PlayStation Showcase | Third-party devs strut their stuff

The Third-party games really showed up for this PlayStation Showcase, a real saving grace given the weaker than expected First-party offering.
We had surprising reveals of AAA games like Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater and Helldivers 2 as well as some exciting new indie titles the likes of Sword of the Sea and Phantom Blade Zero.

The Games

Assassin’s Creed Mirage – Ubisoft

The first gameplay trailer for Assassin’s Creed Mirage showing up in the PlayStation Showcase was a bit of a surprise for me, considering Ubisoft are holding their own show next month!

Mirage will follow Basim in the Golden Age of Baghdad and will be taking the long running franchise back to it’s roots in terms of gameplay and story. Gameplay will lean much more on stealth and parkour than the head-on action seen in the more recent open-world entries, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be exciting action set pieces too.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage will release on October 12th for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC.

Catch the Ubisoft Forward event on June 12, where we will undoubtedly see more of Mirage.

Alan Wake 2 – Remedy

Well the long awaited sequel Alan Wake 2 is a game I’ll be playing exclusively in brightly lit rooms! It looks and sounds spooky as Hell!

The psychological survival horror will feature two playable protagonists, horror writer Alan Wake and FBI Agent Saga Anderson.
Sometime into the game, players can choose what order they want to play the stories in, giving two separate dark and disturbing paths to explore.

Alan Wake 2 releases on October 17 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.

Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater – Konami

In a trailer that, at first had everyone guessing, we got our first look at Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater! The game will be a faithful remake of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater released back in 2004. Interestingly they’ve dropped the number and replaced it with a delta symbol.

Konami is promising a rich storyline with combat survival elements and unprecedented graphics and immersive sound.
The original voice cast will also be back, which fans will be very happy to hear.

Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater doesn’t have a date at this time, but will release for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.

Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1 – Konami

Konami are also working on a collection of the first three Metal Gear Solid games.

Metal Gear Solid
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Designed to allow fans to play the games as they were, when first released.

Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1 will release later this year for PS5 (Other platforms TBC).

Vol. 1 seems to indicate further volumes of MGS games could re-release in the future. We’ll keep across it…

Phantom Blade Zero – S-Game

The trailer for this spectacular looking action game caught me by surprise and was my personal third-party highlight of the show.

The action in Phantom Blade Zero is fast and frantic, with jaw-dropping attacks and wicked enemy design. Its unique mix of Chinese Kungfu, Steampunk and the Dark Occult is being dubbed ‘Kungfupunk’.

Phantom Blade Zero has no release date as of yet. It’ll launch on PS5 and PC.

Helldivers 2 – Arrowhead

The trailer had me convinced this was a Starship Troopers game at first, But Helldivers 2 is just as good!

The sequel to the much-loved Helldivers, brings more third-person co-op shooting goodness, against massive enemy mobs.
The tongue-in-cheek digs at the US Military had me chuckling, the galactic ‘peacekeepers’ the Helldivers, bringing ‘democracy’ to the galaxy in the most violent way possible.

You’ll be kitted out with a host of super-powered weapons and, if you need to squash a whole host of space-bugs in one go, you can call in an Eagle drop, that’s a half tonne super bomb! Much more effective than a can of Raid.

Blasting bugs with your friends has never been more fun… and dangerous! With friendly-fire always on, you’ll need to be communicating with your team so they don’t end up with a shot of ‘freedom’ in the back!

Helldivers 2 is coming soon to PS5 and PC.

Dragons Dogma 2 – Capcom

Dragons’ Dogma is back baby, and it’s looking slick as hell.
Wield swords, bows, and magick to battle a host of nasty beasties and bosses. One guy calls down a meteor in the trailer!

In Dragon’s Dogma II, you play as the Arisen, who’s heart has been taken by a dragon… ouch! Now you must fulfill your destiny and slay that dragon.
You’ll be accompanied by devotees called pawns, AI controlled characters that are designed to make you feel like you’re playing with others.
That big lion lad is already my favourite!

Dragon’s Dogma II, is set for 2024 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

Street Fighter 6 – Capcom

Capcom also showed off another trailer for the soon to release Street FIghter 6.
This one focused on the World Tour mode with your created avatar, meeting the legends of the series on your way to becoming one yourself.

Street Fighter 6 enters the ring on June 2 for PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

Sword of the Sea – Giant Squid

Sword of the Sea is the latest from legendary developers Giant Squid, makers of the excellent ABZÛ, The Pathless, and Journey.

The upcoming title will combine the locomotion of skating games with exploration and emotive storytelling.
You play as The Wraith, tasked with restoring life to a desolate world where the sand flows in waves like an ocean.

