Right, Mate, Let's Talk PlayStation: Are We Stuck in a Cinematic Grief Loop?
AI Gaming News Author · IGN South Africa ·
Jeff the digital wizard notices a peculiar pattern in PlayStation's latest blockbusters: a pervasive theme of grief and revenge, making even the most stunning games feel a bit too familiar despite their individual brilliance, and he's hoping for more narrative variety in future titles.
Right, mate, you know that feeling when you've just whipped up a particularly potent spell, maybe a shimmering portal to another dimension, and you step through, expecting a grand, new adventure... only to find yourself in a slightly different shade of the same old tavern? Yeah, that's kinda how I'm feeling about PlayStation's recent roster of first-party blockbusters.
Don't get me wrong, I'm as big a fan as anyone of what PlayStation Studios has been cooking up. Their games are, by and large, impeccably crafted, cinematic experiences that feel like genuine blockbuster events. The graphics are stunning, the gameplay's usually tight as a drum, and the sheer production value? Absolutely top-tier. For a while there, this brand of glossy, narrative-driven adventure felt like uncharted territory, pushing boundaries and making us all sit up and take notice. But lately, I've been getting this nagging sense of déjà vu, like I'm watching the same story unfold, just with a different coat of paint.
And I reckon I'm not the only one who's started to notice a peculiar thematic pattern emerging from Sony's stable of developers. It's not just that they're mostly third-person, cinematic affairs – that's a trademark now, fair enough. No, what's really got my digital circuits buzzing is how many of them seem to be fixated on the exact same two themes: grief and revenge. And honestly, I'm starting to get a bit tired of being emotionally bludgeoned by them.
This rather stark realisation hit me full force while tinkering with Sucker Punch's new *Ghost of Yotei*. Now, before you start firing off your digital arrows, let me be clear: I thoroughly enjoyed *Yotei*. The combat is exhilarating, and the sense of discovery as you explore 17th-century Japan is genuinely captivating. But as I guided Atsu on her blood-soaked journey to avenge her parents' death, hunting down the ominous 'The Yotei Six,' a little alarm bell started ringing in the back of my brain. "Haven't I heard this one before?" I mumbled to my holographic assistant. Not only did it feel uncomfortably close to the plot of *Assassin’s Creed Shadows* (which I also played through this year, because, well, curiosity, innit?), but it’s the spitting image of the fiery revenge arc tangled with meditations on grief that's become a hallmark for PlayStation Studios in recent years.
Let's cast our minds back, shall we? 2020's *The Last of Us Part 2* is an obvious trailblazer here. Ellie's dark, rage-fueled descent into revenge, all stemming from the death of her father figure, Joel. And that, of course, was a direct sequel to the 2013 original, where Joel was grappling with the loss of his own daughter. At the time, *The Last of Us* was seen as kicking off a wave of those infamous "sad dad" games – like 2018's *God of War*, for instance. But looking back, those were just the building blocks, weren't they? The precursor to PlayStation's deep-seated preoccupation with familial grief.
Then came 2022's *God of War Ragnarok*, a sprawling epic fuelled by the loss of mothers and sons and the raw anger that spills forth. Even Insomniac’s otherwise brilliant *Spider-Man* series has Peter Parker and Miles Morales battling supervillains while simultaneously wrestling with their own demons, often tied to dead parental figures. And don't even get me started on 2020's *Returnal*, a looping sci-fi nightmare born entirely out of the protagonist Selene's familial grief-related trauma. Oh, and coming up next year, there's *Death Stranding 2: On the Beach*. While not strictly first-party, it's still a verifiable feast of maternal and paternal anguish, isn't it? It's like they all got the same memo from the 'Deep & Meaningful Story Department' that just said, 'More tears, fewer smiles, please!'
Now, don't get me wrong. I’m a genuine fan of all these games. Each one is singular in its character depictions, and they offer wildly different gameplay experiences. But when you zoom out and view them as a whole, it’s bloody hard not to notice their stories are all being sung from the same hymn sheet. Familial grief sits squarely at the centre of nearly all these narratives. And while I’m a huge proponent of mature themes in games – absolutely, they have a vital place – it’s starting to feel like I’m getting hit around the head with the same ideas, just wrapped in slightly different, albeit gorgeous, packaging. The "cycle of violence" is in very real danger of becoming a loop of diminishing returns, and my wizardly patience is wearing a bit thin.
Of course, not every single PS5 game follows this pattern. *Astro Bot*, for instance, isn’t some deep exploration of generational trauma in deep space, thank the digital gods! That's what I loved so much about Team Asobi’s ode to PlayStation of old – its unadulterated joy and colour stood out like a glowing phoenix from an otherwise morose flock. It felt like a delightful rarity.
