The festive season might still seem a long way off, but gaming enthusiasts already have half an eye on the closing weeks of 2020. The anticipation has little to do with Santa Claus or carols round the Christmas tree, however. This holiday season will form the backdrop to what could be the last great battle of the gaming consoles.
Like two veteran boxers, Sony and Microsoft are already preparing to duke it out. Plenty has already been written about the comparative hardware merits of the PS5 and the Series X, and in truth, there will be very little to tell between them. Sony’s trump card with the PS5 is likely to be the exciting array of game releases that are being timed to coincide with the PS5’s launch. Let’s take a look at what to expect.
GTA 5’s PS5 makeover
Grand Theft Auto has been one of the showcase games for PlayStation for more than 20 years. GTA 5 was released way back in 2013, and Rockstar Games has been teasing us with the prospect of GTA 6 months. It was anticipated that this would be timed for the PS5’s launch, but this is clearly still some time off, and instead we have been promised a “new and enhanced” version of GTA 5, designed especially for PS5.
It might sound like a compromise, and to an extent that’s what it is, but there is logic behind the decision. Gamers will be desperate to play their favorite titles on the new console, so this PS5 remake is certain to be a good seller.
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Pragmatica
From a classic game with a 23-year history to something completely new. Pragmatica was the last game to be announced at Sony’s Future of Gaming event in June. This Sci-Fi adventure from Capcom has already got tongues wagging, and the lack of detail coming from the developers is only serving to amplify the hype.
What we do know is that the game is set in a dystopian near-future, and features a little girl, an armor-encased astronaut and a hologrammatic cat. The video teasers promise us a next-generation experience that will blur the distinction between fantasy and reality. An exact release date has yet to be confirmed, but there is time for plenty more snippets to be released to ramp up the anticipation even more.
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla
Back to the classics, and Ubisoft has confirmed that the next installment in this long-running series will coincide with the release of the PS5 later this year. In it, the player adopts the role of Eivor, a Viking raider who brings his family from Norway to settle in the England of the Dark Ages.
Suffice it to say the resident Saxons are less than welcoming, but there is more than just medieval battle scenes to this game. In fact, the tone is more that of an RPG, and the player spends as much time and effort forming alliances and nurturing settlements as fighting for survival.
Gods and Monsters
This was one of the first games to be confirmed for the PS5, and is also among the most highly anticipated, not least because of the numerous release delays we have had to endure so far. Another from the Ubisoft stable, it is set in the vibrant Isle of the Blessed where mythical creatures like Gorgons and Hydras are free to roam.
The open world format contains a variety of challenges, puzzles, quests and good old-fashioned battles. The cartoon-style graphics will look stunning with the enhanced capabilities of the PS5, so expect this game to be a familiar demo sight in stores this holiday season.
Silent Hill
Moving into the “heavily rumored” category, it is fair to say gamers have been talking up the possibility of a new Silent Hill game since the PS4 was in its infancy. Stories crop up every few months of either a new game or a reboot, and so far, have come to nothing. Yet this time, there are reasons to believe it could really happen.
A leaker with a reliable track record has confidently predicted that an all new Silent Hill game is in the pipeline and that it will be an exclusive release for the PS5. AestheticGamer1 Tweeted that work started on the game in 2019 and that it will be released later in 2020. He went on to say we should expect to hear a formal announcement in September around the Tokyo Game Show.
The rumor has credibility due to AestheticGamer1’s strong track record when it comes to horror games. He previously provided a succession of details about the existence and release of Resident Evil 8, all of which proved to be accurate.