Now, however, it seems like it’ll be out before Holiday season hits, as per insider The Snitch. That might not be an insider name you’ve heard an awful lot about, but they’ve got an interesting track record over the last few days, having leaked not only Hideo Kojima’s recently-leaked Overdose and Final Fantasy 16’s Summer 2023 release window and trailer runtime, but even the entire lineup of the recent State of Play presentation before it went live.

More recently, The Snitch sent out a tweet that simply read, “PART 1 – 02.09.2022”. That, of course, doesn’t explicitly name The Last of Us, but given the naming conventions of the series, it could potentially be referring to a remake of the original game, supposedly due out on September 2. Emojis included in the tweet also suggest that it’ll be a simultaneous PlayStation and PC launch, which would be a first for a Sony-published game this big.

Interestingly, the existence of a remake of The Last of Us has been hinted at by more than leaks and insiders. A PlayStation job ad pointed in that direction, while the LinkedIn profile of a Naughty Dog QA tester also mentioned and unannounced remake. Another Sony developer has also potentially suggested that the game could be out this year.

Of course, there’s the chance that this particular leak is referring to something that isn’t The Last of Us– for instance, some have speculated that it could be referring to the first episodic release in Hideo Kojima’s aforementioned horror title Overdose, launching simultaneously on PC and Xbox- which would be more likely, considering the rumours that he’s signed on with Xbox for his next game.

Either way, there’s a good chance that whatever this is ends up getting unveiled in the coming days (if it’s accurate, at least), so we might not have to wait too long to know for sure one way or another. Stay tuned, and we’ll keep you updated.

https://twitter.com/insider_wtf/status/1534442969914286080

The Last of Us Remake Gameplay

The Last of Us is one of the greatest games ever made – even if a remake doesn’t make sense, one can’t deny the appeal of vastly improved visuals, gameplay improvements and even more content. There have been rumblings for some time about the remake but more recently, insider Tom Henderson stated it would release in the latter half of 2022. VentureBeat’s Jeff Grubb corroborated the same with sources claiming it would launch in Holiday 2022. Sony hasn’t announced a showcase for June, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get a bombshell announcement and gameplay at the Summer Game Fest.

So, here are ten predictions for what we hope to see happening in Sony’s State of Play stream next week! If even half of these come to pass, we think it’ll end up being a pretty good show.

PSVR2

This is the most obvious one, because it’s actually explicitly confirmed. Sony has promised to show off PSVR2 games in this show, from first and third parties; in conjunction with their recent statement that they are planning on having 20 total games available for the new peripheral at launch, one can assume a decent chunk of this 30 minute stream will be spent on VR. Hopefully, we get to see a lot of bug budget PSVR2 exclusives that can incentivize an upgrade to the new headset – and hey, who knows, maybe we get some details on when it launches and how much it costs too.

THE LAST OF US FACTIONS

The standalone multiplayer game that was once meant to be a companion to The Last of us Part 2 has long since become its own, full-fledged, ambitious Naughty Dog project. It’s been a long time coming (we are almost two years removed from when TLOU2 came out), but hopefully, we finally get to see what a full fledged multiplayer game from Naughty Dog looks like during this State of Play stream. Will it maintain the amazing mechanics and sandbox design from Part 2? Will it maintain naughty Dog’s penchant for a narrative focus while being a satisfying multiplayer game? We can’t wait to see what the answer to these questions might be.

THE LAST OF US REMAKE

The single most redundant and pointless remake of all time, the much leaked The Last of Us Remake is a remake of a less than ten year old PS3 game that already got an extensive PS4 remaster, and is now getting a brand new TV show adaptation. What I am trying to say is, if there is one game that didn’t need a remake, it was the first TLOU. But hey, it’s happening. And personally, if they can adjust the gameplay to resemble the incredible pitch perfection that its sequel exhibited, I’ll be there for it. TLOU Remake is supposed to be launching this year – which leaves a very narrow window for it being announced, dated, and marketed, if you think about it. Assuming there is any truth to the rumours, we should see it next week for sure.

