Most prominent among them is GSC Game World’s open world survival horror first person shooter, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, which will be playable at the show for all attendees. Other upcoming titles that Microsoft is set to bring to the show are Towerborne, Ara: History Untold, and Jusant, while previously-released games like Forza Motorsport, Starfield, The Elder Scrolls Online, and Halo Infinite will also be present.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl doesn’t have a firm release date yet, though developer GSC Game World has run into several obstacles behind-the-scenes. A new fact sheet published for the title in August suggested it would be releasing for Xbox Series X/S and PC in Q1 2024.

Spelunky 2

Look, I don’t know about anyone else but this was the announcement of the show for me. Derek Yu’s Spelunky is a great game. In fact, it’s a great game that does almost everything it promises in as perfect a way as possible, from the rogue-lite elements and exploration to platforming and randomly generated levels. Such was the impact of Spelunky that it still stands out among current top-tier rogue-lite titles like Rogue Legacy, 20XX and whatnot.

So needless to say, when the announcement of Spelunky 2 closed out the pre-show (not even the main show), it was simply the best. We didn’t even get an overload of information about the game. The explorer from the first title has settled down and started a family. His daughter, most likely knowing about her father’s exploits, is planning her own adventure. However, there’s a tease – the possibility that she’ll take to the skies rather than going underground. From there, we were informed that Spelunky 2 would be out for PS4 and PC. It’s probably the only time during the show were a game announcement didn’t have a release date and avoided angering me.

Erica

Flavourworks is a developer that’s been working in “secret” for the past few years and Erica is it’s first project. On the one hand, you might think this to be another “Give Yourself Goosebumps” style game that’s guided along by PlayLink. However, Erica has a lot more going on. It’s live-action unlike Hidden Agenda or many other interactive adventures in recent memory. There’s a significant “Her Story” vibe where players must piece together a mystery for themselves, though it seems more focused on branching paths than pieces of a missing picture. And of course, you’re not just making choices for Erica but contextually interacting with the environment as her.

We don’t know how all of this will add up for the final game. The overall story could end up being terrible and it may be overshadowed by another branching path game like Detroit: Become Human which looks far more in-depth. Regardless, there’s an appeal there that not many games instil with their fancy graphics, cinematics and big-budget storylines (not that this looks small budget by any means). Maybe it’s just Her Story and the brilliance that gives me hope for Erica. We’ll found out for ourselves whenever it releases.

Guacamelee 2

If Spelunky 2 wasn’t announced, then Guacamelee 2 would have ended up being my favourite announcement during Sony’s pre-Media Showcase. I mean, what more could you want? It’s Guacamelee. It features the return of Juan as the superpowered mythical Luchador from the previous game. It’s got four player co-op, new abilities (including one that turns you into a chicken) and the same awesome combat. The graphics still look as gorgeous as ever.

Much as I’d wish Drinkbox Studios would just bring Severed to the PC, Guacamelee 2 is definitely a highlight that needs more attention, whether you think it’s Metroidvania-esque gameplay is too linear or not revolutionary enough. Though I don’t want Guacamelee 2 to be a complete overhaul of the first game, there is some hope that Drinkbox offers something new and interesting for this go-around.

Again, there’s no release date attached to Guacamelee 2 but the developer did note that it’s coming “soon-ish”. A part of me hopes that this means late 2017 but early 2018 is looking like a safer bet.

The Gardens Between

Since the release of Oxenfree, there have been very few 2D side-scrolling games which captured that sense of wonder and endearment. Night in the Woods is an excellent addition to this line-up even if the initially slow opening will wear on you. The Gardens Between looks to be another such game, combining surreal environments with intriguing puzzles and a time travelling mechanic.

The story itself revolves around Arina and Frendt who discover a world of garden islands and can unravel their secrets by moving through time. One would guess that the narrative reveals more about them as you explore the gardens, perhaps showcased about why they sneak out of their houses to spend a rainy night in a tree-house (among other things). The Gardens Between is due out in Q3 2018 and that’s a long, long way off. And while atmospheric side-scrolling adventures like this are fairly niche, The Gardens Between looks to be yet another endearing tale that will draw us in.

The Hong Kong Massacre

When you talk about niche games, nothing really feels more niche than the top-down arcade shooter. Just ask Housemarque who developed games like Nex Machina and found little success with them. That’s not stopping the developer for The Hong Kong Massacre however. This is a John Woo-style, top-down shooter with realistic graphics that’s all about stylish gunfights and killing Triad goons.

You could call it a mix of Max Payne and Hotline Miami but The Hong Kong Massacre feels more sombre – less over the top gore and overt bullet time and much more emphasis on the Heroic Bloodshed genre of films. That means lots of dual-wielding, firing bottomless clips into enemies and a performance that’s more skin to ballet than actual battle. Not that I don’t want some blood mixed in but they’re corpses all the same. Now if the game actually grades you for the “dance” you put on and how stylish the overall killing was? My heart will simply melt.

