PlayStation responds to ‘Sea of Thieves’ with 14-game salvo
“Dreams” was first announced in 2013, before the PlayStation 4 itself was launched. Image: Media Molecule/Sony Interactive Entertainment via AFP Relaxnews
As excitement grows for Microsoft’s Xbox One and Windows 10 release “Sea of Thieves”, PlayStation posts a list of 14 upcoming exclusives, from “Dreams” to “Ghost of Tsushima”.
Xbox is making the most of March 20’s release of multiplayer seafaring adventure “Sea of Thieves”, whose soft-edged caricatures invite participants into a world of treasure hunting, sea shanties, and skirmishes with other player crews.
After an open-doors final beta test this past weekend went hand-in-hand with the March 10 return of official video show Inside Xbox, Sony’s PlayStation responded Monday with a list of 14 upcoming PlayStation 4 titles.
Four release over the next three months and, given their status as high-profile exclusives, “Yakuza 6: The Song of Life” and “God of War” are launching unusually close to one another.
The immersive Japanese gangland adventure epic, acclaimed upon its December 2016 domestic debut and comparable to a “Grand Theft Auto” game, has an April 17 international launch, while combat-oriented “God of War” which places a Greek god within a Nordic mythology, is targeting an April 20 release.
Next up, ambitious sci-fi story “Detroit: Beyond Human” is expected May 25, and web-slinging superhero tie-in “Marvel’s Spider-Man” had been previously announced for the first half of the year.
As for the rest of 2018, we know that “Dreams”, the early 2013 announcement from create-your-own-adventure studio Media Molecule, is on the way, as are neighborhood restoration adventure “Concrete Genie” and VR team action game “Firewall: Zero Hour”.
“Days Gone”, however, the zombie apocalypse action adventure from Sony’s unusually quiet Bend Studio, isn’t expected until 2019. That leaves six remaining games on PlayStation’s list without specific or approximate dates.
They include phone-controlled interactive drama “Erica”, the remake of October 1998’s comedy action-adventure “MediEvil”, and VR gangland mission “Blood & Truth”.
The others are three of PlayStation’s most highly-anticipated titles, though if any of them will be ready for a 2018 or even 2019 release remains to be seen.
Post-apoc adventure “The Last of Us: Part II” follows on from a spectacular, weighty award-winning 2013 predecessor (and 2014 spin off “Left Behind”).
“Death Stranding” is the first release from Kojima Productions since a well-publicized split from “Metal Gear Solid” publisher Konami, and creative director Hideo Kojima has been considered something of a game industry auteur.
Finally, historical open world adventure “Ghost of Tsushima” is the current project from Sucker Punch and was the subject of a glossy October 2017 reveal. JB
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