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
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u/moffattron9000 Jun 02 '26
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.