What’s On The Shelf | Games, Music & Culture

I try to keep at least one eye on the video game industry at all times, albeit with varying levels of success. Between work, family, and the ever-growing pile of games already sitting on my shelf, I don’t exactly have the time to maintain a dozen Discord servers, follow every developer on social media, and watch every showcase that gets announced. Most of my gaming news intake boils down to the occasional preview article, a few trailers that slip into my feed, and the major presentations from the big console manufacturers.

Even then, Nintendo and Xbox tend to get left by the wayside. Sony’s State of Play is usually the one I make an effort to sit down and watch.

Of course, every showcase follows the same cycle. A thirty-second teaser appears. The internet collectively loses its mind. People spend two years creating expectations that no developer could ever realistically meet. Then the game launches and everyone acts surprised when reality doesn’t line up with the version they invented in their heads.

The worst part of any fanbase is usually the fans.

Anyway, now that I’m fashionably late to the conversation, I wanted to throw together some thoughts on the announcements that actually stuck with me after the credits rolled. These aren’t rankings or predictions. They’re simply the games that managed to occupy valuable space inside my increasingly crowded brain.

Dynasty Warriors 3 Remastered

There are very few franchises that consumed as much of my childhood as Dynasty Warriors.

Back when couch co-op was king and your best friend was determined more by geography than compatibility, Dynasty Warriors was everywhere. Nobody I knew could point to Ancient China on a map. Nobody understood the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. We certainly couldn’t explain the political landscape of the era.

What we did understand was that when Koei and Omega Force appeared on the screen, we were about to spend several hours mowing down thousands of soldiers while arguing over who got to play as Zhao Yun.

The problem is that nostalgia can be a dangerous thing.

Over the years I’ve gone back and replayed some of those older entries. While the memories remain fantastic, the actual games can be rough. The controls feel dated. The pacing drags. The voice acting ranges from charmingly bad to genuinely painful. They’re products of a very specific era.

So when Dynasty Warriors 3 Remastered and Xtreme Legends appeared during State of Play, I immediately sat up a little straighter.

Then the excitement faded.

Not because the trailer looked bad. Quite the opposite. The trailer does exactly what it’s supposed to do. It leverages nostalgia, showcases refreshed visuals, modernizes certain mechanics, and attempts to connect the game to the momentum created by Dynasty Warriors Origins.

My concern is whether the magic can actually survive the transition.

Some games age gracefully. Others are beloved because of the moment in gaming history they occupied. Dynasty Warriors 3 might belong in that second category.

I’ll almost certainly buy it. I’ll probably run through the Shu campaign and spend far too much time with a handful of favorite characters. But right now I’m approaching this one with cautious optimism rather than blind excitement.

Also, and perhaps most importantly, where is the physical release?

Let me put it on a shelf next to the rest of my Dynasty Warriors collection. That’s literally the name of the website.

God of War: Laufey

At this point, Santa Monica Studio has earned a tremendous amount of trust.

The modern God of War games could have easily failed. Moving away from Greek mythology, changing the gameplay formula, aging Kratos into a more thoughtful character, and introducing a stronger narrative focus were all substantial risks.

Instead, the studio somehow managed to reinvent one of PlayStation’s biggest franchises.

Which brings us to God of War: Laufey.

My only real hesitation is the same hesitation many people probably have: moving away from Kratos as the central character.

That sounds like a much bigger issue on paper than it probably will be in practice.

The recent games demonstrated that the franchise is capable of telling stories beyond “angry man murders mythology.” They’ve built a world, a supporting cast, and enough emotional investment that other characters can reasonably take center stage.

Will it work?

I have no idea.

But Santa Monica’s recent track record has earned them the benefit of the doubt. Until proven otherwise, I’m willing to trust the process and see where they take the series next.

Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls

Arc System Works continues to be one of the most interesting fighting game developers in the industry.

Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls already had my attention, but the State of Play presentation expanded the roster with Doctor Doom’s faction, including Magneto, Carnage, and Green Goblin.

That’s a strong group of additions.

Carnage immediately stood out thanks to his chaotic movement and aggressive visual design. Green Goblin looks like exactly the kind of unhinged character that fighting game players will either love or absolutely despise fighting against.

My concern isn’t the roster itself.

It’s familiarity.

Watching Magneto in action, I found myself thinking that I’ve seen many of these moves before. The same goes for some of Marvel’s other staple characters. At a certain point, it feels like these heroes and villains arrive with a predefined moveset that follows them from game to game.

Maybe that’s unavoidable.

After all, there are only so many ways to represent Magneto controlling metal or Captain America throwing a shield.

Still, part of me would love to see Arc System Works take some bigger swings. Give me something weird. Surprise me. Show me a version of these characters that I haven’t already seen across two decades of Marvel fighting games.

Then again, maybe they’ve already perfected the formula and I’m just asking for change for the sake of change.

Marvel’s Wolverine

Oh, this one looks ridiculous.

In the best possible way.

The gameplay reveal for Marvel’s Wolverine immediately checked every box I wanted it to check. The movement looks fast. The combat appears brutal. The action is relentless. Most importantly, Wolverine actually feels like Wolverine.

When you’re building a game around a character whose entire identity revolves around razor-sharp claws and extreme violence, you can’t afford to pull your punches.

The kills look savage. The animations look impactful. Everything appears appropriately over-the-top.

Good.

That’s exactly what I wanted.

There’s always the possibility that the final game ends up bloated with modern open-world busywork. If I spend half the game climbing towers, collecting backpacks, or clearing map icons, I reserve the right to complain loudly.

But based on what we’ve seen so far, this looks like the kind of dumb, excessive, action-heavy superhero game that I’ve been hoping for.

Sign me up.

Until Dawn II

This is the announcement that left me with the most questions.

Taking a horror game that originated in the mid-2010s and updating the formula for modern audiences isn’t inherently a bad idea. Making the new cast influencers and content creators could either be incredibly clever social commentary or one of the most annoying creative decisions imaginable.

The bigger question is why this is specifically Until Dawn II.

Based on everything we’ve seen so far, it doesn’t appear to share much with the original cast or story. That naturally raises questions about whether the sequel designation exists because the narrative genuinely demands it or because Until Dawn is a recognizable name.

The cynical side of me leans toward the latter.

The optimistic side hopes there’s more going on beneath the surface.

What complicates matters further is the development team. Firesprite is not Supermassive Games. While Firesprite has contributed to several PlayStation projects, they’re inheriting a franchise that was built by a studio with extensive experience in interactive horror storytelling.

Supermassive wasn’t perfect, but they understood how to create tension, structure branching narratives, and deliver memorable horror moments. Between Until Dawn, The Dark Pictures Anthology, and other projects, they demonstrated a strong understanding of the genre.

Can Firesprite replicate that success?

Maybe.

But this is the announcement on the list that has me feeling more cautious than excited.

Final Thoughts

The funny thing about showcases like State of Play is that most of the announcements don’t actually matter until years later.

A good trailer can create excitement. A good presentation can generate discussion. Neither guarantees a good game.

Still, that’s part of the fun.

For a couple of hours, everyone gets to speculate. We get excited. We make predictions. We convince ourselves that some random teaser is secretly the second coming of gaming before reality inevitably arrives.

Looking back at this year’s presentation, Marvel’s Wolverine probably generated the most excitement for me, while Dynasty Warriors 3 Remastered triggered the strongest wave of nostalgia. God of War: Laufey feels like a safe bet, Marvel Tokon continues to intrigue me, and Until Dawn II remains the biggest question mark.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to spend the next several months convincing myself that I definitely have enough time to play all of these when they release.

I absolutely do not.