5 Games Sony Could Still Realistically Release this Year

God of War

Revealed just last year at Sony’s E3 conference, God of War was a pleasant surprise for longtime fans of the series. The latest entry in the franchise adopted a third-person, over the shoulder view, and introduced a much older Kratos with a young son. The E3 reveal also came with a huge chunk of gameplay footage as we watched Kratos coach his son in the ways of hunting, and wrestle with a large boss in a Nordic-themed world.

While we haven’t heard too much about God of War since that initial reveal, everything we’ve seen so far suggests that the development process is pretty far along by now. Not to mention, director Cory Balrog has mentioned on Twitter that the dev team has completed the game’s campaign from start to finish, meaning the project might be close to completion. God of War could very well make another appearance at this year’s E3, and we can see it being one of the headlining titles for Sony’s winter 2017 lineup.

Days Gone

Another title that got revealed at Sony’s 2016 E3 conference, Days Gone is Bend Studio’s latest project that puts players in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by zombies. Players take control of Deacon, a bounty hunter who likes to live dangerously by staying in the wild instead of campsites where it’s safer. Days Gone takes place in an open world environment, complete with a day/night cycle, along with multiple paths for players to complete their objectives. The title made another appearance during Sony’s PS4 Pro unveiling event, showing off the game on new hardware with HDR effects.

Bend and Sony aren’t saying much in terms of when exactly it’ll be releasing, but we do know that the developers are targeting a 2017 launch. Just as God of War could potentially be Sony’s big game for the holiday season, Days Gone, with its beautiful ‘journey through the wild’ aesthetic, might very well be the company’s big title for the fall this year.

Detroit: Become Human

Quantic Dream’s latest ‘choose your own adventure’ cinematic game has been flying under the radar for quite some time now, but Sony certainly hasn’t forgotten about it. Detroit: Become Human was first announced during Paris Games Week 2015, but it was also shown off at Sony’s E3 press conference just last year. While the initial announcement trailer only featured cinematic scenes of a future Detroit where androids were ruled over by humans, Quantic Dream was quick to show off some proper gameplay less than a year later. The gameplay trailer gave fans a look at how the investigation segments would work, and how players could use a character’s knowledge to shift the outcome of various events.

Detroit: Become Human’s script had also taken director David Cage two years to write, and the project has gone through extensive casting, along with shooting and animation processes. Yes, we know Sony CEO Shuhei Yoshida said Dreams and Detroit’s inclusion in the company’s 2017 sizzle reel was a mistake, but fans have been outright bluffed or thrown for a loop before when it comes to game releases and features. It could also mean that Quantic Dream isn’t sure if the game can make it out this year, but nothing’s set in stone just yet.

While Sony and Quantic Dream have been particularly tight-lipped about when exactly this game would be releasing, we wouldn’t be surprised if Detroit makes another appearance at E3 this year, along with an announcement of a holiday season launch.

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Square Enix made quite a splash back in 2015 when they announced the Final Fantasy VII Remake at Sony’s E3 conference. The game’s announcement trailer gave us a brief glimpse at the city of Midgar in glorious HD, along with a shot of Cloud’s back and his iconic Buster Sword. Later that year, at PlayStation Experience, we got a proper gameplay trailer that showed off the full character models and voices for Cloud, Barret, Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge.

If Square Enix and director Tetsuya Nomura hadn’t already stated that the game would be broken up into multiple parts, we would’ve said there’s no way we’re seeing this game till 2018 or even 2019 at the very earliest. However, since the game will indeed be broken up, coupled with the fact that 2017 is the 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy VII, it’s entirely possible that we could see the release of the first part on PS4 this year.

VG Leaks also posted an alleged roadmap that Square Enix had in mind for their Final Fantasy lineup in 2017, and it listed the first part of Final Fantasy VII Remake as a title that was set to be launched this year. This should all be taken with a grain of salt, of course. However, Square Enix has shown off proper gameplay footage, and we already know that the game will be running on the Luminous engine, meaning it’s probably not going to be another case of Final Fantasy XV where the project gets stuck in development hell because a new engine had to be built for the game as a result of changing platforms. With all of this in mind, a 2017 release of Final Fantasy VII Remake isn’t really out of the question.

Shenmue III

Since the game’s reveal at Sony’s E3 conference just two years ago, things seem to have gone rather swimmingly for Shenmue III. It was a Kickstarter project that got funded within hours of its announcement, and director Yu Suzuki and the development team have been providing fans with consistent updates on how the project is coming along. Late last year, the development blog was updated with a post stating that the game had entered full production, and the team even shared a few screenshots showing off new environments players could expect in the title.

Not only that, pre-orders were even opened up for the PC version of the game. If that isn’t a sign of confidence on the developer’s part to actually deliver a title on time, we don’t know what is. While the team hasn’t provided us with a concrete release date just yet, the game’s FAQ page states that a holiday 2017 release is “within reach,” though that’s subject to change, of course, depending on how smooth production goes this year.

Overall, though, nothing about Shenmue III’s development process so far has given us any cause for concern. If things continue to proceed as planned for the development team, we fully expect to see Shenmue III’s release by the end of 2017.