I got caught up watching/listening to the State of Play while stuck in traffic on my way home from work. While I caught every announcement, it didn’t land for me. So my initial reaction was that it was mid. Not in the way everyone incorrectly uses it, but just ok. It was cool and it had a couple games that I looked forward to but as a whole? I thought at the time it could have been a series of emails.
That is until I had some time to relax at home and I sat down with it again. And I saw everything in a completely different way. Shaun nailed it with Dreams of Another, and I can’t wait to dig into that. The idea of a game being built around creation is wildly interesting to me. But there are others that caught my eye that will absolutely be sure to snatch away what little bit of time I have.
LET’S sTART WITH MY SURPRISE OF STATE OF PLAY, ‘mINDSEYE’
I’m a sucker for a good action sci-fi story, one of my favorite narrative podcasts “Derelict” is that. So of course I’m all the way locked in for this game. MindsEye seems to want to put an equal focus on combat focused gameplay and combat driving. I’ve honestly been looking for a way to scratch my Batmobile itch (Yes, I enjoyed it).
The story does seem to be fairly standard sci-fi fare, but I do like the promise of a story that tells everyone about AI that they all inevitably ignore in real life. Nothing like watching everything go to hell around you while the signs for avoidance are right there.
Supermassive is back with some more heat
There’s nothing like some good old choice based narrative sci-fi horror to get things going and Supermassive is coming in with Directive 8020. This game was one that I actually missed one my first State of Play watch. And I’m glad I came back around because this looks like it might be the best of all their titles.
Directive 8020 looks like Supermassive’s take on The Thing and that makes me very excited for what comes of this. I mean, they do narrative as well as anyone else in gaming. So to take a well known concept and flesh it out with an even deeper concept, there’s no telling where this can go.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST, SAROS
Housemarque has positioned itself as the second studio of the Shaq and Kobe like Playstation duo. The first studio being Insomniac. I know Naughty Dog is the big dawg around these parts but those two have been holding it down pretty consistently over the last 10 years. Now Housemarque is back with Saros, a new IP inspired by the work they did with Returnal.
What stuck out to me is a reference to dying and coming back stronger. As the VICE Games crew’s unofficial Roguelike King, I’m looking forward to seeing what they do with it. It would be interesting to see a twist of the formula where you can upgrade at death and take that into the next run. I’m hoping that’s what they’re going for, but either way, I’ll be there.
So that’s just some of what I really liked in the State of Play. There’s a few other games that I’ll likely touch on down the road as more info comes out, like Tides of Annihilation, which I’m really excited for. But until then, take another look at the presentation, you might find something catching your eye that didn’t on first look.
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