Rise of the Ronin, Stellar Blade, Death Stranding 2: Everything Announced at PlayStation's State of Play

09.02.2024 - 13:14 / gadgets.ndtv.com / Ken Levine / Playstation Studios

PlayStation hosted the year's first State of Play games showcase early Thursday, bringing a host of new announcements, reveals and updates on upcoming releases. Sony presented a deep dive into two of its first-party titles, with extended gameplay trailers for Rise of the Ronin and Stellar Blade. The latter also finally received a release date — Shift Up's action-adventure title is arriving April 26. Team Ninja's Rise of the Ronin received a detailed gameplay trailer, showing off sword combat, special weapons, and traversal. We also got to know a bit more about the Edo period setting of the game, which takes right in the middle of the Japanese revolution.

The State of Play showcase also brought an in-depth look at Death Stranding 2 with a nearly 10-minute-long trailer that detailed new gameplay elements, the story beyond the first game and new and returning characters. Norman Reedus' Sam Porter Bridges saved America in the first game, now he must save the world from extinction. Of course, as you'd expect from a Hideo Kojima game, the plot and story details remain cryptic at best. But hey, would you want it any other way? Kojima himself joined PlayStation Studios head Herman Hulst towards the end of the State of Play showcase and dropped a surprise. The iconic game director will be working on an action-espionage title (not Metal Gear Solid) for PlayStation, with development on the untitled game beginning after Death Stranding 2.

The showcase saw over a dozen announcements, including updates on the Silent Hill 2 remake, a new story trailer for Ken Levine's Judas and an enhanced version of Until Dawn for PS5 and PC coming this year. State of Play also showed off a couple of PS VR2 titles, a new remastered Sonic game that brings the best 2D and 2D levels from the series and more. Sony also announced that the next State of Play, scheduled for February 6, will entirely focus on Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth. With that, here's everything that was announced at PlayStation's State of Play:

Team Ninja's Rise of the Ronin, which releases on the PS5 on March 22, got a 4-minute-long gameplay overview trailer at State of Play, detailed combat mechanics, swordplay, special weapons and seamless traversal. The game, which looks like Ghost of Tsushima's first cousin, will also feature crucial player choices at key moments in the story that will affect the events going forward.

Set during 19th century Japan, right in the middle of the Bakumatsu period, Rise of the Ronin drops you into a period-accurate Yokohama. The trailer showcased Assassin's Creed-style seamless urban traversal, with the player utilising their grappling hook to quickly climb up buildings, launch off and glide through the air using the ‘Avicula' glider,