The opening months of the year are generally when we see the big three console companies talking about their platforms’ lineups of upcoming games. Microsoft went first once again this year with its recent Developer_Direct showcase, and next in line is Sony. A State of Play has been confirmed for January 31, with the show set to be over 40 minutes long and cover more than 15 upcoming titles for 2024 and beyond. The two games that Sony has confirmed will be shown off are Rise of the Ronin and Stellar Blade, but there’s more plenty of room for speculation about what other titles could show up- and here, that’s exactly what we’re going to do.
DEATH STRANDING 2
There’s a lot that we don’t know about PlayStation Studios’ slate of upcoming games, but of the ones that have been officially announced, Death Stranding 2 is probably the biggest. Unveiled back in 2022, Kojima Productions and Sony have been all but completely silent on the sequel since then, and with information scant on what the next year of first party PS5 releases is going to look like, this seems like the right time for Death Stranding 2 to resurface. Whether or not we’re at a point where we’ll get a release date or window for the game remains to be seen, but we’d be surprised if we didn’t at least get to see a new trailer- one that, in true Kojima fashion, will be all sorts of cryptic. Sure enough, prominent leaker billbil-kun recently claimed that Death Stranding 2 will indeed be getting a new trailer soon, while XboxEra co-founder Nick Baker teased the game for the State of Play. The former has also said the game’s full title is going to be revealed as Death Stranding 2: On the Beach.
HELLDIVERS 2
This one is fairly obvious. Helldivers 2’s launch is right around the corner, and as a PlayStation Studios game releasing just days after the State of Play showcase, it’s almost definitely going to have some sort of a presence there. How extensive will that presence be? Given the fact that the game is approaching launch as it is, we probably shouldn’t be expecting a particularly meaty showing, but at the same time, it’s very unlikely that we don’t get at least a new trailer for the co-op shooter as Sony prepares for this final pre-launch stretch.
SILENT HILL 2
The wait for the Silent Hill 2 remake to rear its head again has been a long one, with both Konami and developer Bloober Team having been unnervingly tight-lipped about the game since first announcing it back in October 2022. Many showcases and events have come and gone in that time where we’ve speculated about the remake’s appearance, only to be left disappointed at its absence. So is this upcoming State of Play finally going to be the one? Clearly, we can never be too sure, but there’s a good chance that the survival horror title does finally get an update. At the outset of this year, Sony confirmed in an official sizzle reel that Silent Hill 2 would be out in 2024, while Bloober Team CEO Piotr Babieno recently also confirmed that the game’s marketing campaign would begin “very soon”, all of which would suggest that it shouldn’t be too long before we finally see the game again. On top of that, the previously mentioned leak by known insider Nick Baker also mentioned Silent Hill 2 as one of the games in the State of Play’s lineup.
METAL GEAR SOLID DELTA: SNAKE EATER
Unlike Silent Hill 2, fellow upcoming Konami remake Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater seems to be much less shrouded in mystery. After its announcement in May last year, the game received another trailer in October’s Xbox Partner Preview, which means it wasn’t that long ago that we first saw it. It was, however, another game that was confirmed for a 2024 release in Sony’s aforementioned sizzle reel earlier this month. With that in mind, it wouldn’t be too farfetched to expect a new trailer for the game, perhaps one that shows actual gameplay footage… and maybe even confirms a release date? Fingers crossed, I guess.
CONCORD
Sony’s PlayStation Showcase last year was a fairly underwhelming one, but it wasn’t completely devoid of first party announcements. That was where we got our first look at Concord, a PvP first person shooter set in what was described as a “vibrant” sci-fi universe populated by a “colourful” cast of characters. Of course, at the time, we saw little more than a brief CG teaser that didn’t really show much (or anything) of the game itself- so might this State of Play presentation be where we get our first look at actual Concord gameplay? When it was announced last year, the game was given a 2024 launch window, so unless it’s been delayed, a meatier showing would make a lot of sense right about now. Incidentally, leaker billbil-kun has claimed that a Concord gameplay reveal is indeed around the corner, and that the game is apparently “heavily inspired” by Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy universe.
DRAGON’S DOGMA 2
The next couple of months are packed full of major upcoming releases, and this State of Play seems like an appropriate stage for many of them to continue cranking up the hype. Dragon’s Dogma 2 is, of course, set to release on March 22, so a new trailer for the open world action RPG wouldn’t be surprising in the slightest. Can we expect something more than that though? Capcom loves putting out demos of its games ahead of release, so could a demo for Dragon’s Dogma 2 be announced at the upcoming State of Play? One can hope, at least.