THIRD PARTY STUFF

Sony’s State of Play announcement explicitly emphasizes that third party games will be shown off, so we should get to see a fair few of them at this stream. Probably a look at the Resident Evil 8 DLC? A Sony-backed Silent Hill revival is something that has been leaked so often, we might as well put it here for completion’s sake. There are also games like Gotham Knights, Suicide Squad, Hogwarts Legacy, and perhaps even Soul Hackers 2, that we might get more of a look at come next week. Hopefully at least some of them get concrete release dates (that they actually manage to hit).

FINAL FANTASY 16

Yes, Final Fantasy gets its own entry because it’s Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy 16 is apparently almost done and nearing release, and the developers have told us they are getting ready to show it. So… they might as well show it, right? While it is unclear whether or not the game will actually release this year (in fact, I will go out on a limb and guess it will not), it can still get shown off in great depth (we haven’t actually seen as much of it as we might like). Hell, it might even get a proper release date, even if that release date ends up being beyond this year. Whatever it is, we just want to see more of it.

FINAL FANTASY 7 REMAKE PART 2

If the idea of Final Fantasy getting one entry to itself made you angry, boy, you must be frothing at this point. But no, jokes apart, Final Fantasy 7 Remake is a huge deal – almost as big a deal as a new numbered entry in the series, actually. And ordinarily, we would assume that the developer would hold off on marketing it until after 16 is out. However, just a few weeks ago, they shared that they plan on revealing more information about the next entry in this multi-part reimagining of the original beloved game in June. Which, mysteriously enough, happens to coincide neatly with when the State of Play will be. Might we end up seeing not one, but two FF games at this SoP? We can only hope.

MORE PC GAMES

Sony is all in on PC gaming at this point, and the company plans on upping its output on the platform massively in the next couple of years. What this means is, we are probably going to see a lot more PC announcements from the house of PlayStation in the coming months. At this point, given how well Sony’s existing games have done on PC, the sky is the limit. Returnal? Ghost of Tsushima? The Last of Us Remake? The Last of Us Factions? Horizon Forbidden West? We will probably see at least some notable PC centric announcements from Sony at this show – for those who have yet to make their peace with Sony embracing PC gaming, well, you have a week or so to come to terms with it.

FORSPOKEN

It is unclear how good or not Forspoken will end up being – it hasn’t looked the most inspiring in its showings, the developer who is developing it doesn’t have the best track record, and a relatively late delay are all things that are working against it at the moment. But hey, it’s a big budget new IP. It can still end up surprising us. Hopefully it blows our socks off with an inspired showing next week.

FIRST PARTY UPDATES

Sony’s slate of officially announced first party games is surprisingly slim at the moment. We know God of War Ragnarok is due out this year, and we know Spider-Man 2 and Wolverine are due out… some day. And that’s about it. With Horizon and Gran Turismo both out earlier this year, there’s not a lot of projects officially confirmed that we know of. So hopefully we see some more announcements and reveals from Sony here. We’ve already mentioned the two Last of Us games, but how about Death Stranding 2? Norman Reedus literally confirmed it just the other week, so we know it’s happening. There have been various rumours about a new Sly Cooper, Twisted Metal, and Wipeout game (among other things), and while who can say how accurate they might be, they do point to the fact that Sony’s upcoming slate is a giant question mark at the moment. Hopefully we get to see at least a couple of major new projects announced and/or shown off come this State of Play.

GOD OF WAR RAGNAROK

If God of War Ragnarok is due out this year, which Sony and Santa Monica Studios both insist it is, then time is running out for Sony to announce when that might be. A new trailer, confirming a release date for September or October this year, isn’t out of the question, and we imagine it will be either the opener or the capstone to the State of Play stream. Which means that, even if none of the other stuff on this list ends up happening, at least we are guaranteed one incredible announcement at this show.

… unless Ragnarok ends up being a no-show too. Hopefully not!

Now, journalist Jeff Grubb has doubled down in those reports. In a recent episode of the Kinda Funny Gamescast (spotted originally over on ResetEra), Grubb claimed that based on what he’s heard, The Last of Us’ remake will launch Holiday 2022.

