Sony’s latest showcase has wrapped up, and it’s sure to be one that’ll go in the books as “buzzworthy”. The 40-plus minute showcase, which is the first new showcase since last year’s September 2020 showcase event that revealed and confirmed the PlayStation 5 pricing and release date. This latest event was announced as one that’ll give fans “a look into the future of PS5”, and would include updates from PlayStation Studios as well as some of the industry’s most imaginative developers, for games releasing “this holiday and beyond.” Indeed, Sony has brought out something in store for gamers — whether they are PlayStation gamers or not.

Showcasing eighteen different games, complete with six first reveals of upcoming projects, a lot of viewers walked away believing that PlayStation Showcase 2021 was “good, but not good enough.” Pacing issues seemed to be the theme for a lot of viewers from Thursday’s showcase, but the BIGGEST observation about the showcase had to deal with there being more exposure for games we had already seen (time and again) over the past year.

While it was great to see more gameplay of Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, it was also something that was heavily covered during E3 this summer. Along with that, another three minutes of Deathloop was shown eliciting groans of exhaustion from PlayStation gamers across the globe. Also, a new trailer for Guardians of The Galaxy (which had also been overexposed in both E3 2021 and Square Enix’s showcase) was shown as well giving gamers more of the same. Another “non-shocker” for viewers was Rock Star’s Gran Theft Auto 5 presenting another game that we had all known about getting a PlayStation 5 version was since last year’s showcase but now we know that the title is confirmed for March 2022.

But it wasn’t all “more of the same” from Sony. Totally blindsiding almost everyone was a reveal for Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic Remake which instantly set the internet on fire and bringing this previously non-PlayStation game to Sony’s platform. Speaking of non-PlayStation games, the first look at the most-wanted 2011 cult favorite game Alan Wake showed up confirming that Alan Wake Remastered is truly coming to PlayStation.

Gamers would also be treated to updates and trailers for some of Sony’s most highly anticipated games. God of War Ragnarok (now the officially confirmed title of the sequel to 2018’s God of War) championed the presentation with new first looks and gameplay while Gran Turismo 7’s newest trailer highlighted the excellence that the franchise has been known for. Insomniac Games is lining themselves up to be Sony’s (and Marvel Studios’) MVP with a reveal for the upcoming Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 featuring Spider-Man, Miles Morales, and Venom!. If that wasn’t enough, fans of the comic franchise heard a tease in the trailer of a possible big reveal in-game for players once the game releases. 

Fans of Uncharted were given an announcement for a new collected edition with Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection which features Uncharted 4 and Lost Legacy coming to PlayStation 5 and PC in early 2022.

Totally out of the blue came a teaser trailers for a brand-new Marvel’s Wolverine title, which is currently in development by Insomniac Games. Also coming out of left field was a teaser for Kid A Mnesia, a collaboration coming soon from Epic Games and the band Radiohead.

Over forty minutes of trailers, another fifteen minutes of interviews, and developer retrospectives led to an impressive showing from Sony, but there is an overall sense that Sony could have “wowed” the masses more than what they did. Considering that Sony had hung back in the shadows with no presence at all during E3 2021, GamesCom, and Summer Games Fest – barely making a showing during Geoff Keighley’s big summer splash despite being a backing partner for that event – Sony made the grade, but it wasn’t with flying colors like many gamers had hoped for.

Did you enjoy Thursday’s PlayStation Showcase 2021? Are you with the critics that said Sony should have had more of a focus on actual Sony properties and exclusives and should have left out the “summertime” news gamers had already seen? What game(s) were you looking forward to but didn’t make an announcement or appearance at the event?

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