Unleashing the Future: Top PS5 Highlights from Summer Game Fest 2024

It was full of gaming announcements that could redefine what play and games could be. While the summer is exploding with games that want to redefine the future of play, a number of games that were announced stood out not only for being leapfrogs for the future of games, but how they pledged to leverage the PlayStation 5 (PS5). The following is a tour of the top announcements all PlayStation players and gamers should be salivating over.

Charting New Horizons with Lego and Adventure

Lego Horizon Adventures: A Fresh Take on a Beloved Universe

They even turned it into the delightful third instalment of Lego’s existing PlayStation-exclusive series – a Lego Horizon Adventures where it all happens in the addictive world of LEGO bricks. With two-player co-op gameplay and a decision to bring the latest game to a much wider audience than PS5 or even Xbox Series S/X alone, it’s also on Nintendo Switch and PC. Who wouldn’t want to race across robot dinosaur-filled lands (literally) made from LEGO bricks?

Side-Scrolling into Beauty with Neva

Neva: A Visual Masterpiece in Motion

And now Nomada Studio is planning to do the same again with Neva, a side-scrolling action-adventure that blends demanding combat with gorgeous hand-drawn visuals. Available for every serious gaming platform, including the PS5, Neva will soon prove – as the masterpiece Gris already does – that video games are a real artform.

Strategizing with Civilization VII

A New Era for Strategists: Civilization VII

The announcement of Sid Meier’s Civilization VII is unlikely to surprise anyone who has watched the critical-darling strategy series shine brightest after a long hiatus. Finally, fans will be ushered into its seventh iteration. Yet this time, the series is projected outside the PC-dominated demographic, reaching audiences on PS5, Xbox and Switch who will have the chance to craft their empires and rewrite history as they see fit.

Blumhouse Games: A New Venture into Horror

The company behind slasher films such as The Purge and Halloween has long had its fingers in the horror pie. Now, however, the powerhouse that is Blumhouse Productions is taking on the gaming world. What we’ve seen so far – two trailers for respectively the carousel-running The Haunting of Hill House game and the tale of a school for zaombies called Scarygirl: The Secret Mission – is a harbinger for a suite of ‘slick, spartan, and occasionally unsettling’ games. The offer is simple: you don’t need a hundred million-dollar movie budget to make a scary game. What we don’t know is whether those games will come to the PS5. But we hope they will.

Nightmare Alley: Slitterhead

Slitterhead: A Daring Return to Horror

The latest horror game from the creator of Silent Hill, Slitterhead is an RPG with a body-hopping mechanic and an old-school clunky combat where players delight in landing a good hit. Play Slitterhead when it comes out on PlayStation 5 on 8 November.

The Ascent: Cairn

Cairn: A Climb Like No Other

And while The Game Bakers are known for a quirky, eclectic approach to game design, they’re pushing themselves to new heights with Cairn, an ambitious story-driven adventure that has you ascending a deadly mountain. It’s planned for an ultimate release in 2025, but is very likely to end up in the libraries of PC and console players (and likely PS5) of all stripes.

A Brew of Stories: Wanderstop

Wanderstop: Beyond a Tea Shop

Davey Wreden’s Wanderstop has you running a cosy tea shop in an enchanting fantasy world – discovering the game’s darker secrets as you go – for PC and PS5. Out later this year.

Enhancements and Expansions: Alan Wake II DLC

Players are still eagerly following Alan Wake II, with DLC on the way that weaves the protagonist from Remedy’s Control (2019) Jesse Faden into the 2023 game of the year. A second series of episodes is set to be even bigger than the first.

Free-to-Skate: Skate

EA, for its part, resurrects the beloved skateboarding franchise with the aid of a totally fresh, free-to-play model. Though still a work in progress, the prospect of console play tests this fall has Skate fanatics poised to pop a few ollies and kickflips once more.

The Edge of Combat: Phantom Blade Zero

Phantom Blade Zero: Intense Combat for PS5 and PC

The latest gameplay trailer for Phantom Blade Zero blends samurai action and complex combat mechanics for PS5 and PC players for a pulse-pounding experience.

Understanding the PS5: A Glimpse into the Future

The PlayStation 5 remains a flagship in gaming innovation, with the industry’s fastest-loading gameplay and highest graphical fidelity paired with a breakthrough controller that immerses players through haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. Developers appearing at this year’s Summer Game Fest demonstrated that they’re just scratching the surface of what the next-gen console can achieve in gaming. Every title promises a unique experience — a new story, a new way to play, a new way to be consumed visually. What that means for gamers is that the PS5 represents a portal into ever-expanding worlds of possibility in terms of wonder, challenge and creativity, making it a key epicentre of interactive entertainment’s future.

With the PS5 at the cutting edge, the future will continue to bring exciting possibilities for gamers worldwide, from Lego-style leisure to strategic world domination to being filled with terror by nightmarish horrors, one game at a time.