Tokyo Game Show (TGS) is hardly the place for fashion, yet by the time the four-day gaming showcase wrapped up on Sept. 29, the only thing on everyone’s lips were “J91-WSDB” — the $1,700 (about ¥250,000) jacket worn by Hideo Kojima during his stage appearance to promote Death Stranding 2: On The Beach.
Designed in collaboration with luxury outerwear brand Acronym, the jacket sold out within minutes of its announcement. Fortunately, this wasn’t the only reason why the game industry celebrity made his return to Japan’s largest gaming convention. For the rest of his stage show, Kojima unveiled some of Death Stranding’s cast members, and it was akin to a film director introducing his actors. Hollywood royalty such as George Miller and Elle Fanning will be taking up the portrayal of characters Tarman and Tomorrow, while Shioli Kutsuna (“Deadpool & Wolverine”) will both portray and voice the character Rainy. Kojima also shared around eight minutes of cutscene footage plus an in-game event where Japanese singer Daichi Miura performed “Horizon Dreamer,” a song and dance created just for the game.
It’s still unclear how all these disparate elements fit into Death Stranding 2, which releases in 2025. Nonetheless, Kojima concluded the panel saying that he feels confident that it’s turning out to be an even weirder game than the first.
Over at the PlayStation booth, fans witnessed a sea of blue and white punctuated by a large number of Astro Bots. The eponymous platformer was released just a few weeks before TGS to instant Game of The Year acclaim by gamers and industry insiders alike, but the game had to share the spotlight on the show floor with the public debut of the PS5 Pro console, which was used to power games such as Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and the upcoming Sonic X Shadow Generations (releasing on Oct. 25).
Remakes seemed to be a heavy theme at the PlayStation booth, the first showing for the gaming giant at TGS since 2019. Two games that boasted formidable queues were Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, a remake of the 2004 PlayStation 2 title, and Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, a reimagining of the classic 1998 RPG.
For rival Xbox, it was no booth, no problem. The Microsoft subsidiary chose to compete digitally with its Tokyo Game Show Xbox Broadcast 2024, in which players got a first look at Age of Mythology: Retold, a remaster of the 2002 hit real-time strategy game including the Immortal Pillars downloadable expansion featuring the myths and folklore of China. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle made a short but sweet appearance, with director Jerk Gustafsson and creative director Axel Torvenius taking the virtual stage to reaffirm the full Japanese localization of the game with some sneak peaks of the Japanese-language voice acting.
Xbox also announced that multiplayer shooter Overwatch 2 is getting a collaboration with manga-anime franchise “My Hero Academia!” that will see mainstay heroes get new skins, turning them into anime protagonists Deku and All Might. From the Xbox Partners side of the show, one exciting new independent game that premiered was Tanuki: Pon’s Summer, an adorable game about a raccoon that delivers packages, made by Kyoto-based studio Denkiworks.
The showcase overall seemed adamant about emphasizing Xbox’s commitment to Japan, even flying in top dogs Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond to host parts of the show in person. However, the company might have to do a bit more than putting on a livestream to make amends for the abrupt June closure of Tango Gameworks, one of Japan’s most beloved studios that was then acquired in August by South Korean publisher Krafton.
After a positive response at the recent PlayStation State of Play digital showcase, Koei Tecmo followed up with an impressive booth presence at TGS, leading with Dynasty Warriors: Origins. Much like its predecessors, the game is set during China’s Three Kingdoms era, and includes all of the loosely fact-based campaigns players have loved over the years. Where it differs is that players will adopt the role of a nameless, amnesiac warrior who must navigate the political chaos either by allying with key historical figures or making enemies out of them. If there was ever any doubt about the return of popular characters from previous Dynasty Warriors games, the giant, imposing statue of Lu Bu at the Koei Tecmo booth assuaged those fears.
And it wouldn’t be TGA without an area carved out just for indie titles. Across Hall 9 and Hall 10 of the Makuhari Messe convention center were the indie booths, where studios hand-picked by the organizing committee were allowed to exhibit for free. From this batch, eight shortlisted titles were chosen by judges as finalists for the Sense of Wonder Night awards. This year’s Grand Prix winner was Esophaguys, a physics-based platformer about old folks with elongated necks that stretch and swing to overcome obstacles.
Hyper Wobbler scooped up the Semi-Grand Prix, Best Technological Game, Best Arts and Best Experimental Game awards with its interactive multiplayer art installation. Developed by Berlin-based artists Robin Baumgarten and Philipp Helldorfer, the game sees three participants controlling multi-dimensional beings inside a physical infinity-mirror dodecahedron to complete puzzles.
These indies, though, drew only a fraction of the 280,000-strong crowd that made its way to TGS this year. The abundance of sequels, remasters and remakes on the show floor was reflective of a global games industry that seems to prefer safe bets on existing IP rather than new creations. But gamers themselves are just as locked in — nostalgia truly does sell.
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