There’s been plenty of smoke surrounding rumours related to The Last of Us in recent months. From possible hints in job ads to teases by developers, the game has been potentially hinted it on a number of occasions. Most recently, a QA tester at Naughty Dog mentioned on his LinkedIn page that he has been involved in “QA testing and development support” for an “unannounced remake project”.

Grubb has recently also suggested that there’s a chance that Sony has a showcase event in early June (or in September, if not in June), so the remake is something that could be unveiled there. Either way, we’ll keep an eye out for more details, so stay tuned.

For instance, as spotted over on ResetEra, the LinkedIn profile of Core Hong – who is a quality assurance tester at Naughty Dog – mentions that he has been involved in “QA testing and development support” for an “unannounced remake project”- which, given all the reports in recent months, can most likely only be pointing to one thing. You can check out a screenshot of the same below.

Interestingly, recent PlayStation job ads have also seemingly hinted at the development of a remake of The Last of Us, while a PlayStation Studios Visual Arts animator recently also teased a large-scale unannounced project that’s due out this year.

Reports earlier this year also suggested that development on The Last of Us’ remake was “nearly complete” and the game – as well as the standalone The Last of Us multiplayer project currently in the works at Naughty Dog – might even launch in the latter half of 2022.

Back in March, Morrison teased on Twitter about, “That feeling when you have 3-5 years of work you can’t show.” He tweeted roughly two weeks later about receiving a gift from PlayStation’s Creative Arts team, stating that, “PlayStation has some bangers coming out this year.” Which sounds all well and good, if a little vague.

It’s the more recent tweets in April that are worth noting. To celebrate Portfolio Day, Morrison tweeted that, “Everything I do is a team effort. And at some point this year I’m going to be able to post new stuffs.” Given his experience on God of War (2018), one would assume that he’s working on God of War: Ragnarok as well. However, he clarified that, “I’m not working on Ragnarok. But something equally cool.”

It’s possible that he’s referring to the rumored remake of The Last of Us, which Sony Visual Arts Support Group was leading development on before becoming a support studio. Perhaps a reveal is slated for the coming months, especially since insider Tom Henderson heard from “multiple people” back in January that it’s “nearly finished”. Nevertheless, stay tuned for more details in the coming months.

That feeling when you have 3-5 years of work you can’t show

— Robert Morrison (@RobertAnim8er) March 3, 2022

https://twitter.com/RobertAnim8er/status/1505005562337058816

https://twitter.com/RobertAnim8er/status/1514010202374291465

I’m not working on Ragnarok. But something equally cool.

— Robert Morrison (@RobertAnim8er) April 13, 2022

This was followed by a GIF satirically analyzing a clip from Sony’s CES 2022 show which featured Ellie and Joel in the background on stage. But that’s seemingly not all. It seems the studio’s new multiplayer project – a standalone title which may be the equivalent of Factions for The Last of Us Part 2 – will also be coming this year. As such, Henderson noted that The Last of Us Part 2’s multiplayer and its Director’s Cut are inbound but when and how is still unknown. Co-president Neil Druckmann’s statement on “multiple projects” being in the works does give some credence to their existence though.

It’s possible that the multiplayer project could be a free-to-play title that launches alongside the remake. In past job ads, Naughty Dog has spoken about bringing the “same level of ambition and quality of our signature, story-driven games to this unique multiplayer project.” So it’s very much possible that the title serves as a platform to incorporate stories from both games in the series (which makes sense if The Last of Us Part 2 Director’s Cut turns out to be real).

Time will tell so stay tuned for more details – and a potential reveal – in the coming months.

https://twitter.com/_Tom_Henderson_/status/1478842168345350151

With TLOU2 MP and TLOU 2 directors cut – I've heard they are coming too – But I don't know exactly when/how.

Them all releasing together could be a good compromise if GOW got delayed to Q1 2023 – But that's just speculation on my end for the moment.

— Tom Henderson (@_Tom_Henderson_) January 5, 2022

But I think the overall goal here is to drum up hype for the HBO show, so we'll see what happens – And to be honest, Q3/Q4 2022 for Sony looks a little lackluster at the moment. So we'll see what happens!

