 technology, the release looks lush, with saturated colours and sprawling vistas lending a somewhat magical flavour to the otherwise ordinary Guilin backdrop. But as an experience, this follows the exact same format as its forebears, meaning you’ll spend countless hours interrogating clueless locals as you attempt to progress the plot at a glacial pace.

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Going live.

We’re listing the ten Games of the Decade. These are the ten PlayStation titles released over the past ten years that we believe have left a historic mark on the industry. Whether it’s Destiny’s impact on the Games as a Service space or Journey’s innovative approach to online connectivity, these are the releases that the industry will be referencing well into 2020 and beyond.

A decade ago, the term Games as a Service simply didn’t exist. While the PlayStation 3 had the capabilities to connect to the Internet, buy and download games off the PlayStation Store, and participate in online multiplayer, it was a set of features that only went so far. Video games needed more powerful hardware and a better network infrastructure to take the next step, and so when the PlayStation 4 brought about the current generation, the concept of the live game was born. Working in tangent with the Games as a Service model, it’s the type of title every publisher on the planet hopes to achieve success with. Many have done it since, but Destiny was the first to do it on consoles in a major way and the series has remained one of the biggest of the lot ever since.

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Prepare to die.

We’re listing the ten Games of the Decade. These are the ten PlayStation titles released over the past ten years that we believe have left a historic mark on the industry. Whether it’s Destiny’s impact on the Games as a Service space or Journey’s innovative approach to online connectivity, these are the releases that the industry will be referencing well into 2020 and beyond.

Demon’s Souls did it first, but it was Dark Souls which brought the concept to the masses. Death and difficulty have always been two sources of video game frustration for as long as time remembers, although it wasn’t until 2011 when Japanese developer From Software would truly burst onto the scene and give the concepts a whole new meaning. Accepting failure became a chance to learn; difficulty was something to conquer and boast about in the aftermath. It’s a set of mechanics which has helped to craft an incredibly successful franchise and a handful of even better spin-offs, as well as a myriad of copycats.

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The Dragon Knights are here.

As promised, Cygames has wheeled out a brand new look at Granblue Fantasy: Relink. The action role-playing title, which was previously being developed by Platinum Games, continues to impress in two great videos. The one that we’ve embedded above is a cinematic trailer which introduces the Dragon Knights, while the footage below shows off more than ten minutes of four-player co-op gameplay.

It’s a little unclear how co-op ties into the overall experience. Last we saw, Relink was a full action RPG with a story, exploration, and fantastic looking combat. We assume that’s all still there, but multiplayer quests should give the release a lot of replay value on the side.

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Heroes and villains.

The game may not even have a release date yet here in the West, but that hasn’t stopped Cygames and Arc System Works from showing potential buyers what Granblue Fantasy Versus has up its sleeve post-launch. The gorgeous looking fighter only has a small character roster at 11 combatants, but we’ve known for a while that it’ll be bolstered with additional heroes and villains plucked from the immensely popular Granblue Fantasy mobile title.

The first four of those characters have been revealed in a new trailer, which you can watch above. They are: Chaos Bringer, Narmaya, Soriz, and Djeeta. The first two arrive in March 2020, while the latter two release in April 2020. Granblue Fantasy Versus itself hits Japan on the 6th February.

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Logan pull.

For as much as we like Days Gone, the world is crying out for Gabe Logan and Syphon Filter to make a comeback. Here’s the thing: Metal Gear Solid is as good as dead, and Ubisoft doesn’t appear to be in a hurry to revive Splinter Cell. The consequence? There are basically zero espionage titles in the pipeline – especially with a contemporary setting.

Imagine, for one moment, what a PlayStation 5 reboot of Sony Bend’s famous franchise would look like: sprawling sandbox levels with multiple objectives, each of which could be tackled in myriad different ways using a wealth of different unlockable gadgets and gizmos. Sounds brilliant, doesn’t it? The title almost designs itself.

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Plenty to chomp on.

Man, it’s been a busy week here at Push Square Towers. Not only did we cover a State of Play and The Game Awards, but we’ve also scheduled in almost 50 articles, which will run over the Christmas break. Yes, you ready that correctly – fifty. We’re looking forward to some game time this weekend.

Stephen Tailby, Associate Editor

I’m still procrastinating on Control. It’d be great to make some more progress this weekend, but let’s face it: I’ll probably end up on something completely different.

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Welcome back, Captain.

Fans of The Outer Worlds rejoice! The highly rated role-playing title is getting story DLC in 2020, developer Obsidian Entertainment has revealed in an end-of-year blog post.

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Beauty in death.

We’re suckers for good box art here at Push Square, and we’ve gotta say, Ghost of Tsushima’s gorgeous PlayStation 4 cover has absolutely floored us. The newly revealed art features main character Jin — otherwise known as The Ghost — standing in a field while holding his mask in one hand and his sword in the other. The subtle use of colour is perfect, creating a really dramatic look.

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