The 2018 E3 Expo begins in exactly 18 days… so let the speculation begin! Today, we’re peering into our crystal ball at what Sony might have in store for gaming’s biggest showcase.
Sony Interactive Entertainment recently made “a rare break from tradition” and gave fans an early glimpse at the four games they plan to highlight during their 2018 E3 Showcase. As usual, Sony will shine a spotlight on several cinematic single-player adventures, including Kojima Productions’s Death Stranding, Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Part II, Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima, and Insomniac’s Spider-Man. All four games are expected to launch later this year (though, full disclosure, only Spider-Man has an official release date), so Sony should have plenty to say.
Death Stranding
Hideo Kojima announced Death Stranding almost three years ago, and even after all that time, it’s been nearly impossible to pin down. We know that the famously-enigmatic Kojima has packed the game with alternate dimensions, alien-like creatures, several mysterious babies, and a naked Norman Reedus (who may or may not be carrying a baby in his throat).
But what’s going on with Mads Mikkelsen’s villain character? And who will director (and Silent Hills co-creator) Guillermo Del Toro play… and while we’re at it, why is he carrying around a baby in a jar?
So many questions. And even though the game is (theoretically) less than six months away, I’m not sure we’ll get any new answers at this year’s E3 Expo.
The Last of Us Part II
Like Death Stranding, the finer details of Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Part II are still shrouded in mystery. We know that the sequel takes place five years after its predecessor, and that players will get to take control of a battle-scarred Ellie. But what of Joel? We saw Ellie’s father figure interact with her during the game’s first Teaser Trailer, but many fans are speculating that Joel will be just a ghost or a hallucination in the sequel.
Naughty Dog also unveiled a second (and much more unconventional) Teaser Trailer for The Last of Us Part II at Paris Game Week last year. The extremely brutal clip introduced four new characters, and reinforced that Ellie’s next journey won’t be easy.
Ghost of Tsushima
It’s been four long years since Sucker Punch Productions released InFamous: First Light, a standalone expansion to InFamous: Second Son. Since then, the developer has been hard at work on Ghost of Tsushima, a rather radical departure for a studio best known for teen superheroes and a band of pilfering procyonids.
Players will take control of the titular “Ghost of Tsushima,” one of the last samurai, as they travel back to feudal Japan to experience the Mongol invasion of Tsushima of 1274. Though the settings are very different, Sucker Punch is sticking with what they know, and wants to create an open world for Ghost of Tsushima where players fight back with swords, arrows, and other weaponry.
Like a stealthy figure in the night, Ghost of Tsushima is still very hush-hush, and we’ll learn more during this year’s E3 Expo.
Spider-Man
With their love of high-flying protagonists and high-tech gadgets, Insomniac Games is the perfect developer to bring a new Spider-Man game to life. While it seems odd that Marvel decided to limit their options and release Spider-Man exclusively for the PS4, the move has allowed Insomniac to really focus on the game’s storyline.
The developer created a brand new universe for this version of Spider-Man, and fans will get to meet new versions of Mary Jane Watson, Aunt May, and Miles Morales. Playable sections for Peter Parker (without his superhero threads) and Mary Jane will also be included. This desire for newness also extends to the game’s antagonists, and Insomniac’s Spider-Man will do battle with four villains that didn’t usually make the cut in the superhero’s previous video game adventures… Mister Negative, The Kingpin, Shocker, and Taskmaster.
Spider-Man will be released on September 7, so we won’t have to wait much longer to play it after this year’s E3 Expo.
Dreams, Days Gone, and Sony’s Third-Party Surprises
Two of Sony’s internal development studios are also hard at work on games that’ll be available before you know it, and it’s likely that both will appear at this year’s E3 Expo in some form.
Media Molecule has been working on Dreams, their artistic sandbox game, since 2012, and the game is currently scheduled to launch sometime in 2018. Ideally, a release date announcement and a new gameplay demonstration for Dreams will be part of Sony’s E3 plans. The consolemaker’s Sony Bend division is also working on Days Gone, a post-apocalyptic open world adventure. However, Days Gone was just pushed back to 2019, so while it’s still likely to make a small appearance at Sony’s E3 booth, it probably won’t be part of their press conference.
Finally, Sony’s E3 Showcase will conclude with a handful of announcements from “third-party publishers and independent developers.” In years past, PlayStation fans could count on an appearance from Activision to unveil more about the latest Call of Duty game, and I’m confident that’ll happen again this year for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. The consolemaker also has a history of throwing their weight behind independent developers with unique gameplay concepts and eye-popping visuals, and I think it’s safe to assume we’ll hear more about a few more of those titles at this year’s E3 Expo.
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Sony’s E3 Showcase will be held on Monday, June 11.
