The 10 Best Games From PlayStation’s New State of Play, Ranked

The June 2025 PlayStation State of Play was one of the most thrilling streams PlayStation has done in recent memory. It had a fantastic balance of new announcements and news on previously revealed titles, both of which covered a variety of genres. This broad spread ensured there was something for everyone.

And while there were many more than 10, here are the 10 best announcements from the State of Play, ranked.

10) Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow

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PlayStation has ostensibly given up on PSVR2, but it still receives a healthy, if underadvertised, stream of indie and third-party games on a regular basis. Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow is one of the bigger profile titles coming as a part of this stream and is, at least conceptually, a compelling way to bring back this aging franchise.

Being able to physically blow out candles, manually search paintings for switches, pilfer through pockets, and pick locks are all inherently intimate actions touched on in the trailer that seem like a great fit for VR. It didn’t feel like the token VR game in the stream. Instead, it used its VR-specific features to differentiate itself from all the other titles.

9) Tides of Tomorrow

Tides of Tomorrow had one of the more novel ideas of the whole show: What if a game could tell an asynchronous story that changed because of other players? It’s a unique concept that the trailer explores well by showcasing alternate branches, all while taking place in a vibrant yet doomed world plagued by unfettered climate change. Developer DigixArt experimented with narrative in Road 96, which mixed roguelike elements into an adventure game, and stumbled a bit along the way. It remains to be seen how Tides of Tomorrow will fare with an even more ambitious goal, but it at least made for an interesting trailer that dared to be a little different.

8) Pragmata

Pragmata has been in hibernation for a long time, but it awoke from that slumber in a rather impressive way. This new title seemed to have traces of The Last of Us and a character action game filtered through a Hideo Kojima-like lens, but brought those elements together in a way that didn’t look derivative. Capcom has been on a hot streak, so while it’s easy to be a little cautious about a game that centers on a potentially annoying child, the publisher has earned the benefit of the doubt here.

7) Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles

Final Fantasy Tactics is a beloved game that’s hard to play now since it’s locked to the PS1 and PSP with no official digital version to speak of. This pent-up demand made the announcement of Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles even more special. Its impact was greater because it wasn’t just a simple port, either. Not only does it include the original (with new auto-save support), but it also comes with an enhanced version with voiced dialogue, an “optimized and updated UI,” visual upgrades, and a new, easier difficulty aimed at beginners.

6) Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection

Mortal Kombat seems like it is finally getting the collection that it deserves with Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection. Developer Digital Eclipse is known for its thorough interactive documentaries, as seen in games like Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection, The Making of Karateka, Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection, so it is a perfect fit for a team tasked with delving into Mortal Kombat’s important history.

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The Mortal Kombat story has been told quite often over the last few decades, but hearing it within the context of a playable collection is extra promising. Making all of these games more accessible is also a huge boon since almost all of them are unplayable on modern hardware, and having multiple versions of each and rollback netcode only makes these titles more appealing. It seemed like Mortal Kombat was never going to get remastered in a respectful way, which is what makes this announcement even more appreciated.

5) Romeo Is a Dead Man

Grasshopper Manufacture sure knows how to stick out in a crowd. Romeo Is a Dead Man‘s Adult Swim-like opening and the subsequent gonzo gameplay that followed screamed Suda51 before his name even hit the screen. The fountains of blood and bizarre tone starring a character with a made-for-stardom name, Romeo Stargazer, seem to be in line with the studio’s past titles. Those titles haven’t always had the smoothest gameplay or the most coherent narratives, but they’re usually worth appreciating for their one-of-a-kind styles, something this trailer had in spades.

4) Nioh 3

In a world awash with a ton of soulslikes, there’s always room for more Nioh. Nioh 3 is a sizeable visual improvement over the last title and offers multiple gameplay stances that allowed the trailer to have many well-choreographed action scenes. It seems like a fairly standard reveal, but the surprise demo drop gave Nioh 3 an edge.

It’s a fairly substantial preview of a game that’s a little far from release, but it gave context to what the trailer hinted at. The Ninja and Samurai stances have a lot of potential since they allow for playstyle swaps on the fly, and the new, more open areas — perhaps inspired by Rise of the Ronin — imply it’ll have a slightly different formula. The difficulties of making a limited demo understandably make this a tough ask, but it’s a welcome practice that can greatly benefit a reveal.

3) Lumines Arise

Lumines was inspired by Tetris, so it was only fitting for some of the minds behind Tetris Effect to make another Lumines game. Lumines Arise seems to have taken quite a page out of the 2018 puzzler’s book, as the trailer showcased similar vibrant visuals and easygoing pop tunes. The audiovisual experience was quite beneficial to Tetris’ hypnotic gameplay, and it’s almost assuredly going to benefit Lumines in the same way. Being the first reveal set the tone since it was unexpected and a new twist on a series that hasn’t received a full new entry in some time.

2) 007 First Light

IO Interactive has only released Hitman games for the past 15 years, so it’s hard to imagine the team doing something different. 007 First Light assuaged those fears of IO perhaps branching out too far with a well-paced, bombastic trailer with memorable moment after memorable moment.

However, what truly stuck out was how much IO made clear that this was its own rendition of James Bond. Delving more into his backstory and making him the youngest Bond ever are enticing choices that make a statement, one that screams he won’t just be a Sean Connery or Pierce Brosnan rip-off. It had a whole host of gameplay styles — fighting, shooting, driving, and sneaking — so it remains to be seen how all of these will come together, but this trailer did inspire confidence that things are on the right track.

1) Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls

This is how you end a show. Not only was Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls a complete surprise, it had gameplay and looked jaw-droppingly amazing. The vibrant art, exaggerated animations, and frenetic action were a visual treat that never stopped being impressive as each new character exploded onto the scene.

These unique designs highlighted Arc System Works’ style, which the following behind-the-scenes footage dove into. Having a more chibi version of Ms. Marvel and a sentai-esque Iron Man were promising indicators of what’s to come. It may not fill the void Marvel vs. Capcom left, but Arc System Works made one hell of an argument why it deserves to be the team making a tag-based Marvel fighting game.