Everything shown at the September 2023 Sony State of Play

Today’s double-header of showcase streams has come to an end, as the September 2023 Sony State of Play just wrapped. It had some ups and downs, but certainly went out with a big closer.

Both today’s Nintendo Direct and State of Play ended on remakes of beloved RPGs, which is pretty rad. In Sony’s case, Square Enix brought out the big guns with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, locking in a launch date for the second entry of its remake trilogy that really isn’t too far off.

But let’s not discount the other announcements, either. There’s a surprising reveal of some DLC for Tales of Arise, some fresh looks at known games, and of course, virtual reality games. No State of Play is complete without some VR. Here’s all the headlines.

September 2023 Sony State of Play recap

• The Bennett Foddy physics adventure Baby Steps is an interesting but fun way to start a stream. This certainly feels built to make everyone stutter and stumble throughout the world next summer.
• In case you forgot, Roblox is coming to PlayStation. Finally, Roblox Hamilton with the power of the PlayStation processor.
• Here’s some virtual reality in Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord. It’s out on October 26.
• Resident Evil 4 arrives with a tease of its VR mode too, but more importantly, an imminent launch date for its Separate Ways campaign. The Ada-centric story arrives on September 21.

• I routinely forget, and am then reminded, that we are getting an Ubisoft-made Avatar game. And not The Last Airbender. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora arrives on December 7, and really seems like Ubisoft is digging into its Far Cry toolbox for this one.
• Ghostrunner 2 is getting a demo for its lightning-fast action today, ahead of an October 26 launch. Rad!
• More colors are coming for PlayStation 5 owners who just can’t settle for the retail standard. The “Deep Earth Collection” is red, white, and blue.
• Helldivers 2 is taking a delay, with its now-third-person action moving to February 8, 2024. I’m happy the team is taking some extra time to get things right, and it’s looking pretty good. But I’m surprised we’re still doing the “in-game comms trailer” bit in 2023.

• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is only a short amount of time away, and today’s trailer highlights some of its open-world features. At this point, I’m pretty good on footage until the game’s out, but the world certainly looks good.
• In a massive surprise, Tales of Arise is getting an expansion called Beyond the Dawn. And it’s soon, too. The RPG gets an after-story on November 9. Color me surprised but excited!
• Eager Honkai: Star Rail fans can finally hop into the HoYoverse RPG on October 11. It’s worth a shot, if you haven’t tried it yet.
• Square Enix’s sudsy shooter Foamstars is getting an open beta later this month, starting September 29. It’s certainly a different kind of game, though I’m curious how it’ll match up to the likes of Splatoon.

• And closing out the show is Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the second in Square’s FF7 remade trilogy. This trailer is jam-packed, from summons to mini-games, on through to character and story teases. And we know when the massive RPG will arrive now, too. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth arrives in two discs on February 29, 2024.

Oh, and this wasn’t part of the State of Play, but the Collector’s Edition for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is both absolutely bonkers and super expensive. Condolences to those scraping together the funds for 19 inches of Sephiroth. That’s all for today’s Sony State of Play for September 2023!