Another State of Play has been and gone, and it served up a whole host of news, updates, release dates, and new announcements.
However, State of Play presentations can be quick-fire things, with a lot of smaller announcements buried between the larger ones. Plus, as this State of Play proved, there’s often a whole range of games shown that can make the show hard to digest.
As a result, we’ve used today to reflect on the most recent show, and have pulled together a short list of our favorite reveals and moments from Sony’s February State of Play as a short summary of the highlights.
We didn’t see any tidbits of new hardware or accessories – which we had hoped for – but there are plenty of games to now mark in the calendar in the months and years ahead.
Arguably the biggest reveal was Saros from Housemarque, one of Sony’s own first-party developers, and makers of the excellent Returnal. However, there was also some confirmation of long-rumored or leaked games, as well as some new surprises that piqued our interest. Here’s what we found the most interesting and exciting from the most recent State of Play.
Although a leak seemingly revealed this ahead of the State of Play, long-time PlayStation fans and gamers of, ahem, a certain age, can now get rightly excited about jumping back into a game of our youth and arguably one of the best games ever made.
Not only was Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater confirmed to be releasing on August 28, we also got to see much more of the world-beating story and game locations than we’d seen before, as well as looks at iconic characters, and memorable boss fights that was sure to bring the nostalgia back in floods for fans of the original. Oh, and it looks absolutely stunning, too.
In an age where we’ve become a little desensitized to games looking sharply photorealistic, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater looks borderline ridiculous. The detail on show as well as the sheer overhaul of the graphics is jaw-dropping.
Draping this kind of level of graphical fidelity over a game of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater’s quality – the game’s core elements haven’t aged badly, by any means, after all – and returning and new fans have a real treat in store. I’m counting down the days.
Rob Dwiar, Managing Editor, TechRadar Gaming
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds gets revealed
As TechRadar Gaming’s resident Sonic enjoyer, this one’s a shoo-in for me. After the very disappointing Team Sonic Racing released back in 2019 with absolutely nothing in the way of post-launch support, it’s nice to see that Sonic Team seems to be putting in a lot of effort to make Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds potentially the best game in the subseries yet.
For me, it’s hitting all the right notes so far. Large roster of beloved Sonic characters? Check. Tracks that pay homage to iconic levels from series history? Yup. Genuinely welcome fan service in the form of Sonic Riders representation? We’re so back, basically.
To top it all off, it looks like we’re getting innovations in the form of genuinely dynamic tracks that entirely change between laps – hence that ‘CrossWorlds’ subtitle. The idea of leaping from Dinosaur Jungle to Metal Harbor in the same race is incredibly exciting, as is the return of transforming vehicles and the long-awaited return of Riders’ Extreme Gear boards. Call me biased, but Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is easily one of my most anticipated games of the year. I just really hope Sonic Team can stick the landing.
Rhys Wood, Hardware Editor, TechRadar Gaming
I honestly feel like first-person shooters (FPS) have been very underrepresented in State of Play streams as of late, with loads of developers seemingly chasing all the soulslike hype instead. That’s exactly why I found the reveal of Metal Eden so exciting, as it seems to have all the makings of a fresh FPS inspired by the greats.
I’ve actually already gone hands-on with the game in the time ahead of its public reveal and was very impressed with what I played. The Doom inspirations are obvious in the combat mechanics, which see you peppering enemies with bullets to stagger them before going in for a brutal melee kill. Even so, it’s hard to complain when the combat is so enjoyable and Metal Eden does at least have some unique twists up its sleeve.
Its big innovation is the ability to rip out Cores – effectively the robotic hearts of your enemies. They can be eaten for an instant health and power boost, or thrown in a powerful explosive attack. Enemies have been designed in such a way where the careful use of Cores is necessary for success, adding a whole new level of strategy.
Throw in an extensive upgrade system that lets you customize your weapons and character build, and you have a winning formula. There’s also some brilliant parkour on top of all this, breaking up dense combat arenas with more open sections that let you run and jump off walls or glide down high-tech rails. I’m very keen to play more.
Dash Wood, Hardware Writer, TechRadar Gaming
Tides of Annihilation’s take on a fallen London
Wait, you’re telling me there’s a grimdark fantasy action game on the horizon that isn’t a soulslike? That’s what Tides of Annihilation appears to be, with gameplay reminiscent of classic character action games like Devil May Cry and Bayonetta. I’m also really liking the look of its “shattered, mystical London” setting, as the accompanying PlayStation Blog post puts it.
The setting itself blends a contemporary London with an Arthurian style medieval kingdom. It’s all well beyond the brink of collapse and looks absolutely gorgeous. Tides of Annihilation will also feature PS5 Pro support, where I can imagine this game looking absurdly pretty on the right display.
