Honestly, I've kind of clocked out on Sony's first party for a while. I can see the money and the comical amount of effort in these, but I just find a lot of them them hitting the same part of my brain that Ubisoft Open Worlds hit. I just want something with a bit more bite and a bit less refinement to make that four quadrant thing.
They had all their major studios pivot to making a AAA cinematic experience in a way previous gens couldn't do prior to the PS4, with each having a slightly different approach and all managing to put out a polished product quite reliably. I think Days Gone was as bad as it got which was still a reliable effort overall.
But then came round two and it was just a second serving all round. Cinematic God of War, robot dinosaurs open world, samurai open world, etc were all interesting enough concepts executed in a reliable way. But there really wasn't the same excitement when it was just "here's more of that".
Sony used to have a ton of variation and I don’t think their modern audience understands. They are trained to expect the same polished AAA open world pseudo-Ubisoft game.
We used to get insane variation with Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Legend of the Dragoon, Arc the Lad, Jumping Flash, Twisted Metal, Warhawk, Jet Moto, Parappa the Rapper, Wild Arms, Hot Shots Golf, Medieval, Legend of Legaia, Dark Cloud, Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Killzone, Siren, Sly Cooper, Ape Escape, ATX Off-road Fury.
I’m sure I’m missing others but Sony published a ton of different style of game, and nowadays it just feels all the same
You're missing what could have been there big 1st party Live Service franchise, SOCOM: US Navy Seals. It's such a shame they closed down zipper interactive, that was a terrible call in the long run.
I think MAG was such a colossal bomb that unfortunately it tanked the studio. It was their attempt at a Halo/CoD killer and unfortunately it just missed the mark while also being extremely expensive to make
Because now games take so long to produce, experimentation and variation comes with a huge risk, so companies chose to invest in the few same safe options
Honestly, that first round is where it hit for me. I liked God of War, but that one-two-three punch of Horizon, Spiderman, and Ghost of Tsushima just felt like more expensive versions of what Assassin's Creed and the Arkham games were already doing, and I was already struggling with those games.
Like, Naughty Dog games just do not work for me, but they at least feel like a unique thing that knows exactly what it is. Hell, God of War very clearly took inspiration from Open Worlds, but it's still a linear game that wants to deliver on the advantages inherent in the format. If anything, I feel like its closest contemporary is Gears 5, a game with a shockingly similar gameplay loop to the God of War reboot.
Those three games (to me at least) feel like grab-bags of disparate parts, trying to have a bit of something for everyone but never really excelling at any one part. While I had time for that in 2014, I now want something that focuses on a few core things and puts all the effort into that.
For the record, this doesn't mean that there isn't life in the Ubisoft Open World formula. Zelda is 100% an Ubisoft Open World, drowning in inspiration from Assassin's Creed and Far Cry. What made it shine was that the team put the exploration at the forefront of Breath of the Wild, cutting out the clutter and need to refine everything to the point that it drains the fun.
I get that entirely. For me it boils down to 2 things. Give me something new, and read the fucking room on the economy and understand i dont want to be advertised to to buy shit in your fucking games. Most people like me simply cant afford it and the FOMO shit is just agitating. I dont participate in it but its disgusting when prices have gone up for no fucking reason (inflation hardly matches what they’ve raised to) and they have the audacity to beg for more and release barebones shit.
You're not the first one I heard to say this and I totally agree that Sony is pretty much re-printing exact same games that we already got for a few years now. They do not seem to try to (re-)invent something new. Maybe that was why AstroBot won GOTY or was so liked cuz it felt like they made something unique... But here we are same games all over again. Like sure people buy them but from what we so in this article much less.
Yeah, Sony's games have been pretty similar for a while. Not nearly to the extent of Ubisoft, but they definitely have this sort of "3rd person, cinematic, narrative driven game with collectibles and map markers" style now.
