The PlayStation E3 2018 Showcase demos the first gameplay from The Last Of Us Part II and Death Stranding.
Sony’s E3 2018 showcase was focused on four exclusive PlayStation titles. That much we knew going in. However, to our surprise, the event was also peppered with plenty of additional announcements, with new games revealed from Remedy, Team Ninja, and FromSoftware.
The showcase gave fans their first look at Naughty Dog’s The Last Of Us Part II, and Death Stranding, the latest exercise in fan-tomfoolery from Hideo Kojima. Marvel’s Spider-Man also had another decent showing, but for us it was Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima that stole the show with it’s weighty combat, and atmospheric environments.
Here’s the full rundown on all the news from the PlayStation E3 2018 Media Showcase.
List of PlayStation E3 2018 Showcase announcements
The Last of Us Part II
- Composer Gustavo Santaolalla opens the showcase with a live performance of music from the series.
- New footage from The Last of Us Part II shows a grown-up Ellie chilling and kissing at a church dance, before the scene transitions into a scene set in an overgrown shopping mall. It’s a tense, and brutally violent stealth combat sequence, and as polished as you’d expect from Naughty Dog.
Ghost of Tsushima
- First gameplay of Sucker Punch’s new third-person samurai action game.
- It’s set in a beautifully realised – and remarkably wind-swept – feudal Japan.
- Based on first appearances, it feels like a darker, colder, and more violent take on the Assassin’s Creed template.
Death Stranding
- We finally get to see what Kojima’s next game is like, and… it’s a Kojima game.
- You’re a deliveryman, with a baby in a bottle, on a long journey across another of this E3’s spectacular open worlds.
- Léa Seydoux stars alongside Norman Reedus, and Mads Mikkelsen.
- The game continues to be inscrutable.
Marvel’s Spider-man
- New footage of Marvel’s Spider-Man shows a face-off between Spidey, the Green Goblin, Scorpion, Rhino, Mister Negative, and some angry prison nobodies wearing orange boiler suits.
- The game’s debt to the Batman Arkham series is clear to see, but it’s pacier, with a carefree swagger.
- The swinging mechanic – so long the bane of many Spider-Man games – looks perfectly implemented and demonstrates an impressive sense of speed, momentum, and verticality.
- A preview of the teeming, open-world Manhattan also shines. Traversal seamlessly flows into combat, and the magic hour lighting creates a startling sense of place.
Other PlayStation E3 2018 announcements…
- God of War is getting a New Game+ mode later this year.
- Back in Black maps will soon be available for Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, if you pre-order Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 on PlayStation 4. Black Ops 3 is now available as a surprise PlayStation Plus game.
- There’s a moody and ‘oh so serious’ trailer for Destiny 2 Forsaken. It’s coming on September 4, 2018.
- Remedy’s new game is a supernatural action-adventure called Control. The debut trailer brings to mind Inception, and the Animus from Assassin’s Creed.
- Capcom’s remake of Resident Evil 2 is a glorious ground-up re-imagining. It’s coming in January 2019.
- Trover Saves the Universe – a new PS VR game from the ‘imagination’ of Rick & Morty co-creator Justin Roiland – gets a reveal trailer. We kinda wish it hadn’t.
- Kingdom Hearts III gets another new trailer, this time introducing characters from Pirates of the Caribbean. Look forward to seeing the uncanny likenesses of Johnny Depp and, alas, Orlando Bloom.
- There will be a limited edition Kingdom Hearts III PlayStation 4 Pro console available at launch.
- Team Ninja are confirmed to be working on Nioh 2.
- FromSoftware are making a new PS VR adventure game set in a mysterious boarding school called Déraciné.
Check back throughout the week for more E3 2018 coverage from Thumbsticks.