Exciting times ahead! 😀

— Tom Henderson (@_Tom_Henderson_) January 5, 2022

That too 🙂

— Tom Henderson (@_Tom_Henderson_) January 5, 2022

And now, Sony is about to show us the next wave of PS5 software. For far too long, PlayStation fans have complained about Sony’s silence, and how the company won’t share what’s in the pipeline for the $500 machines they have just bought on faith – the good thing is, now Sony is about to show us what’s behind the curtains, with their upcoming PlayStation event.

Obviously, it’s hard to know exactly what we can expect from this show, but there are some predictions we can make – based on rumours, educated guesses, precedence, and just plain old wishful thinking at times. Honestly, if even half this list shows up at Sony’s even, we’ll be satisfied – if they manage to pull through with all of them, we’ll be ecstatic. So, without further ado, here’s what we expect.

HORIZON: FORBIDDEN WEST

Horizon: Forbidden West got a huge State of Play back before E3, and it’s spent the last few weeks in the news cycle, with the confirmation of the official release, date, as well as pre-order details, and the snafus associated with Sony’s boneheaded cross-gen strategy. But what we haven’t gotten in a while is a new look at the game itself – which we probably will at Sony’s event. To be honest, we probably won’t see a lot of it, and Sony will presumably not want to linger on it too much, since it has been in the news cycle (and since Sony will probably want to talk about stuff we don’t have as much details on), but Horizon being there is a pretty safe bet. Hopefully we get to see more of a look at how Guerrilla plans on evolving their well-received, but flawed, first attempt at an open world action RPG.

THE LAST OF US REMAKE

From recent, well sourced reports, we know that Sony is supposed to be working on a remake of the seminal The Last of Us. Whether or not this is a considered decision is now water under the bridge – no matter what one thinks of whether the excellent 2013 game which still holds up needs a remake, it is, apparently, getting one. And if it is, we might get to see it at this event. It’ll be really interesting to see what changes, if any, the game has over the original – The Last of Us is one of the most beloved games of all time, and out single handedly defined Sony’s entire first party approach from there on. It also holds up remarkably well – so what will the remake bring to the table? Are we looking at it adopting Part 2‘s amazingly realized sandbox style encounters? Will there be any changes made to the story? We’re pretty excited to see what comes of The Last of Us‘s remake at this point, and we hope Sony brings the goods.

THE LAST OF US PART 2: FACTIONS

Of course, The Last of Us Remake will probably not be the only new entry in that franchise we see at this event. Sony and Naughty Dog have been teasing the multiplayer component to Part 2, which was expanded in scope to be a standalone product, for a while now, and we still haven’t seen anything of it. We’ve barely had official acknowledgement for it. So, the time has come – if this thing is still happening, this PS event is where Sony should take the curtains off and finally reveal how The Last of Us multiplayer will be evolving in the next generation. Personally, given how mechanically sublime The Last of Us Part 2 is, I can’t wait to see what a multiplayer game based off of it will be like.

FORSPOKEN

Final Fantasy 16 is not going to be at this show – as much as I’d want it to be, Square Enix pretty much confirmed earlier this year that it’s unlikely to be shown off for the remainder of 2021. But we already know that Forspoken, the new game from the development team of Final Fantasy 15, is supposed to release before Final Fantasy 16 – so perhaps we get a new look at that? There are a lot of questions about this game, which is promising to deliver an open world action RPG unlike any Square Enix has ever attempted in the past – and maybe a deeper dive into what the game might deliver will help stoke the fires of hype.

GRAN TURISMO 7

This one is honestly a bit of a crapshoot as to whether or not it shows up at the event. Gran Turismo games are notorious for having protracted development cycles, something that 7 is probably especially struggling with given COVID-19 is still a thing, and that apparently the PS4 version for it was added later in development. Past GT games have often skipped showings at events until nearer release – depending on the state of the game right now, there’s a possibility that Gran Turismo 7 is a no-show here as well. However, presumably we will get something for the game here – a short trailer or a gameplay demo around one track, perhaps? Like I said, it’s hard to nail this one down. But Gran Turismo is Sony’s oldest active franchise – and I am sure there are many who would be delighted to see it.

