PlayStation State of Play Predictions – Horizon Forbidden West, Returnal, and more!

Playstation’s State of Play is due in a few hours and I’m sure we’re excited for many of the announcements to come. We do know that there will be game deep dives, along with new game announcements and third-party/Indie updates, and we love ourselves a good prediction list.

Sony has pointed out that there will be no hardware-related updates, so we can forget about hearing more on the new PSVR. We’ll try to be realistic with our guesses, as there could be some surprises here and there, so lets try to see how many we can get right.

Horizon Forbidden West Release Date

Jim Ryan during his GQ interview mentioned three titles that he’s confident about with their development status – Returnal, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and finally Horizon Forbidden West. We’ve gotten a lot of fanfare with this title, however the only thing we don’t have is an actual release date.

In the recent State of Plays, I’ve seen them opening strong with Spiderman: Miles Morales (well, technically GTAV), Crash Bandicoot 4, and Final Fantasy XVI, so opening with Horizon Forbidden West with an actual announcement is something that Sony could do to start off with a bang.

Disco Elysium The Final Cut Release Date

disco elysium banner

It’s almost March, and with this being technically a title that will launch on the PlayStation first, with Xbox and Nintendo Switch being relegated for the Summer, the State of Play would be the place for a nice reveal. All of their comms point to March – their Twitter account is still showing March 2021, and even their collector’s pre-order shows the same. The only thing that remains is a high profile announcement, and this could be it.

Returnal Deep Dive

If there will be a game that will show a deep dive that’s a lot more than just a teaser trailer and some choice words from the developer, Returnal will be that game. There probably would be more gameplay featurettes and even a longer story trailer. With their April 30th release looming, this is a pretty sure bet to watch out for.

Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart Updates

While Returnal has been getting quite a bit of fanfare from Housemarque’s Housecasts throughout late 2020 and early January 2021, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart just received an update early this month without any new trailer or gameplay footage. So a name revelation of the female lobax would be in order. Will she be Rivet or Sprocket or Lever? We’ll find out in few.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits Release Date

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is another title that was unceremoniously teased during the infamous CES 2021 sizzle video with a March release date. With March around the corner, maybe we’ll get a release date? We’re super hyped for this Indie title, and putting in a release date will only get us more excited.

PlayStation Indies Sizzle Reel

On the topic of Indies, I feel that there will be a sizzle reel for the PlayStation Indies given the current sale. While it could be anything, Sony will probably give some love to their upcoming unadvertised exclusive puzzler Maquette coming out on March 2nd. Upcoming Indie titles such as Solar Ash, Jett: The Far Shore, Stray, and Little Devil Inside will probably be featured in this sizzle reel as well.

Ghostwire Tokyo or Deathloop Updates

Both of these games are in a weird place right now, especially with Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda. Nevertheless, these are pretty intriguing selections, and it would be nice to see updates on them. For Ghostwire Tokyo, it’s showing an October release for its CES 2021 sizzle reel. This title could be a nice, safe reveal on the State of Play slate.

Oddworld Soulstorm Release Date

oddworld state of play reveal

Oddworld Soulstorm would probably show its definite “Spring” release date during State of Play. Similar to Disco Elysium: Final Cut, the comms on this game is consistently showing Spring and big high profile announcement on State of Play would be a great moment to reveal said game.

Marvel’s Avengers Spiderman Announcement

With Marvel’s Avengers scheduled for a PS5 release on March 18, the State of Play would be a great place to begin their quest for redemption. What better reveal would there be than to show the PlayStation exclusive character on a State of Play a few weeks before launch? This IP really needs to work twice as hard to win back hearts, so this would be a good place to start.

Something Final Fantasy Related

Out of all the Final Fantasy predictions, I’m going to go with Final Fantasy XVI. There’s been a lot of fanfare and rumors for a Final Fantasy reveal this month, so why not XVI?

An update on Final Fantasy VII Remake would also be nice… PS5 version? Part 2 details? Hopefully Sony can throw us a bone.

Anything Final Fantasy would be nice to be honest, and we’re here for it.

The PS Plus Free Game Reveal

Speaking of the PS Plus game announcement, which should have already happened by now, the timing suggests that it may be announced during State of Play, which would probably make it a rather special one. January and February have been very good for PS Plus subscribers thus far, featuring titles like Control Ultimate Edition, so how about something big for March as well? Marvel’s Avengers maybe? Kena? Maquette? Stranger things have happened but what the hell, dream big or go home.

Bonus: God of War Ragnarok Announcement

There’s probably gonna be a “one more game” moment (not our publication, but you know what I mean) in this State of Play, so while we’re on the topic of dreaming big, let’s go with the elephant in the room. It would definitely be a big bonus if we get anything God of War Ragnarok related. We’re not counting on it but hey, who knows. A longer trailer, maybe some gameplay, maybe even a launch window…

Speaking of launch window, we’re betting that the game will actually release in 2022, but this doesn’t feel like the right time to announce a delay. Sony may probably do it through a blog post or something similar, and not during the State of Play broadcast.

It would be cool to release a teaser trailer at the very least, you know, for some great fan service.

Playstation State of Play is showing on February 25 at 2:00pm PST/February 26 at 6:00am MNL time.

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