Unless you happened to watch a different press conference than the rest of us, Sony basically knocked it out of the park at E3 2016. A big reason why their presser went over better than a limited edition Donny Trump pinata down in Mexico is because of how lean it was: There was no room for anything than other games. Games and nothing else.
Still, something had to give. In fact more than a few things had to exit stage left from Sony’s schedule just so we could lap up the delectable delights of such new games as Resident Evil 7, God of War, and Hideo Kojima’s Stranding Death to name just a few.
So here are a bunch of games and aspects of Sony’s portfolio that didn’t make the grade. Gone, but not forgotten and hopefully soon to be seen again.
Dreams
Officially announced at E3 2015, the next big thing from LittleBigPlanet developer Media Molecule captured the hearts and imaginations of players around the world when it became obvious that the degree of freedom to create essentially whatever you wanted was substantial indeed.
Since the original reveal, Media Molecule has been doing Twitch streams as a means of keeping PS4 players appraised as to how the game is progressing overall. Sadly, these streams have flown under the radar a tad and a game such as Dreams really does deserve a grand platform with which to fully display its wonderful idiosyncrasies.
Best not to fret though, eh? With Gamescom soon upon us, the Tokyo Game Show following it, and then the PlayStation Experience 2016 at the end of the year, it seems like we won’t have to wait long at all to get our dose of Dreams on the big stage.
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Making its debut during Sony’s E3 2015 presentation as part of the ‘dream trio’ that included the likes of Shenmue 3 and The Last Guardian, it turns out that Final Fantasy VII Remake was actually much farther along than many folks had realised. Indeed, the first actual gameplay footage from the game was shown off at the PlayStation Experience that very year alongside the news that the game would be episodic in nature.
Fast forward over six months to E3 2016 and Final Fantasy VII Remake is nowhere to be seen, despite having half a year of extra development in the can over what was previously shown to the public. Still, I wouldn’t worry too much, since this year’s Tokyo Game Show looks like an ideal place for Final Fantasy VII Remake to re-emerge; especially since Final Fantasy XV would no longer need the lion’s share of the attention anymore, given its imminent release.
Indie Titles
One of the notable constants of Sony E3 presentations from recent years has been the length at which the hardware manufacturer has accommodated and showcased the very latest indie talent that the industry has to offer. Transistor, Rogue Legacy, and Spelunky are just the smallest fraction of the many different indie darlings that have graced previous Sony E3 pressers.
At E3 2016 however, that streak came to an end as not a single independently developed title (let alone one of those funky montage videos) was showcased, instead leaving the field primarily for the likes of PSVR and bigger budget efforts to shine.
For those of you who might be concerned about Sony’s commitment to indie gaming, you needn’t be: Sony still has a frankly *massive* amount of indie titles in the pipeline and with smaller indie announcements popping up all the time in addition to the likes of Mother Russia Bleeds, Pyre, Full Throttle Remastered, and much more on the way, I’d say we’re all still pretty spoiled for choice when it comes to indie gems on PS4.
No Man’s Sky
Much like the expected flood of indie games that we’ve previously gotten at every E3, No Man’s Sky has also felt like part of the E3 furniture, so to speak. Utterly absent from Sony’s presser and with no mention of the frequently rumoured PSVR functionality, it’s difficult not to feel a pang of sadness at No Man’s Sky absence from the show.
If we’re being honest with ourselves though, properly honest, the fact that it wasn’t there was actually probably for the best.
Hello Games studio head Sean Murray has been under the cosh for the last two years and more besides. With No Man’s Sky recently shunted back to a new August date and the ire of intolerant folks all over the world raised by this very fact, it’s probably for the best that rather than waste time at E3 2016, that some extra mileage is put on the development clock instead.
@page
Resident Evil 2 Remake
One of the prevailing theories going into this year’s E3 is that we would get not one, but two Resident Evil titles; namely Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil 2 Remake. Sadly this wasn’t to come to pass as Resident Evil 2 Remake was nowhere to be seen, in spite of being announced in summer 2015. The smart money’s now on the game being shown at this year’s PlayStation Experience.
Still, it’s difficult to feel too salty about the no-show at this year’s E3, simply because Resident Evil 7 *was* there, it looked great and more than that, it’s the freshest Resident Evil has looked in a long, long time. So after all, I guess one out of two isn’t quite so bad eh?
RIGS
With Sony pushing PSVR to the moon and back with some incredible new titles it’s more than a little surprising that Guerilla’s bombastic looking mech shooter, RIGS, wasn’t present and accounted for at their E3 2016 conference.
Perhaps the reason RIGS and by proxy some of the other PSVR games such as VR Worlds and others weren’t at the event was because Sony simply wanted to put out some proper new blood for their upcoming PSVR headset. It makes sense too, since while we’re starting to get a firmer picture of the launch line-up, we didn’t really have much of a clue what lay beyond.
Well, now we do. The likes of Resident Evil 7, Batman Arkham VR, Final Fantasy VR Experience, Star Wars Battlefront X-Wing Mission and much more besides provide ample backing to what already looks to be a stellar year for Sony’s inaugural foray into Virtual Reality. With that in mind, it seems likely that barring an appearance at Gamescom, that next time you’ll see RIGS will be when folks actually have the game to play. Stay tuned!
RIME
Rapidly becoming the second coming of The Last Guardian from a vapourware standpoint, stunning-looking third-person adventure RIME was once more absent from Sony’s E3 presentation festivities.
Originally shown way back in Gamescom of 2013, RIME dropped jaws everywhere with its beautiful open-world environments, serene atmospherics and ICO-esque aesthetics. In short, it looked like a million bucks and since that initial reveal nearly three years ago, very little has been seen of the game since.
Somewhat troublingly the developer of the game, Tequila Works, bought the rights to RIME back from Sony; suggesting that not only had Sony perhaps grown tired of waiting but that the platform holder just didn’t care for the game anymore. A real shame then; I don’t expect we’ll see RIME ever again as a PS4 exclusive.
Shenmue 3
Arguably the most pant-wetting component of the ‘year of dreams’ trio that practically defined Sony’s E3 2015 presentation, Shenmue 3 failed to show up at this year’s event, though given the wealth of new games on offer, not to mention the early stages of development that the game is in, it is a fact that is somewhat understandable.
Nevertheless, in addition to being the largest Kickstarter funded game of all-time and easily one of the most crucial parts of Sony’s E3 2015 presser, it would have been nice to get at least some sort of cursory update on how the title is progressing; especially as the most recent update from Yu Suzuki puts the game in some sort of playable state.
Ah well; PlayStation Experience 2016 it is then.
Right, so those were the eight things that were missing in action from Sony’ E3 2016 presser. Are there any that we missed? Feel free to set us straight in the comments!