PlayStation 5 Reveal: The Future Of Gaming | Review And What I am Looking Forward Too

The PlayStation 5 reveal live-stream was possibly one of, if not, the single greatest gaming reveal stream ever released. Sony expertly crafted an hour long video to entice their audience in what they have to offer, and boy, did it work? And how do i know it worked? Because ladies and gentleman i am a die-hard fan-boy of the Xbox, however, i have been reevaluating my allegiance and i now, not only do i want to buy a PlayStation 5, i am considering leaving Xbox forever!

The Games they previewed look amazing, graphics breaking my expectation; the design on the PlayStation 5 looks incredible and the specs are proving to live up to super-fast gaming for consoles.

So, in no short-time let us breakdown everything that we gloriously witnessed in the PlayStation 5 reveal, add a hint of my charm and personal opinion and let's keep you entertained throughout this review.

Let us start with the bread and butter or the crème de la crème of the reveal, the PlayStation 5 itself. As aforementioned i personally love the deign of the new PlayStation, sporting a futuristic yet grounded look and the V shaped formed in the centre of the console for the roman numeral 5 was a beautiful touch, that makes me appreciate the kind of modesty Sony have put into the creation of the fifth iteration of their console.

Specs

If specs are not your thing or you just do not understand what you are reading then it is probably for the best if you skip to the games section, i talk about the games revealed and my personal opinions on them.

If you are like me and you love specs let us get started with breaking these down and seeing what awaits us inside the PlayStation 5.

CPU: AMD Zen 2-based CPU with 8 cores at 3.5GHz
GPU: 10.28 TFLOPs, 36 CUs at 2.23GHz | Custom RDNA 2
Memory: 16GB GDDR6 / 256-bit | 448GB/s
Internal Storage: Custom 825GB SSD
Expandable Storage: NVMe SSD slot
External Storage: USB HDD support
IO throughput: 5.5GB/s (raw), typical 8-9GB/s
Optical Drive: 4K UHD Blu-ray drive (Not found on the digital edition of the console)

Looks good, right? Sony, have offered a lot with their new console, these specs are however, considerable worse than the Xbox Series X, but when it comes to consoles there are a lot more factors than just specifically specs.

Just a look at the beauty of the PS5 and the Demons Souls remake.

A few notes of key interest

Disk Drive

The digital edition will not contain a optical drive, instead adjusting to the more all-sleek design, this is obviously a play by Sony and game manufactures as a whole to steer us into a future without physical media.

SSD

The Sony custom SSD will allow for games and game makers to load and play much faster and to even be expansively larger. This will be vital for the experience that this console will allow.

The premise of an SSD is simple, SSD'S have more bandwidth allowing for data to be pulled when needed, unlike HDD which have mechanical limitations, practically their will not be heaps of data loaded onto the Ram allowing for faster in game load times, fast travels, game generation and even console boot time. Which was not possible with the HDD limitation of putting strain on the Ram, which intern creates slower processes.

This may also allow for more control over the way we play and install video games as a whole, with the possibility of selective data we could just install one part of a video game instead of the whole data collection. For example, fans of the single-player or multiplayer can install the one they play the most and boot through that selected mode, allowing for the boot of the single-player without the boot of the whole game accessing saved files to gather their in-game information.

Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida, stated this “In order to further enhance the sense of immersion in games, we expect to improve not just the resolution, but the speed of games, For example, through a custom-designed high-speed SSD, we plan to realise game data processing speeds that are approximately 100 times faster than Ps4. Game load times should be much shorter, and players should be able to move through immense game worlds in almost an instant.”

This practically allows for the user and game designer to enhance the way video games play and feel. Worlds can be larger, more expansive and the vision for video games is edging more to reality. A fully immersive and expansive digital real-world seems like the future to me.

3D Audio

Okay, so lets all admit that when we saw 3D audio in the reveal, our reaction was like this... i know mine was.

If Sony had a first-person loadout they would be duel welding the BFG in one hand an the Lancer in the other, and yes, the SSD is the BFG and The Lancer is the 3D Audio in this hypothetical scenario.

3D Audio support is crazy. The possibility for games to sound more immersive is upon us. PS5's 3D Audio will be supported by the Tempest Engine, Cerny used the description of rainfall to give us an idea of the pure power the tempest engine and 3D audio possesses. "Today, the sound of rain in a game is a single audio track, but the PS5 would theoretically be capable of letting you hear individual raindrops, in relation to where the player character is."

When i read this i was mind blown. The fact that we will be able to hear more in games will not only be a way of immersing players more into video games but the possibility of multiplayer sound-whoring will be more unfair than it already is.