Zip around sinking tombs and mysterious shipwrecks on your Hoversword, bringing giant shoals of fish and sea life back in the process.
Just watch out for those giant leviathans lurking below the sand.

There’s no release date for Sword of the Sea yet, but it’ll be coming to PS5 and PC.

Granblue Fantasy: Relink – Cygames

We got another trailer for Granblue Fantasy: Relink which continues to look fantastic, particularly the flashy combat and the bright and colourful art style.

Join a ragtag crew as they sail the airways of the Sky Realm, searching for a fabled island beyond the end of the skies.
This latest trailer shows two new characters joining the roster of rogues.
Zeta, who wields a burning spear to match her fiery personality, and Vaseraga, a bull of man who slices his foes with a giant scythe.
Fans of the series will recognise the newest additions from the fighting game Granblue Fantasy: Versus.

The Action-RPG will have both single player and co-op modes, with up to four players jumping in to quests and battles together.
There’s a whopping sixteen characters announced for the game, each with their own strengths, weaknesses and play-style.
Now I’m no mathematician, but that sounds like hundreds of possible combinations for your 4 player squad!

Granblue Fantasy: Relink is set to release late this year on PS4, PS5 and PC.

Tower of Fantasy – Perfect World Games

The open-world RPG Tower of Fantasy, is finally making its way to PlayStation. The cyberpunk adventure, already out on PC and mobile, has the look and feel of an action-packed Sci-fi anime.

Perfect World Games have crafted a giant open-world that’s primed for adventure and exploration.
Create your own character and explore diverse biomes; from the sprawling desert, to a cyberpunk metropolis, to a deep underwater realm.

Mechs, hoverbikes, floating cities, robotic horses and a whole host of colourful characters! What more do you need?

Tower of Fantasy comes to PS4 and PS5 sometime before September.

Foamstars – Square Enix

The colourful and cheery 4v4 party shooter Foamstars was revealed.
Players will duke it out in a city dripping with neon, armed with a variety of foam based weapons, those bubbly bullets look very family friendly.
You can also use foam to alter the terrain by spraying it over the floor, building it up in layers like a 3D printer; you could build walls for protection, or go ten steps further and build a whole foamy fortress!

You’d be forgiven for thinking the game looks a little familiar, it has no small amount of Splatoon vibes. But this game has FOAM not INK, totally different.

Foamstars has no release date yet, but will be coming to PS4 and PS5.

Final Fantasy XVI – Square Enix

Salvation, the launch trailer for Final Fantasy XVI was shown off and I just can’t get enough of this stunning game!

The music, the monsters, the epic kaiju inspired Eikon battles, the breathtaking world of Valisthea, CLIVE ROSFIELD!

I need this game.

It’s been described in previews lately as being a mix of Game of Thrones, Devil May Cry and God of War… Sounds like my dream game.
With less than a month left until release I am champing at the bit to play this masterpiece.

Final Fantasy XVI releases on June 22, exclusively for the PS5.

Ghostrunner 2 – One More Level

Ghostrunner 2 was revealed, with a sick vertical motorbike ride down the side of Dharma Tower and a montage of the fast, in-your-face action fans love from the first game.

Taking place a year after the events of Ghostrunner, the power vacuum left by the Keymaster is being filled with even deadlier enemies.
Publisher 505 Games promising, “some of the toughest opponents you’ve ever encountered in a video game.” A pretty big claim, I’ve played Knack 2.

There’s a new dialog system and a central hub where you can kick it, between missions.
You can now defend against attacks with the block feature, and there are dope new skills like ‘Shadow’, where you can leave behind a copy of yourself to trick enemies.
And, of course, there’s the addition of that dope ass motorbike.

Ghostrunner II is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC later this year.

The Talos Principle 2 – Croteam

It was surprising to learn that Croteam, the developers for this game, are also responsible for the Serious Sam franchise.
Their next game, The Talos Principle 2, is far from the outlandish FPS, instead focusing on puzzle mechanics and story.

Set in a dystopian future, where AI roams the planet in place of mankind, the developers promise to greatly expand on everything that made the original special.

Building on the puzzle designs of the first game, all-new mechanics will also be introduced like gravity manipulation and mind transference.
Just be wary of the optional gold puzzles, the devs are promising they’ll be brain-meltingly difficult.

The Talos Principle 2 is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC later this year.

Immortals of Aveum – Ascendant Studios

EA’s Immortals of Aveum is an all new IP from Ascendant Studios that sees players take control of a Battlemage and essentially save the world.
It’s basically Call of Duty with magic and dragons – we can totally get around that.

In a recent interview with Quest Daily, the executive producer Kevin Boyle said the game, despite being a magic shooter, has a huge focus on story.

