As their introduction stated, Sony’s show at E3 2018 was quite different in tone and setting this year. They called it a “showcase” and basically did the opposite of what Microsoft did a day earlier.

Microsoft was all about showing all the great games coming up, and touted 50 being shown during E3. Sony, on the other hand, focused on a half dozen or so games mainly, and showed gameplay and lengthy trailers for each.

It was weird setting the show in a tent, but all was made clear when The Last of Us Part II started playing (after a musician played an intro leading into the trailer). Out of all of the trailers shown in Sony’s show, this was by far the one that impressed me the most. Ellie is a grown woman, and the trailer showed some particularly effective, and deadly moves highlighting the fluid combat.

Because Sony went with a showcase theme this year, they had to spend quite a few minutes in between each length gameplay trailer to set up the next stage. They cut to a panel that basically did filler while the next set piece was setup on stage. I really don’t think this worked at all, and detracted from the E3 presentation feel. During setup they quickly showed trailers for some Black Ops 3 DLC (for those who pre-order BO4), Twin Mirror, Ghost Giant (PSVR) and Beat Saber (PSVR).

The next reveal was Destiny 2 – Forsaken. I haven’t picked up Destiny 2 so this didn’t interest me much. Once again they were changing the stage for the next big presentation. By this time through the showcase I got the distinct feeling Sony didn’t really have anything amazing to follow up with after the amazing start with The Last of Us Part II.

Some further games were shown. Ghost of Tsushima by Sucker Punch was offered next, once again after some theme music was played by a real musician. The combat looked pretty damn good and it did look pretty interesting.

When I was watching the next trailer I thought it looked a lot like PlayStation’s answer to the Xbox’s Quantum Break. Then Remedy’s name popped up at the end withthe title of the new game, Control, and I knew I had made the right call on the inspiration.

A completely remade Resident Evil 2 was shown next, and it looked pretty good, and suitably gory.

Then was some weird animation style PSVR game that was only briefly shown called Trover Saves the Universe. Following this was Kingdom Hearts 3.

Death Standing had a gameplay trailer that went for a while, and even though I’m sure a lot of people will enjoy this one, I found it hard to be engaged. A teaser trailer followed for Nioh 2, which means I better try and finish the first one.

Not surprisingly, Spiderman came in swinging and showed off a pretty decent gameplay for the game.

Then the Sony showcase finished while returning to the panel that was filling in during all the stage changes. Then we were treated to a glimpse of another From Software game for PSVR, Déraciné. Not a lot was given away about this game, and wasn’t the expected Bloodborne 2 announcement I was hoping for.

Part way through the presentation I had already pegged Sony’s presentation as one that wasn’t really that engaging. I was stunned actually at the format, and it is by far one of the most low key Sony presentations in the last few years. I am definitely keen for The Last of Us Part II and possibly Ghost of Tsushima, but nothing else really grabbed me. Still, it does show that console gaming in general is definitely not dying, and healthy competition between Sony and Microsoft is always a good thing for gamers.

Full show available below: