Presentation madness
Hey readers,
Both Sony and Nintendo have been presentation-happy as of late, with (technically) two PlayStation State of Play shows last week and Nintendo dropping two Nintendo Directs this week.
Since the general Nintendo Direct hits the same morning as this newsletter traditionally sends new issues, let’s sum up that show right now before we get into our main news segments.
A new 2D Metroid game called Metroid Ravenous is coming to Switch 2 on January 28, 2027. Samus is back—and boy, is she hungry.
Kirby is getting a 3D open-world game called Kirby and the World Beyond, releasing in spring 2027.
Persona 4 Revival and Persona 6 will both release on Switch 2.
Multiplayer favorite Meccha Chameleon is shadowdropping on Switch 2 today.
Pikmin 4 is getting a Switch 2 Edition with new challenges.
…and a lot more, courtesy of my friends at GameSpot.
This issue will fill you in on:
Take a look at this modern take on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Image source: Nintendo Press Center
Hey! Listen!
The Legend of Zelda franchise has been around for four decades, and Nintendo marked the occasion with a roughly half-hour video presentation. The main event was the full remake of Ocarina of Time, which Nintendo announced back in June. It’s a largely faithful remake of the Nintendo 64 classic, but with voice acting and modern graphics. The game is out November 5, exclusively for Switch 2.
Zelda series lead Eiji Aonuma showed off about 15 minutes of gameplay, demonstrating the game’s detailed look and new features like a manual jump. It’s safe to say that this remake will be largely familiar to anyone who played the original game, though the graphics and art style have been polarizing on social media.
How do people feel about how the Ocarina of Time remake looks?
The Ocarina remake has inspired a range of reactions, with some saying that this new interpretation is just how they imagined the game looked as a kid, and others comparing it to Unreal Engine fan remakes or unflattering parodies of modern-day triple-A games.
There have been arguments that the game mostly looks fine, but the young version of Link looks particularly strange. Link’s face and signature green tunic certainly have more detail than any other depiction of the character before, but possibly to a detriment, some would argue. Meanwhile, many of the NPCs and supporting characters are thought to look similar to how they did in the original N64 game.
In other words, everyone seems to have a really strong opinion, one way or another. Personally, I felt an uncanny vibe at the beginning of Aonuma’s demonstration, but I hope I’ll eventually get used to how the game looks.
Were there any other major Zelda announcements in this Direct?
Disappointingly, the Ocarina remake was the only game featured in the Direct, thwarting anyone’s hope of The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess HD remasters coming to Switch.
Other than Ocarina, the Direct also reminded viewers that a live-action Zelda movie is premiering on April 30, 2027. While many expected the Direct to feature a teaser of some sort for the movie, which wrapped filming some time ago, the presentation only included a brief title treatment, revealing that the final title for the Legend of Zelda movie is… The Legend of Zelda.
Other anniversary tie-ins include an orchestra concert tour for next year, new Zelda figures and Lego sets, Ocarina of Time Amiibos (with terrifying in-game rewards), and a stunning Zelda limited edition Switch 2 console.
Sony shows off games in two State(s) of Play
A screenshot from Final Fantasy VII Revelation. (Image Credit: Square Enix Press Center)
Back-to-back presentations proved exhausting.
Last week was PlayStation’s turn to showcase games, with a “State of Play” presentation showing previously announced (and a couple of unannounced) PS5 titles. This was immediately followed up with “State of Play Japan,” which included some deep dives into some Japanese-developed games from the showcase.
Here are some of the highlights:
Final Fantasy 7 Revelation releases on April 8, 2027. The State of Play ended with a deep dive on the action RPG’s combat.
Ghost of Tsushima protagonist Jin Sakai will return in Ghost of Yotei’s survival roguelike “Most Wanted” DLC mode.
A sequel to Maneater, an RPG in which you play as a shark, was announced. The shark can wallrun in this one!
The surreal narrative game Keeper from Double Fine, recently liberated from Xbox’s ownership, shadowdropped on PS5.
Konami unveiled a jazzy action-adventure game called Rhapsody in Scarlet.
Until Dawn 2 is co-written by AdHoc Studio, which launched the acclaimed narrative game Dispatch last year.
Saros is adding a boss rush mode and New Game+.
There’s an official Lego PlayStation set coming out in October!
Replay: What else happened?
A screenshot from Orbitals. (Image credit: Nintendo Press Center)
Other news hits
Cloud gaming through Xbox Game Pass will have limitations beginning in November—players will only be able to stream their games for 5-15 hours, depending on which plan they have. But according to Microsoft, this will only affect about 4% of players who use the cloud service.
A massive leak of Steam achievements appears to have spilled details on several unreleased (and even unannounced) games, with the mysterious Persona 6 being one of the affected titles. Another is Kingdom Hearts 4, with the achievements apparently revealing all of the Disney worlds that will feature in the game.
There have been murmurs that Miami-Dade County officials approached GTA company Rockstar to transform Miami locations with a Vice City aesthetic to promote GTA 6, but some in local law enforcement have come out against the concept due to optics.
An update to the nearly decade-old Mario Kart 8 Deluxe received a major update that adds some new features, including support for 8-player splitscreen when playing on Switch 2. Prepare to squint your eyes trying to find your character on the TV.
The Trump White House launched a website with some crass MAGA-themed imitations of video games like Flappy Bird and Snake that featured racist imagery. A Tetris clone called “Build the Wall” prompted a response from The Tetris Company, which stated: “We take copyright infringement very seriously.”
The White House has since removed the Tetris rip-off from its website.
Big new game releases include…
The original Moonlighter in 2018 had the player dungeon-crawling at night and managing a shop in the day—the sequel, Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault (PC, Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S), transitions the concept into a 3D graphic art style with a lot of new mechanics that make it feel like a totally different game.
A two-player cooperative game called Orbitals (Switch 2) replicates the look of a retro ‘80s anime while featuring clever puzzles in the vein of It Takes Two and Split Fiction. Seeing how there’s a lineage from the creative director of Orbitals previously working on those two games, it’s no surprise!
One of the co-directors behind The Witcher 3 is back with a vampire RPG called The Blood of Dawnwalker (PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S). Intended to be the first entry of a franchise, Dawnwalker features an open world to explore and a complex story to unravel.
Capcom has brought back its classic samurai series Onimusha with Onimusha: Way of the Sword (PC, Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S), which takes place in a dark fantasy depiction of Edo period Tokyo. It received solid reviews, continuing a hot streak from Capcom after Resident Evil Requiem and Pragmata.
Fill Me In On _______:
(In this section, I’ll address a question or curiosity about gaming from readers. Submit your inquiries through this Google Form and read my explainer in a future newsletter!)
That’s it for this presentation news-heavy edition of the newsletter. We’ll be back next week with an issue headlined by a PlayStation game starring a certain metal clawed X-Man.
‘Til next week,
Chris Compendio