The Hong Kong Massacre will be out in 2018 for the PS4. One can certainly hope it comes to PC as well but at this point, I’ll take the game on any platform.

French publications attending Paris Games Week got a chance to see Quantic Dream’s Detroit: Become Human in a 30 minute extended demo behind closed doors. Their impressions are pretty favourable and offer some interesting new details about the game.

Thanks to ResetEra members Birdseye who translated the previews and Dragonbane, we got to learn that each character in the game has a distinct play-style. Connor has a more detective-like role (think Jayden from Heavy Rain) while Kara is more of a personal adventure/roadtrip. They each have their own music style and theme as well. Interestingly, it’s possible to obey every single situation in the game and have all the characters survive to one of the endings.

The recent demo with Kara inside of the house showcased how boring, ordinary tasks could be used to inform players about exits and weapons. Quantic Dream is describing this as their most branching game yet with 6000 variables being tracked throughout the experience. All choices have equal weight, from beginning to end. Quantic Dram will still have a hint system or showcase alternate branches after each chapter to encourage players to explore other paths, if not make them aware of the same.

Detroit: Become Human is exclusive to the PS4 and is currently slated to release in Spring 2018.

If games are ever to grow as an artform, and a medium for legitimate storytelling, they, like a movie, TV show, book, song, or painting, must not be afraid to approach and deal with sensitive and taboo subjects. The thing, however, is that these subjects usually must be dealt with delicately- and they can’t be gratuitously added to your story, you need to contextualize them with narrative and thematic movement.

All of which is to say, a scene with shocking violence, domestic abuse, or attempted sexual assault, can work within the context of a larger story, as long as the story builds up to it and justifies the scene’s presence- as a matter of fact, The Last of Us had all three of those scenes within it, but they worked within the context of its story.

What you can’t do, however, is take a scene showing something like that in isolation, show it to people, and expect them to not be uncomfortable with it. But that’s exactly what Sony did at Paris Games Week- they showed off some very violent scenes without any of the surrounding context to them, and they ended up making people uncomfortable.

Speaking to VG247 about the backlash that their violent showing had, Michael Denny, said senior vice president at Sony, said, “We’ve always wanted to have a variety of content, lots of choice, we’ve always wanted to be innovative and sometimes challenge as well,”

“If you look at Sucker Punch’s new game, Ghosts of Tsushima, it’s great new triple A game, Concrete Genie, something that’s very creative and innovative in its own way, PlayLink and new VR titles. To have thought-provoking and mature content if it’s handled in the right way and aimed at a mature audience, I think that’s part of PlayStation as well.”

“It always has been that we trust in our creators. It’s about the experience and the game they want to make.

“Clearly, we’re involved in producing that and if you’re going to go into areas of challenging content we need to make sure it’s done in an appropriate way as well,” he added. “Part of these things are about playing the game and putting them in context – making sure it’s thought-provoking in the right way.”

I think his last sentence absolutely ails it- it is about contextualizing these horrific things, and not just making them gratuitous, and that is something Sony utterly failed at with their showing at Paris Games Week. I can only hope that the final products end up handling this matter more maturely than Sony did this week.

Sony had a rather eventful presence at the Paris Games Week this year. This isn’t totally unprecedented, of course- they had a major conference there two years ago, too. But they took last year off, and returned this year, which at first glance seems innocuous enough. After all, last year, they had the PlayStation Meeting where they announced PS4 Pro and PS4 Slim around the same time frame, and there are only so many major press shows you can have.

But here’s the interesting thing about yesterday’s show- Sony went all out. Paris Games Week isn’t as important a show in terms of media presence or prominence as E3, Gamescom, TGS, or even Sony’s own PlayStation Experience- and yet, Sony brought the big guns to the show yesterday, showing off more of highly anticipated games such as Monster Hunter World and Spider-Man, as well as announcing Sucker Punch’s excellent looking new IP.

To cap it all off, they showed us another stark trailer for the eagerly anticipated The Last of Us Part 2– at this point the biggest announced upcoming exclusive across any platform- to close the show. Arguably, Sony’s showing at Paris Games Week yesterday was more impressive than their E3 keynote earlier this year.

Which begs the question as to why all this stuff was shown off yesterday- why not save it for the PlayStation Experience, which is just a month away? And I want to postulate that in part, this might have been done to take attention away from the impending launch of the Xbox One X, and bring it squarely back to PlayStation.

Sony has had a great year with the PS4, with its sales beating projections, and the lineup being loaded with quality exclusives- but the attention this year has been squarely on Nintendo’s Switch, and now, the upcoming Xbox One X. To Sony’s credit, they have been smart enough to realize that the Switch’s success is additive- it selling well has not impacted the PS4 one bit. But the Xbox One and PS4 have a major overlap in market- if the Xbox One were to suddenly start doing better, it would be at the PS4’s expense, which is, obviously, something Sony does not want.