BLUEPOINT GAMES

Is Sony actually acquiring Bluepoint Games? Who knows anymore? When announcing the acquisition of Housemarque earlier this year, PlayStation Japan’s Twitter account accidentally also shared news indicating Bluepoint had been similarly acquired – but that was quickly deleted, and Bluepoint continues to be independent, with no official acknowledgement of that goof since. Was it a goof? Who knows? Maybe Sony announces Bluepoint joining the PlayStation Studios family at this event. Maybe there is no acquisition, but at the very least we get to see what game they are working on next – whether it be a remake of some other classic Sony property, or something new entirely.

NEW GAMES FROM SONY’S NEW PARTNERSHIPS

Over the last few months, Sony has been announcing new partnerships for exclusive games with newly set up studios, most prominently, Jade Raymond’s Haven Studios. We haven’t seen or heard anything from these new games these studios are supposed to be working on, even though we do know that Sony is apparently relying on their expertise with multiplayer games to compensate for the weakness of those styles of games in their own first party lineup. Once more, if these games are anywhere close to being shown, this Sony even is as good a place as any. Hopefully we see at least one of them soon.

BLOODBORNE REMASTER

People have been trying to will a Bloodborne remaster into existence for almost half a decade now (ever since the PS4 Pro in fact). They have good reason to – Bloodborne is an amazing game, but it suffers from being technically fairly, shall we say lacking. Framerate drops and frame pacing issues are the biggest problems the game suffers from, and a re-release that does literally nothing else except ironing those out will probably be able to charge a $70 premium and get away with it for its contingent of loyal and devoted fans. Bloodborne as a remaster – for PS5 and PC – has been rumoured variously for a while now, though to be fair, none of those rumours really seem to have much backing them. But again, if it’s true that this game is getting a remaster, or re-release, or update of any kind, we should hopefully see it next week. And if we don’t… well, sometimes it’s best to just make your peace with how things are.

NEW FROM SOFTWARE GAME

In the PS3 and PS4 eras, Sony partnered with From Software to deliver a generation defining game each time that would drive core gamers to their consoles – Demon’s Souls for PS3, Bloodborne for PS4. Recent reports indicate they are teaming with From Software again for a hat trick, which sounds extremely exciting – although a lot of questions remain about whether or not there is any veracity to this rumor. For starters, given that all of From has been pulled into trying to get Elden Ring out the door, who exactly is working on this new game? Secondly, given that Bloodborne and Demon’s Souls were both FromSoftware and Sony Japan co-productions (a fact that tends to often be forgotten), who exactly is working with From on this game? Sony Japan is closed now, because Sony in their infinite wisdom decided to shut down their oldest internal development studio. Is there even any truth to this rumor? I really hope so, because as I said, the last two times Sony and From joined forces delivered among the greatest games of all time. I’d love another one of those.

WIPEOUT

Something that somehow feels even unlikelier than a new From Software partnership is a new Wipeout game, and yet, a new Wipeout game was part of a lot of the same reports that reported on the new From title. Unlikely, why? After all, Wipeout was widely loved, and is Sony’s oldest IP. But the thing is, the genre it is in hasn’t delivered a hit in over two decades, the studio that made Wipeout (industry legends Pygnosis, acquired by Sony before the release of PS1, rebranded later) has been shut down, and there is no indication that Sony really has any other studio with the know-how to make a futuristic arcade racing game. Maybe Polyphony Digital could give it a go (and they would probably do it well), but they seem to be all wrapped up in Gran Turismo 7 right now, so… how can this game exist? Why would it even exist, given how poorly Wipeout has done since the late PS1 era? Those questions are not for me to answer, they’re for Sony to. And if this game is real, hopefully Sony answers those questions at this event, and reveals a new Wipeout game worthy of the moniker. 

