he average gamer who tuned in to Sony’s State of Play presentation on Wednesday, 4 June, might have felt let down by the sheer lack of real heavy hitters. Gamers with a soft spot for retro titles and classic arcade genres, on the other hand, got enough news to bring a real sparkle to their eyes.
Lumines Arise
First up, Lumines is making another comeback. Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s PSP original launched 21 years ago, spawning one sequel and a variety of ports and spin-offs. It received a remaster in 2018. Now, this fall, Lumines Arise will inject new life into a dormant franchise that’s been largely neglected since that remaster.
Lumines Arise promises the same simple, transcendent puzzle gameplay that made the original so addictive. The game is set to release on PS5 this fall.
Final Fantasy Tactics Ivalice Chronicles
We were definitely surprised by the reveal of Final Fantasy Tactics Ivalice Chronicles, even with the rumors of its existence doing the rounds. It even moved some YouTube influencers to tears. This remaster appears to follow the same Square Enix approach seen with Tactics Ogre: Reborn, offering a visual overhaul and quality of life upgrades — with the revamped user interface already looking like the most welcome change. It’s arguably the most consistent complaint from returning players, and anyone who has played FFT recently will agree it hasn’t aged well.
A standout feature is the option to play in classic mode, which retains the original aesthetic but incorporates the War of the Lions translation while dropping all the modern enhancements.
Marvel Tōkon Fighting Souls
Although this game isn’t strictly speaking a retro-like title, its arcade roots and crossover audience made us include it here.
That PlayStation Studios and Marvel Studios managed to pull in Arc System Works to develop a PlayStation and PC-exclusive Marvel fighting game is already big news. That it’s apparently based on Guilty Gear Strive makes it even more interesting. Fans have long been asking for a new Marvel fighter, but Marvel Tōkon Fighting Souls looks set to take the brand in an unexpected new direction.
PlayStation and Marvel reportedly encouraged Arc to think outside the box, and by the looks of it, they did. Arc’s Guilty Gear foundation is rock solid and gives this game a real shot in a competitive genre where only a few titles maintain active communities. Strive remains one of those few, and its audience may well carry interest into Tōkon. Unfortunately, its PlayStation-only release may limit its reach. Whether it can sustain momentum like Strive or Marvel vs. Capcom 3 remains to be seen but without any doubt this will be a banger of a Fighting game.
Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night made headlines throughout its Kickstarter campaign and after its release in 2019. It was one of the first games to truly demonstrate the potential of crowdfunding for indie developers. Having legendary producer Koji Igarashi at the helm didn’t hurt. Known for his work on Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and the DS entries that followed, Igarashi helped the project raise a then-record 5.5 million dollars. With all that money and high expectations from thousands of backers, the launch ended up being a bit messy.
Now, with the benefit of hindsight and without the burden of stretch goals, the sequel has a much better chance of coming together more organically. The trailer shows a more refined visual presentation, though it still retains its distinctive style. It’s unclear if the cinematics shown are part of the actual game, as Ritual of the Night didn’t really feature that level of production. The trailer itself only displayed a PS5 logo, though outlets like Fandom.com also list Xbox Series X, Series C and PC as platforms. No mention of Switch or Switch 2 anywhere. The game is aiming for a broad 2026 release window, so for now, we wait.