“We’ve got this world that has a deep, rich history and politics and interesting geography and kind of the way magic works and the problems and conflicts of this world are really, really well thought through,” Boyle said.

Immortals of Aveum is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC on June 20. Look out for our review closer to the date.

Neva – Nomada Studios

Nomada Studios, developers of indie darling Gris, showed off their new game. Neva follows the adventures of a young woman Alba, and her wolf cub as they traverse a rapidly dying world.

Inspired by climate change, social unrest, and the COVID-19 pandemic; the evocative tale will have plenty of platforming, puzzles and combat with monstrous enemies.
I’m loving the colour palette and the minimalist art style, and I can already tell it’s going to be a tear-jerker from the emotional trailer.

Neva will release in 2024 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and PC.

The Plucky Squire – All Possible Futures

The Plucky Squire continues to look terrific. The attention to detail and textures of the storybook world are top tier, and the 3D sections look straight out of Toy Story 3.

In The Plucky Squire you play as Jot, the hero of a living storybook, solving puzzles, battling beasts, flying jetpacks, even going ten rounds with a boxing honey badger!

Jot can jump out of the 2D book world and explore a 3D kids bedroom. He’ll gain new abilities from this unfamiliar realm that will be essential to defeating the bad-tempered sorcerer Humgrump and restoring his book’s happy ending.

The Plucky Squire doesn’t have a date yet but will release for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and PC.

Towers of Aghasba – Dreamlit Inc.

Towers of Aghasba is a new open-world builder, set on an island teeming with fantastical creatures and a surreal atmosphere.
You’ll get to decide how the island will evolve and grow, balancing between building up your civilization and maintaining the exotic ecosystem.

Explore the ever-changing land from mountainous peaks to the water depths, building up settlements and uncovering a lost history.
The different villages you build around the isle will offer unique items and tools to help your tribe, Aghasba, flourish.

You’ll even be able to travel to friends islands to check out their set-up, or invite them over to your neck of the woods to explore.
Gives me Tchia meets No Mans Sky vibes.

Towers of Aghasba flies onto PS5 and PC next year.

Ultros – Hadoque

Watching the trailer for Ultros made me think I was on some sort of Yellow Submarine acid trip… In a good way. The game is psychedelic as hell, the vivid neon color palette, fantastic.

In Ultros you play as Ouji, who awakens on ‘The Sarcophagus’ a “giant, cosmic uterus holding an ancient demonic being”… Am I… Maybe I really did do acid!

The side-scrolling metroidvania will have intimate close-combat against bug-like creatures.
Most intriguing though is the cosmic gardening. You can plant and grow different seeds which will have a variety of effects, from unlocking new skills to solving puzzles.

Ultros is set to release in 2024 on PS4, PS5 and PC

Revenant Hill – The Glory Society

Revenant Hill answers the day old question ‘What does a cat do when it’s forced to start paying rent?’.

Developed by The Glory Society, the team behind Night In The Woods,
a studio that boasts no bosses and total collaboration in co-op.
It’s quirky 2D world sees you take control of Twigs, a black cat desperate to make ends meet.

Become a magical farmer cat, join a ghoulish community, host ghastly parties and focus on Twig’s goal of becoming a witch’s familiar.
This is one we’ll certainly be keeping our newt’s eye on.

Revenant Hill will come to PS4, PS5 and PC at some point, we’ll be sure to keep you updated.

Teardown – Tuxedo Labs

Teardown isn’t your typical heist game, featuring a totally destructible voxel world and a sandbox of possibilities.

Players are encouraged to use the environment to their advantage, take vehicles and use them to tear down walls and doors and make objects explode.

Tuxedo Labs say the PlayStation 5 release of Teardown will heavily feature the haptics and adaptive triggers of the DualSense controller.

“Smashing your sledgehammer into glass, wood, concrete or metal will all feel distinctly different,” Tuxedo Lab CEO Marcus Dawson said in a PlayStation blog post.

After launching on PC last year, Teardown is now making its way to PS5 and Xbox Series X|S later this year.

Cat Quest: Pirates of the Purribean – The Gentlebros

I can’t believe they actually got Matt Berry to narrate a trailer about pirate cats! But they did! Filled with tons of purrific cat puns, this one had me chuckling.
Cat Quest: Pirates of the Purribean is promising to take Cat Quest to the next level; with naval warfare, a freely explorable map and an evolved combat system. Shiver me whiskers!

Seamlessly switch from ship to shore while hunting for treasure, fighting Pi-rats and exploring a fantastical pirate-themed world.

Cat Quest: Pirates of the Purribean sails on to PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and PC next year.

For more PlayStation Showcase and Summer Games Fest news check out Quest Daily’s GAME-GASM ‘23 hub.