All i can say is the prospect of the PlayStation 5 being the future of gaming is shaping up to be true. I have only highlighted some of the key points from the reveal and the technology that took my interests, however, if you would like to read more about the PS5's specs then click the link and read TechRadars article, they go more in-depth about the technology inside the PS5.

Games

Now, we are delving into my favourite part of the reveal. The games. 26 games were announced at the reveal, some ranging from triple AAA titles and others being made by indie developers. I will name all the games announced and give my opinion on the game; if i am excited or if i am sceptical.

Let's start with a game i am most looking forward too.

1: Demons Souls

Let me start by saying I never played the original Demons Souls, however, this trailer got me hyped for the remake; so much so that i have had a two day spree of watching gameplay videos of the original Demon's Souls; safe to say i will be purchasing a PS5 just to play this game.

2: Project Athia

Fantasy, dragons and flamy-wolves. Count me in. Project Athia has to be the game that peeked my interest the most, as much as Demon's Souls. Produced by Square Enix, project Athia looks like it's going to be a an action-adventure story driven fantasy, which they are pretty much specialist at, however, the fact that it is a project game it may be a while before we see this game on PS5 but all i can say is i am extremely optimistic about this game.

3: Hitman 3

As a long time fan of the Hitman franchise (Joining the franchise back the Blood Money days) i am extremely optimistic to play this game on the PS5. Hitman's 2 graphics were great and the gameplay fun; killing everyone, mastering the game and getting silent assassin is what is in store for me when i get this game. Hopefully, the AI is just a little less obnoxious on Hitman 3. IO, no spinning head S**t, yeah. That's all i am saying... infuriating.

4: Stray

I love cats and i have always wondered the easy life a house cat has. When i saw this game trailer my curiosity was peaked, I can finally live out my life long quest to see through the eyes of a cat and the life they live.

Okay, so you do not play as a house cat and it is third person not first, but the game still let's you play as a cat as you adventure and interactive through and with your environment, the cat also makes a little friend called B12 who is a little flying robot.

Furthermore, if there is not a MEOW mechanic in this game i will be very upset... that has to be a thing, right?

Either way, this game looks like it is going to be a slightly light-hearted, fun exploration game and i am looking forward to see how this game plays out.

5: Marvels Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Spider-man 2018 was a fantastic and an almost needed entry to spider-mans franchise of video games. The game was highly successful appearing on almost every reviewers list, furthermore with the success of into the spider-verse it seems our web-slinging hero is getting some well needed attention.

The game seems like it will take the same approach of the previous, open-world action-adventure, however, sling Miles into the lead role tell a different story, add the graphics, speed and sound capabilities of the PS5 and this game, should not only be amazing but also extremely fun to play. I am slightly hoping we see characters from the movie; i would love to see Spider-Gwen and Spider-Man Noir in the game, that would be awesome.

6: Village or Resident Evil 8

This trailer lead me on, i knew the rumours of a new resident evil game was being released before i watched the reveal. so, when i saw the game art-style resident evil has in this trailer i suspected this was the game, cut to the end of the trailer and to my surprise a title for village comes up; not resident evil 8. Then the VIll in village turns to the roman numerals for the number 8. Safe to say they got me, and my reaction was more or less like this.

Like hitman i am a long time fan of the resident evil series and i am waiting in anticipation for the next up coming game in the franchise. Seems resident Evil are sticking with the horror theme and for good measure, the game looks like it will be set in a more rural part of the world (Kinda like outlast 2), weird cults, sadistic killers, people who are stuck in the 1500, whatever awaits in store for us with the new game. There is one thing i am certain about, my curtains will be closed, lights off and it will be midnight for full immersive gameplay and i want to be scared s******s.

7: Deathloop

Dishonored, prey and now Deathloop, Arkane studios are developing some interesting games - to say the least. Deathloop seems like Dishonored meets a multiplayer shooter. The premise of Deathloop is simple, the player takes control of Colt, an ex assassin stuck in a time loop, Colt wakes up in on a beach in Blackreef. The task is relativity simple Colt has been tasked in assassinating eight targets before midnight, however, even if one target lives the loop will reset undoing all his progress.

There is a twist, Julianna is an agent tasked in taking out Colt and protecting the loop, this however, can be an optional multiplayer aspect of the game were another player takes control of julianna and stops Colt. If you choose to turn this option off an AI will take control of Julianna instead of another player.

I loved the Dishonored franchise and Deathloop seems like another great entry in Arkane Studios sneak based games. It will be interesting too see how the gameplay plays out, plus the multiplayer aspect seems like a fun twist into the skills of the player; i am optimistic for this game.

