Play Has No Limits. This is the new trademarked phrase that Sony has for the PlayStation 5.

And oh boy, is it an accurate slogan. On June 11^th, 2020 Sony dropped a showcase that gave us a mix of big-name studios, indie developers, a teaser of the PS5 user interface, and the physical design of the console. No release dates were announced during the conference, but the games received a release window.

The console has a very futuristic look, two toned white on black with blue lighting. The biggest complaint I have though is that it looks clunky with a disc drive. This brings us to the biggest part of the PS5 reveal. There is a digital edition of the PS5, meaning there is no disc drive.

Along with the reveal of the console, Sony showed off a two-controller docking/charging station, media remote, 3D stereo headphones, and a camera. The camera has dual 1080P lenses to add depth perception to the camera.

PS5 specs were shown off after that talking about the 4K Blu-Ray, high speed SSD, Ray Tracing, and showing off the controller. The controller has hepatic feedback, adaptive triggers, a USB-C port, microphone and headset jack, as well as 3D audio.

The console reveal may have been the dessert of the showcase, but it’s only an appetizer to the main course. The showcase had 27 games total packed into an hour and fifteen minutes. Many games had gameplay shots, many games had cinematic trailers only, but it was a good mix. Some of the games really stood out to me though. Overall, the games looked stunning. If you have a 4K capable TV or monitor, then you should stream the trailers from Sony’s channels (Twitch, YouTube, etc). The audio for the games was also stunningly crisp and added to the immersion.

The conference opened with a montage of PlayStation characters, then shifted to announcing that Grand Theft Auto 5 will be making an enhanced and expanded jump to PS5. It was later revealed that it would also come to the Xbox Series X. PS4 owners will get GTA Online free on PS5, as well as 1 million in game cash per month until release. As of the time of this writing, I am not aware of the same promotion for the Xbox or PC versions of the game.

Ultimately, this felt underwhelming, out of place, and instilled a fear in me that we weren’t going to get the game showcase that was being rumored. That outlook changed immediately with the next announcement, however.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales from Insomniac is the next title for the new web-slinger. This blew me away (and this wouldn’t be the last time), as Miles Morales isn’t as prevalent among more casual Spider-Man or Marvel fans. Miles Morales is a half-Black, half-Puerto Rican teenager who took the mantle of Spider-Man in the Ultimate universe of Marvel after Peter Parker’s death. There wasn’t really any gameplay, it was all cinematic, however they were captured on the PS5 and showcases how realistic the graphics can be. This is a PlayStation 5 exclusive.

Gran Turismo was the next game to be revealed. There isn’t much to really say other than it’s much like past installments. My biggest worry is that the game will follow in GT Sport’s wake and be heavily lidded with micro transactions. The realism of the cars and tracks was absolutely stunning though, and the trailer included more than a minute of uninterrupted gameplay and crisp realistic audio and shows off the realism of driving race cars. This is a PlayStation 5 exclusive.

A new Ratchet and Clank title was announced. The dimensions of the universe seem to be falling apart and it’s up to our dynamic duo, and their ridiculously cartoon arsenal of weapons to save the world. The gameplay trailer showed a new ability to jump rifts, showed off the particle ray tracing, and had so much going on that it’s really the best showing we have of the power of the SSD Sony has spent the last few weeks bragging about. The shifting to new environments without loading screens and all the motion on screen with no stuttering is a good indication of what to expect with the games of the future. This is also the announcement that most hyped me up since I’m absolutely a fanboy of Sony and Ratchet and Clank. On a final note, in the cinematic trailer, we get introduced to an unknown female Lombax. This is a PlayStation 5 exclusive.

Square Enix showcases its new title from Luminous Productions, called Project Athia. The game title is not final yet but showcases a female protagonist on a world that is not her own. The game looks to be an action-adventure story driven title. The trailer was mostly cinematic but did have some gameplay that looked smooth, mostly the character running and jumping. The game was announced as a PlayStation 5 exclusive.

Watch Trailer here

The next game is about a cat wondering around a world where humans are all dead, and robots are now the sentient beings. The game is called Stray, and I haven’t located much more information other than what was shown. The game looks like it is interesting but did not show any gameplay.

Click the title of the remaining games to see their trailers!

Returnal is about a space explorer stuck in a timeloop of crashing on an alien planet, getting attacked, and dying. The goal of the game is to get out of the time loop. I have not seen any official announcement on if this is an exclusive to PS5 title or not but indications are that it is.