We don’t know much else about the game just yet, but it’s cool to see something that could potentially spearhead the return of the character action subgenre that’s long fallen out of favor in lieu of soulslikes becoming the de facto action game style.
RW
The blending of Stellar Blade and Nikke
Stellar Blade and Goddess of Victory: Nikke are a match made in heaven, for reasons that are very obvious for anyone already familiar with either. The new crossover DLC looks great, with some killer outfits that seem like the dictionary definition of fan service. The brief reveal trailer also showed off what seems to be an entire new area and hinted at a potential new bossfight, so this might actually be quite a meaty expansion – unlike the rather disappointing Stellar Blade x NieR Automata DLC.
I’m keen to learn more about what’s in store ahead of its June 2025 launch. We also learned that the long-awaited PC port is on the way and will launch alongside the DLC which, to me, sounds like a great reason to replay.
DW
The return of Deacon in Days Gone Remastered
Look, hear me out, as I know this won’t be one of the things that many folks pull out of the State of Play. I also know Days Gone received some flak when it first came out for things like its writing and characters (they are…not brilliant, I grant you), and some mission design but I had a lot of fun with the original on PS4, spending hours and hours in post-apocalyptic Northwest America and got the platinum trophy for it too.
Drifting around the wrecked but beautiful world of the Pacific Northwest of the USA on a motorcycle and exploring the vast map while collecting upgrades for the bike, side quests for different camps, and always watching your fuel tank and for hordes of Freakers makes for a lot of fun.
The technical upgrades that a PS5 version will offer will enhance that fun further too, with boosts to frame rates and resolution almost certain, and even more of both – as well as extra benefits for lighting and ray-tracing, potentially – on the PS5 Pro making for another definitive version of an SIE game of recent years.
The concept of remastering PS4 games from only a few years ago is something that’s debatable in terms of need and value to this generation, but, as a PlayStation-head, I’ve only ever enjoyed going back into the likes of The Last of Us and Horizon Zero Dawn with their new PS5 releases, and Days Gone is likely to be the same for me. I’ll probably chase the PS5 platinum too – as well as enjoy getting my teeth into the new content; something folks can do on the cheap too, in welcome news, with the upgrade for existing owners only costing $10.
RD
Everything announced at the February PlayStation State of Play
If you’re looking for a complete list of everything announced at the February State of Play then we pulled together this long list while watching the show to provide all the details of the reveals at a glance (in order of appearance).
- A new trailer for Monster Hunter Wilds, teasing the game’s first free update and future roadmap
- A Shinobi: Art of Vengeance reveal trailer
- Sonic Racing CrossWorlds, a new Sonic racing game, was revealed
- Digimon Story Time Stranger was announced and shown
- New Lost Soul Aside gameplay trailer, with a release date – years after it first appeared
- Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is getting a free demo in the coming weeks
- Dave the Diver – Ichiban’s Holiday have got a crossover DLC pack coming soon
- the Splitgate 2 PS5 alpha begins on February 27
- A new WWE 2K25 trailer showed off gameplay features
- There was a Borderlands 4 gameplay trailer, and a bit of chat which confirmed a Borderlands 4 State of Play for later this year. The game’s release was also confirmed for September 23, 2025
- The new Split Fiction trailer explored the relationship between its protagonists
- Directive 8020 – A Dark Pictures Game was shown off for the first time, and launches on October 2
- Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic revealed, launching this June
- A new trailer was shown for The Midnight Walk
- Darwin’s Paradox – a game in which you play as an octopus – was revealed
- Koei Tecmo Games’ roguelike Warrior’s: Abyss was revealed and announced to be arriving on PS5 and PS4 immediately
- News that Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny launches on PS4 on May 23
- A new trailer for Onimusha: Way of the Sword, gave us a launch date window of 2026
- The new Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater trailer confirmed the previously leaked release date of August 28
- New Hell is Us trailer, confirming a September 4, 2025 release
- A trailer for soulslike Lies of P‘s Overture DLC gave us our first glimpse at this new content for the popular game from 2023
- Dream of Another was announced for PS5 and it looks pretty weird, but is also coming to PSVR 2
- Long-rumored Days Gone Remastered was revealed for PS5 and will release on April 25
- Goddess of Victory: Nikke DLC for Stellar Blade was shown and is a perfect match
- Blue Prince and Abiotic Factor were both announced for PS5
- New game Tides of Annihilation was revealed and it seems very action RPG-like, perhaps even soulslike
- First-person shooter Metal Eden was revealed, launching on May 6, 2025
- Mindseye was announced and unveiled with a trailer that showed off driving and combat gameplay
- Saros, a new first-party PlayStation title from Housemarque – and follow up of sorts to Returnal – was announced, with a 2026 launch
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rob.dwiar@futurenet.com (Rob Dwiar)
