Shack Chat: Give us your PS5 Reveal reactions

For last week's Shack Chat, we had planned a conversation around the PlayStation 4 to coincide with Sony's PlayStation 5 livestream reveal. Then it got postponed. So we went ahead and talked about PlayStation 4 anyway. But what does that leave for this week?

For this week's Shack Chat, we're simply reacting to the PlayStation 5 livestream reveal show. Many of our Chatty posters reacted in real-time and they can offer belated reactions in the comments. But this is also a chance for the Shacknews staff to reflect on what we saw and react accordingly.

So here's the staff's reaction to what we saw from the PlayStation 5 on Thursday.

Question Statement: Give us your PS5 Reveal reactions!

Bugsnax - Asif Khan, Inventor of Shacknews E4

I am super into Bugsnax. Also Miles Morales! But mainly Bugnsnax.

These games, tho! - Ozzie Mejia, Senior Editor and Continuity Tracker

I'm sure everybody's going to have some reaction to the PS5 system itself. (The reaction I heard around me was "It looks like an angry cat that's sitting there, silently judging you.") But I want to take a moment and talk about the games, specifically the ones that we wrote about as a staff back in February. So let me go ahead and whip out the scorecard and see how we did...

• God of War 2 - Miss
• Marvel's Spider-Man 2 - HIT! (Sort of. It's not being billed as "2," but it is a Spider-Man game. And I can't believe I missed the Miles Morales angle. That was a big oversight on my part.)
• Horizon Zero Dawn 2 - HIT!
• Bloodborne 2 - Miss (But we are getting Demon's Souls, so that's cool!)
• Uncharted 5: The Next Generation - Miss
• Crash Bandicoot's next big game - Miss
• Untitled Hideo Kojima Project - Miss

Hey, we got two out of seven. That's pretty good, in all honesty. Plus, that's a dynamite addition to the Ratchet & Clank series. Add in a Sackboy adventure, Resident Evil 8, the games from Annapurna Interactive, whatever the hell Pragmata is, and I'd say this was pretty good for games. So yeah, I'm pretty excited for the PS5.

Now if only they'll just tell me how much it is.

More Spider-Man - Blake Morse, It's been a long week I'm keeping this short

Thank you, Sony, for giving me another chance to yell at Greg Burke for pictures of Spider-Man. It’s like you've been reading my dream journal or something. Can't wait to get my hands on this one!

Bugsnax > AAA games - Chris Jarrard, Wishes he was a curly fry

I did not expect to see a new game from the talented folks behind Octodad: Dadliest Catch, but I sure am glad that Sony felt it was important to feature in their show. I don’t know what this game is about or what the hell is even going on, but I do know that everything on this island is turning into food and it feels like it was custom-made for me.

Not a Black Box - Sam Chandler, Guides Editor

I'm definitely glad Sony hasn't gone for another black box, though I do wonder if they'll release a black version for those that actually want their TV cabinets looking all sleek and unified.

As for the games released, there were a few that caught my fancy, though the real stand out for me was Demon's Souls. Last year for one of our previous Shack Chats, my wish was for Demon's Souls 2 and failing that, a remaster of the original. It looks like my outlandish wish has come true.

I can't wait to dive back into the world of Boletaria and see just how incredible it looks on modern hardware.

MILES MORALES! - Donovan Erskine, Contributing Editor

Like many kids, I grew up wishing I could be Spider-Man. I was 13 years old when Brian Michael Bendis and Marvel created a "Black Spider-Man" with Miles Morales. Having a character like that, meant a lot to me. Since then, Miles has exploded in popularity, leading his own feature film, and now getting to be the star of a standalone video game. Marvel’s Spider-Man was my (and Shacknews') 2018 GOTY. When I saw Miles pop up in the story as a supporting character I wondered about the possibility of getting to play as him down the road. I bought a PS4 just to play Spider-Man, and you can bet I'll be making whatever acquisitions are necessary to play Spider-Man: Miles Morales on day 1.

Much more entertaining than Microsoft’s Xbox reveal - Brittany Vincent, Senior Editor

I was hoping for a console reveal at long last during the PlayStation 5 event, and I finally got it. I think it looks fantastic, and I'm really loving the sci-fi design. That was a particularly exciting moment, but I was hoping I'd also be able to preorder it and get my system locked in so I'd be set for coverage in late 2020 and 2021. Overall, I was more satisfied with Sony's showing than what I've seen so far from what's coming to the Xbox Series X, but most of the games shown that I was interested in are on both consoles, and some are simply timed exclusives.

I'll be getting both systems for work purposes and since I collect as I always do, but in terms of overall presentation and polish, I have to praise Sony for delivering gameplay and some very cool titles. My favorite out of the group have to be Pragmata and Resident Evil: Village, but I'm down for trying everything. I have to say I'm a little disappointed though, because I was hoping for some Silent Hill or Dino Crisis news. I know, long shot, but I was hoping.

Hopefully there will be plenty more forward momentum as we learn more about the system. I’m ready for more game announcements, too.

Sony Brought the Games - Bill Lavoy, E4 Fanboy

I'm amazed at how many top-notch titles Sony brought to the PS5 reveal. Gran Turismo 7, Resident Evil Village, Horizon: Forbidden West, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Hitman 3, and man more. We can argue for years about who has the better hardware, but Sony has always brought the games. They sell consoles through their exclusives, and this trend should continue into the era of the PS5.