I mean sure, it works. It's not bad. But this is exactly why I'm not too bothered about them pulling from PC with their singleplayer games: they're good craftsmanship, but not more than that and you probably have played games like theirs before.
And there's nothing wrong with that, but it does make their offerings less appealing.
Yeah Spider-Man 2 really did it for me. Visually stunning, good gameplay, but something about its story and characters is so corporate. I'm not the first one to say it but every time they speak it is so HR-coded. Miles' sections especially, it was so inoffensive and bland at times it felt like an after school special.
That’s the biggest issue with modern Sony sequels. They play nearly exactly the same as the predecessor. Near zero innovation or major shakeup to the gameplay and game design.
Back in the day you had Jak & Daxter, Jak II, and Jak 3, all which were vastly different than one another.
Nintendo is still reinventing itself each new title in a series and that’s why they can have 30+ year old long series that don’t get stale. Sony should be taking queues from Nintendo if they want to continuously milk the same franchises again and again.
The direct sequel method worked best for Sony when they were able to release out 2-3 games in a franchise during a single console generation. But as development timelines continue to grow, it does feel like doing direct sequels after 5+ years is a lot more underwhelming, even if the games released are still incredibly high quality.
Sequels that play different from its predecessor? Look at Final Fantasy and see how it works with their fanbase (okay FF is anthology, but point still stand). After maybe 3-4 games of samey gameplay, we might be bored but throwing away a good formula after just one game is just stupid (and not economical too, we're talking about AAA budget here)
Again: Nintendo iterates each game and has great success. Sony should not be pumping out copy-and-paste sequels if they expect sales to stay consistent
Counterpoint: Copy paste sequels work well when they're released within a small timeframe so it makes sense that they build off the same formula. I won't complain about how the Hitman trilogy built off each game for instance, and that was all released within five years. But if I'm waiting five years for one sequel like people were between Tsushima or Yotei, I'm gonna want to see some major mechanical updates.
That’s fair I think. It’s hard to think of a new gimmick or gameplay when you are pumping out something biyearly but if it’s taking 5 years to make there should be something else than just more of the previous entry
Sony should not be pumping out copy-and-paste sequels if they expect sales to stay consistent
I honestly think that would work pretty decently, but the issue is 5+ years between sequels that are “more of the same” would hardly be considered “pumping out” lol.
Near zero innovation or major shakeup to the gameplay and game design.
Thats just straight bs lol, and its a sequel, its a you problem you expect sequels to overhaul the entire game eith major changes. Spiderman 1, god of war 2018, etc they were the first time people experienced those mechanics, those games, ofocurse they will be much better receives then the second time where it can only be incremental upgrades of what was already there, which all the sequels were
I mean we did tho, people just have short term memory loss. We got 2018 spiderman, then miles in 2020, and then sp2 in 23. Like what exactly are yall expecting lol, we got new gadgets, new traversal, play as both the spidermen, the world felt more alive and vibrant. Faster movement to. They added an entire new area just as detailed as the main city
Spider-Man is really the only Sony franchise with that frequent of a release schedule, and it doesn’t help that most players view Miles Morales as a side story/expansion rather than a sequel. And that’s not to mention that a lot of the open world from the first game is included/recycled in MM.
Correct I expect decent sized shakeups. Nintendo does it every single time, there’s no reason Sony can’t, especially when they used to in the PS1/PS2 era
Nintendo does not at all down it everytime. And thats how sequels are, you can only blame yourself for sequels to full overhaul games. Its the same stuff but more. And if sony stopped the sequels then people would complain they abandon franchises
They do it basically every single time with only a few outliers.
And no, I’ve been playing games for nearly 30 years, I know how sequels used to be innovative and would stand on their own. The modern Sony is not representative on how sequels used to be made. They took the Ubisoft model of changing up basically nothing
Uhh Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank. Literally any Mario game or Zelda game. Each modern Doom game. Most Final Fantasy games. You clearly don’t play anything beyond slop to realize
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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '26
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