The PlayStation 5 is off to a promising start, with the likes of Demon’s Souls and Astro’s Playroom being exclusive to the next-gen powerhouse. However, many of the other titles announced for the PS5 are cross-gen titles that aren’t exactly built from the ground up to take full advantage of the hardware.
That isn’t to say there aren’t games announced that utilize the console’s potential, but they are more than likely not releasing soon (aside from a very select few). Fans heavily praised Sony for the quality and quantity of their exclusives on the PlayStation 4, and it seems Sony has no intentions of changing their plans for this generation.
9 Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
It has been nearly five years since Insomniac Games released their reimagining, and movie tie in, of Ratchet & Clank. Since then, Insomniac released Marvel’s Spider-Man and its spinoff Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
However, the good news is that Insomniac revealed Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart at Sony’s PlayStation 5 reveal event in June of last year. Releasing sometime this year as a PS5 exclusive, Rift Apart sets out to take full advantage of the system’s SSD, allowing players to travel across multiple realities in a split second. It also supports ray-tracing and an optional mode that will allow players to play at native 4K 60fps.
8 Destruction AllStars
Slated as a launch title for the PlayStation 5 in November of last year, Destruction AllStars got pushed back into February of this year. Destruction AllStars is to retail at a $69.99 price point, but the developers (Lucid Games) promised free new modes and DLC throughout its lifecycle. In addition to that, the game will be free to all PS+ subscribers in its initial two months of release.
Destruction AllStars is a 16 player vehicular combat game, where each player takes control of an AllStar that has access to their unique vehicle and abilities. If your hero’s vehicle gets destroyed, you will have to navigate the battlefield on foot and try to survive the chaotic vehicle deathmatch taking place. Every hero has different abilities to help them in their vehicle and when on foot to help ratchet up each match’s intensity.
7 GhostWire Tokyo
At Bethesda’s E3 2019 press conference, Tango Gameworks (creators of The Evil Within series) announced their upcoming first-person action-adventure game, GhostWire Tokyo.
GhostWire Tokyo is to release sometime in October of this year, but as of now, we have very little information on the game outside of a few comments from developers on the project. However, Shinichiro Hara (combat director of GhostWire Tokyo and 2016’s DOOM) said that the gameplay allowed them to “put a lot more movement and personality into the player action as the player’s hands are organic extensions of the character.” The combat is inspired heavily by mixed martial arts and Kuji-Kiri. It should also be noted that Creative Director Ikumi Nakamura left Tango Gameworks and the project in 2019.
6 Returnal
Expected to release on March 19th of this year, Returnal looks to offer an incredible third-person shooter experience with roguelike elements. Developer’s Housemarque has been releasing many updates on the game throughout its development, and it is almost ready for showtime.
Your name is Selene, and you are stuck in a time loop on an alien planet. You have access to a spacesuit and powerful weaponry, along with abilities, but you will have to start your journey from the very beginning if you end up dying. The game’s fast-paced nature is contrasted nicely by the psychological-horror aspect of the general theme and enemy design.
5 Gran Turismo 7
Announced at Sony’s PlayStation 5 showcase in July of last year and expected to release at some point in 2021, Gran Turismo looks to wow its audience with next-gen power.
During their presentation at Sony’s event, Polyphony Digital showcased the game’s menu and revealed that Gran Turismo 7 would take full advantage of the PS5. It will run at a native 4K at 60FPS and will support full ray-tracing and DualSense support. Very little information came out since then, but Polyphony is still planning on releasing it in 2021. In an interview with GTPlanet, Kazunori Yamauchi (Series Creator) talked about the experience of the game saying, “I think the next title we’re going to create will be a combination of the past, present, and future — a complete form of Gran Turismo.”
4 Deathloop
Deathloop saw its reveal at Bethesda’s E3 2019 press conference and a further gameplay demonstration at Sony’s PlayStation 5 showcase in July of the same year. Initially set to release alongside the PlayStation 5 in November 2020, the project has been pushed back to May 21st of this year and seems to be making promising progress.
You play as an assassin named Colt and are actively trying to break out of a time loop. You must eliminate eight different targets before midnight, or the loop will reset, and you have to make another attempt at it. Like Arkane Studio’s past series, Dishonored, you have access to many different abilities ranging from stealth to parkour and a wide variety of melee skills and weaponry. Deathloop also offers a multiplayer mode where you, or another player, can assume the role of Julianna, an agent tasked to keep the loop going. As Julianna, your goal is to invade a random player’s world and prevent them from eliminating all eight targets. However, that is an optional mode, and the game also offers a single-player mode where players won’t have to worry about an invasion.
3 Project Athia
Project Athia — working title — is set to release at some point in 2022 and is a brand new IP from Luminous Productions and Square Enix.
There is not much information on Project Athia at the moment, other than the game is an open-world, as confirmed by Yosuke Matsuda in an interview with Weekly Toyo Keizai Plus. Translation can be found at Gamatsu. An open-world game makes sense as Luminous Productions’ last project was Final Fantasy XV, which offered a sprawling open world filled with many things to see and do.
2 God Of War: Ragnarok
God of War: Ragnarok — unofficial title — is an upcoming sequel to 2018’s installment and is expected to kick off the events of Ragnarok.
Ragnarok is a series of events that lead to the end of days, a great battle, and many powerful gods’ deaths. The game is confirmed to be focused around Kratos and his son Atreus, from the recent installment, and set in fictional Norway. On September 16th of last year, the first teaser trailer for the game was showcased at Sony’s PlayStation 5 event, and it ended with a “2021” stinger. Whether or not that means it will release in 2021, or that’s when more information will become available, is currently unknown.
1 Final Fantasy XVI
Final Fantasy XVI was revealed at Sony’s PlayStation 5 event on September 16, 2020, with a pretty substantial trailer that showcased many of its themes and combat mechanics.
The game looks to be going back to its fantasy setting, with a more refined combat system built off the same style as Final Fantasy XV and VII Remake. Interestingly enough, however, Final Fantasy XVI isn’t being developed by either of the teams that made XV or VII Remake. Instead, the team behind the MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV (Creative Division III) are the ones taking the helm this time. The group launched the official website for XIV a month ago, and with that came a bunch of information outlining some key characters and lore. Although the project currently has no release date, the team said they are eager to release more details at some point this year.
NEXT: 10 Confirmed PlayStation Games Coming In 2021 (But Have No Release Dates)