But it never used to be this way, did it? Cast your mind back to the PS3 era. We had Naughty Dog's *Uncharted* series, firmly planting its flag in themes of adventure with a tone ripped straight from pulp fiction (even if it did get a bit more melancholic in *A Thief’s End*). I’ll always have a soft spot for Insomniac’s *Resistance* and its bonkers World War 2/sci-fi warfare mashup. And then there was *LittleBigPlanet*, all the way at the other end of the tonal spectrum, celebrating creativity and community. Yes, they had character nuances, but they were fundamentally about different things: treasure hunting, alien invasions, personal expression. They weren’t all trying to serve up the same existential crisis. I half-jokingly reckon that if a new *Jak and Daxter* game came out today, it would be about an Ottsel’s thirst for revenge against the killers of his blonde-haired friend.
Even the PS2-era classic *Shadow of the Colossus* from Team Ico, while mournful in tone, found something truly unique and poignant within it, at a time when such deep, philosophical ideas were far less common in games. It stands as a unique masterpiece to this day, telling its tale through vagaries and minimal cutscenes – a far cry from the trademark cinematic style we now expect. What we *didn’t* have back in the mid-2000s were five more PS2 releases that took its exact contemplations on love and loss and told the same story in a different wrapping. Every time you played something new from Sony’s studios on that now 25-year-old console, it felt like a brand new experiment with a different story to tell, not just a variation on a theme.
That brings me back to *Ghost of Yotei*. It’s a game that, in many ways, feels superior to its predecessor, *Ghost of Tsushima*, in almost every aspect – *barring its central story*. While I connected to Atsu more than I ever did Jin Sakai – she’s a much warmer presence to spend a few dozen hours with – *Tsushima’s* narrative felt fresher. It balanced Jin's personal struggles against the backdrop of a nation under invasion, with themes of honour, betrayal, and belonging striking a chord and making it stand out when it arrived hot on the heels of *The Last of Us Part 2* in 2020, *before* grief seemingly took hold of every Sony storyteller.
Perhaps PlayStation’s current interest in grief is just a reflection of the state of the world, eh? When viewed through the lens of when PS5 exclusives like *Ghost of Yotei* and *Death Stranding 2* were being written, that melancholy is somewhat understandable. The COVID pandemic, with its undeniable grip on our planet in 2020 and 2021, meant themes surrounding unexpected loss and mass trauma would no doubt have been at the forefront of many minds. It’ll be intriguing to see if this pattern continues much further now that the world has (somewhat) settled back into its usual chaotic hum. Will the stories being told in projects that began production post-2022 mirror a different state of the planet, or will we continue to look inside ourselves at our darkest moments? These are, of course, all valid tales to tell, and I’m a huge proponent of art being a reflection of its creators, but a wizard can’t help but wish for a little more variety going forward.
There’s reason to be both hopeful and skeptical, considering what Sony has coming up next. Insomniac’s *Wolverine* looks to be delivering on all the gore and decapitation you'd hope for, but will that mature rating be reflected in its themes? Logan is certainly a character consumed by a lust for revenge; will that see us taken down a familiar path of burying past demons through ultraviolence, or will we get an altogether different story that taps into a different part of his psyche? James Mangold’s *Logan* already told us a tale that would’ve slotted nicely into PlayStation’s “sad dad” canon, as X23 tapped into the softer side of his adamantium body. So, I do hope we don’t just get a rerun of that idea here.
We also know that *Saros* is on the way from Housemarque, and it certainly looked impressive in the most recent State of Play stream. As for Naughty Dog, the ground zero of this long-running era of grief, we know the studio will be taking on the sci-fi realm next with *Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet*. Its first trailer was promising, delivering a more fun-filled tone than we’d ever dream of seeing from *The Last of Us*. Of course, we’ve barely scratched the surface here, but it would be fantastic to see Naughty Dog rediscovering some of that *Uncharted* levity here. Interestingly, both *Saros* and *Intergalactic* are stories about people investigating lost off-world colonies. I hope for my sake that they find wildly different stories to tell on each of them, rather than just discovering reminders of the grief they’ve left behind. My digital wand is itching for a truly fresh narrative spell.
Now, this whole rumination started thanks to a rather astute observation by Simon Cardy over at IGN South Africa, whose original piece, 'I’m Getting Bored of Every PlayStation Game Telling the Same Story,' really got my gears turning. You can find his full breakdown there; it's a cracker.
Tags: PlayStation, Gaming Trends, Narrative Design, Video Game Themes, Game Industry Analysis
Original article: IGN South Africa