SPIDER-MAN 2

We literally got Miles Morales not even a year ago, and Insomniac delivered Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart just a couple months earlier this year – so it might seem foolish to expect the studio to reveal another new big budget tentpole game already, given how long games take to develop now, and that Miles is so new (and still selling so well); but Insomniac works really efficiently, and it’s actually not unrealistic to expect them to have a full-fledged Spider-Man sequel out by 2023. It’s also a game they have talked about a fair few times in the past. We are probably not going to get much of a detailed look at Spider-Man 2 at the PS event, if we get any look at all to begin with – but at the very least, I think we can expect an official announcement trailer.

GOD OF WAR

You knew we were going to save this for the end, because that’s probably what Sony is going to do as well. God of War 2018 was an incredible reimagining of a beloved franchise, and one of the most acclaimed games of last generation – and a direct follow up that builds on it and addresses its shortcomings is an exciting prospect by definition. Sony originally announced the game for a 2021 release for PS5 only – obviously, they weren’t being exactly truthful there, because the game is a cross-gen title, and it’s not coming this year, but neither of those things is really enough to dampen the hype at the prospect of a real, new God of War game running on the PS5. If we see nothing else at this show, we are guaranteed to see what happens in the story of Kratos and Atrues now that Ragnarok has been initiated – and how the sequel builds up on the tease at the very end of the 2018 game. We cannot wait, frankly, and a new look at God of War will be enough to make this event worth it all on its own.

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.

We were all surprised when reports emerged a month ago that a remake of The Last of Us was in development at Naughty Dog. Given how good the game looks and plays even today, and the fact that it already received a pretty impressive remaster back in 2014, the general feeling among fans has been that The Last of Us is a game that doesn’t really need a remake. After all, it’s hard to be excited for a remake of a game that’s less than a decade old- what can we even expect from it, other than some visual enhancements?

Well, apparently, it’s not going to be that simple. According to an article published recently by Game Reactor, The Last of Us’ remake won’t just entail boosts to performance and resolution. On top of visual upgrades, the remake is allegedly also going to have gameplay enhancements that will leverage the PS5’s hardware and the more capable engine that was used for The Last of Us Part 2, adding new gameplay features as well. “Let’s not blow expectations out of the water by hyping it up too much, but this won’t be a “simple” improvement of resolution, framerate and textures,” Game Reactor writes.

Recently, journalist Jason Schreier – who originally broke the news about the remake – also stated that the project was greenlit at Naughty Dog partially because the studio’s other projects were still in pre-production at the time, essentially meaning they didn’t have any other project to focus on.

Meanwhile, series creator and director Neil Druckmann also recently said that a story outline for The Last of Us Part 3 is already in place, though he added that if Naughty Dog does work on it, it’ll be quite a while before it materializes as anything substantial.

It recently emerged thanks to a report by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier that a remake of The Last of Us was allegedly in development at Naughty Dog (with Sony’s VASG aiding in production, after having started out as lead developers on the project). Since the report was published, the question most people have asked, and asked more than a few times is: why? Being a game that launched in 2013, was remastered in 2014, and is still as modern and polished as games releasing in 2021 are (if not more), why does The Last of Us even need a remake?

Well, at least part of the reason is that… Naughty Dog didn’t have anything else to do. Speaking during a recent podcast at MinnMax, journalist Jason Schreier, author of the aforementioned report, stated that Naughty Dog chose to bring The Last of Us’ remake into full production because their other upcoming projects were in pre-production at the time, and that as such, the remake would have given a large number of developers at the studio something to do. Meanwhile, wanting to get familiar with the PS5’s hardware was something else that prompted Naughty Dog to jump on this opportunity.

As big and beloved as The Last of Us is, the reception to news of a remake being in development has been lukewarm at best, and the fact that it’s being developed partially because its developers didn’t have anything else to do isn’t very encouraging.

Schreier did mention that Naughty Dog is currently also working on a multiplayer project (which is likely going to be The Last of Us: Factions, or something along those lines), but such a project would not have required the full attention of the bulk of the studio’s employees.

Meanwhile, Neil Druckmann, who recently became co-president of Naughty Dog, stated that the developer has “several cool things” in the works. He has previously also said that Naughty Dog’s next project could be anything from The Last of Us Part 3 to an entirely new IP.