And so, with the launch of the Xbox One X just a week away, I want to argue Sony brought out the big guns- a reminder that some of the best, most highly anticipated games are all going to be playable on their platform, not the competition’s. A reminder that their console is the only one with an out of the box, integrated VR solution. A reminder that if you want all the third party games, with quality first party exclusives, the PS4 is the place to be. A reminder to shoppers this Holiday season that if they want games, the PS4 is what they should be looking at.

Did the gambit work? Did they actually undermine the launch of the Xbox One X? We obviously don’t know yet, and won’t until the Xbox One X actually launches, and we know how it does- but Sony’s strategy here, if I am reading it right, has been interesting to observe nonetheless.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to GamingBolt as an organization.

Capcom’s Monster Hunter World made an appearance during Sony’s Media Showcase at Paris Games Week. The gameplay was rather great, showcasing the beautiful environments and numerous monsters that players will have to take down. However, much like Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate with The Legend of Zelda, Monster Hunter World will have crossover content, this time with Aloy’s bow and armour from Horizon: Zero Dawn.

Oh and you can play as Aloy as well. Check it out below. This armour set and bow will only be available in the PS4 version (duh). An even more interesting announcement was that PlayStation Plus subscribers would get access to the game’s beta on December 9th. The beta will have three quests and supports both solo and online play.

You can expect the Great Jagras and Anjanath in the Ancient Forest and Barroth in the Wildspire Waste. No news yet on when the beta starts for other platforms. Monster Hunter World releases on January 26th for Xbox One and PS4 with the PC version arriving later.

With the release date of Horizon: Zero Dawn’s first DLC so close, Sony took the opportunity to remind us of The Frozen Wilds. We also got a look at some of the new robots that could be expected along with Aloy doing what she does best – shooting them in the face. Check out the new trailer below.

Horizon: Zero Dawn – The Frozen Wilds is a story expansion for the base game and sees the Seeker traveling to the northern mountains. The Banuk tribe awaits with their own set of challenges but Aloy must also deal with new machines and a brand new threat. It’s a new mystery for Aloy and the potential answers could determine the series’ plot going forward.

The Frozen Wilds will cost $19.99 on the PlayStation Store and promises several hours of new gameplay on top of the base game. A new trailer isn’t the only news emerging from Paris Games Week so stay tuned for more information.

A good number of games sort of sneaked by without releases (again) during Sony’s Media Showcase at Paris Games Week. However, some titles like Shadow of the Colossus did receive a release date. We can look forward to the remake of the PS2 classic on February 6th 2018 for PS4. The game is currently available to pre-order.

Developed by Sony Japan Studio and remade for the PS4 from the ground up by Bluepoint Games, Shadow of the Colossus sees players hunting down several enormous creatures known as Colossi. Each Colossus has their own weakness but each battle is a puzzle that must be solved. Oftentimes, you need to travel the land to find the Colossi (which is achieved with Wander’s horse Agro).

Shadow of the Colossus looks pretty darn good thanks to the work of Bluepoint Games which has handled ports like Titanfall for Xbox 360 and Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection for PS4.

Quantic Dream’s Detroit: Become Human is slowly but surely making progress. In fact, it’s set to release in Spring 2018, adding to Sony’s packed line-up which will include Ni no Kuni 2 in the opening months of next year.

n the meantime, you can enjoy – or rather stomach – the newest trailer for Detroit: Become Human which highlights some of the more disturbing situations that arise. Kara is essentially faced with an abusive father and his innocent daughter Alice. Acting as their maid, Kara must do what’s necessary to protect Alice.

Then again, Kara can also stand by and do nothing, resulting in Alice paying the ultimate price. It’s all up to the player, the decisions they make the possible ramifications of these decisions. Detroit: Become Human is exclusive to PS4 and comes from the mind of David Cage (who also brought us Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls).

Sony didn’t have to do much to convince us of the brilliance that is God of War, which sees Kratos and his son encounter a Souleater for the first time. No, not the anime or its character. Check out the latest gameplay trailer to see what we mean.

God of War is slated to release in early 2018 and will slot in rather nicely with the opening month release pattern that Sony has established (this year had Nier: Automata, Nioh, Gravity Rush 2 and Horizon: Zero Dawn, for example). Our hero Kratos is a lot older this time around but he’s still as vicious, using his magical ax to tear down foes. His son even helps provide an assist or two along the way.

Releasing exclusively for the PS4, God of War sees Kratos in an ancient Norse world, attempting to fulfill some purpose. We don’t know what it is but the gameplay is certainly on point. Stay tuned for more information in the wake of Sony’s Media Conference.