Little Big Planet gets its first foray since LBP 3, in a spin off title called Sackboy A Big Adventure. The game is a 3D platformer like the 3D Mario games. It’s cute and worth looking at getting. This is a PlayStation 5 exclusive.

Destruction Allstars was described best by PlayStation YouTuber Mystic as looking like “Fornite meets Twisted Metal”. The game is a semi-auto demolition derby semi-fighter. There was no indication if it would be multiplayer only or have multiplayer. This is a PlayStation 5 exclusive.

Kena Bridge of Spirits comes from Ember Lab and is an action adventure title that seemed to have some Pikman-like gameplay with super cute and cuddly black stuffed bear like things.

Goodbye Volcano High is a coming of age story with anthropomorphic dinosaurs.

Oddworld Soulstorm is the next game in the Oddworld series of 2D games.

Ghostwire Tokyo finally showcased some of it’s gameplay. The game is a supernatural thriller based in Tokyo. The gameplay shown was first-person, with supernatural powers used for combat with beings that are not natural to the world. The game has been announced as a timed exclusive to the PS5, meaning that it will release first on PS5, then on Xbox and PC later.

Jett the Far Shore is a space exploration game. The trailer says, “Carve out a future for a people, haunted by oblivion, propelled by dreams.”

Godfall, which was announced last year, got it’s long-awaited gameplay trailer. It’s a great looking one that shows off a smooth slasher-combo combat similar to the original God of War games.

Solar Ash was next up and offers a more abstract art style that looked beautiful, with vibrant colors and great animation. The gameplay looked smooth and fast paced in a 3D environment.

IOI has its trilogy ending Hitman III was next with gameplay set in Dubai. It looked great and promises an end to Agent 47’s story. From what I have been hearing however, to fully understand the story, players will need to have finished all the Hitman 2 DLC.

Astro’s Playroom is the next game shown. This game has been announced to be free for all PS5 players at launch and gives some Sonic Adventures or Mario Odyssey vibes for me. It looked cute and features Astro, the PlayStation robot, platforming around.

Little Devil Inside had an interesting showing of art style. The gameplay looked interesting, but overall the game was probably the most underwhelming in the entire showcase.

Zion Williamson of the NBA team, New Orleans Pelicans, showed up to give the first showing of NBA 2K21, though it was just a trailer of Zion rendered in-game shooting a basketball around.

The next trailer opened up with a sentient strawberry making cute little squeaking noises, then walking on its leaves before being picked up by a walrus-looking animal, being shown to the camera, before being eaten. The walrus’s arm then changed to take on properties of the strawberry. This was our introduction into Bugsnax, the new game from the Octodad developers. This was perhaps one of my favorite reveals of the showcase and is a game I’ll be buying upon release.

The long-rumored remake of Demon’s Souls was then announced and shows of its updated HD graphics.

Arkane Studios after that displayed an extended trailer on its previously announced game Deathloop. The main character is an assassin with 8 marks on an island, being hunted by another assassin. The protagonist is stuck in a loop where whenever he dies, he returns. The game play looked really similar to the Dishonored franchise, which I felt was a great move. Bethesda has released concept art for this game as well, containing characters and weapons. This game has been confirmed as a timed PlayStation 5 exclusive.

Resident Evil Village was then announced. The game appears to be shifting the paradigm of being a zombie game to expanding some more fantasy creatures. Having never got into Resident Evil games, I am not up to date on the plot, so this is possibly not something new.

The penultimate game announcement was a new sci-fi game called Pragmata. It introduces an android girl, hologram cat, and a spacesuit wearing man, protecting an Earth city from a falling satellite before being pulled into space and reappearing on the moon.

The last game was perhaps one of the most anticipated titles to be announced. Horizon Forbidden West, the follow up to Guerrilla Game’s classic Horizon Zero Dawn. Aloy is heading west into the Americas to face new mechanical animals, explore North American landmarks, and save the world. Again. There was not much in the form of gameplay, however the game will be exclusive to the PlayStation 5, no release window was shown for the game.

After the showcase was finished, I felt like I was unable to really formulate words. Everything in the reveal looked great and was a lot of fun to experience. With so many games shown many of them with holiday 2020 or 2021 release windows, it’s tough to really see how Microsoft or even Sony could follow up on this. Early July is the Microsoft first party game showcase, which will show games that the PlayStation 5 will not get, though most if not all of them will come to PC.

For me, the following five games were the best in show:

• Horizon Forbidden West
• Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart
• Sackboy A Big Adventure
• Bugsnax
• Godfall

That list is only my personal opinion and in no set order.

Did you watch the showcase? What were some of your favorite games? Moments?