FINAL FANTASY 7 REBIRTH
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is probably the biggest release of all of 2024 (of the games that we know of so far, at the very least), and with the game due out in less than a month’s time, excitement surrounding it is continuing to build. Square Enix has kept up a healthy cadence of new trailers and gameplay showings in recent weeks and months, and it would very much be in character for the company to premiere another trailer right about now.
FINAL FANTASY 16: THE RISING TIDE DLC
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth might be what most FF fans are thinking of right now, but the series has other irons in the fire as well. Final Fantasy 16’s second expansion, The Rising Tide, is set to add a new location to the action RPG and finally bring Leviathan into the mix, and with a confirmed release window of Spring 2024, this seems like the right time to give us another look at the DLC, and perhaps even reveal an exact release date.
UNTIL DAWN
Until just a few days ago, there would have been absolutely no reason to expect Supermassive Games’ nearly decade-old horror title to show up at the upcoming State of Play, but according to leaks, it’s very much on the cards. Leaker billbil-kun has claimed that Until Dawn is going to be announced for PS5 and PC soon, though it’s unclear right now whether that’ll be in the form of a remake or a remaster. Given the fact that Sony recently confirmed that an Until Dawn movie had entered development, we wouldn’t be entirely surprised if the company did indeed decide to bring the game back into the limelight.
JUDAS
BioShock creator Ken Levine’s studio Ghost Story Games unveiled its debut project, first person shooter Judas, back in December 2022, and given the pedigree of the developers and how promising that first trailer looked, the game, unsurprisingly, turned more than a few heads. Since then, however, we’ve seen next to nothing of Judas, and with Take-Two Interactive having previously confirmed that it’s supposed to be out before April 2025, one has to wonder whether we’ll be seeing the game again in the near future. Sure enough, the previously-mentioned leak by known insider Nick Baker has suggested that Judas will indeed have a presence at the State of Play.
ELDEN RING: SHADOW OF THE ERDTREE
As recently as December, FromSoftware said that Elden Ring’s much anticipated expansion was still some way off from launch– so why exactly are we expecting a showing at the imminent State of Play? Well, recent developments have suggested that the DLC might actually be closer than expected. In December, a listing for Elden Ring-themed controllers made by Thrustmaster was spotted online, and that listing, interestingly enough, claimed that the controller in question would be out in February alongside Shadow of the Erdtree. On top of that, Elden Ring’s Steam page has also seen some recent activity, with files and updates having been added to the backend’s paid DLC section. Whether or not Shadow of the Erdtree’s launch is actually imminent remains to be seen, but might we at least see a trailer for it at the State of Play? It doesn’t seem to be totally out of the question, at the very least.
MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN 2
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is a few months old now, but Insomniac Games apparently still has things in the works for the action-adventure title. For starters, the developer has previously confirmed that a New Game Plus Mode is set to arrive in early 2024, and if that is proceeding as planned, a shadow drop at the State of Play wouldn’t be unlikely in the slightest. Beyond that, whether there’s any unannounced DLC that we could be hearing about as well- that’s entirely up for speculation, at this point, but one would certainly hope.
SONIC
Back in October, allegedly leaked Sega documents claimed that a new mainline Sonic game would be out sometime in 2024, and recent developments have fanned those flames. More specifically, insider Nick Baker’s cryptic tease for the State of Play has pointed to a new Sonic announcement, saying, “Sonic will live in the shadow of his generation”. Now, does that mean we’re getting a Sonic Generations remaster or remake? And what part exactly is good old Shadow the Hedgehog going to play here?
NEW METRO GAME
4A Games has mentioned a few times since Metro Exodus’ launch that it’s working on the series’ next game, and Baker’s aforementioned tweet has suggested that the next Metro is indeed going to be announced at the State of Play. Interestingly, however, it might not come in the form you’d expect. Another leaker, Twitter user @Kurakasis, has claimed that the game, titled Metro Awakening, is going to be a VR-exclusive game. With Sony having confirmed that PS VR2 announcements will also be included in the State of Play, might a mainline VR Metro title serve as the showpiece announcement for the platform at the event?
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