8: Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart

Ratchet and Clank: Rift apart was one of the games in the presentation that got my nostalgia gauge buzzing, i used to love playing the original Ratchet and Clank games on my PSP and with this prime opportunity for a new updated next gen game, with updated graphics and story. Ratchet and Clank looks like it's going to be as fun and as memorable as the previous incarnations in the franchise.

9: Returnal

Returnal, a lot like Deathloop follows a person stuck in loop. Returnal follows features a crash-landing on an alien planet the main protagonist keeps reviving at the same point - this includes her death. Each time she dies the loop reset, unfortunately the world around her keeps changing and adapting.

Now, i despise puns in titles of video games but Returnal is not a bad name, it explains the premise of the game perfectly, you are practically returning for eternity. Returnal has interesting - Control vibes, with the story being no linear and hard to grasp.

With an ever changing world, creating land-marks and recognisable locations will be hard with an ever changing world environment.

Returnal is curious, the game could tell a compelling story and the gameplay could be fun - like aforementioned the world environment could be ever-changing making it hard for the player to map out their world and that premise could create a compelling game environment.

10: Kena: Bridge of Spirits

Kena is a cute action-adventure game involving magic, enemies and these cute little creatures. Platforming, puzzles and discovery will play a large roll as you progress through the game. The cute creatures will be a large part of the problem solving in the game, including the magic and battling ferocious monsters.

Kena's graphics are Pixar-esc and very beautiful, the gameplay looks like it's going to be challenging and fun at the same time. This game looks great and i am excited for what Kena has to offer if its either story telling, gameplay or visuals, Kena will hopefully take the player on fun journey.

11: Oddworld: Soulstorm

The original Oddworld was one of those weird games i played as a kid it was interesting and comical, seeing the world developed around the player was amazing. The original Oddworld followed Abe, floor-waxer first class for RuptureFarms, was catapulted into a life of adventure when he overheard plans by his boss.

It's going to be interesting to see how the new game progresses the story, however, all we do know is that the new game will be taking a more depressing darker tone to the story and to the Odd-world. ;)

12: Jett: The Far Shore

Jett; Far Shore is an open-world, adventure exploration game. You take the roles of a character named Mei; Mei is embarking on interstellar travel, lapsing into torpor the mother structure in the hopes of seeking out a new sanctuary for a people on the verge of extinction.

I am always a fan of open-world games, an expansive world to explore and unfold at my own pace is something i have always loved. Jett brings this concept and adds a hint of mystery, through the eyes of Mei we are exploring a possible home for the future of humanity, but the world - Off Shore could hold unforeseen treasures or be a place of endless danger.

Playing the game on a loose story narrative allows us to play the game at our own pace, Jett is still a relative mystery but the prospect of guiding humanity to a new home planet seems like a great foundation to build a game off.

13: Pragmata

Pragmata another game on our list developed by Capcom - the other being Resident evil 8 left us with a lot of questions when watching this trailer. The game is not set to be released until 2022 so, this trailer would be a relativity - early concept. As aforementioned the trailer left us with more questions than answers; who is the space man? Why are there souls? What are the cats for?

Again, the trailer leaves more to be answered than said but safe to say if this game is developed by Capcom the story will be inventive yet fun.

14: Horizon: Forbidden west

Horizon: Forbidden west is the sequel to aloy's journey in Horizon: Zero Dawn . The new game will be held in a new environmental location that seems unfamiliar than the first game it will also introduce new features, such as, underwater traversal. The game looks more stunning than the first and with playstation 5's power and speed Horizon is shaping up to be a worthy sequel to its predecessor.

The next 11 games on our list are the ones that didn't peak my interest, either, i have never really been a fan of the franchise or these types of games. I do not dislike these games, there just not for me, however, everyone is different and you may have liked the games below, and that's fine but these are not for me.

1: Godfall

2: BugSnax

3: NBA 2K21

4: Little Devil Inside

5: Astro's Playroom

6: Solar Ash

7: Ghostwire: Tokyo

8: Goodbye Volcano High

9: Destruction All Stars

10: Gran Turismo 7

11: Sackboy A Big Adventure

Again, non of these games are bad; there just not my genre of games or i have never been a fan of the franchises.

There is one more game that has to be mentioned - a game so great (and milked) that it has managed to survive three generations of consoles before a new one hast been released - yes, it's GTA Five.

26: GTA Five

What can be said about GTA Five? Apart from the fact that it is an amazing game that is still played to this day - it's a classic and it's coming to PS5.

The PS5 is giving us a run for our money, (not literally) the console itself looks great and the games accompanying it will keep us entertained for years - the PS5 may truly be the future of gaming.