Give me those games - Josh Hawkins, Guides Guy

There is absololutely no doubting that Sony killed it when delivering last night's PlayStation 5 livestream event. On top of offering a sleek console design, the list of games we had showcased last night was absolutely astounding. From smaller looking titles like Goodbye Volcano High and Bugsnax, to much larger debuts such as the Demon Souls remaster, Ghostwire: Tokyo, and Horizon Forbidden West, the Sony PlayStation 5 livestream was a delightful trip through the "future of gaming."

There's still a lot we don’t know about the upcoming console, though, and I'm definitely intrigued to see what Sony has in store. Before this event, I wasn't really sure when I'd be picking up a PlayStation 5. I mean, aside from the usual bevy of exclusives, the idea of dropping another $500 or more on a new console just wasn’t appealing with no idea what was coming down the pipeline. Now that Sony has played its hand, though, I'm happy to say I’ll be picking up a PS5 as soon as I can.

Deathloops and Dinosaur High Schools - TJ Denzer, Volcano High Journalism Club President

There are two kinds of things that stuck with me following the PS5 reveal. One was on the high fidelity end of style and the other was on the indie end. I'm an Arkane Studios mark. I'll admit it. So getting to see their latest game Deathloop in full was an absolute delight. We could easily see how much Arkane has poured what they've learned into the new boundaries of the next generation. All the checkmarks were there: Good melee, good firearm play, and very interesting special ability gimmicks. And then there's blend of grindhouse flick flair they're going with this time. It looks like somewhere between Edge of Tomorrow and We Happy Few.

Then there's Goodbye Volcano High: an unmistakably slice-of-life teenage highschool story. Except it's dinosaurs. I (and I feel many others) was completely caught off guard by this, but the animation and charm quickly won me over. I don't even know how an animated dinosaur high school teen drama plays out on the PS5, but if it keeps the strength of the animation intact, I'm completely in.

What I learned from the PS5 reveal is that Sony is ready to push forward with focus on the little quirky things like Goodbye Volcano High and Bugsnax as they are to focus in on the big spectacles like Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Deathloop, and as a major supporter of indies, I couldn't be happier to have quality choices right out of the gate on the next-gen.

Fell in the video mines - Greg Burke, Head of Video

(Greg couldn't make it in for this week's Shack Chat, but would like for you all to watch our E4 2020 stream with Ice-T. Because that was cool.)

Demon's Souls and RE8 - David L. Craddock, long reads editor

Word of a Demon's Souls remaster has spread through the industry over the past year, but last night Sony and developer Bluepoint one-upped those rumors by unveiling a remake of the 2009 PS3 classic. (FromSoftware director and "Soulsborne" director Hidetaka Miyazaki has gone on record as saying the studio won't helm remasters or remakes; he wants to look forward, not backward.) Judging by the trailer, the game looks gorgeous. No release date, though. 2021, I guess?

As for RE8: Village, I'm just as excited. One reason the RE franchise stalled out in the early '00s was because Capcom turned out too many games that followed the formula established in RE1 and 2. Games like CODE: Veronica were great, but too similar to their predecessors. RE8's release in 2021 will mark the third consecutive year of Resident Evil release, and the fourth game in five years, including RE7 in 2017. (2018 was a gap year.) However, I don’t see the franchise sputtering out again soon. But why? What’s the difference between now and the early aughts?

One thing: Diversity. RE7, RE2make, RE3make, RE8, and 2022's "RE4make" (which Capcom hasn't announced yet, but it's happening) are all, and will all be, diverse enough from one another to engage fans and newcomers alike. RE8 won’t be as radical a shift as 2005's RE4 or 2017's RE7, but the addition of a new enemy type, werewolves, as seen in the trailer, shows Capcom has the confidence to experiment with new numbered titles while counting on remakes of successful Resident Evils from the early days to appeal to fans eager to revisit the franchise's past.

Capcom has all bases covered, and I can’t wait to see how RE8 will deliver.

Generating Buzz - Steve Tyminski, Contributing Editor

This week, Sony had the Internet buzzing with the (Finally!) PlayStation 5 big reveal. They showed off the system, games, and some hardware to go with it. There were two big things that I would have liked to have heard, release-date and price. We didn’t get much on either, with "Holiday 2020" being announced as a release-point for the system. During a time when so many people are losing/lost their jobs because of the Covid-19, Sony has to be very careful how they price the PlayStation 5. Sony revealed two variations of the PS5 during their live stream, one that has a disc drive and one that doesn’t. You would assume that the disc-driverless version would be a cheaper model but you never know with these things.

The games that were shown off during the presentation look fantastic, graphically but only time will tell how they play. Ghostwire: Tokyo was a game that got me excited way back at E3 last year and it continues to pique my interest. Trying to discover what actually is going on in the game will be fun to discover. Kena: Bridge of Spirits sounds like a fun, story-driven game, with fast pacing and little creatures to train. There were quite a few more games that will get people talking like Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Horizon Forbidden West, and Demon's Souls to name a few.

Those are the staff's reactions to Thursday's PS5 reveal. Chatty posters, we know you all reacted in real-time, but if you have more to say, join the conversation! To our non-Chatty poster readers, if you want to weigh in, join the conversation! Simply create an account along the top bar and Shack Chat right along with us!

Shack Staff

Shack Staff stories are a collective effort with multiple staff members contributing. Many of our lists often involve entires from several editors, and our weekly Shack Chat is something we all contribute to as a group.