We got our first news of the PlayStation 5 yesterday! In an interview with Wired, PlayStation system architect Mark Cerny gave some very enticing details about the next generation PlayStation’s specs, including a built-in solid-state drive that will drastically decrease loading times. Two words: Thank God. SSD’s have been standard in PC’s and laptops for nearly a decade – a major console finally implementing one is huge. Huge, I say!
In excitement at the announcement, my mind raced to a few PlayStation 5 games that I’ve been speculating about for a long while. They might be hypothetical, they might already be confirmed. Whatever!
I’m Ethan Braun, and these are my hopes and dreams for the PS5:
Bloodborne 2
Even amongst titans like Dark Souls 3 and Sekiro, From Software’s 4th Soulsborne game is arguably their best. Bloodborne has a fascinating progression and world design that even the finest Souls games have a tough time matching. With interesting locales like the Forbidden Woods and Cainhurst Castle, you can’t help but get lost in the world of Bloodborne. Yet by the end of the game, you’ll know those areas like the back of your hand, having developed a mastery over the world and the enemies which inhabit it. It’s an incredible game, and one with enough lore to support a hundred sequels.
If there’s one thing I’d want most out of a second Bloodborne, it would be a more accessible tutorial. I wrote an entire article about Dark Souls and Bloodborne, and how the former is much more welcoming than the latter. For the sake of players new to Soulsborne games, I hope that From Software includes a tutorial area as great as the Undead Asylum from the original Dark Souls.
I’d also like to see Bloodborne 2 draw from Sekiro‘s approach to RPGs by ditching number-based upgrades in favor of a skill tree. Imagine having a set weapon in Bloodborne that slowly got new abilities as you progressed. My personal pick would be Ludwig’s Holy Blade, which could gain more damage-increasing sheaths after each upgrade. I don’t know – I’m throwing ideas against the wall here. Point is, Bloodborne is awesome, and a sequel could borrow from Sekiro and Souls to make it even more awesome.
Unravel 3
EA isn’t exactly the most beloved company, but their “EA Originals” has to be one of the most admirable brands in gaming. Essentially EA’s indie studio, this line of developers has given us a handful of smaller titles like the 3D platformer Fe, the split-screen co-op narrative A Way Out, and soon, the upcoming horror game Sea of Solitude. But of all their indie games, the one that always impressed me the most was the Unravel series.
Unravel puts you in the role of Yarny, a little alien-like creature made out of wool. Yarny platforms his way through a big, nature-filled world as he leaves a thread of yarn behind. Using Yarny’s own wooly body, he must lasso, swing, and climb his way around the world, and avoid predatory hamsters and falling logs. There are all sorts of environmental puzzles to solve, like pulling down a sapling using an old film canister. It’s charming, it’s puzzling, and the second game even has two-player co-op!
Perhaps for Unravel 3, developer Coldwood Entertainment might consider upping the player limit to include a third person, letting friends solve puzzles in a trifecta of comradery. They could also take the game to different settings, like snow-filled Greenland or tropical Hawaii. There could be increased difficulty, a competitive multiplayer component, or more secrets and unlockables. Frankly, I trust that Coldwood will make a great game, regardless of what new content they add. They’ve already proven that with the first two games. I’m happy to wait!
That Square Enix Avengers game
Listen, Square Enix. I realize you’re busy over there with the Final Fantasy VII Remake… in theory. I know that you’re still recovering from a decade spent developing Kingdom Hearts 3. I understand that you’re reeling from people scorning Left Alive. But for the love of God, it’s been more than two years since Crystal Dynamics’ The Avengers Project trailer aired on Marvel’s YouTube channel. Don’t worry, it’s far from cancelled – Creative Director Shaun Escayg confirmed that in a tweet last December. But we still don’t know a thing about this Avengers game – the genre, the characters, the stinking release date – all is shrouded in mystery. To be fair, Crystal Dynamics has been recently busy with Shadow of the Tomb Raider, which we can only assume was an “all hands on deck” project.
Regardless of what it turns out to be, I don’t think I’m going out on a limb when I say that The Avengers Project won’t come even close to launching on the PS4. But what kind of game will it be? I couldn’t imagine it being another super-hero fighting game – it’d be too similar to the Marvel vs. Capcom series. Perhaps it will be a re-telling of one or all the films. Then again, most other movie video games haven’t tried that narrative approach before (see exhibit Spider-Man and Arkham). For my money, I would want a completely new story anyway, one that pits the Avengers against unexplored Marvel comic book villains like Taskmaster or Galactus.
Death Stranding
Death Stranding seems to have become a folklore legend, a mysterious presence that has haunted the forums of the gaming community for decades… and the darned game hasn’t even released yet. Riding on the coattails of monumental director Hideo Kojima, Death Stranding’s development is a twisting soap opera of its own. Kojima, former lead of the Metal Gear Solid series, was let go from Konami in the wake of messy public reports about a toxic working environment and conflict of interest between director and company. When he finally branched off on his own, he made his own studio, Kojima Productions, and has since been bewildering E3 and Game Awards audiences with trailers of his confounding new game.
Death Stranding looks like… I don’t even know what it looks like. Even with four trailers released over the course of two-and-a-half years, the game remains nebulous and enigmatic. Who are those babies? Why are there skeleton soldiers? What are the black hand prints in the dirt? Why does Troy Baker’s characters look like Doctor Doom? Why is Norman Reedus delivering so many backpacks? Can I please never see him rip off his toe-nail ever again?
I don’t know how to even start answering any of these questions, and frankly, I don’t think I care. Kojima has done a fantastic job of selling Death Stranding on its own premise of mystery and disillusionment; I get the feeling he wants us to experience the game knowing practically nothing. For me, that’s perfectly fine – Kojima’s track record proves that he knows what he’s doing. Will Death Stranding be a PS5 launch title? Perhaps. But even if not, it’ll certainly benefit from the PS5’s built-in SSD.
The Excitement is Real
Well, those are the games I am/would be most excited for. Let me know if there are any dream games you’d like to see on the PS5! I enjoy fantasizing over games we hardly know anything about, so I’d love to have a conversation with anyone interested. By the way, join our Discord server! We have fun times over there.
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