Retail websites are widely known to be a good source of early leaks, as one click is all it takes to download a listing that wasn't supposed to go live for weeks. In this case, Amazon Australia is the culprit here as they revealed PlayStation 5 listings for a few games, and those listings included showcasing box art for some upcoming games.
Now the games may or may not be part of the PlayStation 5 launch window, but more than likely they will be, which is a massive boon for the PS5. Although some of these boxes are official works of art, it looks like some of them might be a work in progress.
The games listed are Destruction Allstars, Returnal, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, Gran Turismo 7 and finally Demon Souls.
Allstars Destruction
Destruction Allstars is an upcoming vehicular combat game, very reminiscent of the Destruction Derby games released many moons ago. Players must ram opponents using their vehicles, drive them into traps around the battle arena and, of course, turn each vehicle into a flaming ball of doom.
However, that's not all, once your car is completely destroyed players will find themselves out of their vehicles, using parkour to avoid oncoming cars and potentially snag a new car on an enemy. The game will be extremely arcadey, and there's no doubt in my mind that it will be a launch title.
Returns
Returnal is a third-person shooter, in which you play as a middle-aged woman who lands on a planet and fights against hordes of horrible creatures that look like demons and of course spiders, using sci-fi weapons and interesting abilities.
Although the main crux of this game is in this way, it is said to depict the "cycle of death and awakening". This could mean there's a roguelike element to the game, or perhaps akin to the Soulsborne genre of how death works. But from the trailer that was shown, the woman relives her first moments on the planet "again and again."
What comes to mind is that this game could be Mass Effects mixed with Soulsborne, which is a very interesting combination. Returnal strikes me as going to be a launch title, as having a variety of different genres in the launch window will be a huge boon to initial PlayStation 5 sales.
Sackboy: a great adventure
Sackboy originally starred in LittleBigPlanet, which is a stylized 2.5D puzzle platformer, but with a massive focus on creation. Players could create their own levels and share them for the world to play. Sackboy: A Big Adventure takes things down a different path where the game is fully 3D, but instead of only playing in two-player co-op, there are four players, very much like the Super Mario 3D World.
The biggest unknown about this title is whether the creation aspect that was so beloved in the LittleBigPlanet trilogy will be part of this game. Will Sackboy: A Big Adventure be a launch title? Well, the box art is the final version, and LittleBigPlanet 3 was released nearly 7 years ago, so fans would be extremely happy if it did.
Gran Turismo 7
It's been a very long time since a Gran Turismo title has been released, as the last title was released on the PlayStation 3 in 2013. That's a big enough time gap for fans to wait for the next installment of the series. On the plus side, it looks like the developers have been listening when the racing simulator comes to PlayStation 5.
As I said above, having a diverse amount of genres at launch will help the PS5 astronomically, as the opening batch of games is vital. There have been a plethora of launches that haven't gone well due to lackluster games upon release from a console. I think Gran Turismo 7 will be available at launch; however, the box art is a placeholder.
Demonic Souls Remake
Finally, we have Demon Souls, part of the Soulsborne series. This title only came out on PlayStation 3, and it was the baby of the Soulsborne genre, the kind of kick in the butt and you're glad you did. The Demon Soul Remake was easily one of the biggest announcements shown during the PS5 Future of Gaming event in June.
Many people might be hesitant to get the PlayStation 5 at launch, mainly because the games available on day one are still a complete mystery. However, if the Demon Soul Remake was a day one release, I can see a massive amount of sales just for this notoriously difficult game. But starting from the box arts only, the artwork is a temp, so not the final artwork.
There's no way to know if these five games will be available at launch, but we'll find out when PlayStation pre-orders go live, which would be very soon.
